My son is a reincarnated soul; I overheard his inner thoughts and became the richest man.

However, the semiconductor industry chain is a bottomless money pit, with countless upstream and downstream sub-sectors. In 2003, the country's foreign exchange reserves and overall economic situation were still very weak; even if the government wanted to coordinate efforts, it couldn't come up with the enormous sums of money.

It seems the heavy responsibility of breaking this deadlock will fall to Dad for now. We need to pour in more real money to ensure our domestic supply chain survives, so we don't end up being strangled and unable to breathe a decade or two from now...

After listening to his son's complete strategic plan, Chen Feng understood everything perfectly.

"Mr. Ren, now that we've decided to do this, we need to broaden our horizons. Our cooperation should not be limited to drawing a few chip blueprints."

"We need to establish a presence in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain as long as we have sufficient cash flow. Of course, it's unrealistic to build factories entirely on our own. But with orders in hand, we can certainly use real money to invest in and support domestic equipment and material suppliers."

"Only when you have the core lifeline in your own hands can you sleep soundly."

"The outside world always loves to tout the absurd logic of 'it's better to buy than to make, and better to rent than to buy,' but I, Chen, don't believe a single word of it! If we can't make something ourselves, foreigners can always find an excuse to overturn the table and strangle us."

"Let's be frank: as long as domestic factories can produce barely usable parts, Fengtian Technology will definitely share a piece of the pie with them. Even if the yield rate of domestic products is a bit lower and the unit cost is a bit higher, taking a portion of our profits, I'm willing to accept it. Consider it money spent to support our team!"

"As long as we give local companies a chance to survive and develop new technologies, sooner or later our country's semiconductor industry will be able to compete with multinational giants."

These heartfelt words struck a chord with Mr. Ren.

As a veteran who had fought on the battlefield and a long-time member of the Communist Party, he has always had a deep-seated patriotism and a determination to fight to the bitter end.

Chen Feng's words completely ignited the embers that had not yet been extinguished in his heart.

"Let's do it!"

Mr. Ren slapped his thigh suddenly, his tired eyes instantly flashing with astonishing sharpness. "Mr. Chen, with your words, I'll risk my old bones and lead Huawei to go crazy with you!"

"I'll book a flight back to Shenzhen immediately and call off the acquisition deal with Motorola. Huawei is indeed struggling financially right now, but it's not at the point of having to sell its assets!"

"I wholeheartedly support your suggestion to merge the two companies' chip R&D teams into one and go it alone."

After the initial excitement, Mr. Ren quickly regained his shrewdness as a businessman and began to consider practical matters.

"However, Mr. Chen, even close brothers should keep clear accounts. How will the equity of the joint venture be divided? What about the old patents accumulated in the past? And how will potential future business conflicts be handled?"

At this point, Mr. Ren frankly revealed: "I won't hide it from you, Huawei has also set its sights on the lucrative mobile phone market. This July, we just established a mobile phone business unit internally. If things progress quickly, we can launch a PHS (Personal Handyphone System) or feature phone next spring. In the future, our two companies will inevitably have to fight tooth and nail in the terminal market."

Chen Feng was not surprised at all, and waved his hand: "In the business world, everyone relies on their own abilities. We will each fight our own battles, which will not conflict with the joint research and development of chips."

"As for the shares in the joint venture, that's easy. Huawei has an extremely strong technological foundation in communication chips, which Fengtian cannot match for the time being. We will directly ask the Big Four international auditing firms to conduct an asset appraisal, convert the technology into money, and make up any shortfall in share with cash, ensuring that both parties hold 50% each, on an equal footing."

"The ownership of the old patents will remain with their respective owners. Whoever wants to use the other's patent will pay the market price for the licensing fee. The new company will operate completely independently. If we need funds for R&D in the future, we will continue to invest in it at a 50/50 ratio."

After listening to this clear and transparent plan, President Ren thought about it briefly and readily nodded: "Okay, this plan is fair, let's do it this way."

Although Mr. Ren's personal shareholding in Huawei is pitifully small, he is a spiritual leader whose word carries immense weight, and making decisions is as simple as a word.

Chen Feng faced no resistance whatsoever.

Although Fengtian Technology is listed on Nasdaq, he personally holds more than half of the absolute controlling stake, and the board of directors has no way to interfere with his decisions. He can make decisions unilaterally.

As for whether the establishment of the joint venture will lead to short selling on Wall Street and cause the stock price to plummet?

Chen Feng didn't take it seriously at all.

If the Nasdaq's financial crocodiles dare to take the opportunity to dump shares, he can use this opportunity to buy up all the scattered shares at low prices.

Seeing that President Ren nodded in agreement to merge the chip R&D teams of the two companies into one and establish a new company, a smile finally appeared on Chen Feng's tense face.

Having settled the chip issue, another major problem that his son had just revealed immediately popped into his mind—3G networks.

