Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 240 Forceful Intervention!

A few minutes later.

Lu Weibing looked at the information on the computer and clicked his tongue in disapproval.

"Most Promising Integrated Circuit Design Enterprise," "Ten-Year Achievement Award in the Mobile Phone Industry," "Shanghai Outstanding Entrepreneurship Award," "National Key New Product Program," "Pudong New Area Science and Technology Hero Award," and "First Prize in Research and Development Projects from the Ministry of Science and Technology."

"Recite, recite, recite! What the hell are you reciting?!"

Chen Xuebing was getting annoyed: "I asked you to make a phone call, and you're here reciting a tongue twister?"

"The chairman is from a company that's preparing for an IPO, and they've applied for a Nasdaq listing. You expect them to send a vice president from Shanghai to Shenzhen?"

As soon as Lu Weibing finished speaking, Lin Bin seemed to understand Chen Xuebing's meaning and said with some concern, "Our baseband chip is contracted with Marvell. They are now helping us with the entire on-chip system, including the CPU. If we don't use their baseband, there will be a penalty for breach of contract."

Chen Xuebing revealed a wealthy man's smile.

How much is the penalty for breach of contract?

Before Lin Bin could answer, Chen Xuebing said to Lu Weibing, "Tell them we want to use their TD-SCDMA chips, at least 100 million of them, take it or leave it."

“One million…where are we going to get that?” Lu Weibing said, then suddenly realized, “Chairman, you want…”

Chen Xuebing got up and walked outside.

"I'm going back to my office. Come and report to me when you're done."

"Hey! Hey! Chairman, your office is locked. I'll get someone to open it for you!"

Chen Xuebing returned to his long-absent office, having no time to appreciate the traces Yang Qingyue had left behind. He turned on his computer and began to look up information about Zhanxun.

They created an official website that details their development trajectory.

Spreadtrum is a company founded by a group of returned overseas students.

Despite winning so many awards and applying for a public listing, the number of chips produced has only exceeded 500 million to date.

There are many baseband technology patents, but only the GSM/GPRS (2.5G) multimedia baseband integrated chip SC6600B has some market share.

There is a market for it, but not a large one.

Because MediaTek is the dominant player in this field.

The TD-SCDMA 3G chip they painstakingly researched has yet to find a market application; it's likely that it can only be used in Japan.

No, it's not necessary. Although Japan was the first to cover 3G, it used the WCDMA standard.

This company's current technology appears to exist solely for the development of domestic 3G, and it plays the role of a technological game-changer.

Chen Xuebing was reassured that he had once again confirmed his understanding of Spreadtrum Communications from his previous life.

After reviewing Spreadtrum's history and looking up some information, he picked up his phone and made a call.

"Lao Lu."

Do you know Spreadtrum Communications in Shanghai?

"Good to know. Could you ask around for me which organization invested in it?"

“There must have been institutional investment, and it should have been overseas institutions. They spent a lot of money in the early stages and even bought a piece of German equipment that was under a sales ban. Someone must have helped them.”

"Well, I'll wait for your news."

After hanging up the phone, I waited a while, and then Lu Weibing came to knock on the door.

When she came in, she was holding her phone, still clutching the receiver, and said in a low voice, looking troubled.

"Chairman, it's difficult to communicate. I mentioned the names of Qidian Technology and Changzheng Capital before their vice presidents agreed to speak with you."

"Difficult to communicate with?"

Chen Xuebing chuckled, raised his hand to let him hand over the phone, and held it to his ear, saying:

"Hello, I am Chen Xuebing, Chairman of Gu'an. What is your surname?"

The question was direct and to the point, with a hint of pressure.

After a moment's hesitation, the person on the other end replied in a more formal tone, "Hello, I am Ji Jin, Vice President of Business at Spreadtrum Communications Shanghai."

"silence?"

"Ji, the Ji of Jizhou."

"Oh, Mr. Ji, hello. I'm here to talk to you about TD mobile phones. We need to import a batch of 3G baseband chips. We'd also like to discuss some other collaborations. Could you send someone to Shenzhen?"

"Uh, I'm sorry, Mr. Chen, you haven't cooperated with our company before, have you? Have you talked to someone from our company? Let me ask for you."

Although Ji Jin was caught off guard and didn't know much about Gu'an Group, he still showed some respect for Chen Xuebing's position as chairman, especially given the latter's somewhat condescending tone.

“There is no cooperation,” Chen Xuebing said directly.

"What kind of cooperation do you want to discuss? Just say it over the phone. If your order volume is large, we will send someone over."

"Alright, I'll get straight to the point. I know your TD 3G chips are your flagship product, but they're not selling well right now. I'd like to ask how many 3G chips I can purchase from you in exchange for a stake in Spreadtrum?"

The other side fell silent.

After a while, the tone on the other end became less official: "What? What do you mean?"

“I said, how many 3G chips do I need to purchase in order to acquire a stake in Spreadtrum Communications?” Chen Xuebing said, then emphasized, “By purchasing, I mean using them.”

"Uh, Mr. Chen, I don't understand what you mean."

"I told you to come over, but you said we could talk on the phone. I have 100 million mobile phones that I plan to use your 3G chips for, and I also plan to invest in you. Can you become a shareholder?"

"."

"100 million units?" The other party understood the question about the order and was taken aback.

Chen Xuebing frowned: "Is your Chairman Wu here? Could you let him answer the phone?"

"He's not in now."

"Are we going to discuss business or not? If not, I'm going to find your investors."

"."

