After the layoffs, I became a tech godfather

Chapter 222 We need this technology!
"Mr. Yu, I sincerely have a question to ask you."

After several days of reflection, I've finally sorted out a whole bunch of things, from the chip industry chain from top to bottom, the core direction of AI evolution, large models, intelligent agents, medical care, industry, scientific research and other AI applications.

But at this moment, Hao Cheng was exhausted, and could even be described as overwhelmed.

Even though Xiao Sha's help meant I didn't have to worry too much about many things, there were just too many things involved. Even just glancing at each direction would take a lot of energy.

He even felt more tired than when he was working overtime at his previous company.

“Hehe cough, look at me,” Yu Dong said with a sigh after hearing Hao Cheng’s question: “I probably spend less than a tenth of the time in Pengcheng each month.”

"Huh?" Hao Cheng exclaimed, it seemed to be true. He was either in meetings here or participating in activities there. Just the things that were publicly visible filled up almost all his time.

"Then look at President Ren. He doesn't do anything, so he's very relaxed, isn't he?" Yu Dong started gossiping about Old Master Yu behind his back, and finally added to Hao Cheng, "You're still young. If you want to manage things, then it won't be easy."

"However, it's not entirely impossible. When we get back to Pengcheng, I'll take you to visit a company, and maybe you'll gain some insights."

"Okay!" Hao Cheng's affairs weren't too many, but they weren't particularly urgent. Since Yu Dong had extended an invitation, he wanted to go and take a look.

In theory, what Baiju Technology is doing now is somewhat similar to what Huawei is doing.

Many people say that in China, as long as your company reaches a certain level, you will definitely encounter Huawei. If you haven't, it just means your company isn't big enough, regardless of the industry.

Regardless of whether this is actually the case, it at least demonstrates to some extent the breadth of Huawei's business scope, and that it has achieved a leading position in the market in every industry it has entered.

Baiju Technology is gradually showing this trend as well.

But Hao Cheng wasn't prepared for that. If he had to do everything himself in every industry, he probably wouldn't be able to squeeze every last drop out of himself.

"The company I'm taking you to is called Xinkailai." The next day, Hao Cheng and Yu Dong boarded a plane to Shenzhen together.

Upon arrival, Yu Dong led Hao Cheng straight to Xinkailai and explained the relevant details.

Hao Cheng of Xinkailai certainly knew that this company had contributed a great deal to the debugging of the EUV lithography machine.

Traditional semiconductor manufacturing processes, including atomic layer deposition equipment, etching machines, epitaxial equipment, and vapor deposition, all have products available in the 14-7nm range.

"Do you know how this company came about?" Yu Dong asked.

"Who were you who split off back then?" This isn't really a secret; anyone who pays a little attention can guess that the main personnel came from a project team in the 2012 Lab.

“Part of it,” Yu Dong said, “is that many partners, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Microelectronics, and SMIC, have provided a lot of support.”

"So, you're actually trying to tell me that many technologies shouldn't be controlled so strictly, and that if we want to grow bigger and stronger, sharing some things with others is essential, right?"

That's exactly what Yu Dong meant.

He realized that Baiju Technology possessed an abundance of technologies, especially those far exceeding current scientific standards.

Even a casual remark from Hao Cheng during a conversation can lead to a major breakthrough in scientific research within a field.

In this situation, if we want to bring these things to fruition, turn them into products, and lead the development and progress of world science and technology, we absolutely cannot cover them up.

If you try to keep everything to yourself out of fear of leaks, you definitely won't succeed.

"What's the truly hassle-free approach? Get to the point!" Yu Dong said.
"Over the years, there have been quite a few companies that Huawei has invested in, or that have been established independently by Huawei business units or by core employees. Companies like Huichuan, Shenkaihong, and Xinkailai have been able to flourish and bear fruit in various places by going out into different areas."

"I think Baiju Technology's tiered partner reward program is a good decision. Learning about the operations of Huawei, Xinkailai, and other related companies might be helpful."

"However, the situation with Baiju Technology is a bit different. Their technology level is ridiculously high. Anything they release could be a game-changer. If it gets used by others, the problems could be very serious."

"I think you could have a chat with the old man. With his wisdom, he might be able to give you some good advice."

Technically, surpassing Baiju Technology is almost impossible now, especially after obtaining the relevant plans and preliminary technical concepts for the five-sense communication network. Yu Dong has realized the gap between himself and Baiju Technology.

