Just turned over a new leaf and became a wise and intelligent student

Chapter 421 Chip Problem
At the end of the 2011 Spring Festival, the first big news in the technology and digital circles should be Xiaomi’s sudden press conference announcement.

【Born for audiophiles! 】

Compared to the original time and space, when Xiaomi was somewhat constrained by funding and confidence issues and had to rely entirely on online publicity and fan support, today's Xiaomi has the spirit of a dragon crossing the river.

In the promotional poster, Lei Jun is full of vigor and vitality, and Xu Qingshan behind him is handsome and extraordinary.

Xiaomi has used various means to announce its first mobile phone launch conference, which will be held in the conference hall of the Longjiang base. At this conference, Lei Jun will be the keynote speaker to officially launch Xiaomi's first smartphone.

But not just one.

Originally, Xiaomi didn't launch the Xiaomi 8 until August, and it rented the venue at Beijing's 1 Art Center. Although many people have been paying attention to Xiaomi, most of them thought that Xiaomi would take the low-price and low-spec route.

But things are different now.

With Xu Qingshan's support, Xiaomi now has a level of popularity both at home and abroad that is not commensurate with its current scale and strength.

The newly completed Longjiang Phase III Conference Center in the Longjiang base also carries out two-way drainage at the same time.

At this time, Lei Jun was very proud of himself.

With the strong background provided by Xu Qingshan, he can get more accurate analysis and evaluation from Xu Qingshan whether it is technical strength, capital, local background, or even the marketing plan that he is best at.

He even now has some blind trust in Xu Qingshan.

And unlike what the public knows, Xiaomi completed the integration of the supply chain and produced the first batch of smartphones in just one year, but it did not just release the Xiaomi 1.

"Is there any problem with the production base? After the press conference, we have to do hunger marketing. We can make people think that we have insufficient production capacity, but we can't really have insufficient production capacity."

Lei Jun still repeatedly instructed Lao Li to follow up.

"Don't worry, the production base has been built on Lu Island. What can go wrong on Mr. Xu's territory? We can also keep an eye on Xinlu Investment for us."

Although Lao Li said this, he still followed up.

While he was speaking, he secretly glanced at Xu Qingshan, who was sitting in Lei Jun's office chair and playing with his mobile phone leisurely.

They were in Lei Jun's office at this time. Lei Jun was standing by the window, pacing back and forth, looking a little anxious.

"Brother Jun, are you nervous?"

Xu Qingshan looked at Lei Jun with interest.

Having known Lei Jun for such a long time, this was the first time he saw Lei Jun so anxious.

Lei Jun glanced at Xu Qingshan and continued to wander around, but also spoke casually.

"You're not nervous, why don't you go on stage for me? If you go on stage, we'll definitely sell out."

"I'll let it go, Jun Ge, you know me, I..."

"You have given many more classic speeches than I do!"

Lei Jun stopped and looked at Xu Qingshan with contempt.

If you keep pretending, I'll chop your head off!

"hey-hey."

Xu Qingshan turned the phone in his hand.

"Isn't this to ensure the purity of our Xiaomi bloodline? Brother Jun, this first match is too crucial, it must be you, the soul figure, who will go on stage."

"Do not worry."

Xu Qingshan stood up, walked to Lei Jun, patted Lei Jun on the shoulder, and spoke to him with his arm around his shoulders.

"This time we have directly launched two series to differentiate the brand impression. You just need to boldly pursue your dream. However, we also need to pay attention to the subsequent chip issues. While no one has noticed our intentions and the blockade is not so strict, we will build up the industry bit by bit."

Lei Jun looked at Xu Qingshan with some worry in his eyes.

"Qingshan, do we really need to do our own research? Isn't that a bit too far-fetched for us now?"

“That’s our path to greatness.”

Xu Qingshan said firmly.

There was an undeniable determination in his eyes.

They had actually discussed this issue before.

Xu Qingshan decided to start planning now and gradually advance the self-research process next year, but the self-research is also split up.

Xiaomi does not directly control any chip manufacturing company. In order to avoid sensitizing its partner Qualcomm, Xiaomi will maintain a pure assembly plant in public.

But in fact, Xu Qingshan asked Xiaomi to set up a technical team privately. He would also provide technical support and carry out cracking development of the entire chip manufacturing process. Although it is a bit unethical, it is indeed important.

