As a mage, I just want to pursue the truth

Chapter 83: Entering the Semiconductor Market ( words in two parts)

Li Miaomiao smoothed her bangs, her bright eyes sparkling under the light of the crystal lamp:
"Destiny is mysterious and unpredictable. When I chose Zheng Li at the one-week couples event at Jiangcheng University, I never thought so many things would happen. After meeting him, I felt as if my life was accelerated."

Li Shuyao looked at him and said, "Well, I just feel that the gap between our social status in the past two years has become so big that it is difficult to make up. The ancient saying that one's fate comes first, two's luck comes second, three's feng shui comes third, four's accumulating good deeds comes fifth, studying does make sense."

"Individual struggle is too insignificant in the face of the hand of fate."

"I think I will still go to CICC. Once I have accumulated some experience, if you want to start an investment company, see if there is any opportunity for me."

Li Miaomiao said: "You know Cheng Gang, right?"

Li Shuyao: "I know. Your general manager used to work at Shunwei Capital. The people at CICC all said he was very lucky."

"If he had known that Kechuang Biotechnology would be what it is today, he would never have taken this position."

"It's just that Zheng Li doesn't like to make trouble, so he hid in Lion City a long time ago. Otherwise, all kinds of people with ideas would find Zheng Li and annoy him to death."

Li Miaomiao smiled when she heard the other party mention Zheng Li: "Zheng Li will definitely not meet with those people. Cheng Gang wants to set up his own venture capital company."

"I specialize in angel investment in the biopharmaceutical industry. If you are interested, I can help you connect with them."

"Also, there is no one in charge of the investment in the biopharmaceutical field under Lei Jun's Shunwei Capital. Previously it was Cheng Gang. If you are interested, I can also ask him for you."

Li Miaomiao cares a lot about her sister.

Li Shuyao shook her head: "Forget it. How much money can Cheng Gang's venture capital company have to invest? It's not worth it for you to owe him this favor."

"You'd better not have any conflicts of interest with Cheng Gang. Zheng Li will feel uneasy if you have any conflicts of interest with him."

"Forget about Shunwei Capital. If I go to the two companies you mentioned, I think Cheng Gang will give me a mid-level position. I must start at the research institute of Shunwei Capital."

"It doesn't help my career much. After I graduate from graduate school, I will most likely go to CICC or a foreign investment bank."

"First gain some experience and then see if there are any opportunities. Having a sister like you is my best connection, hahahaha."

"What do you plan to do with the 40 billion RMB you raised from the IPO?"

"Neither the endorphin phase II production base nor the large-scale brain-computer connection experiment should cost that much, right?"

Li Miaomiao sighed and said, "We plan to develop our own brain-computer connection chip, and we are now in the early research stage."

"The brain-computer connection chips we are using now are standard chips that have been fine-tuned. It is difficult to make further progress to this level."

“Have you ever used a brain-computer interface to connect to a mobile phone?”

Li Shuyao: "The rice mix 4 I have now was given to me by you! Of course I have used it before."

Li Miaomiao continued: "You should have noticed that the current brain-computer connection can only realize the function of clicking the screen, and functions such as controlling the volume and turning the machine on and off cannot be realized."

"When you're walking, the brain-computer connection doesn't work, and there are many limiting factors."

“Not to mention realizing the metaverse that the media has mentioned. If you want to control VR devices through brain-computer connection, standard chips are far from enough.”

The brain has about 100 billion neurons, each of which is connected to 100,000 similar neurons. Moreover, each neuron has a different firing pattern, encoding method, and information processing method.

"We plan to enter the semiconductor industry. Since 17, everyone in the semiconductor industry has gradually realized that semiconductors are really a money-burning business."

As an intern at CICC, Li Shuyao has also read CICC’s internal research reports on the semiconductor industry:
"What kind of chip are you planning to make? It should be an ordinary MCU, not an AI computing chip."

Li Miaomiao was a little surprised: "Do you know the difference between MCU and AI computing chip?"

MCU is what we commonly call a chip. Its full name is Microcontroller Unit. MCU is equivalent to integrating a series of things such as CPU, memory, PLC, etc. into a chip.

AI computing chips are modules that are specifically designed to handle large amounts of computing tasks in artificial intelligence applications. They have a narrower definition than MCUs and have simpler functions.

