An Investor Who Sees The Future

I sent the contract to CarOS and sought agreement on its contents.

Daryl, upon hearing the news, was overjoyed.

[The share exchange with Seosung Electronics will be a great help.]

Just looking at the immediate exchange ratio, CarOS’s value reaches 86 trillion won. Therefore, with a 1.5% stake, Daryl suddenly became a millionaire with assets exceeding 1 trillion won (although the shares held by executives cannot be sold until they resign).

“The announcement regarding the contract details will be made later at Seosung Electronics, so until then, please keep it to the executives only.”

[Understood.]

I then contacted the second and third largest shareholders of OTK Company.

Upon hearing the news, the second-largest shareholder gasped in amazement.

[Wow! Seosung Electronics really became the second largest shareholder of CarOS.]

“OTK Company has also become a major shareholder of Seosung Electronics. Once we receive another 7%, we’ll be the largest shareholder.”

Taek-kyu said excitedly.

[I still remember when we made money from Seosung Electronics’ put options. Now, if there’s a smartphone explosion, we won’t even get to enjoy it.]

“Exactly.”

Hyun-joo, the third-largest shareholder, praised me after hearing about the negotiation process and terms.

[You’re doing well on your own now.]

“It’s all thanks to you for teaching me, unni.”

[Hearing that makes it worthwhile. Anyway, you’ve worked hard.]

***

A presentation was held at the CarOS Institute.

Silicon Valley is a battleground for autonomous driving technology. Therefore, such presentations are not uncommon. However, since this was the first time CarOS publicly unveiled their technology, numerous reporters and attendees gathered at the event.

I attended with Chairman Im Jin-yong. Ellie sat away from the reporters to avoid attracting attention.

The reporters were surprised by the appearance of the chairman of Seosung Group, who they believed was in Korea.

Magnus Dewey, responsible for the institute, took the stage to present. He is one of CarOS’s executives and a founding member who has been with the company since Deril took over as CEO.

He first revealed the renderings and specifications of two vehicles—a sedan and an SUV—set to launch in the second half of the year, covering size, engine output, fuel efficiency, and driving performance.

Then, he jokingly said, “So far, nothing seems particularly impressive, right? I know that.”

Laughter erupted from the audience.

“Now, let me share something impressive. These cars will implement full autonomous driving. Until now, cars were merely machines powered by internal combustion engines. Now, they have GPS and communication devices enabling two-way communication, evolving into electronics capable of remote control and autonomous driving.”

Magnus explained the concept of autonomous vehicles and the testing processes they underwent.

“Just last month, we drove a total of 65,000 miles. Considering that it’s less than 3,000 miles from Western San Francisco to Eastern Manhattan, that’s over twenty round trips. Those of you here know how notorious San Francisco traffic is. Severe congestion, constant construction, and many one-way streets make it easy to get lost. Plus, due to excellent civic awareness, unexpected situations like jaywalking, reckless driving, and traffic accidents occur frequently. Developers say, ‘If it can drive without issues in San Francisco, it can drive anywhere in the U.S.’ Maybe that’s why Silicon Valley is a battleground for autonomous driving.”

Everyone laughed again in agreement.

“The autonomous driving system immediately alerts the driver to issues, recommending switching to manual control. How many times do you think drivers manually intervened during those 65,000 miles?”

A scene of the test vehicle driving appeared on the screen. The car was cruising smoothly when suddenly another vehicle in the adjacent lane crashed into it.

Bang!

Several people were startled by the sudden accident scene.

Fortunately, the swerving car slowed down and pulled over to the roadside.

“The sensor was damaged due to external impact, and as soon as this was detected, the driver was immediately informed and advised to switch to manual operation. However, before the driver could intervene, the autonomous driving system turned on the emergency lights, reduced speed, and brought the car to a stop on the shoulder. Therefore, there was never any need for driver intervention.”

Clap, clap, clap!

As the presentation concluded, thunderous applause erupted.

Chairman Im Jin-yong smiled and said to me, “Now, you’ll be getting contact from various places offering investments. Luckily, we had contracts in place beforehand. No backing out later.”

After the presentation, a test drive event followed.

