Reinventing the Millennium.

Chapter 760 Go for it (two in one)

I am in Silicon Valley, and the communication with Google and Qualcomm is pretty smooth.

However, projects with mobile phones as the core still have many problems.

As a company-level arrangement, Fang Zhuo made the decision to relocate the New York mobile R&D center to Silicon Valley after communicating with Mr. Yu, Mr. Xu, Edward and others.

The two R&D centers in New York and Silicon Valley, the latter of which is biased towards the development and adaptation of the Android system, are now being merged.

The three prototypes unveiled in front of Google and Qualcomm this time, although they look really good, but there is still a long way to go before commercial launch, and we cannot relax at all.

As for the follow-up cooperation negotiations with Google and Qualcomm...

The core is naturally built around the mobile phone, Google is the system software, Qualcomm is the chip hardware.

Secondly, Yike needs to strive for its position in the Android system, and try to reach a cooperation similar to Google Mobile Services GMS, while Qualcomm has to discuss not only the patent licensing discount, but also the order of Ice Core.

Fang Zhuo stayed in Silicon Valley for two days, reviewed the progress of the mobile phone project in more detail, and communicated with Sharp many times about the screen situation.

Subsequently, engineers from the New York mobile phone research and development center arrived in Silicon Valley one after another, and a group of Bingxin executives greeted by Qiu Ciyun also came.

When Fang Zhuo saw in the media that the championship celebration parade held in Houston had ended successfully, he waited for the executive team of Morningstar Semiconductor.

However, the level of this team is somewhat unexpected.

Chairman Liang Gongwei, General Manager Yang Weiyi, R&D Vice President Rong Tianxing, Marketing Director Wei Boyun and other executives at the highest decision-making level have all come to Silicon Valley.

Fang Zhuo was familiar with Wei Boyun, but he only heard that the vice president was leading the team on the phone. He did not expect that several co-founders including Liang Gongwei, the chairman, would come together.

The two parties were still in the meeting room of the R&D center, and after being introduced by Wei Boyun, they exchanged greetings for a long time before they were seated separately.

Liang Gongwei drank tea, lamented Mr. Fang's youth in his heart, and chatted about his relationship with mainland semiconductors with a smile.

The semiconductor circle of Baodao can basically get involved by going around, and as the founder of Morningstar Semiconductor, Liang Gongwei was once the deputy general manager of Shida Semiconductor-this Shida is the Shida of Zhang Rujing.

When World University was acquired by Tai Ji, Zhang Rujing took people to the mainland. Liang Gongwei worked as an assistant in the marketing department of Tai Ji, and soon left Tai Ji with a group of people. He first joined Chongmao Technology, and then co-founded Morning Star Semiconductor.

Liang Gongwei and Zhang Rujing have a good relationship and have always kept in touch.

Although it is a treasure island company, Morning Star has many mainland employees. However, the main R&D team is still from Texas Instruments, and it has also recruited a large number of talents from Russia, France, and Hong Kong.

"Mr. Fang, we used SMIC for the tape-out of our early verification design. After we cooperated with Bingxin, we stopped going there. Last time I called Mr. Zhang, he also questioned me about this matter, saying that we don't have enough morning stars. Meaning." Liang Gongwei said with a smile, "I told Mr. Zhang at the time that I can only blame me for 2 points for this matter, and find Mr. Fang for the remaining 8 points. I can only accept his temper of 2 points."

He continued: "Mr. Fang, guess what Mr. Zhang said?"

Fang Zhuo smiled and shook his head, unable to guess.

Liang Gongwei said with a serious face, "It would be nice if Mr. Fang didn't get drunk and make fun of me and lose his temper!"

Fang Zhuo pondered: "Isn't it?"

The atmosphere in the conference room that was about to laugh was stagnated by Mr. Fang's little doubts.

Fang Zhuo then said: "According to Mr. Zhang's habits, he should not address me so politely, maybe he said, 'surnamed Fang'."

Liang Gongwei gave a thumbs up, that's really the case.

Laughter rang out from the office after a few seconds of delay.

Morningstar Semiconductor was first related to SMIC, which drives the development of the semiconductor industry in the mainland, and now it is in the honeymoon period of cooperation with Bingxin. Today, the chat atmosphere is relatively relaxed.

"Actually, Mr. Zhang and I have never been crazy about drinking. It's just that Bing Xin was really unsure once. I had no choice but to drink to strengthen my courage. I grabbed Mr. Zhang's arm and borrowed a few people from him. Maybe this made Mr. Zhang I was more impressed." Fang Zhuo explained a little bit.

Liang Gongwei sighed: "The development of a fab is not easy. I heard that Ice Core has broken through the 90nm process. It is really gratifying!"

