Rebirth 2010: I taught Mr. Lei how to make a mobile phone

Chapter 247 Sir, Please Come Out

"Mr. Zhang, let me formally introduce myself. I am Lei Jun from Xiaomi, and the student you are talking about is Chen Mo, the founder of Beyond Technology."

"Oh? Excuse me~" Lei Jun and Zhang Rujing of Xiaomi had heard of it, but Chen Mo from the other side had not heard of it.

Zhang Rujing was a little puzzled by the other party's introduction. "I don't know why you two came to see an old man like me today."

Lei Jun said solemnly, "We two want to make chips! But we are complete outsiders. Mr. Zhang is a well-deserved leader in the chip field, so we would like to ask you to check it."

Zhang Rujing smiled and poured a glass of water for the two guests. "Oh, I'm not worthy of the title. It's commendable that you want to make chips, but do you have the patience and tenacity to persevere? Most importantly, do you have a steady stream of funds?"

"We have been mentally prepared for this." The two then gave a brief introduction to their respective companies.

The two men did not come empty-handed this time. The gifts they brought when they visited were unusual. They were not gifts but reports on the operations of their respective companies.

In addition to its own success in the mobile phone market, Xiaomi has also invested in many home appliance industries, laying some foundation for chip sales in advance.

After the young man’s introduction, Bi’an knew the company’s WeChat account even though he had never heard of the company’s name.

Zhang Rujing wore reading glasses and read the overall business profile and data of the companies in the document. His face was moved. He did not expect that the two companies had done so well in just one or two years and created a new world in their respective fields. He could not help but feel gratified and moved that the younger generation is pushing the older generation forward.

After some understanding, it is enough to see that the two young men on the opposite side are well prepared, but courage and preparation alone are not enough to make chips.

However, there is one thing he is still unclear about. "I understand that Xiaomi wants to enter the chip market by getting involved in mobile phones, tablets, and home appliances, but why should Bi'an, which makes software, also get involved in chips? It's a thankless task."

Chen Mo changed his usual cynicism and said seriously, "Nothing special, I just want to do my part for domestic chips. It may be thankless in the short term, but we are still young. We are not focusing on the current interests, but the development in the next 5, 10 or even 30 years.

Of course, there is another small reason, which is that I was a Xiaomi executive before, and I once went to Qualcomm with Mr. Lei to discuss cooperation, and I deeply understood what it means to be controlled by others."

He then gave a brief account of the scene at that time.

Zhang Rujing nodded to show his understanding, but understanding is one thing and understanding is another. However, some things are easy to decide, but persistence, persistence, and persistence again are the most important things, no matter what difficulties and obstacles you encounter.

He sighed and said, "Why don't you listen to my story of making chips, and then we'll talk about it."

Zhang Rujing then talked about his journey in chip making.

An hour passed, and Zhang Rujing only said the beginning, "I have to work. If you are interested, you can come and listen to me talk later."

The two of them tactfully said goodbye.

The story of the thatched cottage being visited three times is not exclusive to the Three Kingdoms. Lei and Chen have already booked a room in a hotel near Shengrui Optoelectronics Company for a month, preparing for the thirtyth visit.

This is the experience Lei Jun accumulated when he was studying, that is, 99% of the problems in the world have standard answers, just find someone who understands and ask.

If they had plunged directly into the chip industry like the young and foolish people, it is conceivable that the tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars invested might not even make a ripple, and they would have been crossing the river by feeling the stones.

But it is different for Zhang Rujing, who has been dealing with chips and semiconductors all his life. Often, a suggestion or a direction pointed out by others can help many engineers avoid many years of detours and save billions of R&D costs.

Afterwards, the two of them only met from 8 to 9 in the morning, arriving at Shengrui Optoelectronics on time to report and listen to stories, and worked remotely to handle various company matters at other times.

Chen Mo is paying attention to the progress of "My Name is MT" and "The Great Master", following up on overseas promotions, and checking the iteration plans of other products.

Lei Jun was focusing on the progress of Xiaomi 2 and Mi Pai, as well as the production capacity of each factory. He even flew back to Beijing on weekends for meetings and was extremely busy.

Even the prices for Xiaomi 2 and Mi Pai were determined in the hotel room.

What’s more important is that at the beginning of next month, the two companies’ new product launch conferences will begin.

The two of them felt a little emotional. Time flies, and the press conference was like two big tests for their two companies.

It feels like I just finished the exam not long ago, why do I have to take it again?

A week later, the two learned from Zhang Rujing's story how difficult the rise of China's chip industry was, which was a thousand times more complicated than they had originally imagined and what was written in the materials. They also learned some industry insider information about the chip industry.

In fact, as early as 2000, Zhang Rujing wanted to build a factory in Hong Kong, and then he was invited by Jiang Shangzhou, an official in Shanghai, to come to Shanghai for inspection.

When the two met and chatted, they felt that they had met too late and they always had endless topics to talk about, just like Boya and Ziqi.

Jiang Shangzhou and Zhang Rujing are heroes who appreciate each other. Jiang Shangzhou knows that Zhang Rujing is capable, technical and powerful, while Zhang Rujing also knows that Jiang Shangzhou is manly, courageous and good at making decisions. The two hit it off immediately.