Outside the venue, 20 experimental vehicles based on the Chrysler 300C were prepared. The destination was randomly chosen in downtown San Francisco.

The 20 experimental vehicles successfully navigated the complex streets of San Francisco, delivering passengers to their destination, and this was reported by various media outlets.

***

[CarOS Autonomous Driving Technology Completed!]

[Is the Era of Autonomous Cars About to Begin?]

[The Future that Autonomous Vehicles Will Change]

[The Government Must Rush to Amend Laws for Autonomous Driving…]

Related articles flooded the news, and the internet was in an uproar.

– Are autonomous cars finally coming out?

– What if someone dies in an accident? Will Kang Jin-hoo take responsibility?

– Until the laws change, the driver will be responsible. Full autonomous driving isn’t allowed yet anyway.

– As expected from Otaku Company! Kang Jin-hoo has done it again.

– But isn’t this more about CarOS doing well, rather than Kang Jin-hoo himself?

– Acquiring and investing in that company to grow it this much is quite impressive.

– I was going to buy a Porsche, but I’ve changed my mind. I’ll definitely buy that car when it comes out.

– Yes. Next up, the pedestrian.

Competitors like Gooble and Iver have claimed that they have reached that level too and will announce their technology soon.

Ultimately, the commercialization of autonomous driving was already planned. Our involvement just brought that timeline forward by about three years.

Launching with autonomous driving technology is not an issue if the technology itself exists, but for practical application, there are numerous challenges to address, from legal reforms to insurance.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has granted permission for autonomous vehicle testing on the road, provided that certain conditions are met. However, it mandates that a driver must be seated in the driver’s seat.

Moreover, this is only permitted for experimental vehicles; regular cars still require the driver to hold the steering wheel.

While fully unmanned cars might be difficult immediately, at least this level of legal reform is necessary to utilize autonomous driving.

We desperately need Ronald’s assistance with this.

The reason experimental vehicles were allowed in the first place was due to lobbying from giant IT companies like Gooble and Enple. While we lack that level of lobbying power, thankfully, we have connections with the U.S. President.

Before the excitement had settled, this time, Seosung Electronics announced a share exchange and future collaboration plan with OTK Company.

[Seosung Electronics enters into a share exchange agreement with OTK Company]

[Seosung Electronics holds 10.5% stake in CarOS, OTK Company holds 3% stake in Seosung Electronics]

[CarOS valued at 86 trillion won. Is this appropriate?]

The internet was once again turned upside down.

– CarOS valued at 86 trillion won?

– Does this even make sense?

– That’s higher than GM and Nikola!

– What does Im Jin-yong believe to make such claims? Isn’t this embezzlement?

– Did Im Jin-yong receive any kickbacks from Kang Jin-hoo?

Seosung Electronics announced they would invest a total of 25 trillion won, with 15 trillion in system semiconductor production facilities and 10 trillion in component production facilities.

This amount equals last year’s total investment.

Given that semiconductor investment is all about timing, this reflects Chairman Im Jin-yong’s will to respond proactively to market changes.

For the past 20 years, Intel has been the strongest player in the semiconductor market. However, recently, Seosung surpassed Intel in sales to become number one.

But this was thanks to memory semiconductors, and they remained weak in the system semiconductor sector.

In fact, Seosung’s memory semiconductor market share exceeds 50%, while its system semiconductor market share is only 5%. This is mostly due to the application processors used in their smartphones.

In the system semiconductor field, Intel, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Texas Instruments, and AMD continue to hold strong positions.

System semiconductors represent a high-value industry compared to memory semiconductors. Seosung has consistently sought to expand its market share through ongoing investments. Entering the autonomous driving market is a golden opportunity to establish itself as a leader in the system semiconductor sector.

However, there were significant concerns. If vehicle sales fall short of expectations, excessive facility investments could backfire.

As a result, opinions were divided between negative assessments of reckless investment and positive views of bold investments to capture the market.

Ultimately, shareholders are only interested in stock prices. Fortunately, the stock price rose slightly due to expectations surrounding new industries.

At this point, there was another company capturing public attention just like Seosung Electronics.

