Return to 88: Starting from Marrying My Sister-in-law

Solve the bottleneck problem of the entire domestic VCD and subsequent DVD industry chain.

There are two major problems.

The first is the patent issue, but Lu Yang is already planning for this.

And the first half has basically been completed.

Wanyan Company now owns dozens of international and domestic patents for VCD product design appearance and frame structure based on image decoding format, encoding standards, optical reading, disc injection molding, single-sided double-layer storage structure, video compression algorithm, transmission stream format, etc.

These patents are the basic patents that VCD/DVD and other decoding chip-based player products must have in the next few decades.

It's hard to get around.

Once Wanyan Company masters these patents, it will actually have an innate invincible position. In the future, it can attack and develop a DVD playback format based on VCD, thus achieving a great leap in audio and video. It can also defend. Even if it is slower than foreign companies such as Sony and Toshiba in developing DVD video playback formats, it can still retain its place in the patent moat. At the very least, it can reach mutual authorization through negotiation and avoid being drained of blood by these foreign companies.

As for why it is said that the goal has only been half achieved?
The reason is also very simple.

Wanyan Company is currently only 3/4 domestically produced, with 20% of its shares belonging to C-Cube Company owned by Sun Yansheng, an American Chinese on the other side of the ocean.

And if, in the next two years, Wanyan Company does not do well and is on the verge of bankruptcy under Jiang Wanli's management, although Lu Yang is the most likely person to take it down, accidents cannot be ruled out.

A butterfly of time and space is now quietly flapping its wings, and has changed the fate of many companies and people. Although these things all happened in the Eastern Continent, there is one thing that cannot be changed.

In the past, Wanyan Company did not have any patents, and the founder Jiang Wanli did not care much about patents. He felt that since the country did not respect the patent law, there was no need to waste time making money in order to apply for patents.

What's more, did you apply for a patent just to become a patent troll?
So he felt it was unnecessary.

Now Lu Yang has appeared, intercepting the Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission's participation in Wanyan Company's investment project. After the VCD decoding and playback format was successfully developed, before the product was launched on the market, he insisted on applying for a patent first, spending more money and wasting some time. Even if the patent was applied for, it didn't matter if he couldn't collect a dime of patent fees in the country in a short period of time.

To sum it up in one sentence: "I can choose not to be a patent troll, but I have to have it, because you don't know if someone else will become a patent troll one day in the future and strangle you in return."

Thanks to Lu Yang's persistence, Wanyan Company is now different.

Although it still could not avoid it, due to the domestic environment, it was besieged by many manufacturers producing cheap VCDs through copycats and imitations, and gradually moved to the brink of decline and bankruptcy.

But if it really comes to that, Wanyan Company may not really go bankrupt because it still holds the patent for the invention of VCD.

This part of the patents will definitely attract the attention of many companies at home and abroad.

No one should treat anyone as a fool.

Lu Yang is the major shareholder of Wanyan Company and does have the greatest chance of taking it into his pocket. There may not be any decent competitors in the country, but what about abroad?

Foreign companies that are doing DVD research, such as Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi, Philips, Warner, and Panasonic, are targeting this market. How could they not know the importance of mastering the basic patents?
Because these foreign companies have been established for a long time and have strong capital, after entering the mainland, they basically try to kill their opponents with one blow. If they cannot kill them with one blow, then the next method they will adopt is probably to buy, buy and buy. They use acquisitions to eliminate competitors, spend money to buy the market, and then use capital monopoly to reap huge benefits.

Many national brands disappeared just like that.

Lu Yang had foreseen this, so he is now making preparations for both scenarios!
The first plan is to wait until Wanyan Company becomes weak and then swallow up Wanyan Company!
The other preparation is to place hope on the chip laboratory that will be established by Xiao Tiancai and the group headquarters.

