Tai Yong Medical

Tai Yong Medical, often abbreviated TYM, is a large multinational mechanical augmentation manufacturer and biotechnology corporation. In 2026, its corporate headquarters is located in Hengsha, China. The name "Tai Yong" (from the Chinese word 太阳, tàiyáng) means the sun.

By 2027, Tai Yong Medical is one of the largest biotechnology companies in the world, with over 9,500 employees worldwide. TYM has branches in fifteen countries including China, the United States, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, and Japan. Additionally, with its CEO Zhao Yun Ru being a member of the Illuminati, TYM engages in activities, both publicly known and clandestine, that further the desires of the Illuminati.

By 2028, TYM is the only major augmentation company in the world. Its former competitors, including Sarif Industries, had gone bankrupt as a result of the Aug Incident and were bought out by TYM.

Background
The Tai Yong Medical corporation was founded in Shanghai in 1977. It began as a designer and manufacturer of silicon-based prosthetic limbs. During the 1980s, TYM acquired two factories in China and established a network of clients in Southeast Asia. In 2009, the company became famous worldwide thanks to the work of its young leader Zhao Yun Ru. She started a collaboration with the military of China by providing prostheses to veteran amputees. In 2017, the corporation was invited to participate in the ambitious Hengsha Island project, which would later become the location of the company's headquarters.

Expansion in the 2020s
One of the world's fastest-growing biotech corporations, TYM has a reputation for aggressive expansion and for absorbing competitors in hostile takeovers. CEO Zhao Yun Ru typically accomplished this through a combination of preemptive strikes, including extortion, cyber warfare, and espionage, stealing company secrets and tech. Since 2025, Tai Yong has taken over three corporations which each controlled an important section of the global marketplace. The boldest of these takeovers was N-Pro Tech, whose CEO was framed for embezzling money prior to selling out to TYM. This aggressive expansion is requested by the leaders of the Illuminati, who wish to see the mechanical augmentation market monopolized. This is so that it is easier for them to exercise control over the technology.

In 2027, Tai Yong Medical, and by extension the Illuminati, are particularly interested in acquiring Sarif Industries. They begin by sending benign requests to buy out the company. However, when Sarif Industries' CEO David Sarif refuses to bow down to them, the Illuminati resort to taking more extreme measures to destabilize the company. TYM puts pressure on Sarif to sell the corporation following the terrorist attacks on its headquarters and manufacturing plant. In fact, the conspirators are behind both attacks. TYM hires a hacker to exploit a vulnerability in Sarif's network and steal information about their research. Despite these setbacks, Sarif refuses to sell his company. In response, Zhao plans to erode the support and funding he receives from Washington D.C. so that he will be forced to sell.

TYM aims to make Hengsha, the home of its headquarters, the undisputed world leader in augmentation technology. They plan to make a large investment in the two-tiered city that will see the construction of new facilities at world-class standards. Through its investments in Hengsha and its acquisition of rival companies, Tai Yong Medical hope to become the principal augmentation manufacturer in the world by 2029.

Products and Research c. 2027
Tai Yong's products are used by people all over the world. They range from prosthetic eyes to full arm augmentations. Despite how widespread they are, TYM's products are not the most high-tech on the market. In particular, they cut corners when it comes to choosing the materials to create their augmentations. They are thus inferior to competing brands such as prosthetics made by Sarif Industries. In fact, Tai Yong steals the blueprints for one of Sarif's products, the Typhoon Explosive System. However, their own scientists are not capable of overcoming the backblast problem previously solved by Sarif Industries. This is evidence of Tai Yong's lesser skill in the area of augmentation research. TYM's products are regarded as being among the most cost-effective on the market. This is due to the fact that they are sold at close to their production cost.

TYM also engages in voluntary human testing of their products. Some patients suffer from extreme side effects following these tests. Employees are not permitted to respond to these complaints, even when the patient threatens to inform the authorities. It is insinuated that the corporation intends to silence anyone with such complaints. Ironically, Zhao Yun Ru insists that Tai Yong "prides itself on maintaining a safe environment and an ethical approach to research".

