Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 487 The technology is free; all you need is our chips!

The final exams at Northwestern Polytechnical University are over, and there are fewer people on campus now. Of course, they didn't go home, but went to various research and development units. There are also quite a few people who stayed behind, some of whom even hold multiple positions and are busy with several research and development projects.

As for Qin Liang...

I've already made preparations for my vacation.

"Duoduo, how about we go to Qiongzhou this winter vacation? Let's feel the sea breeze and go fishing..."

"Okay, Brother Liangzi, I'll do whatever you say." Yang Duo'er said with a big smile.

Jingle Bell……

Qin Liang picked up the phone: "Hello, what is it?"

After hanging up the phone, Qin Liang was in a bad mood.

"what happened?"

“Someone is coming…I guess I’ll have to keep busy. No, I need to get rid of them as soon as possible.”

"who?"

"European."

Jingle Bell……

Yang Duo'er picked up the phone.

"Hey, Dad, you're coming? Sure."

Is his father-in-law coming too? Qin Liang was a bit overwhelmed. Could all these people be here for their CDMA patent?
A day later, the Europeans and MIT workers arrived in Chang'an almost simultaneously.

At the airport, Qin Liang, along with Yang Duo'er and several university leaders from Northwestern Polytechnical University, greeted them.

"Welcome, everyone, to Chang'an."

"This is a really good place. We should take a closer look during this trip, especially regarding your registered CDMA patents..."

No sooner had Pierce finished speaking than Nokia's representative, Narunen, spoke up.

"Registering a patent is useless. CDMA technology is too complex. It is absolutely not something that Northwestern Polytechnical University can develop, or even something that the world can develop. Don't expect this technology to be commercialized within the next ten years!"

Ericsson representative Matthias added, "That's right, CDMA technology is overly ambitious; we should be more realistic..."

Beep beep, beep beep beep...

Just then, something made a sound at Qin Liang's waist.

Amidst everyone's astonished gazes, Qin Liang lifted the hem of his suit jacket, revealing a long, narrow object clipped to his belt.

It's the size of an eyeglass case, made of leather, and has clasps on the outside.

Qin Liang opened the buckle, took out the rectangular object inside, and snapped it open!
The bottom half of this thing can actually flip down!

Once you open it, you'll see a keyboard inside, and the flipped-down part can be used as a microphone right next to your mouth.

This design is amazing, this...

Martin Cooper's eyes widened.

It took them a full ten years to reduce the size and weight of mobile phones and make them commercially viable.

Now look at the mobile phones held by East Asians. They are only one-fifth the thickness of Motorola phones and half the length. They are small and exquisite, and the flip design is simply ingenious...

This Eastern technology is amazing!

"Hello, who is this? Need funding? How much? One hundred million? Such a small amount, is it really necessary to ask me for instructions? Just follow the procedures! I'm entertaining important guests, don't call me for such trivial matters again!"

Snapped!
He closed the case again, intending to put the phone back into the phone case on his waist, while everyone else's eyes... widened!
"Principal Qin, is this a mobile phone?"

"That's right."

What technology is used?

"CDMA, huh?"

CDMA!

Just moments ago, Naruen and Matthias were confidently asserting that CDMA technology was too difficult to commercialize within ten years. What happened now?

People are already using it!
The two of them blushed on the spot!
“I don’t believe it. CDMA technology is so difficult, how could you possibly have a prototype now, and one that’s so small and flexible?” Narunen said.

"Is it difficult? We at Northwestern Polytechnical University don't think so! Code Division Multiple Access, we've been using it for years! Military frequency hopping radios, military data links... it's just a matter of converting them to civilian use. Military to civilian use, it's a piece of cake."

“This phone of yours must be a handheld radio!” Matthias continued, “Unless… you can use it to make calls to landlines here!”

There are phone booths in the airport. Only by using Qin Liang's mobile phone to call these phone booths can the demonstration be performed on-site! Only then will Matthias believe it!
Qin Liang smiled and said, "What's the point of calling this landline? Sir, what's your phone number at home in Europe?"