Xiao Tiancai's learning machines were selling like hot cakes, and the funds in the account were not much less than that of Xiao Shentong. However, Lu Yang did not return this part of the profits to the parent company of the group, but let Xiao Tiancai, a subsidiary, spend it on its own.

Brother Guanjun once told Lu Yang that he wanted to jump from the research and development of the upgrading of Xiaotiancai learning machines to the assembly and development of desktop computer PS machines, as the two have something in common.

Lu Yang also said to Guan Jun: "We can make desktop PCs, but we don't need so much money. It's a bit of a waste for the company's R&D department to focus all its people on this one project. We might as well add another project."

"What item should we add?"

"DVD."

"DVD?"

"An advanced playback format based on MPEG-1 integrated video decoding chip, which will be superior to the VCD playback format, with clearer video and audio effects, but compatible with the VCD playback format. I predict... the market value of this area will not be less than billion in the future."

"really?"

"Ah."

"Okay then. I'll try to research it. Later, when I ask the company's purchasing department to buy computers, they will also buy some VCDs from Wanyan Company, which the boss has a stake in. But boss, you don't want our little genius to also produce VCDs, do you?"

"Of course not. You just need to dismantle its products and then conduct research based on them. As long as the DVD playback format is not developed, Xiao Tiancai will not start the production project of the player."

"Well, I don't mind copying other companies' products, but after all, the boss of Wanyan Company has shares, and he is a major shareholder. If we copy its products, it would be a bit embarrassing if the news gets out."

"Okay, I know you and Lao Jiang are good friends. You two are in R&D, so heroes appreciate heroes. I won't make things difficult for you."

Jiang Wanli had met Champion brother several times, and it was because Lu Yang acted as a matchmaker between them. He hoped that these two technical giants could have more exchanges and see if some different sparks could be generated.

By the way, at the gate of Xiao Tiancai's factory, there is still a color TV scrolling device produced by Jiang Wenli's Modern Television Company circulating.

Lu Yang entrusted the research and development of DVD to Xiao Tiancai, Brother Guanjun, and placed it in his hometown of Baoqing City. It can be said that he placed extremely high hopes on Brother Guanjun.

Lab on a chip doesn’t work.

The chip laboratory must be run by the headquarters group, and Lu Yang must be in charge of it personally, because it is not something that can be built with money. In addition to money, it requires people, top talents with R&D experience in this area, and a R&D environment. R&D does not mean that this person has developed this chip before, but at least he must know what this thing is, what principles it is based on, what reasons it is realized, and whether there are any academic papers published in this area.

Not to mention other things, the most basic requirement is that it must have a research and development leader.

This leader is very important and is the absolute core of the team.

The R&D environment will be much simpler. For example, first-tier cities with universities will make it easier to recruit university talents after the establishment of laboratories, or to directly set up chip research laboratories next to universities, cooperate with universities to establish cooperative chip laboratories, and so on.

No matter which of the above methods is used, the purpose is to achieve the goal of developing a decoding chip as quickly and as much as possible.

Lu Yang didn't understand the technology in this area, so he could only look for talents in this area.

"Boss, this may be difficult. We don't have the ability to mass-produce decoding chips in our country at present."

Because Lu Yang's plan is very clear.

Wei Shu also worked hard and collected a lot of information about MPEG-1 decoding chips.

"What's the reason?"

"The most advanced semiconductor process in China is only 1.5~3μm, while the international mainstream has entered 0.8~1.2μm. I have learned about the MPEG video decoding chip. It requires crystals of 50 to 100 million levels. With our own conditions, even if we can design a video decoding chip of the same level, we cannot authorize it for mass production in China. We can only authorize companies outside of China to produce it. At that time, it may not be able to solve your problem, and its price may not be very cheap."

Lu Yang smiled.

"Can it be more expensive than the MPEG-1 chip that is now monopolized by C-Cube?"

The semiconductor industry lags behind that of foreign countries, and Lu Yang doesn't need anyone to tell him this.

Lu Yang knew what was going on.

