Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 199 Mythical Beast Series
I went back to my room and took a nap.

A good night's sleep.

He fell asleep around 5 a.m. and woke up at 1:30 p.m. Kan Zhidong and his group knocked on his door, waking him up.

Old Kan said that after Mayor Wu had lunch with them, he went back to Zhuhai with the Gree people. Before leaving, he said that he would reply to the project matter within a week at the latest.

Chen Xuebing touched his forehead, still feeling a bit dazed. His life had been too regular since his rebirth, and he couldn't even keep up with these people in their forties and fifties.

If you put him among those successful people, they would have two more hours a day than him.

However, deep down he still believes that quality of life should be equated with work performance, and that working two hours less each day might actually add twenty years to his life.

You can't take all that money with you when you die.

Enjoying life is just as important.

Since Hefei has given him a week to reply, he has plenty of time and has already decided where to relax that evening.

However, it's daytime now, so I still have to get things done.

At 3 PM, at Henggang Building in Shenzhen, after exchanging a few pleasantries with my colleagues, I was informed that a meeting was to be held.

Everyone at Qidian Technology has been busy lately, dealing with foreign trade, domestic sales, R&D, and factory expansion. Even Lu Yiwen and Gou Hongyi haven't been in the office; one is overseeing the construction site, and the other has gone out of Shenzhen to Shantou to join a promotional tour.

But when they heard that the boss was coming, everyone was rushing over here.

Within twenty minutes, most of the management personnel had arrived.

Attendees: Cai Zhijian, Ren Ying, He Yue, Xiao Haidong, Wei Zhixing, Lu Weibing, Lu Yiwen, Guan Zhong (Marketing Director), Zhang Hongbin (First Deputy Director of IC Design), Xu Wenfeng (Deputy Director of IC Design), Che Bo (Human Resources Director), Qi Guangming (Technical Plant Manager), Gao Shu (Deputy Plant Manager), Huang Jin (Deputy Plant Manager), Huo Xiaowen (President of Huaqiangbei Business Unit, Vice President level).

Guan Zhong and Che Bo are part of the management team brought by Lu Weibing. Their appointment as department heads was recent. Lu Weibing is fully responsible for the department head of the operations department, and Chen Xuebing did not raise any objections when reporting to him.

Most of the people sitting there were personally appointed by Chen Xuebing, and with Lu Yiwen, the chief steward, around, they couldn't cause any trouble.

Chen Xuebing glanced around; Lin Bin wasn't there.

"Hasn't President Lin returned yet?"

"No, it will probably take one to two months," Lu Weibing replied.

"So long?" Chen Xuebing frowned.

"Regarding the sudden news that TSMC plans to risk-produce 65nm process processor chips, the production yield and power consumption iteration are still unclear. Marvell has some cooperation with TSMC and has the opportunity to work on advanced processes. The original 80nm chip plan may need to be adjusted. He is waiting for news there. However, the cost of 65nm process may be much higher. The chip will need to be redesigned, and the tape-out cost will also be much higher. If there really is an opportunity, should we try it?"

Lu Weibing's words made Chen Xuebing ponder for a moment.

He discussed the 80nm and 65nm process with his team after Lin Bin contacted Meiman.

Currently, Marvell's best 80nm chip design is a half-node process that falls between the 90nm and 65nm main nodes.

Amway is working on the 80nm design because the time between the two nodes is too long, more than two years apart.

80nm跟65nm功耗相差大概在15%到20%，65nm制程在极限工作率上也要高一些。

In layman's terms, it means the processor needs more RAM.

The exact increase depends on the technological maturity of each manufacturer.

The 65nm process was actually achieved in the second half of last year, but the discussion at that time was based on the premise that 65nm could not be mass-produced with high yield. If the yield was low, they would have to bear most of the cost of scrap. Everyone felt that 80nm was more cost-effective.

And now.
"The design specifications for 80nm and 65nm are different, right? How long will it take to redesign 65nm? How much will the design fees and tape-out cost? Will Marvell cover a portion or will we cover the rest?"

Chen Xuebing fired off a barrage of questions.

Zhang Hongbin raised his hand.

"80nm is a transitional process. Optimizing it to 65nm isn't too difficult and should take a few months. Designing with the latest 65nm process will also be a form of technical training for them, and the design fee should be discounted. We need to negotiate with them. However, for optimization based on our Linux UI system, we will have to pay for the tape-out. If the tape-out is successful on the first try, I estimate it will cost more than 30 million RMB. Moreover, the tape-out of the latest process has a higher failure risk, and each chip will be at least 5 to 7 US dollars more expensive. If we produce 200,000 units of our first-generation mobile phone, the cost will be nearly 10 million RMB higher. I really think it's unnecessary."

