Reborn since 1993

Chapter 393 Making the Best Use of Everything
It's no wonder that Hu Zixian called it out. Dongling Hi-Tech's R&D is divided into two parts. One part is naturally Dongling Hi-Tech's own technical department, which is managed by Chen Tao, and the annual funding is borne by the headquarters.

Another part is the Hanxi Joint Laboratory that Li Dongling established a few years ago in cooperation with Hanxi Jiaotong University, which was later expanded to include Hanxi University of Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Yenching University and other universities.

The more than 400 million yuan of funds will be allocated to research and development departments such as the Han-Xi Joint Laboratory, Doxin Semiconductor, Oriental Optoelectronics, and Shenzhou Storage.

The technical department of Dongling Hi-Tech's headquarters, together with the Hanxi Joint Laboratory, have actually consumed far more funds than the original decision to use 5% of profits as R&D funding.

The original plan was to take out 5% of the profits. That was taken out with gritted teeth. At that time, Dongling Hi-Tech had just been established and it was unknown whether it could survive. This money was taken out in order to jointly develop the "Sirius" domestic landline telephone chip with Hanxi Jiaotong University. It was money that was taken out with gritted teeth.

Not to mention the lithography machines, computer chips, mobile phone chips, solid-state hard drive research and development, and Guangwei's carbon fiber research and development projects, the funds are not from this 5% of the funds, but are directly borne by Dongling Hi-Tech headquarters.

But even if it is 5% of the profit, it is nearly million yuan. It may not sound like a lot in the future, but in this era, it is already a wealthy battle for many domestic universities and research institutes.

This year, the total research and development funds distributed to a number of universities, research institutes, state-owned enterprise R&D departments, and various R&D units in China nominally amounted to 30 billion yuan.

In other words, the research and development funds that hundreds of universities, hundreds of research institutes, and technical departments of state-owned enterprises can obtain through approval only add up to 30 billion.

Of course, this does not include the funds earned by universities through school-enterprises and the funds invested by state-owned enterprises themselves, but the amount that each university and research institute can get from the domestic financial department is estimated to be tens of millions at most, and hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands at least.

The funding that Dongling Hi-Tech has invested in the Han-Xi Joint Laboratory exceeds that of a large number of universities. The funding that can be applied for is really not a small amount in China.

For universities such as Hanxi Jiaotong University, Harbin Institute of Technology, and Hanxi University of Technology that have joined the Hanxi Joint Laboratory, the funds allocated from the Hanxi Joint Laboratory each year have become the most important source of R&D funds for these universities.

"The funds invested in the Hanxi Joint Laboratory, plus Dongxin Semiconductor's...special R&D projects, and the R&D investment from the headquarters' technical department, Dongling Hi-Tech's annual R&D expenditure has reached 1.8% of its total revenue!

This kind of R&D investment, based on Dongling Hi-Tech's revenue, has far exceeded that of its domestic peers, and even exceeds the R&D investment of many overseas technology companies!"

After making the estimate, Hu Zixian said to Li Dongling that he was the chief financial officer of Dongling Hi-Tech and needed to consider the operation of the entire Dongling Hi-Tech.

In addition, Hu Zixian suffered losses in Yazhou and attached great importance to cash flow. He has been continuously improving the cash flow reserves of Dongling Hi-Tech to ensure that Dongling Hi-Tech can survive for two to three years or even longer without laying off employees even if it does not make money.

For Hu Zixian, being the chief steward is not an easy job. It seems that Dongling Hi-Tech earns a lot, but it spends even more.

So many people rely on Dongling Hi-Tech for their livelihoods, and their salaries and bonuses need to be paid on time every month. If the production base is to start operation, raw materials must be purchased. If a new factory is to be opened, land and equipment must be purchased, and even overseas engineers must be hired.

In addition, Li Dongling has hardly stopped in the past few years and has invested in many companies, all of which cost money. Hu Zixian also gritted his teeth and spent every penny carefully!

Of course, those companies that rely on loans from banks, municipal investment companies, state-owned investment companies, and even overseas financial groups don’t care about these things at all. They just want to enjoy the moment and spend as much as they can as long as they can borrow money, because they don’t even think about paying back the money. If they can’t pay back, the worst that can happen is that the company will be taken away…

But Dongling Hi-Tech is different. Dongling Hi-Tech was defeated with bare hands by a group of people sitting in the conference room today. Including Hu Zixian, they have all put in a lot of effort. They have a large group of supporters behind them who rely on them for their livelihood. Naturally, they don't want Dongling Hi-Tech to collapse.

"Dongling Hi-Tech is a latecomer in the technology industry. If we just want to stay in a remote corner and stay in China, we really don't need to invest too much money, but..."

