Reborn in 2011, 985 missing from two copies

Chapter 580 Qualcomm's sky is falling, Xingyi Semiconductor is expanding! (Happy New Year)

“All products are available on all major online and offline platforms.”

"Ele.me has launched services in hundreds of cities, supporting online ordering, and Ele.me riders delivering goods to your door."

"Thank you for your support. Goodbye!"

At this point, the press conference came to an end. The release of so many new products at one time instantly caused a sensation on the entire Internet.

A series of rush buying activities have begun in full swing.

There are so many products, including the high-end 4K 60-inch Xingyi smart TV, the quasi-flagship S1Pro, and products with low thresholds. All of them are powerful and meet various needs.

Coupled with the traffic from Double Eleven, although the new products do not have any preferential subsidies, they are still hot-selling across the entire network.

There were long queues offline, and passers-by couldn't help but come into the store to watch and buy.

This kind of real queuing to buy has an incomparable marketing effect offline!

People only believe what they see.

There are queues at every Xingyi store, Mayu store, and Xingyue store. You may not be tempted when you see them once, but if you see them twice, you will be unable to move.

Once you enter the store, you can't leave unless you spend several thousand dollars.

Especially the Unbounded S series, which has the price of a mid-range phone and the experience of a high-end phone, and its sales are very hot.

Soon, good news came out:

[Xingyi TV X60 pro, domestic sales exceeded units in five minutes. ]

[Xingyi Tablet 2nd Generation, domestic sales exceeded 50 units in eight minutes. ]

【Unbounded S1 pro, sales volume across the entire network exceeded 100 million units in ten minutes. 】

【Unbounded S1, sales volume across the entire network exceeded 300 million units in minutes. 】

……

As the sales success reports came out, the entire network was shocked:

"Oh my god, the Xingyi TV X19999 pro, which costs 60 yuan, sold 10 units in five minutes! The revenue is nearly billion!"

"This is just domestic sales, not including overseas sales."

"Boundless phones are even more terrifying. S1 pro sold one million units in ten minutes, and S1 sold three million units in fifteen minutes."

"This is crazy, really crazy. If we continue to sell like this, we'll run out of stock."

"I can't afford the Xphone 3 which costs over yuan, but the S series with no borders which costs to yuan is no problem at all."

"That's right. For the same configuration, other domestic brands also cost around 3,000 yuan. Their systems are not as good as those of the Ultrawide phones. Their quality, performance, brand, after-sales service, etc. are not as good as those of the Ultrawide phones."

"That's right. If you buy a Samsung at this price, you'll only get a product with poor performance."

"The performance of the Unbounded S series is much better than that of the iPhone 5S, but the price is lower than that of the iPhone 5C. It makes sense that they are selling so well."

……

Looking at these sales, Jacob at Qualcomm headquarters was furious:
"Two models of Xingyi tablet 2nd generation, 2 models of Xingyi TV 7nd generation, and two models of Wujie S series mobile phones!"

"Wang Yi released so many new products at once, all upgraded to 28-nanometer technology, and they are all hot sellers!"

"Let our containment plan go completely to waste!"

"TSMC's supply cut has become a joke!"

"Farke! Farke!"

The more Jacob thought about it, the angrier he became. He had thought that the containment and suppression of Xingyi Technology, even if it didn't amount to a complete victory, would at least achieve certain results and cause Xingyi Technology to suffer certain losses.

But now it seems that Xingyi Technology has already prepared countermeasures and is not affected at all.

This is a slap in Qualcomm's face!

Or the kind that makes a popping sound.

Jacob was furious: "So after all our operations, we paid a large amount of liquidated damages and provoked TSMC, but instead of suppressing Xingyi Technology, it prompted Xingyi Technology to fully upgrade its new product line, which became a hot seller and made a lot of money?"

“We Qualcomm are good people?”

Hearing this, all the senior executives lowered their heads and dared not speak a word.

Even though it was still late at night in the United States, no one felt sleepy, not even one person was sleepy.

There is no way out. Qualcomm is in this situation. Shareholders are facing a halving of share prices and shrinking net worth, and senior executives are also facing layoffs and salary cuts.

Not to mention feeling sleepy, I can’t sleep at all. I’m too worried to sleep!