Xu Qingshan doesn't want Xiaomi to do the kind of fake self-research that it did in its previous life, and end up becoming a tool for the international chip giants.

Lei Jun later started to build cars and shifted all his focus to it.

In fact, it’s not just because he has a dream of building cars and racing cars, but also because it is difficult for him to make a breakthrough in the mobile phone market.

The Xiaomi series’ impact on the high-end market is not very strong.

The moat of the Redmi series is so solid that it feels boring.

However, Xiaomi's attempt failed and it completely lost the qualification to conduct self-research in the entire industry. With Apple and Samsung outside and Huawei and OV inside, especially after the great failure of its India strategy, what Xiaomi can do in the mobile phone field is very limited.

We want Xiaomi to truly become a brand of conscience among the Chinese people, and we want Xiaomi to truly stand firm.

Xu Qingshan is still determined to take the route of true self-research.

Fortunately, Lao Lin and Xu Qingshan share the same views on this aspect.

Of course, Xu Qingshan was able to convince Lei Jun and other people on the board of directors largely because of the confidence given by the Ludao New District, which has now entered a stage of rapid development.

Xinlu Investment has been continuously introducing and promoting the semiconductor industry and electronic manufacturing industry to settle in Ludao New District.

The Ludao government has also spared no effort in providing policy support.

In the positive cycle led by Xu Qingshan, these guys working in technology can naturally see hope for the future.

No one will throw money into a pool of black water.

"Well, I'm just worried that we've taken too big a step. If something goes wrong in any link and sales are not good, our financial pressure will be too great and we won't be able to bear it."

Lei Jun looks at the problem more from the perspective of the healthy development of the enterprise.

Xu Qingshan shook his head.

"The harder it is in the early stage, the better the future will be. We cannot avoid some wire ropes. On the contrary, now that everyone thinks we don't have the strength to carry out self-research, we quietly start to act. By the time we have the strength and funds, others have already begun to block us."

Xu Qingshan said solemnly.

"We can't just be Xiaomi, we also need to be China's Xiaomi, so that we can adapt to the future international situation and consolidate our base."

"The time is almost up. Go and put on some makeup. The future of Xiaomi is in your hands." Xu Qingshan pinched Lei Jun's shoulders and pushed him out of the office.

"Everyone is waiting for you."

Xu Qingshan sent Lei Jun to the dressing room, and he looked at the time and prepared to attend the first press conference.

He does not go on stage, but as one of the core founders and highly connected with Xiaomi in the eyes of outsiders, he needs to appear in the front row.

This press conference did not exceed Xu Qingshan's expectations by much.

After Lei Jun announced the configuration and price of Xiaomi 1, there was still cheers at the scene.

But when Lei Jun suddenly changed the subject, left the audience in suspense, and announced the Redmi 899 priced at 1 yuan, there was a brief silence from the audience, and only noisy roars like "Xiaomi is awesome!", "Lei Jun is awesome!", and "Mr. Xu is awesome!" remained.

On the day of the press conference, the domestic technology circle seemed to be going crazy.

Xiaomi almost swept the domestic technology circle. Even people who usually don’t pay much attention to mobile phones knew at this time that a great white shark had come to the mobile phone market, directly turning the mid-range and low-end markets upside down.

At the very least, those scattered copycat phones and those low-spec and high-priced contract phones all lost their market at once.

Xu Qingshan didn't care much about the follow-up situation.

He only showed his face on the day of the press conference, and those few seconds of footage made it to the top of the trending searches.

After that, he returned to his laboratory to continue his work, and this time he not only continued the unfinished work, but also started to establish a new project in the science and technology park assigned to him by Beijing University.

However, these projects seem to be just some supporting documents for the time being, and have not been implemented in terms of actual talent introduction and venue content.

Xu Qingshan still needs time and opportunities to hook up with more experts in the comprehensive technology of chip manufacturing, and cleverly lure people to the country under other names.

It's impossible to be completely invisible.

But before revealing your intentions, try to accomplish as much as you can at one time.

In his office, Xu Qingshan is studying various journals, patents, and corresponding companies and scholars related to the chip industry, trying to find the best solution from these clues.