The news that Ice Core broke through the 90nm process and completed the risk trial production has already been rumored in the industry. As a partner, Morningstar Semiconductor is very happy about this.

Fang Zhuo smiled slightly, since he would not mention the newly established intergenerational development, he just turned to the topic after a few words of modesty: "Morning Star is developing rapidly now, Mr. Liang, there is really no need for you to make this trip, it is too time-consuming, If there is anything between our two families, just call."

Liang Gongwei shook his head and said, "No, this time it's an SSS-level situation in our Situation Room, so we must come here together."

"Situation room? SSS?" Fang Zhuo was a little taken aback, it sounded gaudy.

Wei Boyun explained: "In order to better serve customers and increase the speed of research and development, we have set up a war room internally. Once it is used, it means entering an emergency situation. The most important thing is to drive out customers as soon as possible. required product design.”

Yang Weiyi, the general manager, said with a smile: "This time I heard that Yike has a design requirement for mobile phone chips. Whether it is the relationship between us or the meaning of mobile phone chips, it is the highest and most urgent situation."

Fang Zhuo nodded slightly, but he could understand the matter.

Morningstar Semiconductor's TV chips are doing very well. It has been said that LCD TVs will have a rapid development, but it seems that this development has rushed to the front of our eyes just overnight.

On the one hand, BOE has started to provide panel production capacity, which has reduced the key cost of TVs. On the other hand, the one-stop solution provided by Morningstar Semiconductor has really facilitated manufacturers.

In addition, morning star design, ice core manufacturing, Meiling and Changhong terminal digestion, the cost of this chain will be further reduced.

As the chip solutions adopted by TV products are becoming more and more recognized, MStar's design capabilities are becoming more and more perfect, and the positive cycle brought about by this has made Japanese and European manufacturers willing to try.

However, the rapid development of TV chips obviously cannot satisfy Morningstar completely.

Liang Gongwei said seriously: "Mr. Fang, we just negotiated with France's VTMS last month to acquire a technical team for mobile phone chip design. We received the news from Bingxin this month. It is really a match made in heaven. We are fully capable of recovering. cooperation in the television industry."

Fang Zhuo didn't know the latest news, and was surprised but also felt that it made sense that the field of mobile phone chips was the cake that IC design yearned for.

But he felt that it might be necessary to pour cold water on it: "Ike just finished talking with Qualcomm, and they will have a cooperative team to meet the needs of Ike mobile phones, and Texas Instruments also gave me a reply yesterday, willing to cooperate."

"Yike's mobile phone is based on the latest smart system in cooperation with Google, and needs to have a high standard."

The general manager Yang Weiyi asked calmly: "President Fang, what is this high standard..."

Fang Zhuo handed over the proposal left by Qualcomm. This is Qualcomm's expected cooperation plan, which is slightly sensitive but not too sensitive.

Because Qualcomm has long been interested in the chips of TI, the proposal is trying to fit the data of TI as much as possible, and also shows the advantages of Qualcomm in baseband and patents, which is a hype.

Liang Gongwei and others circulated this competitor's proposal, and their expressions became very dignified.

Not only because of the data threshold of the chip, but also because of the solution provided by Qualcomm.

Texas Instruments, Intel, and Qualcomm, the mainstream mobile phone chip design companies, usually only provide chip platforms instead of more solutions.

Of course, this is also because manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung, and Sony, their customers, don't need solutions at all.

But it is precisely because of the differentiation of chips and chip packaging solutions that there is room for small design companies in the market, and MediaTek is a typical representative in this regard.

MediaTek is now most famous for providing the Turnkey one-stop solution, which pre-integrates mobile phone chips and mobile phone software platforms and then sells them to mobile phone manufacturers, which greatly reduces the threshold for producing mobile phones.

Generally speaking, mobile phone manufacturers need a research and development cycle of more than half a year, and MediaTek's packaging solution can reduce this time to within 3 months.

Morningstar Semiconductor has learned from MediaTek's approach in the field of TV chips, actively and enthusiastically providing customers with one-stop solutions, and doing its best to facilitate TV manufacturers.

Now with the development of Morningstar Semiconductor, it is called Little M in Baodao, and MediaTek is naturally Big M.

Big and small M also compete in the TV field, but Morningstar Semiconductor has solid allies in the mainland, and it does not hesitate to sell shares to tie it up. It seems that it is difficult for big M to have a chance to overtake.

On the contrary, even if there is no demand for Yike mobile phones, Little M has also started to acquire mobile phone chip design teams, plotting Big M's core business.

While drinking tea, Fang Zhuo observed the expressions of Morningstar and the group, and asked after a long time: "The vice president of Qualcomm talked to me about their advantages and tried to convince me not to purchase chips from Texas Instruments. Let's not take them now." For Morningstar to compare with Texas Instruments, Qualcomm is the only one, okay?"