As well as their publicly marketed augmentations, TYM also creates military grade ones and ones not for general use. These include the augmentations of the Tyrants whose augs give them a significant advantage when in combat. In 2027, they are also working on developing a hacking device which can provide "intrusion solutions for over five million discreet software barriers". They even created cerebral implants capable of preventing subjects from retaining certain memories, which they sold to groups like Belltower for their Spec Ops forces.

Following a worldwide glitch in augmentation software, augmented people worldwide begin to experience physical pain and distorted vision. This is supposedly caused by faulty biochips, and they are asked to visit LIMB clinics for a replacement. As an Illuminati front, Tai Yong Medical are tasked with manufacturing these replacement chips. Despite the fact that these new biochips supposedly only fix the problems with the previous ones, they are designed by the Illuminati to limit the enhanced abilities of augmented individuals. However, rogue Illuminati member Hugh Darrow caused augs using the biochip to go violently insane, resulting in the Aug Incident.

Other Illuminati projects undertaken by Tai Yong Medical include the secretive Hyron Project, which aimed to create a supercomputer using human drones. TYM was responsible for designing multiple components of the Hyron computer including the drone suit rig and coolant system, as well as the drone pods that connect to the central computer. TYM's CEO, Zhao Yun Ru, had direct involvement with this scheme. Blueprints of the various components can be found in her penthouse in addition to a prototype drone suit.

After the Aug Incident
Following the Aug Incident in 2027, Tai Yong Medical becomes the only known augmentation corporation to survive the collapse of the augmentation industry following the passing of the Taggart Act in 2028. As its competitors collapsed one by one, TYM purchased their remaining assets; such as real estate, patients, and any unsold augmentations. TYM's backing by the Illuminati and the Chinese government allowed the company to weather the industry crisis.

Having been largely quiet since its CEO was killed in Panchaea, it announces later in the same year that it has developed a technology called a dampening chip, which when implanted into an augmented person, will supposedly render them "safe again" - presumably eliminating any possibility that a re-occurrence of the Aug Incident will take place. They also refined the biochip that caused the Aug Incident and rebranded it as a "Suppression Chip" that causes severe pain for anyone who attempts to use an augment. TYM also continued their experiments with memory implants. Improving their designs from just blocking certain memories, to being able to alter memories or implant the memories and personality of others. Their researcher, Dr. Vadim Orlov, also designed several military grade augmentations, including the Nanoblade A-kit, B-kit, and the TITAN shield augmentation.

In 2029, the Illuminati working toward passage of the Human Restoration Act as a means to control augmented people. If passed, the Human Restoration Act would require all augmented citizens to receive TYM's suppression chip, except those who reside in segregated districts or housing complexes.

Products

 * Samson-series Cybernetic Arm Prosthesis
 * Nustep Cybernetic Arm Prosthesis
 * Hermes Cybernetic Leg Prosthesis
 * Aries-model heavy mod Cybernetic Leg Prosthesis
 * Jaguar-model 6543.01 prototype Cybernetic Leg Prosthesis
 * Calf implants
 * Low-Grade Athletic Model Cyberlimbs
 * Prototype Hacking Device model 000123.4
 * TYM CoreTech Model 76-F Neural Hub
 * Eye-Know Retinal Prosthesis
 * Neuroplasticity Calibrator
 * Combat Nano-Ceramic Blade
 * Nanoblade A-kit ser. v3.11
 * Nanoblade B-kit ser. v2.08
 * Typhoon Explosive System
 * GlassShield Cloaking System
 * IF-HP Compact Minigun Arm Augmentation
 * Jaron Namir's Full Body Prosthesis
 * Hyron Project central computer
 * Hyron drone suit
 * Hyron drone suit rig
 * Hyron drone pod
 * Nerve-interface Proto-chip
 * Suppression Chip
 * Dampening Chip
 * Memory Inhibitor Chip
 * Memory Implant Neural Chip

Trivia

 * In Human Revolution, Tai Yong Medical and its CEO represent the sun in the Icarus myth metaphor, by exemplifying the dangers of overindulging in transhuman technologies. TYM's role in this metaphor is reflected by its company name (derived from a Chinese word that means the sun), as well as various visuals in the game. For example, the lighting flowing through the windows in Zhao's penthouse was designed to portray the feeling that one is inside the sun.
 * Tai Yong Medical had a viral marketing website http://www.taiyongmedical.com/ (no longer active).