I asked you to save a bankrupt factory and you became the richest man in the world.

Chapter 375 051-052: Unexpected Works! (5000 words today)
[PS: The name has not been changed, it should be: Hillhouse Technology, is finally going public! ]

This laptop computer from Hillhouse is named Hillhouse MateBook.

The research and development of hardware is not difficult. The core difficulty lies in the design and development of the Tianshenghuihua APP, especially the development of the Fangtian painting engine in the artificial intelligence section.

The Fangtian painting engine in later generations was based on advanced hardware conditions to achieve silky smoothness. Compared with the present in 2014, it is really a world of difference.

Under this premise, we also have to match the current not-so-good hardware conditions.

More importantly, in order to achieve the concept of "lightness and thinness", Gao Huaijun had to compress the limited hardware resources.

Andrew Ng felt overwhelmed just thinking about it.

This is a core logic engine based on AI underlying algorithms.

Hillhouse's artificial intelligence team has previously developed two apps, the Beauty Tool and Hillhouse Map, so they are not completely without experience in this area.

However, this is the research and development of engine products that belong to more basic algorithms.

To this end, Gao Huaijun had to hold his nose and set up a special R&D team, which mainly serves the development of artificial intelligence APP products.

But Gao Huaijun thought further.

Now Hillhouse's technology tree is getting deeper and deeper, and many things are beyond its control.

His knowledge is hardly comparable to such in-depth algorithm development.

Therefore, he set up a dedicated Hillhouse Central Research Institute above several major branches.

This Hillhouse Central Research Institute is not affiliated with any branch, but is directly under the Hillhouse ICT Management Committee and reports directly to Gao Huaijun!
Hillhouse will design from the top level and carry out basic research and development specifically targeting some cutting-edge concepts that Gao Huaijun has in his mind.

The technology tree becomes deeper and deeper, relying solely on Gao Huaijun.

No way!
This central research institute is different from the major branches in that it tends to focus on engineering applications.

The Kaohsiung Institute of Technology mainly focuses on theoretical research in cutting-edge science.

The people we are looking for will all be PhDs in basic sciences!
For example, the materials group mainly focuses on the research and development of basic battery materials, such as sodium ion and lithium ion materials.

For example, the Computing and Storage Group mainly recruits interns to study large models and graph neural networks in vertical fields and participate in related algorithm research.

For example, the Internet of Vehicles Innovation Group includes intelligent driving, ADAS, and vehicle control. However, judging from the actual recruitment situation, although the Internet of Vehicles Innovation Center is named after the Internet of Vehicles, it is obviously more interested in sensor-based autonomous driving.

Gradually, some of the original PhDs were transferred here, a framework was set up, and then new PhD candidates were recruited one after another. Only some relatively scarce directions, such as algorithms or autonomous driving, would consider master's level candidates.

It is expected that the entire Hillhouse Research Institute will have about 2016 core R&D personnel by 1000.

After the recruitment news was released, the entire academic community was shocked.

Recruiting around 1000 doctoral-level R&D personnel is no small number!
What is this concept?

For example, Southwest University, an ordinary 211-level school, has only 2024 full-time teachers in 3265.

Moreover, a large proportion of them are PhDs in marginal disciplines such as agronomy, forestry, and some social sciences.

Not to mention the time in 2014 when it was difficult to recruit even PhDs!
Basically, for a 211 university, having 1000 PhDs is considered very good.

With about 1000 PhDs at Hillhouse, all of whom are in cutting-edge fields, it can definitely compete with some of the top 2012 schools in 211!
even. . .

Hillhouse Institute of Academia Sinica has started recruiting postdoctoral fellows.

This is definitely going to be bigger and stronger!

Good guy!
What a good guy!

"Among the domestic companies now, only Zhongwei can compete with it, right?"

"Zhongwei is not good either. Zhongwei mainly studies the communication engineering sector, and the other research is very average."

"In China's electronic technology and automotive sectors, no one can claim to have surpassed Hillhouse Capital with absolute certainty."

"Hillhouse is really getting more and more prestigious now. It even created the Academia Sinica. It's really impressive."

"The competition within Hillhouse is really getting more and more intense. They have even set up a research institute. I don't know what high-tech things they will come up with in the future."

"The technology tree of Gaolingdian is getting more and more awesome. Are you sure this is a Chinese company? A company from a country famous for copycats? This makes me feel a little unconfident!"

"Yes! Yes! It's really Alexander!"
.
. . . . . .

Within Hillhouse, while Gao Huaijun was shocked by such a high-end department as Hillhouse Academia Sinica, he did not think too much about it. He is now racking his brains over the future development of Hillhouse.

Although Hillhouse's sales are growing exponentially, the amount of money it consumes is definitely a terrifying number.

A large amount of technology is accumulating rapidly, but to iterate this ever-expanding scale, more funds must be invested.

For example, the Hillhouse Institute of Academia Sinica is a company that directly engages in basic research and development.

That can really be called a gold-consuming beast.

For a team of 1000 PhDs, their salaries, five social insurances, one housing fund, and various subsidies alone would cost three to four hundred million yuan.