However, Yu Dong believes that Huawei still has a certain say in management, at least in terms of its current management structure, which is much better than the current makeshift management team of Baiju Technology.

“Indeed!” Hao Cheng nodded repeatedly. He had always believed that as long as the technique was up to par, nothing else mattered.

Now it seems that a suitable organizational structure and management not only saves time and effort but also significantly improves efficiency. The idea that simply hiring an assistant can free you up is completely unworkable.

After a few months, Hao Cheng realized that Li Qingbo was not a leader. He was more than capable as an assistant, but if the company were to be managed by him, his abilities would definitely be insufficient.

“Thinking like that is wrong from the start,” Yu Dong knew Hao Cheng’s personality, so he didn’t mince words:
"Whether a system works or not has never been determined by the ability of one person. Rather, it depends on the organizational structure itself and its ability to tolerate and correct errors. I truly believe that Huawei's rotating chairman system is a very advanced system."

Conversations with intelligent people are always brief and to the point, and Hao Cheng understood what Yu Dong was trying to say. The most crucial elements were grasping the direction and the execution capabilities of the relevant personnel.

"It doesn't matter to you. You're only in your early thirties, you have plenty of time. Don't worry about making mistakes. Even if you do make a mistake, with Baiju Technology's technology, it won't be a big problem. Just explore slowly."

Yu Dong took on the role of tour guide, and Hao Chengdu was completely unguarded in all the equipment, factories, and even research laboratories.

This thing needs to be integrated step by step into Xiaosha and Baiju Technology's fine-tuning model, so keeping it a secret from Baiju Technology is a false proposition.

Hao Cheng was dazzled by the sight.

"I really didn't expect that in just three or four years, you have really solved all the difficult parts of the entire semiconductor industry chain, both upstream and downstream."

That evening, while having dinner with Yu Dong, Hao Cheng was filled with emotion. Back then, some Western politicians, and even some domestic media outlets, were saying: "Chips are an extremely complex and systematic project, and it is impossible for a single country to handle all aspects of chip production."

But now, let alone a country, just this one company, plus Huawei's entire supply chain, has already accomplished everything. "Alright, stop praising us." Yu Dong's lips twitched.

Huawei's approach is to purchase, customize, or even collaborate on the research and development of anything that is available in the market and supply chain, or that its partners can develop.

If upstream and downstream companies in the industrial chain really can't handle it, they will start their own projects and conduct their own research and development, and then hand them over to contract manufacturers or downstream companies for production, or even produce them themselves.

If others can do it and meet my standards, I'll delegate everything to them; if they can't, I'll find every possible way to overcome it myself.

Yu Dong had always thought Huawei was the best company, until he encountered Baiju Technology: "We only try to figure things out ourselves because others can't. But with your products, even the smallest things are things that no other company can understand, let alone master."

"Therefore, we are still very different. As for how to proceed, this can only serve as a reference. You will have to figure out the rest yourself."

"Yes!" Hao Cheng nodded heavily. There's no point in dwelling on things too much; only by relaxing can we move forward.

Previously, Hao Cheng's idea was that advanced technology must be kept secret and not disclosed. But now, he's thinking about controllability. Each of the advanced technologies at hand has a future development that leads to even more advanced technologies. Since complete secrecy is impossible, some choices must be made.

Yu Dong talked a lot, and not as a partner, but entirely about his personal experiences and insights.

Many things, once created, are inevitably copied by others, just like Xiao Sha, the new generation, although they were ultimately dealt a heavy blow.

However, the method of using Xiaosha to train other AIs has never stopped. It's just that the way it's used has changed and become more difficult, but it saves manpower to a certain extent and cannot be completely prohibited.

Another thing is the fact that there are more than 10,000 research projects; it really is a guiding light.

Many scientific research experiments yield no results, or only at the very end do we realize that we are on the wrong track. This kind of ineffective research accounts for almost 80% or more of the research cost.

Even if Baiju Technology currently lacks the technology and experience to support these research projects, it can at least guarantee that the direction is correct, and if we continue, we will definitely achieve results.

For many research institutions, this is such an attractive thing!
Even if they don't end up partnering with Baiju Technology and don't utilize Baiju Technology's technology and capabilities, but instead develop their own solutions and achieve results, they can still make a fortune!

Yu Dong concluded by saying, "I'm not afraid to tell you that, of the more than 10,000 research topics published on Baiju's official website, Huawei has categorized and analyzed each one, and can even guess what kind of product you will ultimately make."

