Reborn since 1993

Chapter 416 A Last Stand

To be honest, the salary that Li Dongling offered to the technical department was high, but this money should not be wasted. It is not easy for the project development team of the technical department to get this money!

Just like the communication technology R&D team led by Luo Zheng, the current research and development projects are actually divided into four parts. The first part is naturally to provide technical research and development of radio frequency chips for Xiaolingtong mobile phones.

The second part is baseband research and development, and the third part is the research and development of 2G communication technology. 2G is based on GSM and is dominated by companies such as Ericsson and Nokia. The research and development team led by Luo Zheng mainly develops 2G baseband technology in this regard!
The last part is the exploration of 3G communication technology. Although 2G has not yet been fully popularized, mainstream communication technology companies have basically begun to explore 3G technology.

The pattern of the 2G communication era was basically determined at the World Communications Conference a few years ago. The standard was the GSM communication technology fully supported by old Europe, with the CDMA standard of Qualcomm of America added as a supporting role.

Ericsson, Nokia and Qualcomm basically occupy 2 to percent of the patents and standards in G communications.

Among them, the GSM standard is more mature and stable than CDMA technology. The 2G era is basically the era of GSM!
As for CDMA, it got some orders in America, Canada, South Korea and other places. More importantly, Qualcomm was making base stations, chips, and mobile phones at the same time, which made the communications industry very wary of Qualcomm and worried that it would eat the whole thing alone. Communication equipment manufacturers, in particular, all regarded Qualcomm as a rival and were unwilling to support it!
The 2G era has not yet fully arrived, but the market has already been divided up. Companies like Qualcomm are now setting their sights on 3G, including Dongling Hi-Tech!

Li Dongling asked Luo Zheng about the progress of baseband research and development. The research and development of him and his team is not just as simple as a technology. The future layout of Dongling Hi-Tech is closely related to the baseband chip!
Li Dongling was planning to find a good opportunity to sell the Xiaolingtong brand to a buyer, and then launch a mobile phone with a baseband chip that could support multiple standards such as GSM and CDMA.

But the prerequisite is that Dongling Hi-Tech can produce 2G mobile phones, including baseband chips and other core components. Otherwise, if Xiaolingtong is sold but Dongling Hi-Tech fails to produce 2G mobile phones, it will not be a case of cutting leeks, but digging a hole and burying itself.

"At present, the most advanced baseband technology comes from overseas companies such as Texas Instruments and Qualcomm. Our technical department has completed the research and development of channel encoders and digital signal processors, and is currently developing modems and interface modules.

In terms of baseband chips, Dongling Hi-Tech is the only company in China and even in Asia that is currently developing baseband technology. There are not many technologies that can be purchased overseas, and the technical department needs to develop them on its own. It is expected that Dongling Hi-Tech's technical department will be able to initially launch experimental basebands next year!"

Luo Zheng spoke frankly. As Ni Guangnan's disciple, he was the one who helped Lenovo develop the most advanced switches, which were even more technologically advanced than the switches produced by the Chrysanthemum Factory at the same time.

However, within Lenovo at that time, Boss Liu and Ni Guangnan were at loggerheads with each other. Luo Zheng was Ni Guangnan's disciple, and the switch was also a project led by Ni Guangnan. Boss Liu would rather destroy Lenovo's switch project than let Ni Guangnan and Luo Zheng's switch project succeed.

As someone who can rival the technical team of Juhua Factory in terms of switches, Luo Zheng's level of communication technology is definitely the best in the country.

But in terms of baseband, to be honest, there are not many players in the world now. Dongling Hi-Tech is one of the first companies to try it out. If it wants to buy technology, there is nowhere to buy it, so it can only move forward by exploring on its own.

"Not only the baseband, what Dongling Hi-Tech will launch in the future is an integrated baseband chip, not an external baseband chip!"

"Communication Technology R&D Department, if the baseband can be developed, we must work with Doxin Semiconductor to launch Dongling Hi-Tech's integrated baseband chip!" Li Dongling looked at Luo Zheng and said.

Upon hearing Li Dongling's request, Luo Zheng showed a rare look of worry on his face. Developing the baseband alone was difficult enough, and putting the baseband function on the same chip processor would increase the difficulty almost exponentially.

"This... technology is probably not that easy. I haven't even heard that Texas Instruments can achieve this!" Luo Zheng said.

"Just because Texas Instruments can't do it doesn't mean other companies can't do it either. Dongling Hi-Tech must have its own integrated baseband chip. The funds and R&D personnel needed by the Communication Technology R&D Department can be provided by Dongling Hi-Tech headquarters first!"

How did Qualcomm, as the overlord of mobile phone chips in the past, defeat it? In fact, early Qualcomm chips were not as good as those of Texas Instruments, even in the 3G era.

Thanks to America's intervention, Qualcomm's CDMA became the 3G standard, with the best of both worlds, but it still lost to Texas Instruments in chip technology.