The person on the other end of the line had never encountered such a compelling conversation before. "Mr. Chen, what company do you run? I need to report to the chairman."

"Changzheng Capital, Chen Xuebing, please hurry up. I'll wait for your call here. If you don't reply within an hour, I'll talk to your investors directly."

Chen Xuebing has changed his name this time, but his tone is still just as aggressive.

It's not that he looks down on the other party, but he has to be assertive.

Now that we've decided to do this, we need to get it done quickly. Every day we delay, it loses a little of its significance.

The other party hung up the phone, and Chen Xuebing waited quietly with his arms crossed.

Lu Weibing was completely stunned when he heard the phone call.

After a long pause, he finally spoke: "Chairman, you want to invest in this listed company?"

Chen Xuebing raised an eyebrow: "Nonsense, has it gone public yet? Isn't it supposed to go public next year? Everyone can shout slogans, but can you just go public like that?"

Lu Weibing got a little stuck.

"They still have a great chance. They have a concept, they have technology, and it's technology that will soon be put into global application. The market has already verified it. According to the requirements of Nasdaq, this company is considered an excellent company among Chinese concept stocks."

Chen Xuebing certainly knew.

Spreadtrum not only went public, but its stock price also surged, and its market capitalization reached a high of nearly US$20 billion, making it one of the benchmark Chinese concept stocks.

It later plummeted and was acquired by Tsinghua Unigroup as a subsidiary. The acquisition price was apparently $18 billion.

But that's all several years later.

His decision to invest in this company wasn't directly related to money, but rather to its potential to influence the arrival of a new era.

The earlier TD-SCDMA licenses are issued, the more advantageous it will be; if they are issued too late, they will become a mere formality.

One step behind means you'll be behind at every step.

On the contrary, if you are fast in one step, you can be fast in every step.

A while later, Chen Xuebing's phone rang.

However, it wasn't an unfamiliar number; it belonged to Xiao Haidong.

Chen Xuebing listened for a couple of sentences, then waved to Lu Weibing:

"The money I transferred to you has arrived. Go and arrange Lin Bin's funds and have him quickly set up a team to develop the software. If Spreadtrum calls you, give them my phone number."

Lu Weibing picked up his phone from the table.

"And this way..."

"I'll call you when it's time to cooperate."

Chen Xuebing of Changzheng Capital has a reputation that permeates the internet. Giving a tech company an hour to learn about him is definitely too much.

About 20 minutes later, Chen Xuebing received a call back from Spreadtrum Communications on his mobile phone.

However, it wasn't Chairman Wu Ping.

"Mr. Chen, it's an honor to hear from you! I didn't expect you to call us! I'm Chen Datong, co-founder of Spreadtrum Communications!"

The other person's laughter was hearty, but their voice sounded somewhat old.

Chen Xuebing didn't speak when he heard the unfamiliar name. He tapped the keyboard lightly, and some information appeared on the computer.

He gradually broke into a smile.

"Oh, Teacher Chen! I've heard so much about you!"

The two Mr. Chens exchanged polite greetings.

There are still flaws in online information retrieval. Chen Xuebing just searched for Spreadtrum online and couldn't find the name Chen Datong, but searching for Chen Datong alone brought up a lot of information about Spreadtrum.

Also, Chen Datong's personal information.

A Tsinghua University PhD, a Stanford University postdoctoral fellow, and the founder of the US-listed company Omnivision, whose team developed the world's first color CMOS image sensor chip, he holds multiple US and European patents and recently won the National Invention and Entrepreneurship Special Prize.

Born in 55, he is 51 years old.

It turns out that there's a seasoned expert behind Wuping's team.

Since he is a highly educated scholar, calling him "General Manager X" would be beneath him; using "teacher" would show respect.

"Hehe." Upon hearing Chen Xuebing address him as "Teacher Chen," the voice on the other end slowed down, and he paused, "What brings you here, Mr. Chen?"

Chen Xuebing knew that the person on the other end was definitely the person in charge, and might even be the driving force behind Wu Ping's team's return to China to start a business. He was more direct: "Cooperate, we will invest in Spreadtrum, help Spreadtrum sell TD 3G chips, and push the Ministry of Information Industry to issue TD-SCDMA 3G licenses."

That statement fully revealed the intention.

To put it more politely, it's more accurate to say that the Ministry of Information Industry was forced to comply.

The person on the other end immediately understood.

"Mr. Chen, this is a huge deal, especially regarding the 3G license."

Chen Xuebing wasn't there to impart value to the other party, but rather to talk about the market. Therefore, there was no talk of "how important domestically produced 3G is," and he immediately launched into a discussion about the market:

"Are 100 million TD 3G users enough?"

"One million." Chen Datong pondered for a moment, then asked, "Where did Mr. Chen's users come from?"

“This is the ground beneath my feet,” Chen Xuebing replied.

“Shenzhen? It’s certainly a good place to do promotion in Shenzhen, but do you know what a million 3G users mean in the current environment? There are probably not even a million 3G phones on the market right now.”

Chen Xuebing chuckled: "If I want him to have it, he will have it. Let alone one million, as long as Zhanxun does as I say, even two million, he will have it. Three million, five million, perhaps it won't be a problem."

Chen Xuebing kept increasing his leverage, finally making the extremely intelligent Chen Datong realize a certain place.

"You mean Huaqiangbei? You can mobilize Huaqiangbei?"

Chen Xuebing smiled and said, "Professor Chen, you have a brilliant idea. Besides being an investor, I am also a manufacturer in Huaqiangbei."

(End of this chapter)