"Think about it, if Huawei can do this kind of thing, then won't foreign companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple also do it? Even if it's difficult for one company to cover so many things, won't they join forces to tackle these issues?"
"As I said from the beginning, direction is more important than technology. Although you may have deliberately confused many technologies among these 10,000-plus, the basic direction can be deduced."

"This is a guiding light in itself. It's impossible to solve many problems once and for all. Either you keep it to yourself, keep it tightly under wraps, and don't let anyone know."

"But seeing how eager you are, it's definitely impossible for you to do that. So there's only another way: go faster than them. So what if you know the direction? Every time you catch up, we've already gone a step further and gone even further! If we keep trying, they'll eventually break down."

"Hahaha!" Hao Cheng laughed heartily.

Keep up? With late-night classes available, Baiju Technology basically just looks at the answers and does the exercises. Who can keep up?

You want to do your own research without using Baiju Technology's technology, just following Baiju Technology's direction? That's a pretty good idea! It's not that it's impossible, but what takes you ten years to research, Baiju Technology's partners can do in just six months. How can you compete?
After hearing Yu Dong's words, Hao Cheng was completely relieved. He just needed to keep going, and the rest didn't matter at all!
As for the company's organizational structure...

"Could you guys help me train Xiao Sha?" In the past, if you wanted Huawei to help build an effective organizational structure, you would have needed to bring in a large number of Huawei personnel, like with Seres, and gradually make everything look like Huawei.

But now there is a new option: to raise Xiao Sha.

Once Xiao Sha has been properly trained, he can go back and set up his own system based on the actual situation of Baiju Technology.

“Okay, but you have to do something for me too,” Yu Dong said with a smile.

"What's up?" The two were getting more and more familiar with each other, and their conversations became much more casual.

"Let's go for a drive." Yu Dong checked the time; it was a little past six, right in the middle of rush hour. What he was talking about was, of course, the intelligent driving assistance system currently designed for the L3 architecture.

"So? What's your opinion?" After traveling from Longgang District through the North Station to Futian and Nanshan, and then all the way to Guangzhou, Yu Dong asked Hao Cheng.

"Evaluation?" Hao Cheng frequently used ADS, but Yu Dong's version was clearly an unreleased internal version. After thinking for a moment, Hao Cheng said, "First tier?"

"That's why I asked you to say this," Yu Dong joked. "If I wanted to find praise, I could just ask anyone, right?"

"Well, I'll be frank. Overall, it's really good, but there's one contradiction that hasn't been resolved well. Many car companies are now promoting end-to-end, more human-like technology, especially Tesla, which even says that cameras are like human eyes and that pure vision is what makes a car more human-like."

"But what kind of people are we talking about? They're primitive people! Being human-like doesn't mean there are no rules. If you can disregard the rules of traffic lights, what use are you as a human-like person?"
"But then another problem arises: should I directly instill traffic rules into it, that is, write the rules into it, or should I train it to 'understand' traffic rules like a human?"

"Do you know what the word 'understand' means?" Hao Cheng asked.

Yu Dong certainly understood that there is a huge difference between writing rules and imposing restrictions and actually understanding the rules.

Ignoring these traffic rules makes the so-called end-to-end, so-called human-like process much easier.

"So what you're doing now is trying to maintain a balance between humans and rules, but the current balance isn't quite smooth enough."

"You've raised the problem, so, can Xiao Sha solve it?" Yu Dong asked with a grin.

"So you were waiting for me here?" Hao Cheng smiled.
"However, there really is. Although Baiju Technology has not conducted any special research on this topic, my wife has invested in a company that makes canes for the blind. I specifically enhanced the road information understanding capabilities of their cameras, and it should be similar to yours."

Hao Cheng gave a brief introduction to the white cane, and when he mentioned that it could even guide a blind person to move forward and backward to avoid an out-of-control truck, Yu Dong was speechless.

Such amazing technology, and it's just sitting there without any promotion? If this capability were applied to cars, wouldn't it be a complete game-changer? Forget about Level 3, Level 4 in all scenarios would be a piece of cake!

"Guarding a mountain of treasures without realizing it" is not quite appropriate to say that Baiju Technology is "guarding a mountain of treasures without realizing it," because Baiju Technology has so many treasures that it probably really can't take care of them all.

Yu Dong was also excited: "We want this technology!"

(End of this chapter)