After rebirth, I became a great master

Chapter 621 Substituting one thing for another
Zhou Haoran still has many fond memories of the school.

For example, in my previous life, when I was in college, I had several stunningly beautiful female classmates and teachers.

But now he works at Red Star TV, a place teeming with beautiful women, and recently he has even entered the entertainment industry.

That thought faded away.

I won't take up any more of my alma mater's resources.

However, I would be quite interested in other schools.

Upon seeing him, Dongfang Lang excitedly exclaimed, "You've come at the perfect time! I just received news that Jin Suo is back!"

"Huh?" Zhou Haoran came to the school to talk to him about serious business, but this matter was quite important. "Has filming for 'Princess Pearl 2' wrapped up?"

Dongfang Lang laughed and said, "It's not finished filming yet, but Jin Suo's scenes are finished."

Zhou Haoran looked at him strangely, "Why are you so concerned?"

"Huh?" Dongfang Lang was a little confused. "Didn't you tell me to keep an eye on things?"

Zhou Haoran said angrily, "I asked you to keep an eye on our self-developed chips!"

"It's easy, I've been keeping an eye on it, but there's a technical bottleneck we can't overcome. We've been stuck for half a year now, and it doesn't seem to be working." Dongfang Lang wasn't involved in technical research and development, so he was also quite helpless about it. "Aren't you a technical expert? Why don't you go and give them some pointers?"

Zhou Haoran said, "How would I know anything about chips?"

Dongfang Lang said, "But there's no need to rush this. I asked Professor Gao, and he said we can definitely overcome this hurdle before the Spring Festival. Once we get past this bottleneck, the rest will be very simple. Next year, our self-developed IC card RF chip will definitely be available!"

"Can you guarantee that?"

Zhou Haoran is very knowledgeable about technology research and development.

Just like starting a business.

Luck is the most important thing.

If you're lucky and choose the right direction, you can smoothly develop the product. If you're unlucky, you might try and search through thousands of technical directions, repeating the process hundreds or thousands of times without getting results.

Professor Gao said he would make sure to develop his own chip next year... but you can't believe that.

If you've had bad luck this year, how can you be sure you'll have good luck next year?
Whether it's guaranteed or not is actually not important.

Dongfang Lang smiled broadly.

"Then what's important?"

Zhou Haoran glanced at him, then looked at the two female employees of the handmade coffee shop on campus. They were both his girlfriends, and they seemed to get along quite well.

Dongfang Langdao: "The name of domestic research and development is more important."

"Oh?"

Zhou Haoran's eyes lit up; he immediately realized that this kid had a sharp eye.

Dongfang Lang casually said, "I heard from Ji Yingyang that there are several competitors for the transportation card project. If they make transportation cards, they will inevitably have to import radio frequency chips from abroad, and no one can bypass them."

Zhou Haoran grunted in response, giving him a cold look. "Nonsense!"

These days, domestically developed technologies haven't been developed yet.

The core components of smart cards can only be imported.

Dongfang Lang laughed and said, "No matter how great the righteous cause, it cannot surpass national strategic security! Domestically developed chips are an invincible cause. Especially since transportation cards are an official project, we should support domestic production regardless of cost or sacrifice."

Zhou Haoran chuckled and said, "Is this your special skill?"

"Isn't this the end of it?" Dongfang Lang had indeed learned some of the true essence of innovative thinking, but what he learned were all unorthodox and unorthodox methods. "No matter how strong the competitors are or how powerful their connections are, so what? For such an important national project, why not use domestically developed chips instead of imported ones? Who would dare?"

Zhou Haoran said, "If we developed our own chip, we would naturally be invincible. The key is, it hasn't been developed yet; there's no sign of it!"

"Professor Gao said it would be developed next year. For the transportation card to be widely rolled out, it won't be until at least the second half of next year, right? Isn't this perfect?"

Dongfang Lang wasn't in a hurry at all.

Zhou Haoran asked, "What if it's not developed?"

“We can do futures trading.”

Dongfang Lang squinted, his face displaying an inscrutable expression.

"What?"

Zhou Haoran didn't quite understand.

Dongfang Lang laughed and said, "Where there is a stock market, there is a futures market. Where there are existing houses, there are pre-sale houses. The same goes for chips; we can use future chips in the present."

Zhou Haoran retorted angrily, "Stop being sarcastic with me!"

