Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 271 Huaqiangbei Under the Singularity

The wind direction in Huaqiangbei suddenly shifted dramatically.

In this dreamland where profit reigns supreme, people make a fortune every day, but it's all pieced together from sacks and sacks of cell phones. No matter how lucrative it is, you still have to grab them one by one in the market.

How much money can you win each time?
After finishing one round, you have to compete with your peers for the next round. Every round is full of intrigue and backstabbing, and everyone's share of the money is limited.

Therefore, there are many millionaires in this area. As long as you work hard, most people have a chance. Ten million is about the upper limit for counter owners. This level already requires a certain level of business acumen. But if you want to go further, you can only open a factory.

Now, suddenly someone is driving a van to haul money!

Everyone was stunned.

For the first time, Huaqiangbei has caught the scent of finance—a place that previously had very little business dealings with banks.

Many people were captivated by the story of getting rich overnight.

People who take money from the stock market don't need to worry about the supply of goods, sales volume, or upper limits.

There is no upper limit.

With financial backing and rumored to possess next-generation technology, Spreadtrum Alliance has easily overcome the so-called TD bottleneck, and has become a kind of "elite circle" in Huaqiangbei.

The financial hand reached into the market, gathered its strength, and then exerted a sudden pressure.

—The so-called MediaTek exclusivity agreement has collapsed.

In the days prior, a high-definition video titled "Singularity Kirin Phone Test" originating from Tudou.com had already spread in Huaqiangbei:
A 4.2-inch phone with its bezels covered is playing this year's American blockbuster "X-Men 3". Next to it is a Sony P990i, a flagship phone with a launch price of 699 euros (exchange rate 10:1). The P990i has a 2.8-inch QVGA display and is playing the same clip in 3GP format. The difference in quality is like night and day.

The instant they exited the media player, they saw the hand in the video simply swipe away, and the media player was obediently pulled out and hidden away, revealing a beautiful interface.

The video is now being shared and linked everywhere online, with netizens exclaiming that it's awesome.

The singularity has also become quite famous.

Singularity, a name closely associated with Spreadtrum, is right next to Huaqiangbei and was once an integral part of it. However, everyone watching the videos in Huaqiangbei feels that this name is becoming increasingly distant from them.

When the bosses in Huaqiangbei realized that these mobile phones would be competing with the junk they had, panic gripped them.

On August 29th, news broke:
Most of the original owners of the Spreadtrum Alliance have been ousted, and they are recruiting 50 new franchisees. They will not do business with the store owners, but only with manufacturers. Franchisees can invest in funds to support the next generation of technology. They are already building a complete supply chain for the new smartphone.

At midnight, a long queue still formed outside Spreadtrum's sales office on the 55th floor of SEG Plaza, crowded with business owners carrying cash boxes. The staff were forced to set up two long iron railings, allowing only one person to pass at a time, to maintain order in the queue.

A loud voice shouted from inside: "We still have 200 million units in stock next month! Limited to 10 orders per person! Full payment required for pre-orders! The rest of you, go home! Come back next month!"

Those at the back of the line panicked, some even slapping their thighs in disbelief at how they hadn't been in such a hurry to arrive!
But some people smiled.

The scalpers, with their keen sense of smell, had already lined up and were taking the opportunity to notify the people behind them one by one.

"Ladies and gentlemen! We have two seats available! Each seat costs ten thousand!"

Someone immediately waved and said, "I want it!"

"I'll offer 11,000!"

"twelve thousand!"

Some people even gave up queuing altogether and ran behind the railing to shout into the office, "I'll book for October! I'll pay half the deposit! Is that okay?"

There was no response from inside.

Now, the people behind them were even more panicked.

"I'll offer 15,000!!"

Early in the morning of July 30th.

Lu Weibing returned from his trip to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, his voice brimming with elation as he entered Chen Xuebing's office.

"Chairman! An order of 7.5 million! More than 600 million! All in cash! Tianyu has also notified us that they are launching a new phone and are preparing to order 3 million chips! We can now find SMIC to handle the production capacity!"

Upon entering, seeing the chairman sitting in front of the computer surrounded by a group of girls, I quickly quieted down and subconsciously prepared to leave.

