Chapter 765: Hot Pot (Two in One)

First Google, then Qualcomm, then Morningstar.

Even though Fang Zhuo has always been good at dealing with interests from different positions, the related parties surrounding the Yike mobile phone project felt a little overwhelmed.

Accompanied by these three parties and the coy Deyi, Yike's R&D center needs to process a large amount of data. However, Liang Gongwei and others from Morning Star were still unwilling to leave after staying for two days, so they had to take over a room from Mr. Fang. Morningstar team offices.

"Your people haven't come yet. When they do, how can I miss an office?" Fang Zhuo felt dumbfounded.

However, Liang Gongwei is extremely serious: "It is safe to put it in the bag, so as not to have long nights and many dreams."

Fang Zhuo had no choice but to assign an office on the spot.

The chip project connected with Morningstar was previously named "Vulcan" by Fang Zhuo. Considering the need for confidentiality, Morningstar took the initiative to suggest a project code name, calling it "绻笲", which is half of "Zhurong" .

It's not that Fang Zhuo doesn't know the pronunciation, it's gé, but he just feels that the style of Morning Star's senior management is a bit... hard to put into words.

Just when he took a breath from the judgment of various information and started to pay attention to the data after the domestic Taobao 6.18 event, an uninvited guest came to the R&D center in Silicon Valley.

MediaTek Chairman Cai Mingjie led a team to visit in a hurry.

Coincidentally, Liang Gongwei of Morningstar planned to leave Silicon Valley in the evening. Unexpectedly, he just walked out of the R&D center gate chatting and laughing with his colleagues, and happened to see Cai Mingjie looking at the sign below. His expression immediately changed.

"Mr. Cai, what are you doing here?" Liang Gongwei subconsciously wanted to yell loudly, but when he saw the smile on Cai Mingjie's face, he realized that this expression was not for him, and lowered his voice again.

Cai Mingjie led the people up the steps quickly, stretched out his hands in advance to hold the right hand of Mr. Fang who showed up, and said with a hearty smile: "Mr. Liang, of course I came to Silicon Valley to tell Mr. Fang that MediaTek is a better company than Morningstar." company."

Liang Gongwei's expression has returned to normal, but there is a hint of grievance in his eyes when he looks at Mr. Fang, "Okay, Mr. Fang, what did we agree on?"

Fang Zhuo was shaken by Cai Mingjie's right hand repeatedly, and he smiled helplessly and said: "Mr. Cai, you are so unexpected that you come here unexpectedly. How can Yi Ke be so virtuous and win the favor of Mr. Cai and Mr. Liang?" "

Yesterday, the R&D center received a request from MediaTek to visit, which was declined by Fang Zhuo.

However, when I answered the phone today, the chairman of MediaTek was already approaching the door.

MediaTek was established in 1997, nearly 10 years ago, and it is now a company with a market value of nearly US$7 billion.

There is no reason why Cai Mingjie traveled all the way to visit him as chairman, but Fang Zhuo avoided seeing him.

Cai Mingjie smiled and said: "I have long heard that there is a great talent in the mainland. First, Yike went abroad to compete with foreign giants, and then the ice core was released and opened a new chapter in the development of semiconductors in the mainland. This time, while Yike wants to enter the mobile phone market, I Cai Mingjie finally got his wish to meet Mr. Fang and have the possibility of cooperating with Mr. Fang. "

This person is also a semiconductor senior, and he is in his fifties. He talks about being a "great talent" and "getting what he wants," and his attitude is quite low.

Fang Zhuo smiled and waved his hands repeatedly: "Mr. Cai is so complimentary, Mr. Cai is so complimentary."

Liang Gongwei next to him was a little anxious, but he turned slowly, unable to speak, and there were sweat stains on his forehead.

Later, Wei Boyun was not afraid of this and immediately stepped forward.

He smiled and said: "Mr. Fang is indeed a great talent, but what I admire most is Mr. Fang's perseverance when he is in a low position. If it were me, Yike would have to face giants like Sony and Apple. I'm afraid he would be in trouble immediately." No courage."

Wei Boyun glanced at Mr. Fang with admiration and continued: "This is even more true for Ice Core. Mainland semiconductors are weak. Mr. Cai has a good relationship with MediaTek, which is really number one in the world. If it were me, think about the gap. It’s just a matter of submissiveness.”