Add to that the materials and equipment they used for the experiment, as well as the monstrous amount of resources consumed, such as electricity, etc., which adds up to another four to five hundred million yuan.

The things they use in their laboratories are basically imported, which can be said to be scarce and expensive. Moreover, you have to wait in line for the goods. Who can you complain to?

Hillhouse Academia Sinica alone invests 1000 billion yuan a year, not including the even more expensive Hillhouse chips, Hillhouse batteries, and Hillhouse artificial intelligence, which all have large teams with more than R&D personnel.

It is hard to imagine how Hillhouse can support so many R&D personnel.

For example, the number of R&D personnel in a company like Lianxiang combined is not as many as the number of R&D personnel in Hillhouse Technologies alone.

Its current sales volume even exceeds the total sales of all Hillhouse companies!

The R&D energy accumulated by Hillhouse is truly terrifying!

At Hillhouse's annual financial work conference, Hillhouse's Chief Financial Officer Zhang Zhong focused on reporting the consumption of Hillhouse's technology research and development segment.

"We are now summarizing and analyzing the annual R&D expenditure from June 2013 to June 6, the current fiscal year."

"Hillhouse Technology currently has 4213 R&D personnel, and the funds consumed for R&D personnel salaries are nearly 8.4 million yuan, and the R&D resource consumption is about 5 million yuan, totaling 13.4 billion yuan."

"Gao Ling Vehicle has 3625 R&D personnel, and the total salary of R&D personnel is about 7.3 million yuan, and the R&D resource consumption is 10 billion yuan, totaling 17.3 billion yuan."

"Hillhouse has 1321 chip R&D personnel, and the total salary required for R&D personnel is about 2.6 million yuan, and the R&D resource consumption is about 3 million yuan, totaling about 5.6 million yuan."

"Gaoling Battery has 1032 R&D personnel, with R&D staff salaries of approximately 2 million yuan, R&D resource consumption of approximately 2 million yuan, and a total R&D fund of approximately 4 million yuan."

"Gao Ling Artificial Intelligence... has 1161 R&D personnel, the required salary for R&D personnel is 2.3 million yuan, the R&D resource consumption is about 1 million yuan, and the total R&D funds are about 3.3 million yuan."

"So we can see that the total R&D expenditure is about 43.6 billion yuan, and the proportion of R&D to sales is 3%."

"And this capital expenditure is the actual expenditure before our financial planning is coordinated."

“It is worth mentioning that compared with the actual expenditure in the previous fiscal year, this year’s annual R&D expenditure has increased by 32%!”

Before concluding, Zhang Zhong gave an additional explanation.

As a core executive of Hillhouse Capital, Zhang Zhong needs to help this behemoth avoid taxes as much as possible.

Financial planning coordination is the most critical part.

Therefore, among his job responsibilities is the statistics and changes of R&D funding losses.

It is the most critical link.

The biggest difference between finance and accounting lies in the different ways of thinking. Financial thinking mainly focuses on the allocation of the company's personnel, finances and materials - how to arrange them more efficiently, while accounting thinking focuses more on the transformation of business information into financial information - which is ultimately reflected in the authenticity and timeliness of the three statements.

Hillhouse's current R&D expenses are rising sharply, and it is estimated that this figure will exceed 10 billion in the year after next!

When Gao Huaijun heard this number, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Zhang Zhong's secret intention was to let Gao Huaijun take it easy.

Although the figure of 3% seems normal, that is because some expenses have not yet been included.

For example, the Hillhouse Capital Research Institute, which will be launched in 2014, the Hillhouse Academia Sinica, and the Hillhouse Yangcheng Research Institute.

According to conservative estimates, a total of 30 billion yuan will be invested in these new institutes.

Combined with the existing R&D institutions, it will be easy to reach 100 billion in the next fiscal year.

Research and development is really expensive! And the cost of Hillhouse chip factory has not been taken into account.

In the future, TSMC's 5nm semiconductor factory in Phoenix, Arizona, the United States, has a total investment of approximately 120 billion U.S. dollars, or approximately 850 billion Chinese yuan, in three years.

The construction cost of a new plant is mainly related to the process node (a few nanometers) and wafer size.

The more advanced the process, the larger the wafer size and the higher the construction cost.

Moreover, each node has been improved by about 20%-30% compared with the previous generation.

Of course, a 65nm semiconductor factory like Hillhouse does not require that much capital, but it still costs 35 billion US dollars, a total of 210 billion yuan!
200 billion!

This is equivalent to Hillhouse Group’s actual total profit in 2013, which was around 255 billion yuan.

The exponential increase in cost at each technology node has first led to wafer fabs having to invest a large portion of their profits directly into the development of the next generation.

This means that only the most profitable wafer fabs can continue to invest in the next generation.

Most companies will not be able to keep up with the pace of technological advancement and will withdraw from R&D.

This is also why TSMC will always be strong. If it were not for the United States in the future, other chip manufacturers would have no chance at all.

And this is not to mention that if Hillhouse starts building a second factory and develops 32nm technology, its own consumption will be even higher.

Such a high level of capital consumption is like a faucet that has been turned on.