Li Shuyao nodded: "After all, I have been interning at CICC for such a long time, so I still have some understanding of the semiconductor industry."

"MCU is not bad. The MCU industry has been relatively mature over the years. Although there are few relevant talents in China, there are still some."

"But it's a bit difficult to recruit people for AI chips. There are very few talents in this field in China, and basically all of them are in a few large companies."

"But Kechuang Bio is also a big company. If you want to poach people, you can still poach them as long as you offer a high enough price."

Li Miaomiao explained: "We need to make both MCU and AI computing chips."

"In the short term, it is only for brain-computer connection applications on mobile phones and medical devices, and conventional MCU customized development is sufficient."

"But considering the long term, if we want to develop in the direction of virtual reality, we need to start accumulating AI chips now."

“The rehearsal of technology starts long in advance.”

Li Shuyao applauded: "What a great ambition! What a great idea!"

Li Miaomiao was helpless:
“Technology research and development is a painful and frustrating process, especially when you are at the forefront of the technology.”

"I feel overwhelmed when I look at the budget now. I finally understand why domestic companies are unwilling to increase investment in research and development and are unwilling to make basic innovations."

"The investment in cutting-edge R&D is too high. We have to build the structure of the semiconductor company in the fourth quarter of this year. We estimate that it will cost 10 billion RMB just to recruit people."

The salary of a regular MCU engineer with a certain amount of work experience is over 150 yuan, the salary of a senior architect starts at 200 million yuan, and the salary of a top-level architect is at least million yuan.

The salary here is just the minimum value, and the actual amount may be even higher.

The good thing is that science and technology companies are now considered industry giants and are also the most cutting-edge companies in the field of brain-computer connection, so there is no need to pay too much premium.

If it is a chip startup company and the founder does not have a strong background to back him up, the premium may have to be 50% to 100%.

As for engineers working on AI chips, they are even more expensive. A senior engineer with a little experience costs at least one million.

In recent years, the country has taken the lead in investing money in chips, otherwise most companies would not be able to survive.

Li Miaomiao continued, "One billion is just to build the framework. We estimate that we will spend 10 billion next year. The patent licensing fees for brain-computer connection will basically be all invested in it next year."

"As the person in charge of finance, I feel heartbroken when I see the amount in the budget."

There are very few companies in China that can spend money to make chips. Apart from specialized semiconductor companies, the only ones that can persist are Huawei, Qiandu, Ali, and Tencent.

It’s not that the giants really can’t afford it.

Li Shuyao reminded:

"Eleven billion sounds like a lot. It will burn a quarter of your 40 billion raised funds. But if you are willing to set up a company specifically for brain-computer connection chips."

"Let this company introduce external investment. With Zheng Li's industry status, it is not a problem to easily raise 18 billion yuan." "Do you know Qiandu's Kunlun chip? The first AI chip in China, it was announced to have completed research and development in 14, using Samsung's nm process." "It has been more than three years now, and the output is less than pieces. Most of them are bought by Qiandu itself and used in their Apollo self-driving cars."

“Kunlun chips are called AI chips, but in fact their biggest application scenario is in autonomous driving.”

"If Qiandu doesn't build its own cars, is it possible to rely on the data accumulated by Qiandu Maps to overtake others in the field of autonomous driving?"

"They want to develop self-driving chips, but can they beat Tesla? Not to mention Tesla, even the new domestic car maker Baidu may not be able to beat it."

"But even so, Qiandu's Kunlun chip was taken out to form a separate company, and the financing completed in March this year was valued at 20 billion yuan."

"You really pulled out the brain-computer connection chip to raise funds. It's easy to raise so much money."

Qiandu has had a tough time in recent years. It has failed to catch up with the mobile Internet, and its PC business is becoming increasingly difficult.

The rise of private domain traffic has weakened Qiandu’s function as a traffic entrance.

Qiandu hopes to overtake others in the fields of autonomous driving and artificial intelligence, and they have invested huge amounts of money in this field.

Li Shuyao saw many similar cases during her internship at CICC. She can easily cite recent capital operation cases in the market: "IDG Capital is one of the investors in Qiandu Kunlun."

"If you want to invest, Shunwei Capital, IDG, Temasek, Goldman Sachs and others would be willing to invest, but Bocom International might not."

Li Miaomiao's position determines that she can see a higher level than Li Shuyao:

"We can still afford 10 billion RMB."