Freezing three feet is not a day's cold.

If you want to solve this problem, it is not possible to do it with the strength of one person alone. At least Lu Yang does not have the strength to do it now, so he can only put it aside for the time being.

Do what you can first.

After listening to this, Wei Shu nodded subconsciously, "I understand, Boss, what you mean is that what we have to do now is to make that catfish. It doesn't necessarily have to have a result, but we must set out towards this goal. Once we have the ability to design it, we can then find a way to produce it?"

Lu Yang snapped his fingers. "Bingo, we should eat as much as we can now. Don't rush to aim too high. We need to set up a laboratory and start looking for experts in chip and semiconductor research now. We need to build a platform as soon as possible. Even if it looks like a fake product, it doesn't matter. At least we have this platform to attract talents in this field. Let's take it slowly. Don't rush. Step by step, as long as we are determined and willing to spend money to lay a solid foundation, believe me, we will eventually bear fruit."

Infected by Lu Yang's confidence, Wei Shu nodded, "I understand. If that's the case, I suggest that while we set up our own laboratory, we can also choose to cooperate with universities, such as Pengcheng University. They also have their own chip laboratory. Boss, maybe we can use corporate donations to achieve school-enterprise cooperation with them."

After hearing this, Lu Yang asked curiously, "Pengcheng University has a chip laboratory?"

Wei Shu's face was embarrassed, and he said weakly: "It is a related laboratory that is somewhat related to this aspect, but as long as we make a bigger splash, it will definitely have some effect. These universities are closely connected with other universities in the country. Even if we may not be able to obtain some technology from them, through these collaborations, we can make our name known, and it will definitely be much easier to recruit talents than before."

Lu Yang waved his hand and said, "You are right, let's do as you say. However, just one university in Pengcheng is not enough, let's contact a few more.

For example, in Shanghai, the options include Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

There is also Hangzhou, the Zhejiang University in this city is also good.

There is also Beijing, which cannot be missed. We need to select one university to represent these universities.

In the early stage, each of us will donate 1000 million yuan to them for their technical team to research chips. Then we will wait until next year to see who is fooling us and who is seriously engaged in research and development in this area. We will see then. In this way, we can save the money for fooling us and invest it in those university teams that are seriously doing research and development. What do you think?"

Select four or five universities across the country and invest 1000 million yuan in each university, that would only be to million yuan. Even if there is no effect at all, at least you can attract some university talents for your laboratory.

But if there really is a university team that is seriously conducting research and development in this area, then Lu Yang will definitely make a lot of money. Lu Yang will never be stingy and will invest more money to reach a true school-enterprise cooperation with these university teams that are seriously doing research and development, and everyone will work together to develop this chip project or semiconductor technology.

A few days later, according to Lu Yang's instructions, the group headquarters held a press conference first.

Wei Shu attended the press conference in person as president and announced personally that the company will focus on the technical research and development of integrated decoding chips and semiconductors.

First, a chip and semiconductor laboratory will be established, with an initial injection of 100 million yuan. In the future, at least 100 million yuan will be invested every year, and there is no upper limit on it.

In addition, the company will select five universities across the country to sponsor teams that are interested in conducting research and development in the fields of chips and semiconductors. The sponsorship amount for each university will be no less than 5 million yuan, and there is no restriction threshold. The only requirement is that these funds must be used for the research and development of chips and semiconductors and cannot be diverted for other purposes without reason.

As the news came out, it caused an uproar both at home and abroad.

The front desk phone at the group company headquarters was almost blown up.

Lu Yang received consecutive calls from the local leadership team of Pengcheng City and the leadership team of Pengcheng University.

From what they said, it seemed that they wanted to come to the group to provide guidance or conduct a visit, or they wanted to invite Lu Yang to visit their university and give a speech.

Don't worry.

This is just the first wave of those who are close to the water, and there is a big wave on the way...

(End of this chapter)