Chapter 16 - Novis
Chapter 16 - Novis
The next morning, the people from Washington had gathered again in a private conference room connected to the MIT President's office.
The report left by the verification team the previous day was placed in the center of the table, and the same sentence was bolded on the last page.
[Personnel capable of setting: Yoon Siwoo only]
The conference room was quiet.
There was a bigger problem than the fact that superconductors actually existed.
The fact that without Yoon Siwoo, there would be no production—that single fact was making the expressions of the government officials heavy.
Siwoo was sitting on one side of the conference room, looking at a map of the United States, and several states were marked on the map.
Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas, Arizona... It wasn't his first time properly looking at the U.S. industrial map, but today it looked a little different.
Making the superconductor was fine, but the problem started from now.
Honestly, just succeeding with one sample doesn't change the world.
You can write a paper in a day, but factories are different.
It takes time to put up even one building, and you have to hire people, train them, and lay out production lines.
Plus, since I have to set up the structure myself, I thought that the real fight might not be research, but production.
The economic advisor from Washington spoke up first.
"Siwoo, I'd like to hear what you're planning to do going forward."
Siwoo pushed the map to the center of the table.
"I'm going to build factories."
"If you mean factories, do you mean superconductor production factories?"
"Yes. I need to build the main production hubs first."
The Treasury Department official picked up a pen.
"What kind of scale are you thinking of?"
Siwoo looked at the map for a moment.
The calculations were already finished.
"30 main production hubs."
"30?"
"Yes."
"Are you talking about the main production hubs?"
"That's right. Not regular factories, but hubs that contain the core superconductor production lines."
The economic advisor asked slowly.
"Is there a reason that scale is necessary?"
"Because we have to supply the whole world."
The gazes in the conference room gathered on the map again.
"It's not just for the U.S. to use."
"Europe needs it, Japan needs it, and Korea needs it."
"Canada, Australia, South America, and Southeast Asia will eventually need it too."
"If we don't set the supply volume high within the U.S. from the start, everything will be in short supply later."
Siwoo paused for a moment and added.
"I don't even think 30 is a lot."
"Considering global demand, it might actually be insufficient."
The air in the conference room became heavy.
The statement that 30 factories might be insufficient—that wasn't just simple exaggeration.
Once superconductors are commercialized, the places they go into will increase endlessly.
The Treasury Department official flipped through the documents.
"Siwoo, do you plan to operate the entire industry based on superconductors yourself?"
Siwoo immediately shook his head.
"No."
"No?"
"I'm only going to make superconductors."
A short murmur arose inside the conference room.
That wasn't the answer the government officials had expected.
They probably thought that someone who could monopolize superconductor production would naturally try to get their hands on the industries that use them as well.
Siwoo understood that reaction.
But he never had that thought from the beginning.
If I make wires, semiconductors, and communication equipment, the industry won't grow.
Because every company would just end up following behind me.
That wasn't a good structure.
Technology should be supplied, and competition using that technology should happen in the market.
I can build the structure, but I didn't want to operate every industry by myself.
Siwoo said calmly.
"Wire companies should make wires."
"Semiconductor companies should make semiconductors, and communication companies should make communication equipment."
"The same goes for medical equipment, data centers, and power systems."
The Commerce Department official asked.
"Couldn't it be much faster if you did it yourself?"
"It might be at first, but if I do everything, the industry dies."
The conference room went quiet at those words.
"If I make superconductors, wires, semiconductors, and communication equipment, what do the other companies do?"
"If U.S. companies move like my subcontractors, the industry can't grow healthily."
"I will supply the superconductors."
"Companies need to compete on what to make using them."
The economic advisor looked at Siwoo for a moment.
It was too realistic for a ten-year-old kid to say, but it didn't sound like an exaggeration.
"Then you want one thing."
"Yes. Superconductor production factories."
"What do you want from the government?"
"Investment."
The Treasury Department official took a short breath.
It was an expected answer.
"How much do you think you need?"
"My own calculations might not be accurate."
"But I need government investment to prepare 30 main production hubs simultaneously."
"And I can't just build simple factories."
"Educational facilities, logistics networks, power infrastructure, and security systems must move together."
The economic advisor looked at the analysis team in the back.
"Show the calculation results."
The conference room lights dimmed slightly, and the projector screen turned on.
A bold title appeared in the center of the screen.
<Superconductor Production Hub 1st Estimate>
The analyst began the explanation.
"This is based on 30 main production hubs."
"Each hub includes core superconductor production lines, quality control facilities, security zones, education centers, and logistics networks."
The screen changed.
<Direct Employment Effect>
3,500,000 people
The conference room went quiet, and a few people immediately looked back down at the documents.