Senior executives and shareholders have spoken out:
"The main reason is that Xingyi Technology's new products are all hot-selling, which has led to a slowdown in the sales of products equipped with our Qualcomm chips, which in turn has led to a slowdown in the sales of our Qualcomm chips!"

"That's right, the mid-to-high-end market is so small. Except for Apple and Samsung, which use a large number of their own chips, the others use Kunpeng chips from Xingyi Technology and Snapdragon chips from Qualcomm."

"The more Kunpeng chip-based devices are sold, the fewer Qualcomm chips we sell. This is inevitable."

"Our revenue and profits have already dropped significantly this year, and our stock price has plummeted. Our total market value has dropped by 30% compared to last year's peak! And next year, our situation will only be worse. Our revenue, profits, and stock price will continue to plummet, and the plummet will be significant."

"Especially this time, Xingyi Technology released so many new products at once, which not only hit all smart TV manufacturers, tablet manufacturers, and mobile phone manufacturers, but also hit the chip suppliers behind these manufacturers, especially Qualcomm!"

"Next, our Qualcomm chip sales will decline, and even the chips that have already been sold will be cancelled."

"It's not necessary to cancel the order, right?"

Jacob's expression turned very ugly, but he lacked confidence in his heart.

However, what are you afraid of?

At this time, the secretary came in:
"Chairman, Samsung called and said they want to cut 30% of the Snapdragon chips they purchased!"

Jacob's mouth twitched: "..."

As for the reason, he also understood.

Xingyi Technology launched the borderless S series of mobile phones, which had a serious impact on the iPhone and Samsung phones.

Especially Samsung's mid-range mobile phones, which also cost three to four thousand yuan, but are far inferior to the Unlimited S series and are directly sold out.

Samsung tablets and Samsung TVs are also instantly sold out by Xingyi tablets and Xingyi TVs.

In this case, it is natural to cut 30% of Qualcomm's chip orders.

When the expected sales of a product decline, it is normal to cancel orders.

"What's even worse is that I'm worried that not only Samsung will do this, but Microsoft and Google will do the same next!"

A senior executive spoke in a deep voice, and everyone's expressions became even uglier.

Especially since the Xingyi tablet was launched globally, it was a critical blow to both Microsoft and Google tablets.

"This is all Franz Quentin's fault! If it weren't for his brilliant plan, Xingyi Technology wouldn't have acted so ruthlessly, Samsung wouldn't have reduced its orders, and Qualcomm wouldn't have suffered such heavy losses!"

Jacob's face darkened and he looked at Franz Quentin: "What do you want to say?"

Franz Quentin broke out in a cold sweat: "Chairman, I... I... I didn't expect Xingyi Technology to be so tenacious and to be able to turn a desperate situation into a king bomb. Alas, I..."

"Humph! There are so many things you can't imagine!"

Jacob was furious and wanted to say, "You never thought you'd leave Qualcomm, did you?"

But considering that the layoffs still needed to be pushed forward by Franz Quentin, he simply changed the subject: "Do a good job of layoffs, and increase the layoff ratio by another 15%!"

Franz Quentin's face changed drastically. "Chairman, now the administrative department, marketing department, logistics department and other departments have all laid off a large number of employees. If we lay off another 15%, the basic operations of these departments will be in trouble. Even the overall operation of the entire company will be in big trouble."

This time, Jacob's initial request for layoffs was 30%!
The entire group laid off 30% of its employees.

In order to maintain Qualcomm's R&D capabilities, Franz Quentin made painstaking arrangements, avoiding the R&D department and allocating 30% of the quota to the logistics department, marketing department, channel department, etc.

It was for this reason that all these departments were laid off by 35%-40%, and only the R&D department was saved.

But with 30% to 40% of the staff missing all of a sudden, the pressure on these departments increased, and two people had to do the work of three people.

Once someone takes a vacation, it becomes work for four people.

Now the chairman has ordered another round of layoffs, and he wants to lay off another 15% of the employees. That’s even more terrible!

"Chairman, we really can't lay off any more people. If we continue to lay off employees like this, the marketing and administrative departments will have big problems. Other non-R&D departments will not be able to cope with it either and are already working overtime." Franz Quentin said quickly.

