Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 302 You plagiarized me?
(The previous chapter had a large section deleted during review... so it's not very smooth, just imagine how it goes.)
When Chen Xuebing and Guo Taiming finished their negotiations and left the hotel, several city government buses were parked outside, and the passengers who got off were all foreigners.

Meanwhile, many high-end hotels in Shenzhen have such buses parked in front of them.

He's very busy today, and Shenzhen is just as busy.

Concurrently with the 8th China International High-Tech Achievements Fair Electronics Exhibition, the 2006 China Global Semiconductor Market Conference was also held.

The semiconductor conference will be held on the 11th, and the 8th China Hi-Tech Fair will open on the 12th.

In the semiconductor sector, companies such as NEC, Texas Instruments, Freescale, and NXP were present. The China Hi-Tech Fair was of a very high standard, with 44 multinational companies, including Intel, Oracle, HP, Apple, Sony, DuPont, Sumitomo, Samsung, and Toshiba, participating, setting a new record. Notably, Intel organized its own booth preparation at headquarters for the first time and also organized the participation of presidents of its global branches.

A leader from the Ministry of Commerce was also present.

When he learned of this news, he decided not to participate. Although Spreadtrum was also among the attendees at the semiconductor conference, he did not hold a position at Spreadtrum, so his participation was not legitimate.

With new leaders arriving in Shanghai soon, Spreadtrum should really make a good impression in Shanghai these next few months.

Negotiations on technical cooperation with Huawei have concluded, and the money needs to be invested quickly.

Both parties agreed that Huawei Technologies would be priced at 15 billion, but Spreadtrum also contributed technology, so the price was discounted by 200 million, resulting in an actual payment of 13 billion.

A relatively complex architecture design was proposed, which included a three-layer firewall system.

1. Modular technology is divided into "basic layer" and "application layer" based on the core principles of being separable and quantifiable.

The foundation layer is held by the joint venture: Huawei provides general patents such as MIMO multi-antenna technology and OFDM signal modulation schemes, while Spreadtrum contributes 3G transition technologies such as TD-SCDMA optimization algorithms.

The application layer, i.e., the technologies that the joint venture needs to use additionally, will be retained by each party: such as Huawei's LTE-A evolution roadmap and Spreadtrum's chip integration design, which are competitive technologies, will not be included in the scope of the joint venture.

2. The R&D team operates on a dual-track system.

Joint venture team: Engineers jointly dispatched by Huawei and Spreadtrum.

Independent liaison mechanism: Each party shall appoint a "technical liaison" to be responsible for integrating the joint venture's results into its own system, but shall be prohibited from directly contacting the other party's internal R&D.

Example: Huawei engineer A provides the MIMO code library to the joint venture → Spreadtrum engineer B develops 3G to 4G baseband based on the library → Contact person C transmits the results back to Spreadtrum, but is not allowed to obtain Huawei's LTE-A scheduling algorithm.

3. Dynamic Equity and Exit Clauses

Phased investment + recovery agreement:

Spreadtrum initially invested 4 million yuan, with an additional 3 million yuan every quarter. If Spreadtrum's cash flow is disrupted, Huawei has the right to repurchase the shares at the initial price.

Huawei holds a 51% stake and assumes primary responsibility for research and development. A separate expert committee has been established, with three members from each of Huawei and Spreadtrum. Research and development expenditures require approval from the committee and four votes before implementation.

A technology milestone will be set, and all R&D personnel involved will prioritize the interests of the joint venture. If the milestone is completed on schedule, Huawei and Spreadtrum will jointly release high dividend rights or high cash rewards.

The patents of the joint venture and any subsequent patents shall be jointly owned by both parties.

Huawei focuses on providing technology and personnel, and has prepared a team of 100 people.

Spreadtrum is now a strong and well-equipped company, having incorporated the ADI team. It already has more than a dozen R&D project teams and 370 communication patents. The joint venture also plans to invest a team of 30 people into it.

In terms of operations, all that's left is to wait for Chen Xuebing's initial funding injection.

After finishing up in Shenzhen, I need to rush back to Chongqing for the dividend distribution meeting and take out all the money I can from the fund.

In addition, with the support of the municipal government's publicity, Chongqing Pangdonglai's business is booming day by day with very few problems. Although the initial investment in various subsidies and market investment was large and they did not make much money themselves, they paid their suppliers on time. In the four months since it opened on June 13, its revenue has approached 6 million yuan, which has already helped some small factories to start recovering.

The key is that everyone sees hope; there are still big stores to come.

The construction of the large store required an initial investment of tens of millions of yuan. The material suppliers advanced half of the funds, and the store can continue operating without further investment for the time being. The circular main structure is being built slowly, and people stop to watch every day in Jiangbei. Once it opens, it is only a matter of time before it ignites consumption in Chongqing.

Many suppliers who can't get into small shops but are waiting to get into big shops are eagerly anticipating this opportunity, wishing they could personally lead people to help move bricks at the construction site.