"There are only two people I admire. One is Mr. Fang, who is tenacious, and the other is Mr. Liang, who is far-sighted."

"When Mr. Liang made the decision to fully cooperate between Morningstar and Ice Core, I still had objections. Now it seems that I was really short-sighted. Without Ice Core and Mr. Liang, Morningstar would never be in the situation that can alarm Mr. Cai today. When I think about it, I can’t wait to give Mr. Fang and Mr. Liang three glasses of wine!”

Fang Zhuo laughed loudly, and Liang Gongwei breathed a sigh of relief.

Cai Mingjie narrowed his eyes. This Morning Star general was a bit quick-witted.

"You guys, you are really flattering me. Both Yike and Bingxin still have a long way to go. Fortunately, I always know how much I weigh. Come on, Mr. Cai, let's go in and have tea." Fang Zhuo suppressed his amusement and said, After inviting Cai Mingjie, he said to Liang Gongwei, "Mr. Liang, there will definitely be no problem with the TV chip cooperation."

Liang Gongwei knew that Mr. Fang was making excuses in front of Cai Mingjie, so he smiled and said: "Mr. Fang, Mr. Cai, you are busy, and there are still many opportunities for us to cooperate."

Fang Zhuo nodded slightly and led the team of Chairman MediaTek into the R&D center.

Liang Gongwei and his party continued to walk down, but they glanced at Cai Mingjie and his party from the corner of their eyes.

When their figures disappeared, Chenxing and the others immediately stopped.

But the business car lent by Yike drove up. General Manager Yang Weiyi acted as the driver. He lowered the window and shouted to his colleagues: "Let's get in the car and go shopping."

Liang Gongwei said angrily: "Why are you still shopping? Cai Mingjie is here because of the smell!"

Yang Weiyi was shocked, immediately turned off the engine, opened the door and got out of the car.

MediaTek is Morningstar’s real competitor.

Nowadays, Morningstar still learns from MediaTek, but it has the upper hand in the field of TV chips because it works harder than MediaTek. It is easy to overlook the entrance to the development of the mobile phone field. Cai Mingjie actually came to Silicon Valley in person?

"Why is he here? How did he know this place? Who leaked the secret?" Yang Weiyi was very angry.

Liang Gongwei shook his head, suspecting that Cai Mingjie had heard about it from Baodao's many semiconductor connections.

Yang Weiyi asked with concern: "What's Mr. Fang's attitude?"

Liang Gongwei replied solemnly: "Cai Mingjie came to the door in person. What can Mr. Fang do? They went in to talk. MediaTek has mature experience in mobile phone chip design. This is beyond our comparison. The time has come to test Morningstar."

Yang Weiyi remained silent.

After a moment, he sighed: "I was originally thinking about Zhu Rong, but now I can get the Vulcan out."

Everyone in Morning Star felt sad.

Liang Gongwei sighed: "The road to the God of Vulcan is long and difficult."

Wei Boyun immediately responded: "Mr. Liang is right, the road ahead is long and difficult, but the journey is about to begin."

Considering the importance of project development and the severity of competition, Liang Gongwei believed that Wei Boyun's position could be promoted to a higher level.

…

The conference room welcomed the fourth wave of guests in a short period of time.

Fang Zhuo was not polite to Cai Mingjie, but was a little curious about the reason why MediaTek went to war this time.

After all, the two parties had never dealt with each other before, and Yike's mobile phone project was only half a prototype.

Cai Mingjie listened to what Mr. Fang revealed and said sternly: "Mr. Fang, if you say that there is no competition with Morningstar Semiconductor, you will not believe it. But if you say that it is all to snipe Morningstar Semiconductor, that is also a big distortion. ”

Fang Zhuo said slowly: "Mr. Cai should know about the good cooperative relationship between me and Morningstar."

"Yes, Morningstar has a very harmonious cooperation with Bingxin and mainland TV manufacturers. I also know that Bingxin still holds a small share of Morningstar, but this should not be an obstacle to Yi Keduo's cooperation options." Cai Ming said Not slow, he said solemnly, "The most critical factor that made me come here this time is because I am optimistic about the Android system."