Jacob took a deep breath and said, "In that case, let's lay off the R&D department."

"what!"

“The R&D department is going to lay off employees?”

Everyone's expressions changed drastically.

Any company will be in big trouble once it starts laying off employees in its R&D department.

Especially for semiconductor companies, without R&D, they will be useless.

Other companies, if they lose their R&D, can still look for OEM and OEM services.

But the chip industry can’t be organized in this way.

You can't just ask Xingyi Technology to manufacture Qualcomm chips, put the Qualcomm brand on them, and then sell them to the outside world?
This is unrealistic!

Jacob sighed: "In the past, our Qualcomm chips were selling well, so even if we maintained four product lines, Snapdragon 200, 400, 600, and 800, and developed more than ten chips every year, it was no problem."

"But now, our Qualcomm chips are not selling well, so there is no need to keep so many product lines and so many R&D teams."

“Product lines that need to be streamlined should be streamlined, and employees that need to be laid off should be laid off!”

Everyone sighed, but had to admit that this was inevitable.

Qualcomm's annual revenue last year was 200 billion US dollars.

In the first half of this year, Qualcomm's revenue was also 100 billion US dollars.

But in the second half of the year, the revenue in four months was only 3 billion US dollars!

If this continues, Qualcomm's annual revenue this year will be at most US$140 billion.

Not only did it fail to achieve the expected revenue of 250 billion US dollars, but it fell to 140 billion US dollars!
That's really tragic.

The main reason is that Xingyi Semiconductor began to sell a large number of Kunpeng chips, replacing a large market share of Qualcomm.

What’s even more terrible is that we still have 140 billion US dollars this year. If this continues, I’m afraid that all 140 billion US dollars will be gone next year!

Annual revenue of US$200 billion can support Qualcomm's development of more than ten chips a year.

That year, revenue fell to more than 100 billion US dollars, profits declined sharply, and Qualcomm could only develop a few chips a year.

The R&D team can be reduced by half.

There’s nothing we can do about it!

In this case, layoffs are inevitable.

After all, the salaries of semiconductor R&D personnel are the highest in the world, and there is no doubt about that. Franz Quentin took a deep breath and said, "Okay, Chairman, I will try my best to lay off those less important R&D personnel and make up another 15%."

"Yeah!" Jacob nodded.

“Do we still need to sign a non-compete agreement?” Franz Quentin asked.

Jacob took a deep breath and waved his hand: "Forget it, those who were laid off are useless. It doesn't matter whether they are signed or not. After all, once they are signed, we still have to pay them salaries every year, which is another huge expense!"

A non-compete agreement is not something you can just sign.

Once signed, after layoffs and during the non-compete period, part of the salary must be paid as usual.

If it were the previous Qualcomm, with high revenue and high profits, so many people would not care at all. They would just sign the contract and get compensation.

But now, Qualcomm's revenue, profits, and stock prices have all declined. It has to tighten its belt and has to lay off a large number of employees. Where does it get the money to compensate its employees?
If there really was money to compensate, there would be no need to lay off employees.

In fact, industry ban agreements are only for the most core top talents.

Ordinary R&D engineers, Mavericks, are not in this range.

Just like Texas Instruments before, chip engineers are considered high-end in other companies, but at Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, they are just high-end cattle and horses.

That's it.

Only people of the level of Mr. Hu and Mr. Liang are worthy of signing an industry ban agreement.

Add to that the fact that industry ban agreements are valid for a maximum of two years, and some states can only sign one year, and it makes even less sense.

Besides, if you really want to avoid it, there are plenty of ways to do it.

For example, Lei Jun poached a team from Geely Research Institute, but they did not join Xiaomi Auto but joined Lei Jun's Shunwei Capital. This way they avoided the non-compete agreement, but they could still secretly help develop Xiaomi Auto.

Liang went to Samsung Semiconductor and also had a non-compete agreement with TSMC, but Samsung arranged for Liang to enter a Korean university to avoid some...

It was not until TSMC filed consecutive lawsuits and collected sufficient evidence that the non-compete agreement came into effect.

But these are only limited to top talents and top experts.

Other junior engineers, ordinary engineers, and even ordinary experts are not within this range.