Chen Xuebing waved his hand and said, "Perfect! Come on, come and take a look."

"what?"

Lu Weibing slowly walked to the side of the desk and saw a video player on the computer screen, but the video was completely black.

Chen Xuebing pressed the space bar.

The video is amazing.

"While the world is still communicating with keyboards, we choose to listen to the voice of fingertips."

A minimalist piano melody begins, overlaid with harmonics from the guzheng.

"In 2005, an inspiration from the East changed the way the world touches the future."

"In 2006, Kirin—the world's first touchscreen smartphone, requiring no buttons, the future was in the palm of your hand."

The music gradually became more rousing.

"Kunlun OS - Wisdom without walls".

"On November 1st, in Shanghai, the world will redefine intelligence."

The music faded away.

"Tick."

The sound of a drop of water.

The video ended, and Lu Weibing's mouth was slightly open. After a long pause, he finally said:
"Great, Chairman, this advertisement has good taste."

"Yah!!" A group of girls cheered.

"Give me the money! Give me the money!" Hu Li stretched out a hand to Chen Xuebing.

"Alright, alright, I'll arrange for someone to transfer it to you in a bit! The official advertising design for Qilin is also handed over to you." Chen Xuebing chuckled.

In early August, he planned to create an advertisement for a press conference. Remembering that Hu Li had recently hired several advertising designers, he asked her about it.

Unexpectedly, when Hu Li heard about the requirements, she volunteered to design advertising copy and said that she knew an outsourcing team in Shenzhen who could do scriptwriting and filming, so Chen Xuebing let her give it a try.

What was even more unexpected was that after Hu Li finished designing the advertising copy in a few days, she brought four girlfriends to Shenzhen for a week and actually completed the task. The advertising copy was quite beautiful, and the visuals also had the feel he wanted.

This girl has some talent.

"Brother! I want a phone too!" Hu Li's outstretched hand was still there.

"Once trial production is complete, one machine per person!"

Chen Xuebing waved his hand generously and instructed Lu Weibing, "I've arranged for Ren Ying to handle the advertising placement. It just so happens that Lao Kan is in Beijing and helped me find a connection. It's a sealed bid for the last 30 seconds of CCTV's Focus Interview, which will be in October or November. The bid is 8-12 million yuan. Once the deal is finalized, you will pay the money."

"Okay!" Lu Weibing hesitated for a moment, but still agreed.

Singularity Technology recently withdrew from its business and has no revenue, and doesn't have much money in its account. However, as long as Spreadtrum can reduce the cost of its chip manufacturing plant, it shouldn't be a problem to get four or five million orders per month.

The selling price is $10. If the cost can be negotiated down to $8, the profit of those two dollars would be $8000 million.

Based on Spreadtrum's 23% commission, just from Huaqiangbei alone, one could earn nearly 2000 million yuan a month, several times more than before when making pirated mobile phones.

Yes, there are also orders from Tianyu.
If there were a few more large factories
While Lu Weibing was still lost in thought, Chen Xuebing had already figured something out and reminded him:
“I know you’re all about stability, so don’t think about that ‘guaranteed return.’ Singularity’s profits aren’t in that. This network is the most valuable thing. With the advent of the 3G smartphone era, the profits will be unimaginable, and I can’t even imagine it. If we add 50 franchisees, we’ll have practically taken over half of Huaqiangbei. Don’t expand blindly. Singularity needs to do a good job with after-sales service. First, we need to be worthy of this share of the profits, and second, we need to firmly hold onto these manufacturers. We can’t just rely on our advantages to force them into partnerships; we need to offer more things that people will want to keep. If our reputation is good, business will naturally come to us.”

2G profits have been squeezed by competition, but 3G Turkey solutions will not be so cheap, and the profits will be much higher, with a single chip generating at least tens or hundreds of RMB in profit initially.

By then, Qidian's commission alone will be worth over 100 million yuan a month, and it will increase as the market expands.

In addition, there's supply chain integration, sales of mid-to-high-end complete systems, hidden profits from systems, software value, and future chip revenue.
Singularity handles both hardware and software, making it an all-rounder in the smartphone era. The profits involved would probably require a dedicated department or even several departments to fully understand.