I can’t stop it. I absolutely can’t stop it!
This is only the first year after the expansion, 2014.

What's next?
It is becoming increasingly difficult to operate solely relying on one's own funds.

"Ahem, let me say a few words."

"Hillhouse is short of money, and it is becoming increasingly short of money. This is something we can expect in the future."

"However, the core point is that our research and development pace is moving too fast."

"Other companies' mobile phones usually take more than a year to develop, and major iterations take more than two years to develop. Ours takes half a year."

"Other companies' cars usually take more than three years to make a major iteration, but we managed to roll it out in just half a year."

"It is fast, but the overlap of funds is definitely very serious. This is based on the premise that General Manager Gao provides targeted guidance on our R&D progress."

"If we slow down the pace of research and development, our business development may be more stable."

Ning Yuan, a senior executive standing by, said.

Only Ning Yuan dares to say this!

Others, such as Min Weiguo and Wang Fengying, who are later generations, dare not even speak a word.

As an old servant who followed Gao Huaijun to build the empire, and who has assisted two generations of Hillhouse owners, one old and one young, his prestige in Hillhouse is definitely second only to the first person.

I have to say, what he said makes a lot of sense.

People in this era are not like Gao Huaijun, who are uncertain about the future.

Hillhouse is so radical now, just like Yongyuan Real Estate in the future, no one can persuade it!
As bystanders, they were naturally terrified.

Hillhouse is a big ship with a large group of loyal fans following it.

They didn't want the ship to sink so easily.

Hearing this, everyone present nodded.

Hillhouse's pace is so fast that it's almost the speed of light.

Working at Hillhouse for one year, the solid work intensity is equivalent to two years outside, or three years abroad.

And this is a continuous inertia, no one knows when this company will collapse.

However, Gao Huaijun frowned.

If Gao Huaijun was an ordinary person, an ordinary leader, then these suggestions would be extremely pertinent.

But he was reborn in this life, and under his leadership, Hillhouse developed rapidly from an ordinary electric fan factory to its current size, with annual sales exceeding 1500 billion yuan, in just 10 years!

Now, it is already 2014, and in this era, both the automobile industry and the mobile phone industry have gained about three years’ advance compared to the previous life due to the intervention of Gao Huaijun.

Under this premise, if Hillhouse slows down its pace further and its golden finger becomes ineffective, it will still not have developed into a top-tier large company.

Whether he can control such a huge monster to surf in this era is a big question.

You know, there are many children of destiny like Joe Busi in this era.

Their abilities and luck are both incredible.

Therefore, in Gao Huaijun's opinion, their suggestions are too conservative.

Isn’t it just lack of money?

Whether it is Hillhouse Artificial Intelligence or Hillhouse Academia Sinica, they are on the right track.

These actions, in his opinion, were correct!

Some companies believe that scientific research is a huge waste and it would be better to invest in marketing to make money faster.

But Gao Huaijun felt it was worth it!
Moreover, he plans to increase Hillhouse's R&D funding to about 10% of sales in the short term in the future.

In the long run, it will increase to 15%!

You know, Zhongwei has always maintained a level of around 9%.

Hillhouse is now preparing to focus on more basic disciplines, that is, to compete with China in basic science and technology!
Are you asking Hillhouse to slow down its R&D pace?

This is impossible!

This is absolutely impossible!

These projects are costly and take a long time to develop, but after Gao Huaijun gave a clear direction for the development, the returns will be extremely amazing.

They have only one disadvantage, that is, they are expensive!

The current idea should not be to cut costs and reduce the cost of these basic research and development funds, but to grit our teeth and face the challenges head-on, using this money to create greater value!
He coughed and continued, "Here, Lao Ning and I have slightly different opinions!"

"These expenses are all expenses we have to pay for."

"Whether it is unmanned driving systems, the research and development of higher energy-level battery materials, or the in-depth involvement of large models in vertical fields, these are powerful weapons for Hillhouse Technology and Hillhouse Vehicles in the future."

"Without financial support, how can we stand out among so many experts abroad for such in-depth weapons research and development?"

“This money must be spent!”

“This money must be spent!”

"Are you feeling stressed about this?"

Speaking of this, Gao Huaijun couldn't help but smile.

The executives present couldn't help but laugh awkwardly.

Now the competition at Hillhouse has entered a white-hot stage.

Now, not only senior executives in general functions, but even some managers in the R&D field are duplicating skills in related professional fields.

Those who cannot reproduce the product or have not participated in front-line research and development for too long may be eliminated.

So deep down, they don't want Hillhouse to be too inward-looking.

This is almost squeezing the people below into a cookie!
However, graduates from outside are eager to come in, knowing that this is China's R&D stronghold.

So now all the contestants on the field had to dance along.

Once the huge war machine starts moving, everyone has no choice but to fight for their lives!
"So... I have decided that Hillhouse Technologies will be listed in three months!" Gao Huaijun made up his mind and said firmly.

The executives present were still immersed in the atmosphere of the rolled-up cookie just now, and now heard what Gao Huaijun said.

They couldn't help but feel shocked!
Hillhouse Technology is finally going to be listed!
(End of this chapter)