"Qiandu took out Kunlun because they have no source of income for their chips, and Qiandu has been getting worse year by year in recent years."

"It's beyond our ability to develop AI chips that can be widely used on our own."

“Do you think Tencent, Huawei, and Ali will take out their chip companies to introduce external investment?”

“Will Huawei’s Kunpeng and Ali’s Pingtouge be raised for financing?”

Pingtou Ge is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ali Damo Academy.

“If there really comes a day when Sinovation Biotech takes out its semiconductor company for financing, it must be because we have encountered great difficulties.”

"Nowadays, the patent licensing of brain-computer connection alone can support a chip company."

“Once the English Department’s brain-computer connection technology is developed, we can even afford to support two more.”

Li Miaomiao's tone was full of the sense of not being short of money.

There were only two words in Li Shuyao's eyes: envy.

"The rich are inhumane, no wonder they say monopoly business is the easiest to do."

"When we discussed internally, we all said that if you are willing to do some customized development in the field of brain-computer connection, the valuation can be higher and the revenue can be more."

Li Miaomiao doesn't understand what customized development is.

“Customized development?”

Li Shuyao explained: "It is to collect statistics of users' brain nerve signals when browsing different pages, and then sell this data to Internet companies."

"At present, you are the only one who can do this business. When we discussed it internally, we all said that Kechuang Biotechnology has mastered the channels of human brain nerve signals."

"The Strait of Malacca controls the human brain. No wonder the overseas R&D center of Sinovation Biotech is located in Singapore."

Li Miaomiao: "Lei Jun mentioned this to us, because the technical licensing algorithm we provided to them is a complete black box."

"Dami wanted to collect users' brain nerve signals in a customized way, but it was not possible. Mr. Lei came to ask us if we could open this function to them."

“Technically, it is possible, but when this function is opened up, some uncontrollable factors will arise.”

“In addition, the legislation in this area is very imperfect. We have to wait until the relevant rules and regulations are introduced before we consider whether we can do it.”

"And from my personal point of view, if this function is opened up, people will be more easily tempted and indulge themselves."

"Nowadays, Internet giants are already using big data to harvest users. Combined with brain nerve signal feedback, ordinary people will be more easily harvested."

"From my personal perspective, I don't want to open this function. From the company's perspective, the benefit is just a larger revenue, but the lack of a more important sense of social responsibility will have a greater impact."

Li Shuyao clapped her hands while looking at her sister, "You think more maturely than I do."

“My consideration is only from the corporate level. You are already considering the corporate social responsibility.”

"As a young company, it is right for Sinovation Biotech not to take the route of using any means necessary for the sake of profit now."

"By opening up brain nerve signal data, you as a B2B company will not be affected, but the backlash will appear in a way you can't imagine."

The reputation of Ali and Lao Ma plummeted when they no longer cared about user experience, used big data to target old customers for corporate profits, and sold traffic on a large scale for corporate profits.

The same is true for Baidu. Its traffic advertising has no bottom line, which has caused it to lose the hearts and minds of the younger generation.

Li Miaomiao nodded: "Our previous positioning was a high-tech R&D company, and our R&D-oriented goal was to bring a better life to mankind as our corporate vision."

"Although this slogan is loud and empty, we are indeed moving in this direction."

Li Shuyao: "Most of China's Internet giants had great visions at the beginning, but gradually developed into what they are now."

"It is difficult to control the changes in a company. As a senior executive, you cannot restrict the company's development path. Only Zheng Li can do so."

"It's not a good idea for Zheng Li to stay in Singapore all the time. He is too far away from the company. The senior management is not familiar with him at all. How can he control the company?"

“It’s like putting all the responsibility of controlling the company on you.”

Li Miaomiao and Zheng Li have highly intertwined interests. If Zheng Li loses control of the company, Li Miaomiao will definitely be sidelined.

Li Miaomiao said helplessly: "Zheng Li said he would be back after finishing his latest research project."

"And even if he stayed in Gusu, he would stay in the laboratory every day, which is no different from now."

"When he was in Gusu, those executives would send him some special products during festivals and holidays, but he couldn't even see them."

Thanks to wactor for the reward!
Thank you all book friends for your support along the way. The book will be available in Sanjiang starting this Sunday and will be on the shelves next Friday.

I really didn’t expect to be able to go to Sanjiang. Thank you again for your support!
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(End of this chapter)