Li Dongling looked at Ren Yuefeng, Hu Zixian, Zhang Ao and others in the conference room, "If Dongling Hi-Tech wants to go overseas, it will have to compete with Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, IBM, Sony, Toshiba, and even stronger opponents!
Dongling Hi-Tech's technology is far inferior to theirs and is restricted by their patents. If it wants to catch up, it must invest more in research and development funds.

Countless wars in the world have proven that those who lag behind will be beaten. If the funds are not used for military purposes, then they will be used for compensation!"

Listening to Li Dongling's words, Ren Yuefeng, who was born as a professional manager, looked at Li Dongling deeply. Li Dongling's words were incompatible with the wave of global division of labor set off by America. Now America and old Europe are advocating global division of labor and promoting it vigorously. According to the rules set by America, every region and every company can find their own position in this system. As long as they follow America's arrangements, everyone can make money. It's simply a win, right...

But if you really believe in this theory and put your life in the hands of others, then in the past, a number of domestic companies such as ZTE, Chrysanthemum Factory, and Ofilm were strangled and tossed around by America. This is the result of believing in this theory.

Li Dongling didn’t care whether other people believed it or not. Anyway, Li Dongling was not prepared to put the lifeblood of Dongling Hi-Tech in the hands of other people.

The rest of the people in the conference room were not too surprised by Li Dongling's statement. Since the establishment of Dongling Hi-Tech, its performance was obviously different from other domestic companies.

When faced with foreign brands and overseas companies, other domestic companies either choose to avoid fighting or go up to them to curry favor. However, Dongling Hi-Tech chose another path and has fought against Microsoft, Siemens, and Toshiba successively.

You didn't admit defeat at the beginning, so you can't kneel down now. Besides, Lao Guo from Deyun Club once said that sometimes even if you are willing to bow your head and admit defeat, and run over to be someone's dog, others won't want to accept you because they want to eat dog meat, not a lackey!

"Next year, the total R&D funding for Dongling Hi-Tech, including the Hanxi Joint Laboratory, Dongxin Semiconductor and other departments, will be increased to 3% of revenue, and to more than 5% within two years!"

Li Dongling said that upon hearing this, Chen Tao, Wu Xinyi, and the two managers of Oriental Optoelectronics, Tang Qinliang and Miao Xuguang, all showed joy on their faces. The increase in R&D funding could not be better for their money-eating department.

Hu Zixian frowned, a worried look on his face. The funding was not something that could be easily changed. With this move, all the plans of Dongling Hi-Tech for next year would probably have to be readjusted.

Although he was somewhat reluctant, Hu Zixian muttered something and said, "The Finance Department and the Budget Management Committee will readjust the investment and expenditure of various plans for next year, but 3% of the funds is really..."

This money was not spent by him, but Hu Zixian still felt the pain. The amount of money invested was really too much. There were many domestic companies that could not earn as much as Dongling Hi-Tech invested in research and development.

Hu Zixian felt that too much money was spent, but Li Dongling felt that it was still a little short of the mark. The technology industry worldwide has not yet completely formed a generation gap. As long as you are willing to spend money and the R&D direction is correct, there is hope of catching up.

If not, Li Dongling would have to deal with Soros coming to Southeast Asia to reap the profits. He estimated that he might have to invest more in research and development, but he couldn't rashly invest too much money now, lest something unexpected happen!
After spending so much money, Li Dongling must see the effect first. He looked at Chen Tao and said, "Next year, in addition to continuing to upgrade the Silver Sable Mouse, Shenzhou Phone, Xiaolingtong, and Shenzhou USB flash drive, the technical department also needs to develop several new projects!"

Whether it is the Shenzhou digital cordless phone or the Xiaolingtong mobile phone, they need to change their appearance and upgrade some functions every year, otherwise how can they attract more users...

Chen Tao took the two plans and flipped through them for a while. "The repeater and electronic dictionary projects can be done by the technical department!"

So much money has been spent, so much R&D equipment has been purchased, and so many R&D personnel have been hired. R&D centers have been set up in the provincial capital of Hanxi and the capital of Yanjing. The Dongling Hi-Tech Technology Department is also preparing to build an innovation laboratory in Silicon Valley, America, to recruit talents overseas for Dongling Hi-Tech.

If he fails to develop a repeater and an electronic dictionary, Chen Tao will not be able to stay any longer, without Li Dongling asking for permission.

"The research and development of a repeater is not difficult. In essence, it is a repeater that converts a tape recorder into digital signals. The technical department will be able to complete it in the first half of next year!"

Chen Tao is confident about the repeater. "As for the electronic dictionary, it will take some time. The hardware part is not difficult, but the most important thing for the electronic dictionary is to adapt the software function, which may take some time!"

Chen Tao is an expert at hardware, but he is not completely ignorant of software. It’s just that his level is much lower than that of hardware.

"The software functions of the electronic dictionary, as well as the games that come with it, will be left to Kingsoft and Xishanju. In the future, Dongling Hi-Tech's business involving software can cooperate with Kingsoft!" said Li Dongling.

(End of this chapter)