Chen Feng picked up his teacup to moisten his throat, then pressed on, asking, "By the way, Mr. Ren, since Huawei is about to enter the mobile phone market, where are you currently focusing your R&D efforts?"

Without hesitation, Mr. Ren replied, "Currently, all our energy and funds are focused on 3G technology, and we've already overcome many challenges. The first mobile phone we plan to launch next year will use the WCDMA standard. This is a third-generation cellular network technology, and some of its protocols are inherited from the 2G era's GSM. As you know, Huawei already has a very strong foundation in GSM."

Hearing this, Chen Feng put down his teacup and his expression became serious: "President Ren, to be honest, I strongly advise against Huawei throwing too much money into the quagmire of 3G mobile phones."

"The technologies you currently possess should be considered as training reserves. Huawei's main focus should be to skip the 3G pitfall and concentrate all its resources on the research and development of 4G technology."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Ren was stunned, his eyes filled with confusion.

"Mr. Chen, I don't quite understand what you're saying. You don't have a positive outlook on 3G? That's the most cutting-edge technology in the global communications industry right now!"

Mr. Ren frowned and raised several questions in succession, "Leaving aside the fact that 3G hasn't even seen large-scale commercial use yet, isn't jumping straight to 4G a bit too big a step?"

"Furthermore, Huawei has already invested a huge amount of money in 3G research and development. If it doesn't turn it into a product and sell it, how will it recoup its enormous sunk costs?"

"And the most crucial point is: what exactly will 4G take? There isn't even a unified draft globally, and when it will be commercially available is completely unknown. If 4G fails to materialize, 3G will undoubtedly be the mainstream in the market for the next seven or eight years. If we simply abandon it, it's like handing over such a huge piece of the pie to someone else!"

Chen Xiaotian, who was sitting to the side serving tea to the two of them, could not hide his shock when he heard his father's outrageous remarks.

What's going on? My dad actually dared to be pessimistic about 3G back in 2003 and directly called for 4G?!

[Could it be that his brain has mutated, allowing him to see through the historical patterns of communication development without any formal instruction?]

Chen Feng naturally heard his son's surprise clearly. He glanced at Chen Xiaotian without showing any emotion, then turned to President Ren and began to speak eloquently.

"Mr. Ren, the logic is simple. Fengtian Technology is now a player in the mobile phone industry. We've all seen how competitive the domestic mobile phone market is. This year's market is ten times harder to operate than last year's. Next year, a large number of domestic brands that just jumped on the bandwagon might go out of business."

"Since I have to fight my way out of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, I must look to the long term and study the underlying logic of communication technology in advance."

"According to the intelligence I've gathered, the core patents in the 3G field have long been completely monopolized by old rogues from Europe and the United States like Qualcomm and Ericsson. No matter how much money we invest now, the 3G phones we make will not be able to bypass their patent barriers, and we will have to pay a 'Qualcomm tax' to the foreigners for every phone we sell."

"Since we're just following in others' footsteps and getting left behind in the 3G race, why not flip the table and switch tracks? Let's get a head start in 4G, overtake them on the curve, and register the underlying 4G patents in our own name! Then, instead of us serving tea and water to foreigners, they'll be begging us to buy their patent licenses, giving us a voice in international standards!"

At this point, Chen Feng paused, his tone becoming even more resolute: "Besides being subject to patent restrictions, another core reason why I'm not optimistic about 3G is that it's neither high-end nor low-end."

"Compared to 2G, 3G network speed is indeed faster, but in my opinion, it is still far from enough."

After a pause, Chen Feng put forward a more ambitious concept: "Mr. Ren, you must know about the smartphones that Nokia and Dopod released last year, right? Although the sales were dismal and didn't make much of a splash, I firmly believe that the future will definitely belong to smartphones."

"The industry is hyping up the concept of 'handheld computers,' or PDAs, every day. But in my eyes, the smartphone of the future will definitely not be a simple notebook; it must be able to completely replace bulky desktop computers!"

"Think about it, what do people usually use computers for? Besides typing for work, they mainly use them to listen to music, watch movies, and play online games. For smartphones to reign supreme, they must be able to perfectly run these entertainment functions in the palm of your hand."

"But what can you do with 3G's pitiful bandwidth? At best, you can only browse low-resolution images and read text-based web pages. When you encounter high-definition videos or large-scale online games, it will lag so badly that even your own mother wouldn't recognize you."

Therefore, my conclusion is that 3G is destined to be just a short-lived transitional technology. Only 4G networks, with speeds ten or even a hundred times faster, can truly enable an explosive revolution in smartphones!

This set of rigorously logical theories, while partly derived from "cheating answers" obtained by Chen Feng through eavesdropping on his son's thoughts, is mostly a business logic that he, as a top businessman, deduced himself by combining current technological trends.

After listening to this insightful analysis, President Ren's previously firm expression wavered instantly, and he fell into deep thought.

Chen Xiaotian, standing to the side, was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped to the ground. He looked at his father as if he were a monster with superpowers.