What do you mean?
How do I make an international call from Chang'an to my own home?
Matthias took a deep breath and then recited a series of numbers.

drop by drop...

After pressing the button, Qin Liang handed the phone to Matthias: "Now, hopefully someone at your home can answer."

Matthias took it and gently placed it on the side of his cheek.

"Hello, who is it?"

"It's me, Matthias, my dear. I'm in the East, calling you from Northwestern Polytechnical University's mobile phone!"

This was an international call, and the sound was still so clear! Matthias could hardly believe it!
In the past, let alone making long-distance calls with a mobile phone, it was very difficult to make long-distance calls with a landline. Domestic long-distance calls could only be made within the province, and international long-distance calls could only be made from one or two places in the whole country.

However, with Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), everything is fine. The program-controlled exchange has been in use for a long time, and networks can be connected all over the country. NPU even has dedicated lines and international connections!
Currently, mobile phones are not yet commercially available. The base stations are built on the campus of Northwestern Polytechnical University and are directly connected to Northwestern Polytechnical University's own program-controlled exchange, making international long-distance calls a breeze!
Everyone else was stunned!
Martin Cooper's case is even more unbelievable. Their mobile phones are used only for local calls, rarely for long distances. Not to mention the cost, the call quality is so bad that it's impossible to hear what the other person is saying.

just now……

Evan Jacob's eyes were filled with excitement.

With Northwestern Polytechnical University as our backing, we have nothing to worry about. We must acquire this advanced technology this time!
Yang Tian stood at the back of the crowd, silently watching Qin Liang show off.

After hanging up the phone, Matthias was full of excitement: "President Qin, I apologize for my earlier doubts. The technology at Northwestern Polytechnical University is indeed the best in the world!"

They had to admire him!
Nokia planned to use the most outdated frequency division multiple access (FDMA), while Ericsson planned to use time division multiple access (TDMA), which they considered the most practical solution. CDMA? The technical difficulty of that was enough to drive a group of engineers crazy.

Surprisingly, no matter how difficult the technology, it's nothing in the East!
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) – the East has mastered it!

The call quality is excellent, far surpassing Motorola!
"The call quality is good, but I wonder how many people a single base station can accommodate making calls at the same time?" Narunen was clearly still not giving up and wanted to belittle Eastern technology.

"A single frequency band can support 200 users. If a base station uses three carrier frequency bands, the total user capacity can exceed 500."

FDMA goes without saying, at most twenty or thirty. TDMA, one band can accommodate eight users, but with reduced call quality, it can only be increased to a maximum of sixteen. Now, Northwestern Polytechnical University's CDMA supports two hundred users per band! With just three bands, it can be increased to more than five hundred. If ten bands are used, it can be more than two thousand!

This technology is absolutely amazing!

Even if you want to cover the entire city, one base station is enough!
"Northwestern Polytechnical University's technology is truly impressive! MIT hopes to license it!" Irwin Jacob couldn't hold back any longer. Motorola's technology? That should have been thrown in the trash long ago! Northwestern Polytechnical University's is number one!

"Well... everyone, let's talk about this when we get to Northwestern Polytechnical University."

Everyone's still at the airport!

Everyone nodded and got into the car.

Northwestern Polytechnical University, new campus.

The towering iron tower is quite a sight to behold.

"Currently, our CDMA technology is still under testing, so we built a base station here to cover the entire Chang'an area. Our faculty and students at Northwestern Polytechnical University have already received the first batch of 500 mobile phones for testing."

"A mobile phone? Yes, such a small product is more appropriately called a mobile phone!"

"So, your technology hasn't been officially commercialized yet?" Narunen keenly spotted the loophole in Qin Liang's words.

"Yes, not yet. It is expected that testing will be rolled out in major cities such as the capital, Shanghai, and Shenzhen next year, and it should be officially commercialized the year after next."