But then I received a call from Wang Xing.

"Qingshan, Mr. Lei's side has been so popular recently, when will you come to support our Meituan?"

Wang Xing didn't care about his face at all and said with a laugh.

Since the rise of Meituan, Wang Xing is no longer the decadent and autistic person he used to be. He can laugh, scold, and express himself freely.

This is quite good. Xu Qingshan feels that this old senior is more real.

"Is Meituan going to make mobile phones too? Just keep moving forward steadily. There's nothing that needs to be hyped."

Xu Qingshan was looking at a journal in his hand that was related to burners and dry etching technology.

"How can you say that? Qingshan, when your documentary came out, our Meituan directly launched a movie ticketing platform. Your box office explosion is due to our Meituan. How can you say such heartless words!"

Wang Xing was crying, of course, he was just pretending.

Xu Qingshan's face was full of black lines.

"Don't disgust me. Tell me, why are you calling me? You can't just chat with me for no reason, right?"

"Has our brotherly relationship become so weak? Even chatting on the phone is like sobbing."

"Senior, if you continue to disgust me, I will start selling the B round of investment."

Xu Qingshan threatened calmly, and the conversation on the other end of the line instantly returned to normal.

"Hey, Qingshan, it's not that serious. I'm calling to ask you what you think about the current Thousand Group War. This year, it's almost a real fight. Look at the ground promotion ads everywhere. They are all full of white knives and red knives."

Wang Xing briefly described the situation this year.

And it does.

In fact, we had already started to see signs of this last year, and this year it is even more terrifying. There are all kinds of groups everywhere. Even when you go to the toilet and squat down, you can see advertisements for group buying websites instead of pornographic websites.

But under this situation, Meituan remains on the sidelines.

Apart from reaching a strategic cooperation with Xiaomi and pre-installing Meituan on every Xiaomi mobile phone, Meituan has not taken any other actions.

"so what?"

Xu Qingshan turned to the next page and asked.

"So I'm thinking why not just not raise funds this year? We have enough funds now. As long as we don't participate in the advertising war and outlast those guys who are getting beaten to a pulp, our market value will naturally increase. What do you think?"

Wang Xing asked in a negotiating tone.

Although Xu Qingshan did not interfere with his operations, he was indeed worried that if Meituan did not demonstrate sufficient potential and competitiveness, Xu Qingshan would sell his shares.

At this moment, Xu Qingshan’s significance to Meituan is much greater than cash flow.

Just look at Xiaomi next door and you will know.

"That's fine. Just handle it as you wish. Why are you asking me?"

Xu Qingshan's attention is still focused on the thesis. He does not have to worry about the EDA tools in the chip design stage. His circle of friends and domestic technical support can successfully complete the design stage. The main problems are still in the manufacturing stage, such as lithography technology, atomic layer deposition technology (ALD technology) under ultra-short process, and heterogeneous integration technology that touches the limit of "Moore's Law".

But these technologies are not easy to use, even to find a way through the cracks.

It is impossible to find him directly as it is too easy to touch the sensitive line, and European and American countries are unlikely to release him easily.

Xu Qingshan must start with a group of experts whose main business has other reasonable areas but who also have relevant preparation technologies.

When it comes to key technical aspects that are difficult to dig out, he also needs to personally take action.

not easy.

But worth it.

Xu Qingshan's mind was still full of issues related to scientific research and chip manufacturing. Naturally, he had no idea about an Internet company like Meituan. His casual answer made Wang Xing a little disappointed.

People are just mean.

It's uncomfortable to be controlled too much, and it's also uncomfortable to be left alone.

Seeing that Wang Xing was hesitant and didn't hang up the phone, stammering and unable to say anything, Xu Qingshan thought about it for a moment and suddenly understood.

He spoke.

"Senior, don't put so much pressure on yourself. But we have already discussed it. Don't worry. After you, the founder, sell all your shares, I won't be able to sell my shares in Meituan. I've been busy with scientific research recently, and Meituan still has to rely on you to work harder. How about this, save as much as possible on publicity. If you feel that there is no popularity, find a time to hold a press conference and I will show up. Is that okay?"

"Okay, okay, no problem. I was saying that Meituan is the one that is suffocating the company."

Wang Xing happily agreed.

(End of this chapter)