Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 412 When you miss your hometown, go to the small restaurant.
Relocation will take time, both in terms of acquiring land and building construction, and in terms of policy implementation, but Zhai Da has planned a timeline for the "π" group.

Half a year.

In six months, the members of π will try their best to complete their studies, and it is not unreasonable to slow down the silicon carbide project at hand.

The semiconductor industry chain is inherently complex and vast. In addition to its own technological breakthroughs, it also requires the gathering of many external forces, and the past six months have provided a good opportunity to make thorough preparations.

Furthermore, "Hongtu OS" will not be affected in the next six months; it will continue to grow at an alarming rate, providing ample funding for the research institute's many more projects.

The only exception was Zhou Mo, a freshman. Zhai Da didn't mention a time limit to him, even though Zhou Mo planned to graduate early, it was still a bit too outrageous.

Harbin Institute of Technology finally recruited another top student, but before they could even savor the opportunity, he's already graduated. How could that be?

But Zhou Mo said he would do what he could and give it a try, maybe he could succeed?
Following this meeting, the research institute has a more concrete blueprint for its future.

The "unstable morale" that Zhai Da was worried about did not materialize; in fact, things became more "grounded and solid," with everyone working hard towards the goal of reaching the target date in six months, which sparked even more enthusiasm.

The future holds great promise, and the path ahead is becoming increasingly clear.

The negotiations, including with other staff members of the research institute, went more smoothly than Zhai Da had imagined.

Although their starting points were different, everyone had a vague feeling that the research institute couldn't stay in Harbin forever; they were just waiting for news.

It takes courage to follow a company, but if the company is excellent and the benefits are good enough, it's not hard to make a choice. The average age of researchers is less than 30.

This is the time to take risks.

Six months is preparation time for π members, and also for ordinary employees.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After that day, the close-knit atmosphere of the research institute remained, and everyone was planning their own lives.

The sooner a ship sailing with favorable winds and currents determines its destination, the sooner it can give its all.

December 5th arrived.

A group of seven people arrived at Harbin Taiping Airport.

Lu Qinjian, wearing an executive jacket, strode out. He only had one day left, as he had to catch the last flight back to Beijing at 9 p.m., so his pace was somewhat hurried.

The year-end meetings are back-to-back, and most of them are organized by higher-level officials. Missing one meeting will result in a penalty, and missing two meetings will likely lead to criticism. So this time, he really squeezed out some time as much as possible, and the number of people was relatively streamlined.

Accompanying him were several subordinates from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, two experts invited by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a technical representative from a company.

He knew very well that the semiconductor industry was not something you could figure out just by glancing at it. While you could use common sense to judge a "mobile phone operating system," you needed to really understand semiconductors.

On the other side, outside the exit, two people stood together, waiting for the guests.

It was Principal Zhai Da and Principal Wang Chunguo.

As a university directly under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology receives a significant portion of its funding from the Ministry. Although President Wang is at the same administrative level as Lu Qinjian, it is appropriate for him to receive Lu Qinjian, both publicly and privately.

Besides
This is what they call "joint research and development," isn't it?
Compared to the first time when I was inexplicably contacted, this silicon carbide project was more legitimate. Harbin Institute of Technology provided a lot of expensive equipment support without charging a penny, and also provided some guidance in the early stages.

An old man and a young man stood together, not particularly noticeable in the bustling airport. Both were looking inside, but they were talking about other things.

"Has everything been discussed and agreed upon?"

"Yes, thank you for the principal's support."

Principal Wang shook his head slightly: "You've mentioned it many times that day, bringing it up repeatedly. Are you still feeling uneasy?"

Zhai Da scratched his temple awkwardly: "After all, I've caused the school so much trouble."

Principal Wang Chunguo sighed slowly: "To say that there is no regret at all would be a lie. After all, I really hoped that you kids could continue to develop under the protection of your alma mater. I was even hoping that you could use your talents in some key projects."

"I just thought you were busy and young, so there was no rush, but this is the kind of news we get."

Zhai Da could only repeat, "I'm sorry."