It's not that we don't want to expand; the key issue is that the East is poor.

Many households don't even have landlines, let alone mobile phones!

Currently, it can only be piloted in big cities. First, the people who have become wealthy will definitely have a demand, but to cover the whole country... that will take a long time.

"Three years isn't a long time. Motorola's mobile phones underwent ten years of trial before being officially commercialized," Martin Cooper began. "The European GSM group, after two years, still hasn't reached a unified standard!"

Europeans blushed.

“We in Europe should also develop standards as soon as possible. I think the CDMA route is the most suitable!” Siemens representative Werner said.

"No, we Europeans absolutely cannot use Eastern standards!" Narunen exclaimed anxiously, "Mathias, what do you say?"

Matthias took a deep breath: "I think CDMA is really good, even better than our technology."

Matthias has betrayed us!
The technological approach Europe takes is really just a matter of which of the few companies behind it has the advantage. Now, most of them have begun to support Eastern standards!

Pierce began, “By Eastern standards, there’s no problem. The key issue is… the cost of licensing this technology.”

In fact, when Dongfang was choosing mobile technology in the 1990s, it was not that they did not consider Qualcomm's CDMA. The key issue was that the patent fees demanded by the other party were too high. In comparison, the patent fees for European GSM were much lower. Even though CDMA technology was more advanced, they still chose GSM for networking.

Now, if we want Europeans to use Eastern standards, we must carefully consider how to collect technology patent fees!
"Everyone, we'll talk about the authorization later. Now, please come to our server room."

What is the most powerful aspect of mobile communication technology? It's definitely not the mobile phone that ordinary users can access, but the base station!

There are many brands of mobile phones, but only a few suppliers of base stations. In later generations, the famous Huawei started out by relying on base stations.

There was an equipment room at the foot of the tower. Qin Liang led the group inside and saw countless indicator lights flashing.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is our mobile phone base station equipment. We've used the most advanced baseband processor chip and data sampling chip inside. In the transmitter section, we've even used a professional gallium nitride amplifier circuit..."

Everyone present was a professional, and they were all utterly shocked.

They are all dedicated chips!

"Let's go to the conference room now and I'll give you a detailed introduction."

Inside the conference room, Qin Liang unhesitatingly removed the back cover of his mobile phone from his waist, took off the battery, and removed the circuit board.

Martin Cooper's eyes widened again.

"Only three chips?"

Even after leaving Motorola, Martin Cooper knew that the next mobile phone would use integrated circuits. They designed more than a dozen integrated circuits to meet the requirements, but this small phone only needs three?
"Yes, the largest one here is the central processing unit, responsible for processing various data, including data encoding, etc. Of course, we can also embed a few games in the future. The one next to it is the display chip, used to display the data on the screen. The one furthest away is the baseband chip, used to handle the radio frequency part..."

It only takes three chips to complete the task. This level of integration capability is something that other manufacturers absolutely do not possess!
just now……

Everyone's eyes were filled with disappointment.

American technology is two generations behind that of the East.

The technology that Europe is developing is a generation behind that of the East!
Yang Tian continued watching Qin Liang's performance, and he also figured out what his son-in-law was up to!
“Even if you license all the technology to us, we probably won’t be able to complete the integration.” Evan Jacob sighed. “The products we develop will definitely not be as advanced as those we directly purchase from you!”

If that's the case, why bother developing our own systems? We might as well just buy everything from the East!
"No, no, of course you can do research and development too," Qin Liang said. "You can purchase our chips and then conduct in-depth research and improvement, which might allow you to surpass ours."

After showing off for so long, the true colors have finally been revealed!

The West can adopt Northwestern Polytechnical University's technology, but they must use Northwestern Polytechnical University's chips!

“Globally, our chip technology is the most advanced,” Qin Liang said. “Your self-developed chips are time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the final products are not as advanced as ours. You might as well just purchase our chips directly.”