Dongfang Lang lowered his voice and said, "Who cares if they can actually make the self-developed chip? Just prepare the tender documents under the name of self-developed chip. That gives us the endorsement of Fudan University's university-enterprise partnership, making us more prestigious than ordinary state-owned enterprises. Why worry about not getting the order?" "What if we get the order but the self-developed chip hasn't been developed?"

Zhou Haoran had already figured out his unorthodox methods.

Dongfang Lang said, "I've talked to Professor Gao. The RF chip for smart cards isn't too difficult technology. His team can definitely make it; it's just a matter of time. If not this year, then next year, and if not next year... they'll definitely be able to make it the year after. Let's not worry about that now; let's get the order first! This is the first transportation card order in China. Whoever gets it will be the first to develop transportation cards in China. That's the first-mover advantage."

Having a first-mover advantage is extremely important.

For example, as the scale increases, costs can be reduced.

For example, by going to other places to grab transportation card orders, you gain "brand" value, and with mature operational experience, you can be more trusted.

There is an even more important point.

That is monopolistic cooperation.

Currently, only Fudan High Technology has the capability to independently develop radio frequency chips in China, and its first partner is Zhongbo Software... Therefore, Zhongbo Software will be the first choice for future supply.

This is the significance of monopoly.

For example, when Guangzhou launches its transportation card service in the future, some local connections are trying to snatch up the orders.

Zhongbo Software can easily fight against those with connections.

Those with connections have connections, but no products.

They either buy imported chips, or if they want to buy domestically produced chips, they can only buy them from Fudan High Technology... and Fudan High Technology specifically designates to cooperate with Zhongbo Software. This means that even Guangzhou's transportation cards cannot bypass Zhongbo Software.

“Using the name of domestically produced chips to snatch orders, and then when it comes time to supply them, if the chips haven’t been developed yet…” Dongfang Lang explained his unorthodox approach, “we can use Tokyo Electron’s radio frequency chips as substitutes, slowing down the supply and delaying it while passing off foreign chips as domestically produced chips. Anyway, no one can tell the difference with these little tricks.”

Zhou Haoran chuckled, "A substitution?"

"Judging from Professor Gao's tone, it's highly likely that it will be developed next year, but..." Dongfang Lang changed the subject and lowered his voice, "I actually hope that Professor Gao's team fails to develop it and has to resort to a substitution strategy."

"So wild!"

"It's a bit wild, but that's a good thing."

"Good thing?"

"If they really can't supply the chips and have to secretly use foreign chips to disguise it, then we'll have leverage over them, making it easier to establish a long-term and stable cooperative relationship. We'll prioritize supplying them, or even give them exclusive access."

Dongfang Lang is exceptionally bold.

Zhou Haoran said, "Do I need to resort to such underhanded tactics to do business?"

Dongfang Lang said, "No, this has nothing to do with you. If the self-developed chip fails to be developed, it will be the responsibility of Fudan High-Tech, the university-affiliated enterprise, for failing to fulfill its supply commitment. Let the university-affiliated enterprise communicate with the Transportation Bureau. They are all in the same business. It might even reach the city level, and all parties will have to work together to cover it up."

Zhou Haoran felt it wasn't a very safe option.

Indeed, Dongfang Lang is absolutely right.

These days, any domestically developed chip in any field is a gem of the industry.

They will all receive praise from all sides.

Once the news really gets out, it's like holding all parties hostage, forcing them to cooperate in covering it up until a truly domestically developed product is produced.

However, there are always exceptions.

For example, the infamous "Hanxin" incident.

All parties are cooperating.

However, it was exposed by a hot-blooded young student, and the entire project collapsed. In fact, the Hanxin chip fraud was different from other chip fraud projects. This was a team composed of top semiconductor talents from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, whose strength was even greater than that of Professor Gao's team at Fudan University.

"Is there a better way than this?" Dongfang Lang thought this was the best solution. "Our competitors have state-owned enterprise backgrounds, right? If we only rely on Zhongbo Software to compete, it definitely won't work. We have to bring out the university-enterprise partnership."

"I'll think about it. We need to find a more mature solution." Zhou Haoran felt that his approach was too unconventional, "lest it ruin my reputation."

Dongfang Lang curled his lip and said, "Then are you still looking for Jin Suo?"

“Look for it!”

Zhou Haoran planned to inform Dong Lan later and ask her to select a few variety shows to invite Jin Suo to participate.

That would create an opportunity for contact.

Dongfang Lang said, "Aren't you afraid of ruining your reputation?"

"Romantic affairs are all trivial matters!"

Zhou Haoran has a great sense of propriety.

(End of this chapter)