"However, I've also come to a realization these past few days: since the founding of the People's Republic of China, Harbin Institute of Technology's philosophy has been to cultivate talent for the country, not just for the school. If you can use what you've learned at the school to contribute to the country's development and social construction, why worry about whether you're still at the school? You're doing the right thing, at least that much I can confirm."

Only Principal Wang himself can truly understand the complex feelings involved.

So that day, the two chatted in the office for a full three hours.

From initial surprise to later reluctance, until Principal Wang calmed down and offered suggestions for the future planning of the research institute.

Zhai Da also learned some of his thoughts on site selection from the principal.

Principal Wang patted Zhai Da on the back, as if patting a junior member of the family; any slight disappointment vanished in those few light gestures.

"So once you've made a decision, don't overthink it. There will be plenty of opportunities for cooperation in the future, such as industry-academia collaboration and joint research and development. Perhaps you will be more beneficial to the university if you are outside of the university. Who knows, in a few years, we might be able to look into the 'Dongyang Branch' of Harbin Institute of Technology. Hahaha, anything is possible."

It's such an outrageous joke that even Principal Wang couldn't have imagined how much Dongyang would need to develop to be worthy of hosting a branch campus of Harbin Institute of Technology.
Zhai Da nodded: "I will definitely work hard."

During their conversation, Lu Qinjian and his entourage had already reached the exit and spotted an old man and a young boy in the distance.

Zhai Da stepped forward: "Minister Lu, it's been a long time." Lu Qinqian shook hands with the two: "Principal Wang, President Zhai, it's been a long time."

Seeing that the other party was fully present and that the airport was too chaotic to talk much, Zhai Da said directly, "Let's go to the research institute to talk."

The group set off for the Mechanical Core Research Institute. Since Lu Qinjian only had one day, he decided not to visit Harbin Institute of Technology.

The familiar industrial park, the familiar Building No. 9, is indeed much more crowded than it was earlier this year.

However, the refreshing feeling upon entering and seeing the upside-down tree remains as memorable as ever.

The experts from the Academy of Sciences and the technical representatives from enterprises who were visiting for the first time stood under the canopy of the tree and silently exclaimed, "Wow!"

The second "Holy crap!" didn't even reach the second floor; the delivery was completed after a huge crow landed on Zhai Da's shoulder.

Zhai Da patted the bird's head, shrugged, and was chased away by Xiao Hei again. Today was a more formal day, and there was no time to strike a pose.

"Please follow me, everyone."

After going upstairs, a small number of researchers waited at the door to greet us, while most remained at their posts, only occasionally glancing over in our direction.

After all, it was a big shot's inspection, so everyone was quite curious.

Seeing the research institute packed full, Lu Qinjian was amazed by its rapid development. Last time he came, there were only about twenty people, but now it's almost full.

Look, there are seven or eight people standing in the break room eating fruit, and they seem to be having a great time.

Before he came, he specifically mentioned that in addition to the silicon carbide motor, he also wanted to learn about the status of "Hongtu OS".

So Zhai Da called Cheng Mo over and gave him a chance to show off.

As for the relocation of the research institute, the construction of a factory, and policy consultation, there's no rush.

Let's check out the best items first, then talk about the price! Zhai Da left it for last; it would be safer to discuss this with Lu Bu privately, as there were too many people around at the moment.

Cheng Mo still sported his signature cool and aloof elite look, his hair always perfectly styled, his clothes always impeccably neat, and even his glasses, which he never tilted even a fraction of an degree, were constantly being pushed up with his ring finger.
In fact, Zhai Da recalled that this guy wasn't always this extreme; he was even quite goofy. But times change, and everyone grows. After achieving success, various factors fostered his pretentious personality.
Of course, at this age, if you don't have a bit of a "powerful" aura, it's really hard to manage hundreds of people.

Cheng Mo led the group through the various departments of the project team, introducing the development in different directions for each department.

"Currently, the number of activated Hongtu devices is increasing at a rate of about 200 million units per month. Especially in the fourth quarter, there are many holidays and strong consumer demand. Among the newly launched smartphone models, the proportion of models equipped with the Hongtu ecosystem has reached 79%."