Qin Liang looked at everyone present: "Everyone, Northwestern Polytechnical University has spent tens of billions on 3G technology research and development! However... Northwestern Polytechnical University is a compassionate university. We believe that the world should use advanced CDMA technology, so... as long as you purchase our chips, you will not need to pay technology patent fees!"

On the surface, it seems like the technology is licensed for free, but in reality, wouldn't it be better to just raise the price of the chips a bit?

There's a saying that goes, "What's free is often the most expensive."

Westerners are not capable of developing their own chips; they can only buy chips from the East in bulk. Once they start buying now, they will continue to buy them in the future!

Just like in later generations, there are countless mobile phone manufacturers, but there are only a few types of mobile phone chips!
High-end phones use Snapdragon, low-end phones use MediaTek, Apple has its own A-series chips, and Huawei has Kirin.

There are only a few types of chips used in mobile phones worldwide.

Now... all 3G mobile phone chips must be from Northwestern Polytechnical University!
"You can purchase our chips and make all kinds of mobile phones to meet the diversified needs of the market. Moreover, Northwestern Polytechnical University guarantees that we only manufacture chips and do not produce complete devices, just like Loongson."

If a manufacturer makes both chips and produces mobile phones, it is destined to only be able to sell its own products. Other manufacturers will not use its products. If its own mobile phones sell well, it will arouse the envy of chip manufacturers, who may even resort to various underhanded tactics...

"You only sell mobile phone chips? What about base stations?" Narunen suddenly realized.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the biggest market is mobile phones. After all, there are hundreds of millions of people in Europe. Even if only one-tenth of them own a mobile phone, that's still a huge market of tens of millions. Moreover, mobile phone technology is developing very quickly. There is a new generation every three years or so. So, there will be a market of 10 to 20 million units every year, which is enough for all the major manufacturers to make a fortune."

Qin Liang looked at everyone and said, "As for base stations, they are just like spider webs. Once they are woven, they don't need to be dismantled. So, let's leave this one-off task to Northwestern Polytechnical University. This way, we can also coordinate mobile phones from different manufacturers and avoid situations where one brand of mobile phone is incompatible with another brand of base station."

What do you mean?
Martin Cooper's eyes widened: "One in ten people own a cell phone?"

"That's right. Mobile phones shouldn't be luxury items, costing thousands of dollars each, only for business elites. They should serve more people!" Qin Liang looked at everyone: "Currently, the chip kits we provide cost $500, leaving manufacturers with ample profit. The selling price won't exceed $1,000. In five years, the price of our chip kits will drop to $300, bringing the price of the entire phone down to less than $500. Needless to say, one-tenth, one-fifth, or even one-third of the population will be able to afford one!"

In later generations, everyone will have one mobile phone, or even several. What a huge market that is!
Martin Cooper had mixed feelings.

Motorola is truly finished. The $4,000 mobile phone brought Motorola a decent profit per unit, but the market size was very small. In a city, it was considered good if there were a few hundred mobile phones.

Now, the technology of Dongfang Xigongda is on a scale of tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of units!
Even if they only make a hundred dollars per chip, with a market size of tens of millions, that's still billions of dollars in profit!

Not to mention base stations!
Qin Liang's meaning was clear: the base stations would be handed over to Northwestern Polytechnical University, the mobile phones to other manufacturers, and these manufacturers would have to purchase chips from Northwestern Polytechnical University!
From now on, Northwestern Polytechnical University will be at the very top of the mobile communications industry, while other manufacturers will only be at the downstream level!

In any industry, the top players are the most profitable!
Will Europeans agree to this?
"This is a great plan. We at MIT request to receive the first batch of mobile phone chips!"

Irwin Jacob spoke up!

As the founder of Qualcomm, he knew that this technology could change the world, and he wanted to get on board!
His agreement means that the United States will introduce this technology. If the Europeans don't adopt it, then the market will only be dominated by American manufacturers!
"Don't rush to agree. I can send you a batch of phones. You can study them here for three days and then make a decision."

(End of this chapter)