In contrast, service and technology levels still need continuous improvement.

Chen Xuebing even considered borrowing two people from Pang Donglai to give them some guidance. Lu Weibing also thought about many potential profit opportunities, and a smile gradually appeared on his face.

The chairman's calm and far-sighted demeanor in the face of profits made him feel increasingly hopeful.

"Understood! We'll be expanding our manpower next."

"Good that you understand."

"By the way, MediaTek contacted us this morning, wanting to negotiate. From what I heard, they want to divide the country along the Yangtze River. Should we go back?"

"Go back my ass," Chen Xuebing laughed.

“They contacted Spreadtrum in the middle of the month, and they were incredibly arrogant, saying that they could “keep Spreadtrum in business.” At that time, I ignored them.”

"Now? Let's see who leaves food for whom!"

“We use orders from Huaqiangbei to pressure OEM manufacturers to lower prices, and our profit margins are getting higher and higher, while they are not making any money. I’ll see how long they can hold out. When they can’t hold out any longer and raise prices, we will follow suit and raise prices by $0.5 more than them. They have no profit at all on orders from large factories outside. If they dare to raise prices, we will snatch them up and let them watch us make high profits without being able to do anything about it.”

From then on, the roles of offense and defense shifted.

After initial negotiations with the contract manufacturer, Spreadtrum's costs have become close to MediaTek's, and there is still room for further price reductions.

MediaTek doesn't make any money with the big manufacturers; it only makes a profit of one dollar in Huaqiangbei.

This small profit margin was left to them by Chen Xuebing back then.

MediaTek's only profitable market, Huaqiangbei, has been halved in one fell swoop. Even the remaining half is not loyal to them, but rather Spreadtrum is temporarily unable to handle it, and its personnel structure cannot maintain so many customers.

If they don't raise prices for those big external manufacturers, they simply won't survive.

But whenever prices rise, it's Spreadtrum's turn to step in.

If MediaTek can go there, so can I.

Chen Xuebing let out a long sigh of relief and patted the table with both hands: "Tomorrow, President Cai will bring people to Shenzhen to negotiate with Huawei. Spreadtrum's experts will also be coming. This is a big deal and the talks may take some time. Please make sure to take good care of them and ensure their food and lodging during this period."

"Okay." Lu Weibing sensed something and asked, "Are you leaving?"

"Yes, I have a meeting in Shanghai the day after tomorrow, and then I might have to go to Beijing."

Upon hearing this, Hu Li immediately said, "Brother, you're entertaining this manager and that manager, but not me?"

The girls nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, I want to eat Cantonese food!"

"I heard that Soho and True Colors Bar are both in Guangdong. Let's go for drinks tonight!"

Several girls had known Chen Xuebing at the studio before and had even drunk together for a few days, but they didn't know that Chen Xuebing's business was this big.

They are all "senior executives" at iQiyi, so naturally they need to cultivate a closer relationship with this powerful investor.

"Okay."

Chen Xuebing laughed heartily, saying that he had been studying even without work during this period, and it was time to relax.

Yang Qingyue happened to be in Hong Kong visiting her parents.

Even if Yang Qingyue is in Shenzhen, she won't stop him from going out to play.

For a while, he rested at Xuefu Garden every night, living in the same apartment with Yang Qingyue but in a different bed. She was rather conservative, and he was too busy every day to have any extra thoughts. They would watch movies together in the evening, go for a walk, and so on. They hardly had any activities during the day.

When he's with Yang Qingyue, he's quite laid-back. If Yang Qingyue brings up something, he'll take it to heart, but he's not one to actively plan any activities. Yang Qingyue spoils him, letting him lean on her lap while watching TV, and often buying him his favorite snacks and fruits to feed him. Occasionally, she'll hum along to songs off-key while watching TV, teasing her and making her blush, which makes him feel relaxed.

In contrast, when he was with Xin Mengzhen, he was more attentive to her feelings, more proactive, more ambiguous, and sometimes felt a strong attraction and a resonance of souls.

He doesn't want to make a choice when it comes to his feelings.

But when faced with certain practical problems, he knows how to make a choice.