Liang Gongwei was silent, Yang Weiyi frowned, Rong Tianxing was thinking hard, Wei Boyun laughed.

How does this compare?
Just acquired a team last month, and then used it to compete with the top players in the industry?

Totally impossible.

In fact, Morningstar’s acquisition of the technical team was aimed at MediaTek, and now even if MediaTek is called to Mr. Fang, it would not dare to boast about Haikou’s battle with Qualcomm!

"Mr. Fang, on Morningstar's trip, we also had discussions on the way. We just wanted to see if Yike has entry-level products for entering the mobile phone market. If I say now that we can compete with Qualcomm, I'm afraid you will have to let people know immediately." Throw me out, to be honest, as far as Qualcomm's plan is concerned, there are only three and a half companies in the world that can satisfy it." Liang Gongwei said the truth.

Although Yike wants to have a high standard, it won't just take one product to win the world, right?
Morningstar Semiconductor does not want to meet the needs of Yike immediately, but only if there are such access opportunities in the future.

"Which family is the half family?" Fang Zhuo knew the three families.

"Samsung's chip design has gradually caught up. It uses its own products to verify and digest, and its IC design capabilities have improved rapidly." Liang Gongwei replied.

Fang Zhuo changed his mind. I'm afraid Mr. Liang's statement also implied the cooperation of Morningstar. Given the opportunity for Chenxing to verify and digest, its design ability will also be improved soon.

But I really didn't mean to become fat in one breath, and I didn't want to make such a connection with Morningstar today. It was Liang Gongwei and the others who rushed here, so they could only brighten up Qualcomm's standards.

"Samsung is really good. Well, as for this entry-level mobile phone product... Yike has no plans for the time being." Fang Zhuo responded positively, and said, "But I think the development of solutions based on the Android system is very promising."

He thought for a moment and said: "If possible, I hope Morningstar can design a mainstream mobile phone chip for Yike one day in the future. Yike can invest money to connect with the team. Silicon Valley is recruiting people. I even The naming of the chip has been considered, and it will be called Zhu Rong.”

"However, Zhu Rong is not destined to be able to come out in a short time. If it is an entry-level product, it will impact MediaTek's market share."

"Eco can provide you with the opportunity to participate in the Android system chip solution. The entry-level products in this way can register a new company to lay Android phones on the market."

Fang Zhuo made a complete statement, things have to be done step by step, if you can't do Zhu Rong, you can...

"Since it is an entry-level product, such a chip project can be downgraded, let's do 'Vulcan' first."

If you can’t do Zhu Rong, you can do Vulcan first!

If Morningstar can provide a one-stop solution based on the Android system, entry-level mobile phones will also be a very good market.

In particular, if such mobile phones are rolled out in China, the built-in software based on Android will have a huge spread.

In the past, when demonstrating the development of the Internet, it was often said that Baidu and Penguin are the foundation of the Internet, so there has been great development.

But no matter how basic the Internet is, there must be a hardware carrier.

Forget it in the PC era, the built-in in the smartphone era will undoubtedly greatly promote the competition with the Internet foundation, and see who is more basic.

The mobile king of the Android lineup is to establish a brand, and the entry-level product is a multi-faceted competition that integrates various factors. The first to impact is the domestic white-brand mobile phone, for example, Nokia.

Still like the TV industry, MStar designs and provides one-stop solutions, ice core manufacturing and terminal needs, so that the mobile phones produced by cutting costs are very competitive.

"Mr. Fang is thoughtful." Liang Gongwei heard Mr. Fang's statement, and knew that this man had a plan in mind. He praised, "Vulcan, Vulcan, it sounds good too."

Fang Zhuo had been thinking about "Zhu Rong" for a few days. This "Vulcan" really just blurted out, um, as long as Mr. Liang is satisfied.

He pondered and said: "The Android system is not yet perfect. If Morningstar really wants to, I'm afraid it needs to put a team in Silicon Valley, or in Shanghai. Mr. Liang can understand the Android system we cooperate with Google. In my personal judgment, it has great development prospects and is an opportunity not to be missed.”

Liang Gongwei and general manager Yang Weiyi looked at each other. They discussed these things on the way here. The Android system will be released to the market without licensing fees. Apart from this point, the open source system can meet the needs of more and more consumers. Smart phone needs.

They see this as an opportunity to try.

Give it a go, the bike turns into a motorcycle.

Take a bet, the car is a Land Rover.

"Mr. Fang, if you become the God of Vulcan today, you may be able to become Zhu Rong as the God of Vulcan in the future. Please take care of Mr. Fang." Liang Gongwei stood up with a smile and stretched out his right hand.

Fang Zhuo nodded slightly, thinking that as long as given time and opportunity, little M might not be able to squeeze out big M.

(End of this chapter)