As a mage, I just want to pursue the truth

Chapter 118 Antitrust Penalties (Two in One)

Ke Chuang Bio's entry into the VR field is highly regarded by both public opinion and capital.

Because brain-computer connection adds a huge amount to VR and can bring richer functions.

Current mainstream VR games are restricted by their operating methods, and spatial movement in VR is difficult to achieve.

Previously, the mainstream method was to use an omnidirectional treadmill, but only a few players could afford to buy one at home, and it was too difficult to implement.

The difficulty is almost equivalent to being able to afford a gaming cabin. This kind of VR is only suitable for a very small number of wealthy players.

As for using analog controllers, they also require space to be placed, which is not realistic for ordinary players.

Brain-computer connection can achieve continuous movement in space, which means that a richer variety of game types can be displayed on VR.

Some media have already regarded Kechuang Future as the culmination of the Metaverse. The Metaverse sector of the A-share market has also been in turmoil.

The gaming industry also responded strongly, with miHoYo taking the lead in stating that if conditions are ripe, it will develop new games for brain-computer VR.

At the same time, we will also consider porting Genshin Impact to brain-computer VR.

This year, game licenses were restricted, making it a luxury for medium-sized game manufacturers to replicate the success of Genshin Impact.

Tencent has already stated that it will definitely develop China's own masterpiece for brain-computer VR.

Overseas digital enthusiasts have responded strongly to Kechuang Bio's entry into the VR field:
“Brain-computer connection VR is very cool to think about!”

“Will the scenes in Ready Player One become a reality soon? By using brain-computer commands to achieve movement, VR games are no longer a single-threaded experience and can interact with the game world.”

"What I am most concerned about is whether Kechuang Biotechnology's brain-computer connection technology has made any progress. Can they achieve force feedback? Or is it a one-way signal transmission like the brain-computer connection to the mobile phone?"

Force feedback means that players can get feedback and feel the force when they collide or hit something in a VR game. It is a bit similar to the realism mentioned in online game novels a long time ago.

"Force feedback exoskeletons are too expensive. I tried them at a VR exhibition. They are really cool, but they cost 2 to 5 yuan. I hope Kechuang Biotech can achieve a breakthrough in force feedback!"

With the widespread popularity of English-language brain-computer interface mobile phones, Ke Chuang Bio has become very famous in overseas markets, and Zheng Li has also been widely publicized. He is regarded by foreigners as China's Iron Man.

It's just a biological version of Iron Man.

The benefit that the company's reputation brings to Kechuang Bio is that they were able to easily poach SecondMind's technical team.

Making AI chips in a monopoly field is much easier than fighting in the red ocean of autonomous driving, not to mention that the salary offered by Kechuang Biotechnology is 50% higher.

"I just hope that the price of the brain-computer connection VR developed by Kechuang Biotechnology can be cheaper. Brain-computer connection mobile phones are 200 yuan more expensive than ordinary mobile phones. If brain-computer connection VR is only 200 yuan more expensive than ordinary VR, I think it is completely acceptable."

“Brain-computer connection should have been combined with VR a long time ago. When brain-computer connection mobile phones came out, I predicted that Kechuang Biotechnology would develop brain-computer connection VR, but it took so long to develop it.”

"Why is it Chinese technology products again? We must boycott Chinese digital products!"

"The person above should shut up. Musk's brain-computer connection to mobile phones is far inferior to Kechuang Biotechnology. As a consumer, it is only natural for me to use the best products. I will not share a penny of the money earned by using Musk's brain-computer connection!"

After the news broke, some media interviewed Musk, and Musk said: "Brain-computer connection VR is a good idea. Neuralink has always wanted to do brain-computer connection VR, but the technology was not mature before."

"We will work towards this direction in the future. I am optimistic about brain-computer connection VR and Kechuang Biotechnology. However, this field is a very broad market that can accommodate many players. It is not a zero-sum game. We are not competitors with Kechuang Biotechnology."

"We are more like cultivators, working together to expand the market size of brain-computer connection!"

Musk is very good at confusing concepts. In his rhetoric, he classifies Neuralink and Ke Chuang Bio as companies of the same level.

Zheng Li also serves as the chairman of Ke Chuang Future, and the general manager at the specific executive level is an executive sent by Tencent.