Sometimes, suppressing one's impulse to pursue passion is the wisdom of "one is many".

A flower is a world.

Choosing Yang Qingyue is choosing the world.

"Bro, Super Girl is super popular this year! I like Tan Weiwei! If you're looking to advertise, do you want to talk about sponsoring Super Girl? I can help you negotiate!"

"Hasn't the Super Girl competition already started?"

"We can talk about the grand finale! The annual title sponsorship is 20 to 30 million, and the grand finale title sponsorship would only cost 6 million at most! It's on the evening of September 29th! The host will be saying it many times! Oh, and we can also sponsor the judges to vote with the 'world's first touchscreen smartphone'! Just imagine, the judges slide to unlock and power on their phones, then click to enter the special software to vote. Hundreds of millions of young people will see this pre-release ad and be curious. It'll be just one day before the official ad launches on October 1st, it'll definitely be a huge hit!"

Chen Xuebing's eyes lit up; he felt the timing was indeed very coincidental.

He hesitated for a moment, then said, "The appearance of the phone cannot be leaked in advance."

It wasn't that the appearance of the Kirin chip was something worth keeping secret, but rather that he wanted to create some speculation within Apple to achieve his goal.

"Why not just make a phone case for me!" Hu Li said slyly. "Or I can customize a phone case with the iQiyi logo for you for free!"

".6."

"6? What does that mean?"

“Sure, fine.” Chen Xuebing said speechlessly.

"yeah!!"

……

The next day.

When Chen Xuebing woke up groggily in the Xuefu Garden, it was already noon.

Cai Zhijian and Spreadtrum's technical team arrived in the morning, and negotiations had already begun.

After packing up, I called Qi Dian's car to pick me up and head to Huawei.

On the way, I received a call from Xu Jin to discuss Oceanwide Holdings stock and Fund No. 3.

Oceanwide Holdings has not hit the daily limit for the past two days, but it is still rising.

The previously trapped investors have already undergone a significant recovery, and trading volume is gradually increasing in the market.

Xu Jin was worried that if he didn't sell soon, the stock price would fall back, but with such a large amount of stock in his hands, he was afraid that if he sold it rashly, the price would drop even faster. Kan Zhidong was also unsure about this matter, so he could only communicate directly with Chen Xuebing.

In addition, a large number of new investors will soon join the third fund. The previous profits should be cashed out and settled with Changzheng Capital and the six investors, and then a new investment process will begin.

Fund No. 3 has a floating profit of 52 million yuan from this battle. If it exits at the current price, Changzheng can take away more than 20 million yuan in profit.

The second fund's holdings in Oceanwide Holdings have yielded even higher unrealized profits, exceeding 8000 million.

Fund No. 1 also holds a significant amount of Oceanwide Holdings, having entered the market quite early. Currently, the holdings amount to over 60 million yuan. Additionally, the money that Yufu placed with Southwest Securities is still pending repayment, and He Zhiya has not urged him to return it. Oceanwide Holdings is also included in that fund.

Changzheng Capital's holdings are almost at the threshold for Oceanwide Holdings to make a takeover bid.

Chen Xuebing inquired about the current stock price of Oceanwide Holdings and learned that it was 16.2 yuan, while Oceanwide Holdings' previous peak was over 60 yuan, so he judged that there should still be opportunities.

However, after this battle, Oceanwide Holdings has lost a significant amount of upside potential. Meanwhile, the stock market bull run has begun, offering many opportunities, and it should no longer be considered a major holding.

After thinking it over, he made a decision:
"Fund No. 3 will withdraw first, and after the Huaqiangbei investment funds are absorbed, the holdings will be diversified according to the stock basket. Other funds will continue to hold their positions and observe. If Oceanwide rises to above 20 yuan, they will gradually withdraw. If there is no price increase within September, they will also gradually withdraw."

The Long March 3 rocket has become a key tool for Singularity to control Huaqiangbei, and he wants to support it to become a new star fund.

Now that the bull market has begun, as long as you invest according to his chosen basket, you'll make money no matter what you buy.

Long March Capital no longer needs to simply make money for the sake of making money, but has become a sword at his waist.

(End of this chapter)