In a word, it’s not worth it and unnecessary!

After all, you don’t even want to pay redundancy compensation, and you want to lay you off without working, and then continue to give you subsidies for the non-compete agreement and continue to pay you a salary?

This is just a joke.

In the following days, all new products of Xingyi Technology were hot-selling, and the Double Eleven record continued to rise.

Not only were the products discontinued, but the inventory was quickly cleared out and all of them were taken off the shelves.

The new products that were newly launched were also hot-selling across the entire network, and revenue soared.

Qualcomm, on the other hand, is engaged in massive layoffs!
The layoff rate is as high as 45%!

Originally, only non-R&D departments were laid off, but this time, the R&D department was also laid off, and the layoff rate was as high as 15%!

This directly caused the employees in Qualcomm's R&D department to feel like the sky was falling!

The semiconductor industry offers high pay and high income, but it is also the hardest industry to find a job in.

Especially in the field of mobile chip design, Xiaomi originally had more than a few companies, including Qualcomm, Nvidia, Texas Instruments, Intel...

That was also the best time for the industry. Because Qualcomm's salary was low, I directly jumped to Texas Instruments. Intel next door was also poaching people. Nvidia entered the mobile chip market and was also recruiting talents.

Those years were the happiest time for American chip engineers. Several companies were competing with each other and the salaries continued to rise.

But now?

It’s different in the past.

Texas Instruments' mobile division has laid off almost all its employees, and Nvidia's mobile chip division has also laid off half of its employees, completely abandoning the development of mobile phone chips. Only half of them will be retained to develop tablet chips!
Intel's mobile chip division is also half dead. The mobile chip division is almost disbanded, and the baseband division is also scrapped...

In short, several major chip giants under America are laying off employees and cutting salaries.

Qualcomm was originally the last safe haven, with a promising future, stability and wealth.

But now Qualcomm's profits have plummeted, its stock price has been halved, and it has started laying off employees, directly laying off 45%!

Among them, R&D personnel account for 15%!

The sky is really falling!

The kind that's broken into pieces!

It's not easy to change jobs.

Whether or not to reduce salary is not the issue; the key is whether or not to find a job.

It is especially difficult for those who do not want to leave the United States.

There’s no way, the semiconductor market is so big.

As the domestic market grows rapidly, America has to keep shrinking.

In particular, many Texas Instruments employees did not want to leave their hometown and did not follow Williams to Xiaguo, but instead jumped to Qualcomm.

But I didn’t expect that I would be laid off again…

What’s worse is that I can’t find a job, and I can’t even ask for a pay cut.

Mobile semiconductor companies throughout the United States are shrinking and laying off employees. There is no shortage of people at all.

In desperation, those who were laid off began to huddle together and discuss countermeasures:

"Fuck, this is so unfair of Qualcomm. I've been an employee for five years, and they laid me off."

"I'm a seven-year employee. What did I say?"

"I was even worse off. After leaving Texas Instruments, I didn't follow Williams to Xingyi Technology. I came to Qualcomm. I thought I had a bright future and at least I could guarantee the same treatment as Texas Instruments. But I didn't expect to be laid off. The sky fell."

"Me too. Last month I was still laughing at my former Texas Instruments colleague who was leaving for Nvidia and was about to be laid off, but I ended up being the first to be laid off."

"It's all tears if I talk too much. I was laid off and can't find a job. My wife wants to divorce me and wants to divide my assets and compensation."

"Oh, shit! This is the worst situation. Once divorced, you can't keep your family or property, and you still have to pay child support and alimony to your ex-wife."

"That's right. Once divorced, I, a semiconductor elite, will become homeless. Federal law is too unfriendly to us."

"We didn't think highly of the former Texas Instruments colleagues who followed Williams to Xiaguo at first, but now they are all doing very well. Not only have they all received promotions and salary increases, but their happiness index is also much higher than ours. I'm really envious of them."

"Don't mention it, George, do you know? You don't know, right?"

"That's right. He was a nobody at Texas Instruments, a subordinate of Williams, a young engineer that none of us knew. But he ended up at Xingyi Technology, and in a few years, he became the president of Xingyi Semiconductor's mobile chip. The Kunpeng 800 SOC, which beats Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 and Nvidia Tegra 902 in seconds, was developed under his leadership!"