Since Zheng Li was in Kuala Lumpur, he delegated many matters to Li Miaomiao for decision-making, and he only made judgments at key points.

After the establishment of Kechuang Future at the end of March, the progress has been very fast and VR technology has become relatively mature.

Although there are no relative standards, the upstream and downstream supply chains are very mature.

Ke Chuang Future is backed by Ke Chuang Bio, Tencent and Dami. It can be said that all domestic VR upstream and downstream suppliers want to get on this giant ship.

Li Miaomiao has also witnessed the ability of rice to squeeze the supply chain. They want to squeeze suppliers to the limit.

If a single component can only make the other party earn five dollars, Da Mi will definitely not let the other party earn ten dollars.

So much so that Li Miaomiao repeatedly asked the head of the supply chain department: "If we squeeze suppliers like this, can they guarantee to provide us with the best parts?"

The person in charge of the supply chain said directly: "Of course not, but we will only pay if the parts they provide pass our acceptance test."

"If we quote this price, the parts they give us will definitely not be the best, but only B or C. We can't get A-grade parts at this price."

Li Miaomiao continued to ask: "Why don't we raise the price a little bit and use the best components to give users the best experience?"

Li Miaomiao has no idea about the electronic product supply chain. She needs to learn on the job. Her strength is that she will ask questions clearly if she is not clear about something and will not pretend to know something.

The person in charge of the rice supply chain replied: “Because it is not necessary.”

"VR is similar to mobile phones. It is best to iterate products in years. We don't need to use the best components. We just need to make them of quality that users can use for five to ten years."

"We just need to ensure that it can be used normally within the warranty period. Using too good parts will be detrimental to the company's profits."

"Controlling the quality of parts and components will result in profit from cost control, and users will also make profits by replacing their devices. This is how the company maximizes its profits."

The Mi 6 that Dami developed was of such high quality that many users still use it today. Li Miaomiao understood it completely: "What about the iPhone?"

The other party replied: "The logic of iPhone is different from that of other brands. It is more like an electronic luxury product in a certain sense. Users who need to upgrade their iPhone every year will not refuse to upgrade just because last year's iPhone is still usable."

"And iPhones are the most valuable in the second-hand market, which leads to the high price of iPhones. There are a lot of regular users who change their phones every year to protect iPhones, so they can use the best parts."

(I would like to add that I said I am a Mi fan. I have only used one Mi phone and it gave me a very bad experience. I have been using iPhone since I graduated from college. When I was in college, I used Meizu the most. You can't say that I am a Mi fan.
I recently bought a Rice ultrasonic eyeglass cleaning machine, but it broke in less than two months.)

Li Miaomiao: "Okay, I understand."

The head of the supply chain added: “If we can ensure that brain-computer connection technology has new features every year, then I think it’s okay for us to use the best components and follow Apple’s path.”

"We can force users to upgrade their devices through technological updates, rather than forcing them to upgrade by reducing the user experience of old devices."

Back in September, the R&D team of the Lion City R&D Center, led by Zheng Li, carried out targeted optimization of brain-computer connection technology.

Kechuang Biotechnology's first MSC chip developed specifically for brain-computer connection VR has also completed its design.

The prototype of the brain-computer connected VR has been finalized. Li Miaomiao asked her subordinates to send her the product report and test experience of the prototype, and make a brief report on the specific topic.

"On a technical level, Tencent's system for brain-computer VR is still under testing. Tencent and Dami's joint technical team said that the VR system still needs time to complete development."

The operating system is extremely troublesome, and Xiaomi and Tencent have mobilized more than 5,000 technicians to form a dedicated development team.

Tencent considers this to be the most important task in the next five years, which will support the company's development in the next ten years.

However, since it involves remote communication with the R&D team in Lion City, the functions that can be achieved by brain-computer connection and the need to clarify the needs of brain-computer connection VR, only a rough prototype was available by September.

This time progress is faster than expected.

For example, Huawei's Hongmeng system, you can say it is a shell of Android or a fake self-developed system. It took more than 4,000 engineers about two years to develop Hongmeng from project establishment to online use.

FB started saying it would develop a dedicated VR operating system in 17, but as of 2022, there has been no progress. The slogans are just loud and clear, and the company name has even been changed to META.