Lu Qinjian nodded to himself; the data he had actually obtained was more detailed than what was here.

Under the leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, mobile phone manufacturers across the country embraced Hongtu quickly and thoroughly. The high-quality user experience and rich additional services also stimulated market demand.

They originally predicted that the national smartphone sales volume would be around 2000 million units this year, but due to the market boom caused by the emergence of Hongtu in the second half of the year, the total sales volume is estimated to be around 2300 million.

Don't underestimate this 300 million; it's equivalent to a 15% increase in market size. This has led to growth in internet companies, the upstream and downstream of the mobile phone supply chain, and the mobile phone service industry. Screen protectors are making a fortune.

If Zhai Da had presented some insignificant project this time, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology might have advised him: "Young man, don't get distracted. Focus on developing 'Hongtu OS' into a global behemoth before you worry about anything else."

However, silicon carbide semiconductors are clearly not a trivial project, which is why he came back a second time.

Cheng Mo adjusted his glasses and continued, "As for overseas markets, the total number of activations for each brand overseas is only over 20, mainly concentrated in East Asia and Southeast Asia. However, we have made full preparations. Language versions and compliance optimizations for various regions have been completed, and we have integrated PayPal as an online payment platform."

"Samsung will be a major overseas growth driver next year. They will release the latest Galaxy series this month, and combined with other smartphone models, the annual sales are expected to be around 1000 million units. Two small companies in Europe are planning to enter the market, but their scale is not large."

Samsung remains a formidable force in overseas markets. While domestic Chinese smartphone manufacturers have largely swallowed up a significant portion of the Chinese market, Samsung is expected to steal a large share of Nokia's market share overseas.

Lu Qinjian nodded thoughtfully. Of course, he hoped that domestic brands could also dominate the overseas market, but the pace had to be slow. Before the domestic market, which was easier to acquire, was fully divided up, brands would not focus their main efforts on overseas markets.

There's still a long way to go; this is only the first year.

Cheng Mo also gave a brief overview of the current revenue situation of the Hongtu project team:
The "payment commission" revenue was around 3 million last month, which means that with 10 million users, each person only contributes an average of 30 cents per month. Compared to Hongtu's current tax rate of 10%, this means that each person only spends an average of 3 yuan per month.

Note that this is an average; in reality, users who spend even one dollar only account for 32%.
This is a limitation of the times; users are still developing habits, but internet companies are indeed generous with their advertising spending, wielding the money they've earned from the capital market to frantically acquire mobile users.

Many internet companies have already declared that they will go all-in on mobile internet and completely shift their strategic focus.

Against this backdrop of enthusiasm, the "advertising distribution" business generated 1700 million yuan in revenue last month, and the new customer acquisition channel has given many companies an irrational impulse.

For example, there's a newly built website called "Tubatu" that doesn't seem to have a very large business, but it consistently invests 300 million yuan every month in advertising.

The reason why only "last month" is mentioned in the report is because the growth rate has been over 20% every month since the start of operations, and the data for the next month will be the data for the next month. This is also the confidence that Zhai Da dares to build a new building and plan to build a semiconductor factory.

Six months later, monthly revenue exceeding 100 million yuan is a very easy figure.

Oh, and there's another small source of income: technical guidance fees from various companies. It doesn't make much money, but it helps to spread costs, which is essential for people's livelihoods.

Here I must mention the Samsung employees who made up the largest group. When they arrived, almost everyone had a kimchi jar, saying they were afraid they wouldn't be used to Chinese food. Now their kimchi is all rotting in the jar.

I'm no longer a fan of Korean beef; after get off work, I just head to Qiqihar barbecue. If I really crave food from my hometown, I'll just stroll around the condiment station at a restaurant.

Everyone gained several pounds. Even the translator girl with a good figure was forced to get a gym membership in Harbin.

However, their good days are coming to an end. After the new machine is released, only a few people may be able to stay at the research institute permanently, and the competition for the spots will be extremely fierce.
(End of this chapter)