For factory operations, cash is only one aspect. As long as the production line is running, the products can be sold, and the workers can see hope, many things become easier to discuss.

Those who still want to follow Pang Donglai will have to find a way to raise money to help President Chen recover his losses.

Even if Pang Donglai doesn't make a single penny from his investment, as long as he can gradually recover all the outstanding payments from the suppliers he's involved with, he'll have 1.7 to 1.8 billion yuan.

How much the remaining companies not included in the supply chain can recover depends on Long March Capital.

The following morning, after more than twenty hours of travel, the Apple team landed and, without even having time to settle into a hotel, quietly went to Huaqiangbei.

Why quietly?
Because this is a negotiation that cannot see the light of day.

The world's pioneer of personal computers and the king of digital music players, coming to a little-known company in China to argue—it'll make headlines if word gets out.

So much so that when Steve Jobs came to China, he had to use the China Hi-Tech Fair as a cover.

But Mr. Chen planned to use his "small company" to give this international giant a taste of its power.

The 54th floor of the SEG Plaza was rented by Singularity in August. The Apple team came to the address, and the moment the eight people appeared at the elevator entrance, Chen Xuebing and Singularity's management team of more than a dozen people greeted them outside.

Welcome.

Chen Xuebing extended his hand to Jobs with a broad smile.

He had a vague expectation before seeing Jobs.

But when he actually saw it, he found that he had long since become desensitized to the celebrity effect.

Steve Jobs was quite tall, not hunched over, and a few centimeters taller than me, and his build was fairly normal, which was his only surprise.

Logically speaking, this person has been fighting cancer for two years and has undergone several surgeries, so his mental state should not be very good. However, the strength in his hands was not weak, and his eyes were bright as he looked at Chen Xuebing's team.

“Mr. Chen, I flew for 20 hours not to haggle. It will probably be very difficult for your phones to be sold. The only valuable thing might be the few patent numbers that belong to you. Name your price.”

He speaks very fast, as if he would forget it if he didn't speak it quickly.

Indeed, he had practiced this concise opening line on the plane for a long time.

Prejudice in people's hearts is a mountain. After seeing those photos of Foxconn, he was a little afraid of this barbarian, but seeing Chen Xuebing dressed in a suit and tie, he figured he wouldn't eat people, so he quickly mustered up his courage and spoke up.

Chen Xuebing's English was originally quite good, and he had been practicing for a while recently, but he still couldn't understand it.

Seeing the chairman's puzzled expression, Ren Ying quickly translated.

Before this, many executives who were good at English laughed.

Several patents?

The mobile phone market they control is larger than your US market.

These laughs clearly didn't have a good meaning, making Jobs even more nervous.

After listening to the translation, Chen Xuebing smiled and said in English, "Let me show you around first, we'll talk about the acquisition later."

A group of people entered the long office corridor.

Every few offices, there is a department sign above the corridor, and different door signs are hung on the office doors, with English labels.

Research and Development Department: System Architecture Group, Application Framework Group, Driver Development Group.

Product and Design Department: Interaction Design Group, Product Planning Group.

Quality Assurance Department: Compatibility Testing Group, Performance Optimization Group.

Ecosystem Cooperation Department: Developer Support Group, OEM Collaboration Group.

Legal and Compliance Department: Agreement Review Group, Intellectual Property Group, Code Isolation Group, Open Source Adaptation Group.

Each door opens to reveal more than a dozen computers and more than 20 people, especially the three large offices in the R&D department, which together house more than a hundred people.

These were all recruited by Lin Bin using all his connections in the past few months, along with engineers hired from the community. In particular, after Chen Xuebing ordered Lu Weibing to establish a construction group last month, a large number of fresh graduates were recruited and trained.

The Apple team members had extremely exaggerated expressions. They looked down the entire corridor and saw so many computers building code, but not a single place to do hardware.

The names of these offices are not in line with the structure a mobile phone company should have.

silent.

The word "System" in the first office already indicates what this place is for, but how could it possibly need so many people? Is this the Saipan branch?

Jobs already regretted his rash words; such a massive organizational structure could not possibly have produced only a few patents.

“This floor is dedicated to system architecture,” Chen Xuebing confirmed their unbelievable guess. “However, we also have a lab here.”

As he spoke, he led them through the entire corridor to the door at the end.

Multi-touch laboratory.

Multi-Touch Laboratory.

When Old Joe saw the English below the nameplate, his heart sank.

They even have a dedicated laboratory.

Chen Xuebing knocked on the door and opened it.

Hans-Ulrich Müller and Yao Jian from IDIAP were not among them; such key technical personnel would certainly not show up. Only a few assistants wearing masks were present.

Chen Xuebing only invited Steve Jobs to join.

A 1.2 x 0.8 meter acrylic touch platform stands in the center, with an array of infrared LEDs on its surface. A Dell Precision 690 graphics workstation is connected below it, and a Sony HDR-HC3E high-definition camera is mounted on the right side of the experimental platform.