These words are chilling.

Especially the group's senior executives present.

They were unfamiliar with Singularity's business and assumed that the group's mobile phone factory was a business worth no more than 20 million, which was also the case based on previous information.

Unexpectedly, just one chip cost tens of millions of dollars.

Cai Zhijian adjusted his glasses, his expression becoming serious, and spoke up for the first time: "Chairman, our own funds..."

Chen Xuebing raised his hand:
"The mobile phone business isn't your main concern right now. I'm handing it over to Mr. Lu to manage. Get familiar with it first, then offer your opinions. By the way, let me introduce everyone. This is Mr. Cai, the group's newly appointed president. He majored in accounting at the University of Waterloo in Canada and previously served as a senior executive at Citibank and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Lu, please show Mr. Cai around to the company's business later. You'll be handling the company's financial and personnel appointments with Mr. Cai from now on."

He had already calculated this cost from the day he decided to independently develop a phone that could rival the iPhone.

It's not a matter of tens of millions, but hundreds of millions.

This is still under the condition of taking no detours, conducting direct research and development, and producing and selling simultaneously.

20 units are not enough. At 5000 per unit, the total sales revenue is only one billion yuan, which cannot offset the R&D costs at all.

If sales are ultimately poor, we might lose everything.

For the first generation, be prepared to lose money to gain publicity.

Under these circumstances, he didn't want to hear too many dissenting voices.

Fortunately, he holds almost full control of the group, so he can make decisions without even holding a shareholders' meeting.

Chen Xuebing's words completely broke Lu Weibing's heart.

The mindset of a group president.

He had always coveted Changzheng Capital, a subsidiary of the group. If the group president had the right to receive a share of Changzheng Capital's profits, his income would be extremely high.

Is this group really going to be led by a financial expert?
However, the chairman's words, "Let him manage it," strengthened his resolve.

Singularity is singularity. As long as the chairman is willing to pay attention and provide support, Singularity Technology's profits will definitely increase.

"Yes, Chairman, I will definitely work well with President Cai."

"Hmm." Chen Xuebing nodded slightly and said:

"Since Mr. Lin is not here, let me talk about the IC R&D."

"The R&D expenditure is not low. I have decided that this expenditure will be paid directly by the group for the time being, and will not be included in the financial and profit statistics of Qidian Technology. The specific details will be handled by Vice President Lu Yiwen in coordination with the group."

"Now the group's leadership team is gradually being perfected. Lu Yiwen is the vice president of our group, and President Xiao is the chief financial officer. You two go down and communicate with each other."

"Also, since President Lin is not here, I'll establish a rule: the research and development content of the IC department is a top secret of Singularity. From now on, any content related to this will not be presented at company meetings. Any progress should be reported to Lu Weibing and me separately. President Lu, you must keep this confidential."

Silence. Most of those present had no connection to the IC department, but
What does "it just so happens that General Manager Lin isn't here" mean?
Is this targeting Lin Bin?

Lu Weibing hesitated for a moment, then said, "Even President Lin can't interfere? He's in charge of the 'Dao' series of mobile phone development, and I've always had him in charge of that."

Chen Xuebing smiled and said, "The first generation of the Dao series doesn't involve too many self-developed parts. It's just a UI design and interaction system. Zhang Hongbin just needs to do a good job of communication. After all, President Lin is an American, so it's best not to get involved in the self-developed system."

These words sent a chill down everyone's spines.

The chairman is too blunt.

Lu Weibing didn't know how the chairman negotiated when Lin Bin joined the company. He always thought that the chairman thought highly of Lin Bin and even took the initiative to suggest that Lin Bin be the vice president.

The chairman readily agreed, but now, because of his American citizenship, he can't access the group's confidential information?
Xu Wenfeng, the newly appointed deputy director of the IC department from SMIC, also began to show some hesitation.

"Chairman, I'm also from Taiwan, then I..."

"You don't need to overthink it, Taiwan Province is part of China."

Chen Xuebing tapped the table and chuckled, "I'm not targeting President Lin, but reminding everyone to start doing a good job of maintaining confidentiality now. Ask what you should ask, and don't ask what you shouldn't ask. Also, separating the IC department will make it easier for Qidian Technology to keep accurate profit statistics. After all, the expenses for self-developed ICs will continue to increase, and the research results will take a long time to generate revenue. I'm doing this to keep the colleagues in the IC department calm, and I'm also worried that if you keep falling behind in your quarterly statistics, it will be difficult for President Lu to distribute bonuses, which will lead to everyone becoming demotivated."