"What? George is just a small fry in Texas Instruments? I thought he was a big shot in your company!"

"He is neither a big shot nor a small shot. 90% of TI people don't know him. He is just lucky to have met Mr. Wang, a noble man, and that's why he has soared to the sky."

"In this regard, Xingyi Semiconductor and Mr. Wang are really great. They are very good to their employees, know how to assign people to the right positions, and provide them with many opportunities. Unlike the rubbish Qualcomm and Nvidia, which have laid off employees one after another, damn, they are killing me. My wife is also considering divorce."

"At 20, marriage is fine as long as there is love. At 40, marriage is not fine without work."

"But in this situation, I really can't find a job. I envy George and his friends who went to Xingyi Semiconductor. They are winners in life."

"Yeah, if I had known this, I would have gone to Xingyi Semiconductor. Maybe I would have been the second Williams and the second George."

"Hahaha, when we were at Texas Instruments, our level was pretty good."

"By the way, is it possible to go to Xingyi Semiconductor now?"

"Is it possible? They are all shrinking, so how can they expand enrollment?"

"Maybe it will work? We have to try. After all, there is no other way."

"I'm familiar with Williams, I'll give it a try."

Soon, Elaine called Williams, exchanged some pleasantries, and explained her intentions.

Williams thought for a moment and said, "I can't guarantee whether we will recruit anyone or not. I'll ask Director Wang for you."

"Thank you, thank you very much."

"Small thing!"

Williams was filled with emotion when he saw his former comrades, and even project directors at the same level, fall to this point.

I feel more and more that I made the right choice.

Anyone who did not join Xingyi Technology but chose Qualcomm, Nvidia, or Intel is now facing layoffs and unable to find a job, or is getting divorced, right?
Williams got a chill in an instant, and then called Wang Yi:

"Chairman, my former colleague from TI jumped to Qualcomm. He said Qualcomm is currently undergoing a massive layoff, with a total layoff of 45%, of which 15% are R&D personnel!"

"Plus, Nvidia Mobile and Intel Mobile are both reducing their staff. They can't find jobs, are getting divorced, and are about to become homeless. So I want to ask, should we recruit people? They are all willing to come to Xiaguo and Xingyi Semiconductor."

"Qualcomm layoffs?"

Wang Yi laughed: "It seems that Qualcomm has really been hurt!"

"Yes, I talked to them. Qualcomm's revenue has dropped sharply in the second half of this year. The annual revenue will not reach 140 billion US dollars, which is a sharp drop of 200% compared with last year's 30 billion US dollars. It is likely to continue to fall next year and drop to 100 billion!"

"Very good, the plan to destroy Gao has made good progress." Wang Yi was in a good mood.

As long as Qualcomm is defeated, Mike will lose an arm or even a branch of his army.

In future technological wars, America will suffer heavy losses.

"What about the R&D personnel laid off by Qualcomm? We..." Williams asked.

He still has some feelings for the brothers who came out of TI, especially those with outstanding abilities, whom he values ​​very much.

"Recruit!" Wang Yi said decisively: "As long as they are outstanding R&D talents, capable, and willing to come to Xia Country, we will recruit them. Tell them that the salary depends on their ability, just come."

The Internet industry prefers young people who can work 996 hours a day.

The semiconductor industry, on the other hand, prefers experienced veterans.

Veterans like Williams can easily lead a team.

Moreover, these people are talented, and it would be a waste if Xingyi Technology did not recruit them.

The competition in semiconductors is ultimately a competition for talent.

Now Xingyi Semiconductor's mobile chip department has four teams, each with its own responsibilities.

George's team is responsible for the development of flagship chips.

Zhang Chao's team is responsible for developing Xingyi Technology's own instruction set and architecture.

Pang Liguo's team is responsible for the research and development of baseband.

There is also a comprehensive chip team that specializes in the research and development of router chips, wifi Bluetooth chips, fast charging chips, HIFI chips, etc.

Now that Qualcomm is undergoing a massive layoff, Wang Yi can completely recruit these people and set up a fifth team to specialize in developing or modifying mid- and low-end processors!
(End of this chapter)