The Labor Department official asked first.
"Is the 3.5 million based on the production hubs?"
"It is a direct employment estimate including the 30 main production hubs and related education, security, and quality control personnel."
"This is the standard after operational stabilization; construction phase employment is separate."
The screen changed again.
<Indirect Employment Effect>
8,500,000 people
This time, a longer silence flowed.
Supply chains, logistics, construction, local service industries, partner companies, equipment companies—all those flows had been turned into numbers.
The analyst's voice continued.
"Superconductors are not a single product, but a base material."
"There is a high possibility of it connecting to power, semiconductors, telecommunications, medical, data centers, military, and heavy industry."
"Therefore, even if we estimate the indirect employment effect conservatively, it is at the 8.5 million level."
The last screen appeared.
<Total Expected Employment>
12,000,000 people
Someone took off their glasses, and someone else leaned back in their chair and exhaled slowly.
This wasn't a plan for a single company, but a scale that would shake the entire national labor market.
The Treasury Department official said in a low voice.
"12 million people..."
The Labor Department official said while looking at the documents.
"At this level, the unemployment rate will structurally decrease."
"If the project proceeds stably, entering below 4% is also possible."
The Commerce Department official muttered.
"The Rust Belt might come back to life."
At those words, the expressions of some people changed.
Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania—regions where factories had disappeared and cities were emptying out; if the Novis Production Hubs went in there, the story would change completely.
Siwoo looked at the screen.
12 million people—he knew the number was big.
But what he was looking at was the flow, not the number.
Factories are built, people gather, and logistics move.
Education centers are created, local commercial districts come alive, and companies start making products using superconductors.
That wasn't just one technology, but a new industrial structure.
"What is the expected investment scale?"
The analyst brought up the last page.
<Expected Total Investment Scale>
1.2 trillion dollars
The conference room went quiet, and the Treasury Department official stared at the number.
"1.2 trillion dollars..."
"Yes. Based on 30 main production hubs."
"It is a figure that includes educational facilities, logistics networks, power infrastructure, and security facilities, everything."
The inside of the conference room became heavy.
There was no one who didn't know what that number meant.
The Treasury Department official asked.
"You'll need government support."
Siwoo nodded.
"Yes. To start this scale all at once, I need government help."
A silence flowed for a moment, and the Labor Department official said while looking at the screen.
"Instead... it's 12 million people."
The cost was too high, but the effect was also too great.
If either one had been small, the decision would have been easy, but the problem was that both were of historic scale.
Siwoo looked around the conference room.
People were looking at the money, and he was looking at the time.
Factories don't appear overnight.
It could take 3 years, or it could take 5 years.
"We have to start now."
The gazes in the conference room gathered on Siwoo again at his voice.
"We can't be late."
"Superconductors aren't something that ends with building one factory."
"Considering global supply, we have to go big from the start."
"I'm only going to make superconductors."
"And I have to make it so that U.S. companies can create new industries with them."
The economic advisor didn't speak for a while.
And he slowly nodded.
"You're not trying to monopolize the entire industry."
"Yes."
"Rather, you're closer to trying to open up the industry."
"That's a better structure."
The economic advisor put down his pen.
"Understood."
He looked around.
"We will officially review the investment scale."
"A 1.2 trillion dollar project, 30 main production hubs, 3.5 million direct jobs, 8.5 million indirect jobs, total employment effect of 12 million..."
He looked at Siwoo for the last time.
"Siwoo. Have you decided on a company name?"
"Novis (novus)."
"Novis... what does it mean?"
"It means 'new'."
"I'm going to keep making new things in the future, too."
"This isn't a normal company."
No one in the conference room contradicted that statement.
Novis was a name that didn't even exist on paper yet, but this name would soon appear in U.S. government documents, Wall Street reports, and news around the world.
Even after the meeting ended, people couldn't easily get up.
There were people looking at the documents again, and people quietly making phone calls.
The Treasury and Commerce Departments started calculations again, and the Labor Department re-examined the employment estimates.
Jonathan approached him.
"Siwoo, do you know what you just said?"
"Roughly."
"Roughly?"
Jonathan laughed as if he was dumbfounded.
"You said you would rebuild American manufacturing."
Siwoo thought for a moment.
"I'm not the one making everything."
"I'm only going to make superconductors. Other people have to do the rest."
That night, a report headed to Washington, and the title was short.
[Novis Project 1st Investment Review Proposal]
Four lines were written on the first page of the report.
-30 main production hubs
-Expected total investment scale of 1.2 trillion dollars
-Total employment effect of 12 million people
-Yoon Siwoo sole structure setting required
[Possibility of restructuring U.S. manufacturing is very high]