Subsequently, SMIC was established in the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

At the beginning of the establishment, Zhang Rujing led more than 300 engineers from World Advanced Semiconductor and TSMC to SMIC, and more than 100 experts from overseas countries also joined in, forming a team with strong combat effectiveness to build factories all over China. Zhang Rujing's name "Infrastructure Maniac" also spread like wildfire.

When Zhang Rujing founded SMIC, it was a foreign-funded company. He intended to weaken the role of state-owned enterprises in SMIC so as to avoid the international community's "nature judgment" on SMIC.

"Nature judgment" is very important. If the international community judges that SMIC is a state-owned enterprise, it will be subject to many high-tech technology controls in the West, which will have negative consequences for SMIC's continuous upgrading of technological progress.

The rapid development was followed by consecutive years of losses, but the board members continued to complain.

Zhang Rujing, who comes from a technical background, certainly doesn't just think about capital gains. At the board meeting, he explained the pros and cons and expressed his deep regret.

"You only see SMIC's poor performance, but you don't see that other foreign peers started 20 years earlier than SMIC. SMIC is using its own losses year after year to drive the rapid iterative upgrade of the entire Chinese semiconductor industry."

In fact, SMIC does not lack ways to make money.

Many well-known international private equity firms, including Blackstone and TPG, approached Zhang Rujing, hoping to acquire equity and settle in SMIC.

At the same time, many state-owned enterprises are also willing to invest, such as Datang Telecom, China Resources, and Electronic Information Industry Group.

At that time, Zhang Rujing faced a major decision: whether to take money from private equity or from state-owned enterprises. The SMIC board of directors had a huge debate on this issue.

If you take the money from private equity, then SMIC will completely become a foreign company and be controlled by external capital. Choosing another party will create many restrictions and constraints, and you want to turn SMIC into its accessory.

No matter which option he chooses, Zhang Rujing also understands that for his radical strategy of exchanging money for time, being kicked out is an inevitable result.

On December 12, Zhang Rujing looked nostalgic and a little sad. "After all, time waits for no one. Jiang passed away at the age of 11. I am also over 64. How much time do I have left? Even if it weren't for the TSMC incident, I wouldn't have stayed for long.

Some things in the world are just like this. They may not succeed even if you try. If they fail in this generation, the next generation will succeed if you keep trying.

Someone has to do the work, and as long as it is done, it is all worth it.”

After a week, SMIC's magnificent story has been told. This is the sharing of an old man who has devoted his life to the chip industry. It really gave Lei Jun and Chen Mo a vivid and profound lesson, which touched them deeply.

During this period, Lei Jun and Chen Mo learned that there was no more inside information available in the news.

The reason why SMIC lost the lawsuit was that several of its engineers had used technology that they should not have used, and TSMC used this as evidence to force Zhang Rujing to leave SMIC.

Because they are afraid that if Zhang Rujing continues to lead SMIC, he may catch up with TSMC in three years or one year, so they will do whatever it takes.

Zhang Rujing also knew that if he was wrong, he was wrong, and as a leader he should take responsibility for it.

When Zhang Rujing left, many SMIC employees spontaneously saw him off. As usual, Zhang Rujing walked into the crowd with a calm mood. He emphasized to those present, "Don't think of this as a big failure in your life. Don't be defeated."

He hopes all the friends who stay in SMIC will move forward bravely, because "life always requires continuous efforts, and hope lies ahead."

There is another point that Chen Mo attaches great importance to. At that time, Zhang Rujing led 300 brave warriors back to the mainland to build a factory.

He built supporting living facilities such as employee dormitories, children's schools, and hospitals around the factory, and did his best to provide employees with a better living environment, solving their worries so that they could do their work better.

Another point is that Zhang Rujing's management style is master-apprentice relationship. Many engineers who have worked with him have joined SMIC at different times because of Zhang Rujing and have become "old masters" for new employees. Old colleagues are now returning to the team one after another.

You have to know that it was 2000. After listening to this, Chen Mo sighed inwardly and wrote it down.

On December 2011, 12, with the largest "all-people crazy rush" event in the history of Taobao starting at midnight, the heat of the online shopping market was once again pushed to a climax.

More than 43.8 merchants worked late into the night to participate in the year-end shopping feast. After the "Everyone's Crazy Shopping" event ended, Taobao's transaction volume reached 33.6 billion yuan, exceeding the sales of billion yuan on "Double Eleven" last month, showing the potential of the e-commerce market.

In addition to "Double Eleven", Alibaba also invented "Double Twelve". Zhang Yong, nicknamed "Xiaoyaozi" by Alibaba, became a popular and important figure in the group, just like Tencent's Xiaolong Ge.

On this day, although Zhang Rujing's story ended, Lei Jun and Chen Mo's story had just begun.

"It's been a week. It's hard for you to listen to an old man like me nagging you every day. If we keep losing money year after year, and each loss is tens of billions, have you changed your mind?"

"Yes, it has been changed!" Lei Jun nodded.

There was no disappointment on Zhang Rujing's face, but he sighed secretly in his heart. After all, it is human nature to seek profit and avoid harm. This is human nature.

"That will further strengthen our determination to make chips!" Chen Mo added, smiling at Lei Jun.

(End of this chapter)