Everyone then started laughing.

Zhang Hongbin felt the chairman's full support and clenched his fist.

However, he had already made a pledge once, so there was no need to repeat it.

Within a year and a half, we will create the first version of our own operating system; there are still 14 months left.

Only by having its own system can a mobile phone chip be designed to be most suitable for its own needs.

This is not only an opportunity to prove myself and my team, but also an opportunity to prove that we are Chinese.

Especially at this time.

Just two days ago, a major event occurred.

The "Hanxin" chip fraud was exposed on Tsinghua University's BBS, revealing the renovation shop that "modified" Motorola chips with files, causing a huge uproar. The relevant investigation team has intervened.

If the fraud is confirmed, the winter for China's chip industry may be coming.

Their R&D team was discussing: Is the industry doomed?

When they leave this company, it's unlikely that any other company in the already struggling chip design industry will offer them such a relaxed R&D environment.

For many of them, this research and development represents the very survival of their industry.

Everyone in the department cherished this opportunity immensely.

Lu Weibing leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh of relief.

fair enough.

Remove departments with negative revenue and expenditure to lighten their load.

He thought of something, looked up at Guan Zhong, and coughed lightly.

There's a problem that's causing a lot of internal discontent, but he's reluctant to discuss it.

Guan Zhong, the scapegoat, received the signal, his eyes changed, he hesitated for two seconds, and then raised his hand.

"Chairman, with so much effort and money invested, shouldn't we reconsider the phone name?"

"Ok?"

Chen Xuebing looked over: "Didn't we discuss this last time?"

"Uh, everyone thinks that calling it 'Dao' doesn't sound good. It's just one character, and it's hard to pronounce, sounding like the 'dao' in 'piracy'."

"."

"Didn't I say to add the year number?"

"But users won't think that way. Look, 'I bought a Dao phone' or 'I bought a Dao'—that's so awkward to say."

A rant from Grandpa Guan Zhong.

Chen Xuebing frowned.

"Tao is our core concept and the name of our product series. I think we should not change it. However, if you don't like the name of the phone, you can change it."

Upon hearing this, Lu Weibing immediately spoke up: "I think the chairman is right! 'Tao' is the Chinese people's general term for the origin and destination of all things, and it is also the common path of mankind. This word is very meaningful!"

Guan Zhong's face turned black.

You told me to say no, and now you're going to slap me hard?
Seeing the chairman nod slightly, looking very satisfied and pleased, he felt a pang of regret.

You're the one who's right.

Dead Taoist friend, immortal poor Taoist!

"but!"

Lu Weibing's life took a turn for the better.

"The 'Tao' series can encompass a lot. We're making systems, chips, and many other products that can incorporate many elements of 'Tao.' Mobile phones are just one example. The chairman previously suggested using mythological names that young people like. I thought about it, and for the phone's name, let's use the name of an ancient mythical beast. The first generation will be called Qilin. If it becomes a hit, we can solicit other names online for our second generation. What do you think?"

“Qilin.” Chen Xuebing stroked his chin.

Lu Weibing glanced at Guan Zhong again, seemingly without his knowledge.

Guan Zhong cursed inwardly, "Right, right, Chairman, the name is also a design element. We can add different mythical beast elements to the appearance design of each generation! For example, Bai Ze can be pure white, Qinglong can be combined with blue and white porcelain, and phoenix can be combined with feminine elements to make a phone that women like!"

Chen Xuebing stared at him.

"Brother, what's your cultural background? You've never heard of 'Phoenix Seeking its Mate'? The phoenix is ​​male, the mate is female! Phoenixes, pixiu, mandarin ducks, and qilin are all paired, okay? Why is the phoenix a singular female element? If we're making a phone for women, shouldn't it be called 'Chilong'? When we make the 'Tao' series, we first need to do thorough research and educate users on the correct Taoist culture!"

Guan Zhong didn't want to talk anymore and glanced at Lu Weibing.

Lu Weibing quickly smiled and said, "President Guan's idea is quite good, mainly the elements, the design elements."

"element…"

Chen Xuebing actually didn't want to imitate the iPhone's appearance anymore.

"Okay, then let's make our phones into the mythical beast series. Also, the screen size needs to be slightly modified. 3.5 inches is too small; we need to make it 4 inches or larger."

(End of this chapter)