What really made it win was the same strategy as that of bundling Office with Microsoft systems, that is, buying a baseband and getting a chip for free. Relying on a large number of exclusive patents and technologies of 3G baseband, Qualcomm baseband has left rivals such as Texas Instruments, MediaTek, STMicroelectronics, NXP, and Broadcom far behind.

Even if these companies can develop basebands, they are still far inferior to Qualcomm's basebands. After all, 3G technology and patents were developed by others. What can they use to compete with Qualcomm?

In addition, Qualcomm's chips and basebands are all developed by itself, with better integration effects. You can use them right after you buy them, and there is no need for any debugging at all.

If mobile phone manufacturers buy chips other than Qualcomm, they need to buy basebands from Qualcomm and pay a large amount of patent fees. Then the baseband plug-in chips need to be debugged. In addition, Qualcomm's pricing is almost free chips when buying basebands, leaving no room for Texas Instruments. In just a few years, it relied on basebands to defeat various chip competitors and dominated the 3G and 4G baseband chip era. Even a strong company like Apple has repeatedly suffered setbacks in basebands. Apple's mobile phone signals have also been criticized more than once or twice. In fact, it is because it does not have its own integrated baseband chips. All chips that use baseband plug-ins face the phenomenon of no signal and easy disconnection of the mobile phone.

Li Dongling doesn't want Dongling Hi-Tech's mobile phones to be controlled by others in terms of baseband. Li Dongling wants to make money by using baseband chips, not be profited by Qualcomm.

In the future 3G and 4G chip era, Dongling Hi-Tech’s mobile phones must at least be able to protect themselves. They don’t have to give more than 5% or even % of their revenue to Qualcomm for every phone they sell. You must know that in the past, the profit of a domestic mobile phone was less than % of the selling price, which is equivalent to working for Qualcomm for free!

Not to mention surpassing Qualcomm and collecting such harsh Qualcomm taxes, but Dongling Hi-Tech must share the baseband industry with Qualcomm. Both sides should reap the benefits together, and Qualcomm cannot be the only one to enjoy the baseband monopoly!
Luo Zheng could hear the determination in Li Dongling's words, which was that he wanted to develop the gene panel at all costs.

"I see!"

Luo Zheng said with a serious expression, Li Dongling did not say what the consequences would be if the communication technology R&D department failed in the baseband development despite spending money on research and development at all costs, but Luo Zheng thought about it and knew that there would be no good consequences, and he, Luo Zheng, estimated that he would have to pack up and leave.

If he had been kicked out of Lenovo before, Dongling Hi-Tech would have provided Luo Zheng with a way out. But if he took so many resources and funds from Dongling Hi-Tech and ended up with nothing, he would have left in such a disgrace.

Is there still a place for Luo Zheng in the domestic scientific research industry? Is there any other company that dares to accept him? These are probably questions. For Luo Zheng, this is his do-or-die battle.

"One more question!"

Luo Zheng looked at Li Dongling and Chen Tao beside him, "3G technology research and development, which route should the Communications Technology Department take?"

Dongling Hi-Tech can no longer get involved in 2G technology, so it is now exploring 3G technology. However, it faces a problem: whether to develop 3G technology based on GSM technology, or CDMA or other routes. This requires determination. Once the route is wrong, all the hard work will probably be wasted.

This dispute over technical routes is actually the most entangled and headache-inducing issue for countless laboratories and research and development institutions. If one step is wrong, then all steps may be wrong. The key is that there is no way to turn back. Even if you know you have taken the wrong path halfway, you have to grit your teeth and keep going, because once you turn back, you will lose everything.

Just like the Japanese automobile manufacturer Benz, which bet on hydrogen-powered vehicles, even though it saw that hydrogen-powered vehicles were obviously not going to become mainstream, it still went all the way because the investment was too huge. More than ten years of funds, time, manpower and resources were put into it. Can it just withdraw?
"CDMA!"

"Use CDMA technology to develop 3G communication technology!"

Li Dongling said to Luo Zheng, "The Communications Technology Department verified the feasibility of developing 3G technology using CDMA technology.

I believe that Dongling Hi-Tech will win this time!"

Chen Tao and Luo Zheng both opened their mouths, wanting to say something but unable to start. Li Dongling's words were too profound in terms of metaphysics.

The verification route must be verified, but in the final analysis, the final path for the development of 3G still needs someone to make the final decision, and now, Li Dongling has given his answer!

Since its establishment, Dongling Hi-Tech has hardly taken a wrong path under the management of Li Dongling. If Dongling Hi-Tech can make the right bet on 3G technology, the entire Dongling Hi-Tech will undergo a qualitative change.

Chen Tao and Luo Zheng nodded. With Li Dongling making the decision, the pressure on them was much less. With someone taking the pressure for them, they could let go and do their best!

……

"Mr. Li, Beibeijia will start advertising tonight and officially start distributing the products!"

As soon as he left the technical department, Li Dongling received a call from Du Guoying, and then Focus Media President Li Yan also called.

(End of this chapter)