– Haha, what’s going to happen to Eunsung Motors now?

– How could they sell a company with such technology for only 88 million dollars to Kang Jin-hoo?

– Oh no! It’s completely ruined.

– The company you bought should have been mine.

– If only I had held onto CarOS, Eunsung Motors’ stock price would have doubled.

– I’m a shareholder of Eunsung Motors. Can we sue Chairman Han Min-goo for breach of fiduciary duty?

– Stop bothering Chairman Min-goo! How painful it must be for him.

– Waiter! One bowl of Gelpott here!

***

**[CarOS to Launch World’s First Mass-Produced Autonomous Vehicle!]**

**[What is the Level of South Korea’s Autonomous Driving Technology?]**

**[Where Does Eunsung Motors’ Technology Stand?]**

Chairman Han Min-goo put down the newspaper.

It’s a well-known fact that autonomous driving is the core technology of future vehicles. Falling behind in this field would jeopardize their current position.

With Eunsung Motors’ technology, implementing autonomous driving was entirely possible. However, this was only the case under normal driving conditions. More sophisticated algorithms were required for complex and unexpected situations.

On the other hand, CarOS developed machine learning technology through artificial intelligence.

Initially, it struggled even with simple rules, but over time, the AI’s decision-making became faster and more reliable. It has now reached a stage suitable for commercialization.

Currently, Eunsung Motors’ autonomous driving technology is assessed to be over a year behind Google and more than three years behind CarOS.

Despite Eunsung MD’s full commitment to developing autonomous driving technology, bridging an already widened technological gap is not as easy as it sounds.

The biggest barrier to mass production is cost, which CarOS resolved through equity exchange with Seosung Electronics.

Eunsung Motors had consistently kept Seosung Group in check, fearing their financial and technological power would lead them back into the automotive market.

Thus, they collaborated with CL Chem for electric vehicle batteries and with CL Electronics for automotive electronic equipment, instead of Seosung SB and Seosung Electronics.

However, this led to the worst outcome—a strategic alliance between Seosung Group and OTK Company. Had they partnered with Seosung Group from the beginning, the situation might not have escalated this far.

It was already known that this equity exchange happened not at the behest of Kang Jin-hoo but rather at the proactive request of Im Jin-yong.

“I underestimated Im Jin-yong.”

To Han Min-goo, who built Eunsung Motors up to this point, Im Jin-yong still seemed inexperienced. Yet, how quickly and decisively he acted just a short time after assuming the chairmanship was surprising.

Of course, even if CarOS were to launch autonomous vehicles, penetrating the South Korean market would not be easy.

South Korea has long been a monopoly market for Eunsung Motors. Thus, the government would not create relevant laws or relax regulations until Eunsung Motors commercializes autonomous driving.

The issue lies with the U.S. market.

Unlike the Korean market, where market share is increasing, Eunsung Car faced various difficulties in the U.S. market.

Since Ronald became president, the pressure to relocate factories has been intense, and the revision of the Korea-U.S. FTA is a significant burden. To make matters worse, a powerful competitor named CarOS has now emerged.

And all of this involved Kang Jin-hoo.

Han Min-goo recalled the young person in their twenties he met at an economic roundtable hosted by Ronald.

“If it weren’t for him…”

If Kang Jin-hoo hadn’t intervened, the U.S. president could have been Diane instead of Ronald. And CarOS would still have remained under Eunsung Car’s wing.

CarOS’s technology was reassessed less than six months after being sold. If OTK Company hadn’t acquired CarOS… If CarOS had continued to stay with Eunsung Car, that technology would have been entirely owned by Eunsung Car.

Under such circumstances, surpassing Toyota and becoming the number one in the automotive industry might not have been a mere dream. However, that opportunity has now completely vanished.

Han Min-goo picked up the file on Kang Jin-hoo placed on one side of his desk. Though he had seen its content several times, he read it once more in detail.

As he came across the sections about the company’s bankruptcy and the death of his father, Kang Dong-hyun, he paused.

Han Min-goo set the file down and took a sip of his drink. Lost in thought for a while, he murmured softly.

“I suppose it would be good to meet him just once.”