After saying that, Jensen rose to his feet and then left the room along with his aides, leaving Timothy and Hana alone.
Hana, who had just witnessed the tense conversation between the two finally got the courage to ask what’s all this about.
"Mr. Timothy," Hana began with a gentle tone. "Why is Mr. Jensen Huang meeting you about chips? I didn’t know that you had sold a technology to him..."
"Ahh...that," Timothy chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, I didn’t tell you much about it. I mean, I have not been open about that part of my history. So Mr. Jensen and I made contact with one another with me offering to sell a chip so advanced than theirs. It’s the reason why I got this much money to start this automotive business. I got it after successfully selling it to them."
"I see...so that’s the reason why you were able to amass such capital at your age. You have a technology, but how did you get access to it? Or how did you even do it? To create such technology, you would need cutting-edge, top-of-the-line equipment and machineries."
"Hmm, that I can’t answer Hana," Timothy dismissed her questions. "And it’s not relevant that you ask me that question at this time. It’s already done. What I want us to focus on is to think about the offer Mr. Huang just made it."
"Uhm...I apologize, Mr. Guerrero. It matters to me because I should know everything about you as your personal secretary." Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⚫𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⚫𝕟𝕖𝕥
"Is that so? You are so dedicated," Timothy chuckled, looking at Hana whose face remained serious, as if not joking.
Oh? Is she mad or something? He hadn’t seen that look on her face before. Thinking back, yeah, maybe his words came out a little insensitive.
Timothy cleared his throat softly, leaning forward. "Hey, Hana... I didn’t mean it like that," he said, his tone calm and a little awkward. "You’re right. You should know things like that. I’ve just... never really talked about it to anyone."
Hana blinked, her expression easing just a bit. "I understand, sir. I just... want to be sure you’re not hiding something that could hurt you or the company later on."
Timothy smiled faintly, a little relieved that she wasn’t actually angry. "You really are too good at your job, you know that?"
She crossed her arms, though her eyes softened. "Someone has to make sure you don’t walk into trouble with billionaires."
That made him laugh quietly. "Fair point."
He took a deep breath, leaning back in his chair. For a few moments, he didn’t say anything, he just looked thoughtful, like he was debating how much to reveal.
"Well...let’s just keep it that way, how I got the chip. It’s hard to explain so I implore your understanding to not probe me about it."
Hearing that, Hana sighed. "I understand, if that’s your wish, Mr. Guerrero. Now, let’s talk about the offer Mr. Huang made it for you. He suggested opening a semiconductor foundry and exclusively manufacturing advanced chips for them."
"What do you know about the business? The market, the bigger players, et cetera," Timothy asked, his tone shifting to something more focused now. He straightened slightly in his seat, watching Hana with quiet curiosity.
Hana blinked, caught off guard at first, but quickly composed herself. "Well, semiconductors are the backbone of almost every modern device," she began. "From smartphones to satellites, cars to data centers—everything depends on chips. The industry’s dominated by three big players: TSMC, Samsung Foundry, and Intel Foundry Services. They handle most of the global advanced node production, especially below seven nanometers."
Timothy nodded slowly, impressed. "Not bad. You’ve done your homework."
She gave a small smile. "You have me reading every economic briefing and tech report you get, sir. It’s only natural I start remembering things."
He chuckled softly at that, but his tone grew more serious as he leaned forward. "Then you also know that building a semiconductor foundry isn’t like building another gigafactory. It’s a different league altogether. One EUV lithography machine alone costs around two hundred million dollars. And that’s just one piece of the puzzle."
Hana nodded. "Yes. The precision, the cleanroom standards, the logistics—everything is on a microscopic scale. Even the slightest vibration can ruin a batch worth tens of millions. The margins are high, but so is the risk. That’s why only a few nations can sustain them."
"Exactly," Timothy said, tapping his finger lightly against the table. "And now Mr. Huang wants me to start one from scratch."
"Because of your chip," Hana added, her eyes narrowing slightly. "The one you sold him."
"Yeah," he said quietly. "Because of that chip."
There was a long pause before Hana spoke again, her tone gentle but curious. "Are you considering it? And if so? Can you do it?"
"Well, NVIDIA is worth trillions because of semiconductors, and I also dreamed of my company reaching the trillion mark. The only way to do that is to join the industry. I do have chip designs that are still more advanced than them."
"You have? You mean if you start a business in that industry, you have a technology that is better than the current players in the market?"
Timothy simply nodded his head in confirmation. "However, I don’t want Mr. Jensen to just exclusively benefit from it. In a business, I want to sell to others as well."
"Hmm..." Hana hummed in thought, thinking of a way on how they should proceed with this given Timothy’s preference of selling to the market, not just to NVIDIA.
"It’s going to be difficult, I mean you have a design that can outpace others and with that chip you can also get a contract with OpenAI, Google, and others to train their models. You can also start your own AI company..."
"So how do I play this?" Timothy asked.
Hana took a moment to think carefully, tapping her pen lightly against her tablet. She understood the gravity of what Timothy was asking, this wasn’t just a business decision, it was a geopolitical move. How they responded could determine whether TG would become a global power or be crushed by existing tech giants.
"You shouldn’t reject Mr. Huang’s offer outright," she began. "Doing so might make NVIDIA feel cornered, and we can’t afford to make an enemy of them. They’re one of the few companies with the global infrastructure and political influence to push back if they feel threatened."
Timothy nodded slowly, encouraging her to continue.
"What you should do," Hana said, "is acknowledge their interest, but reframe the proposal. Instead of building an exclusive foundry for NVIDIA, you can position it as a joint-venture incubation model. Present it as something cooperative — a shared platform to ’advance global semiconductor capacity.’ That way, it looks like you’re supporting NVIDIA’s mission while retaining freedom to engage with others later."
Timothy leaned forward, intrigued. "So, basically, agree — but on my terms."
"Exactly," Hana said, nodding. "We’ll tell them that you’re open to collaboration, but that exclusivity at this stage would slow development and raise regulatory red flags. You can mention supply diversification, technology-sharing benefits, and resilience — the kinds of things global regulators and investors like to hear. Jensen Huang is pragmatic; if he senses value and control through partnership rather than ownership, he’ll stay in."
Hearing that, Timothy gained confidence now. "Okay, let’s do it. Mr. Jensen won’t need a week to hear my decision. Help me with this."