"But the VR system call layer has been developed. We can provide the brain-computer connection call interface and instructions to game manufacturers, and game manufacturers can now start synchronous development."

"But the negotiations have been delayed, and the 50-50 profit split is unacceptable to all major game manufacturers."

For example, the Apple tax in the Apple system is 30%. This fee will be charged for all Apple applications, except for transfers and shopping.

The Android system does not have this fee, but if you want to list your app on the app stores of major mobile phone manufacturers, you still need to pay a fee. This fee is called the channel fee.

Ke Chuang Future has worked hard to build a brain-computer connection system, and naturally hopes to collect taxes like Apple, which is equivalent to a landlord collecting rent, and game manufacturers are tenants.

Li Miaomiao said: "Let's talk about it as soon as possible, so we can lower the ratio appropriately."

The subordinate replied: "In the negotiations with the game manufacturers, they can only accept a commission of 20% at most, and QQ said that Tencent's games will also need to pay the same commission if they are to be included in the VR of Ke Chuang Future."

The patent rights and software copyright of the VR operating system belong to Ke Chuang Future, but the relevant rights of Tencent's software applications, whether it is WeChat QQ or VR games, belong to Tencent.

Li Miaomiao said: "Geely will definitely need to pay a commission, which I think we can agree to, but 20% is too far from our expectations, so let's talk about it slowly."

"You can wait until Tencent makes a DEMO sample and then show it to them during the negotiation. There will always be manufacturers who will make concessions in order to be the first to try it."

This is a game. VR manufacturers need software to enrich their ecosystem, and software manufacturers also need to log in to hardware devices to attract users and gain profits.

The biggest advantage of developing one's own operating system is that you can reap the benefits in the future. As long as the ecosystem is well built and there are enough users, the current investment will be recovered by hundreds or even thousands.

Otherwise, given Tencent's temperament, how could it possibly invest in operating systems? VR operating systems are a blue ocean, while mobile phone and PC operating systems are a red ocean.

"In addition, the industrial design of brain-computer-connected VR has been finalized, and the foundry of the specially developed MSC chip is negotiating cooperation, among which SMIC hopes to be deeply involved in this project."

"They expressed their hope to be deeply involved in the brain-computer connection chip project and hope to participate in chip design. The two sides can cooperate by establishing a joint venture."

Putting chip design and chip foundry together is actually conducive to maximizing chip performance.

Models like Samsung and Intel are more advantageous than those of HiSilicon Kirin and TSMC, not only in terms of performance, but also in terms of cost and consistency in design routes.

Consistency in design routes means that when Samsung designs 14nm mobile phone chips, it will plan 5nm at the same time, and technology research and development will be continuous and consistent.

Of course, for companies like HiSilicon, it’s not that they don’t want to integrate design and production, it’s that they really can’t do it.

Li Miaomiao replied: "Our current generation of MSC brain-computer connection chips has been finalized. If cooperation is needed for the second generation, we can consider it, but it will not be through a joint venture."

The same brain-computer connection VR patent has been injected into Kechuang Future, but the brain-computer connection chip and related personnel still belong to Kechuang Bio.

"In addition, if conditions permit, we should appropriately favor SMIC, but at least we cannot entrust all production capacity to TSMC."

SMIC's yield rate, production capacity, and performance are indeed different from TSMC's, but if the industrial chain is completely dependent on others, it is easy to be caught off guard when unexpected events occur.

From the beginning, Kechuang Future planned to support chip foundry manufacturers in China. If brain-computer VR sells well, the brain-computer VR chips alone will be enough to support SMIC's 14nm group.

After Li Miaomiao finished all the matters, it was already past nine o'clock in the evening. She was just about to call the driver to take her home when another call came in:
"Mr. Li, the latest news is that the Europa League said that once Kechuang Biotechnology's brain-computer connection mobile phone is sold in the Europa League, it will impose an antitrust fine on Kechuang Biotechnology."

“There is no news on the exact amount of the fine, but Europa Commission officials said that Sinovation abused its dominant position in the field of brain-computer interfaces and engaged in predatory pricing.”

“Abusing its dominant market position to force consumers to use its chips.”

Thanks to 不找到方向 and book friend 20201222095310546 for the reward!
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(End of this chapter)