On another platform, the HP LP3065 30-inch LCD monitor displays touch point coordinate data in real time.

A whole box of spare capacitive touchscreens was piled up in the corner.

The wall is covered with an enlarged image of the FTIR technology paper published by Jeff Han's team in 2005, and the whiteboard is covered with formulas for the contact point coordinate algorithm.

The floor cables are neatly arranged in cable management channels, but temporary FireWire 800 data cables still meander through them. The air conditioner maintains a constant temperature of 22°C to ensure the accuracy of the infrared sensors.

Jobs recognized many things here, and even felt a sense of familiarity with them. He had discussed that technical paper with his touch development team less than two weeks prior.

The team is led by a researcher from New York University who just founded a company called Perceptive Pixel this year, and it has come into their sights!
Jobs knew things were going to get complicated.

“There’s another office next door that records data. It’s a sensitive place, and I don’t have a key, so I won’t show it to you.”

Chen Xuebing said at the right moment, "I promised to answer your question, and now I've done so. I know you acquired a company called Fingerworks. We've actually been eyeing that company too, but you beat us to it. From that, I guessed that you're also working on multi-touch."

"So, is it a touchscreen iPod or a touchscreen computer? How about some technical cooperation?"

Chen Xuebing laughed easily, while Ren Ying translated quietly beside him, leaving Jobs with a pent-up frustration.

He was the one who told Cook not to reveal the phone project, but now it's difficult for him to bring it up.

"Since you're still researching, how can you make a complete phone?" Jobs' mind raced, and he finally managed to come up with a question.

“We have a touch chip supplier, do you need to reveal their name?” Chen Xuebing asked rhetorically.

Jobs' eyes lit up.

"Your touchscreen is entirely powered by chips? I'd like to see your phones!"

Having only a chip means it's not mature enough; that's for sure.

Good multi-touch requires optimization from multiple aspects, including chip sensors, underlying drivers, and software algorithms; otherwise, Apple could not have spent so long developing it.

Chen Xuebing was well aware that his multi-touch technology was a hastily developed product and its integration wasn't perfect.

But his screen is big.

The 4.2-inch screen is 44% larger than the 3.5-inch screen.

A larger screen means more touch-sensing units, resulting in a wider operating range and a greater tolerance for errors.

Such high screen integration costs are not in vain.

He immediately gave a rather abrupt look: "I didn't agree to that. Our product is currently confidential."

Steve Jobs was furious.

"What do you think I came to China for? Just for your phone!"

Chen Xuebing, hands on his hips, raised an eyebrow: "Why did you want to look at my phone? I agreed to explain because of Huawei President Xu Zhijun's influence. I've already shown you what I was supposed to show you."

The sound of Jobs breathing heavily echoed throughout the laboratory.

Chen Xuebing frowned and muttered under his breath, "If you don't want to cooperate, fine, but why get angry? You make computers, I make mobile phones."

Ren Ying is still translating.

"Oh"

Chen Xuebing's eyes suddenly widened.

"Oh!!"

The stare grew wider and wider.

"You're trying to copy my phone??"

This shout was laced with anger, and it was spoken in English.

Everyone outside heard it.

The two groups of people looked at each other simultaneously, their eyes filled with suspicion.

Jobs was stared at intently by the Asian man and was surprised to find that the high-definition camera that had been pointing at his workbench was now in the hands of the masked man and was pointing at his face.

"FUCK! FUCK!!!"

Jobs immediately tried to walk out and leave this cursed laboratory, but Chen Xuebing grabbed him and pulled him back.

The 188cm tall man was completely powerless against General Manager Chen.

Once you've fallen into the abbot's trap, do you still want to get out?

Jobs was pulled back by this immense force, still on Eastern soil, and should have felt some fear.

But by then, he was consumed by anger.

"Look!" He whirled around, pulled a phone from his pocket, and shoved it at Chen Xuebing. "You're not the only one doing this! Apple's been doing it for ages!! We spent $1.5 million on R&D! $1.5 million!!"

Chen Xuebing was so overwhelmed by the criticism that he couldn't see clearly and tactically retreated a bit.

Then he laughed.

His smile deepened.

"Are you kidding me? $1.5 million, and this is the ugly thing they made?"

He quickly reached out and took the phone from Jobs' hand, flipping through it back and forth.

The front is black, just like the previous generation of iPhone, but the back is also completely black with nothing on it.

—The actual outer shell is still in Foxconn's factory, and it is still being tested and has not yet been finalized.

And it's been put on hold for now.

Chen Xuebing happily held the phone up to the camera and showed it off to the camera.

This camera was originally very expensive, but now its value has increased many times over, as it contains a lot of dirt on the great Apple.

Jobs was furious, furious that he didn't have a body as agile and strong as Mike Tyson to take back his prototype.

From the moment Mr. Chen officially entered the business world, the leaders of various companies must pay attention to their own development, which will inevitably become an increasingly important issue.

(End of this chapter)