Fang Zhuo was a little surprised. He wondered whether Mr. Cai was pretending to be shocking. The Android system has not made any big moves in the industry, and the Open Mobile Alliance that Google wants to promote has not officially started yet.

"I wonder if Mr. Fang knows the current situation of mobile phones in the mainland?" Cai Mingjie slowed down slightly, "Those white-brand mobile phones in the mainland are very popular. Last year, we sold 30 million chips, 95% of which were sold to Mainland customers.”

He said confidently: "This year, this number will grow by at least half."

Fang Zhuo was not shocked. MediaTek's current market value naturally has its reasons: "I don't know much about it."

“Sometimes, I am amazed by the ideas of mainland white-brand mobile phones, those dual-SIM dual-standby, four-SIM dual-standby, powerful roar, subwoofer, marquee lights, ambient lighting, long standby time, use of dry batteries, and integrated radios. ..." Cai Mingjie said with a smile, "There is nothing I can't think of, and there is nothing they can't do."

Fang Zhuo nodded: "Huaqiangbei, Motrola, Sanxin, song Ericsson."

White brand mobile phones are copycat mobile phones, and Huaqiangbei is now the largest distribution center for copycat mobile phones in China.

"Mr. Fang, you Yike is engaged in consumer electronics. You must know that demand exists at different stages, low-end, mid-range, high-end. White-brand mobile phones are so popular, so naturally there is market demand for them." Cai Mingjie said. said.

He continued: "This demand is now being taken in vain. If there is a free and open source mobile phone system, if it is as described by Google, the market order under this demand will definitely be reshaped."

"I don't think Morningstar and the others came here to compete with Qualcomm and Deyi, right?"

"Mr. Fang, do you think if the Android system wants to develop, should it be top-down or bottom-up?"

Cai Mingjie asked a question.

Fang Zhuo pondered for a moment and jumped out of the preset answer: "Up and down don't seem to be contradictory."

"No matter how it is laid out, looking at the entire market for entry-level products, MediaTek is the best choice for Yike and the most powerful choice for Android systems." This is what Cai Mingjie wants to say.

Fang Zhuo didn't say anything. The popularization of Android system is of great benefit to him. And because of Bingxin, Android company, experienced channels and relationship with BOE, if Yike makes an entry-level mobile phone, it will definitely be made by the regular army. Stragglers.

However, the biggest significance of calling Morningstar here is to enhance the capabilities of the IC design process and to gain more independence.

Bingxin holds shares in Morningstar Semiconductor and some follow-up designs. It can barely be regarded as half a godson. MediaTek is different. It always focuses on its own interests.

However, after thinking about it, it is useless if it is not polished, and it is not necessarily a bad thing to have MediaTek on hand to put pressure on it.

On a more commercial level, for example, a certain company in the industry may first decide to cooperate with Party B, wait until Party B has invested a large amount of money, then adopt other companies' plans, and then acquire Party B, which is in dire straits due to the loss of a major customer. This is not impossible to consider.

Seeing that Mr. Fang was still silent, Cai Mingjie asked, "Mr. Fang doesn't trust our technical ability to rely on copycat machines to start our business?"

This is the first time that the chairman of MediaTek mentioned "shanzhai" instead of "white brand" when he entered the conference room.

Fang Zhuo noticed the other party's emotional fluctuations and shook his head: "It's not a shame to be born in a cottage industry. Only a man who can bend and stretch can be a real man. I admire Mr. Cai for MediaTek's success today. I was just thinking about the completion of the Android system."

"To be honest, the Android system is still far from being put into use. Mr. Liang and his team came here mainly for the TV chip market, and entry-level mobile phones were just mentioned by the way."

Tsai Ming-kai believed 70% of the other party's "to be honest".

Fang Zhuo said sincerely: "Mr. Cai, I am a business man. It will take time to complete the Android system. If Yike has plans for entry-level products, MediaTek is definitely the top priority option. This is what technology and experience deserve."

Tsai Ming-kai then moved the chips: "I heard that Bingxin's process has made a breakthrough in 90nm. Mr. Fang, entry-level products are the least in short supply. MediaTek's sales are rising year by year. This is exactly the space for our cooperation."

Fang Zhuo sighed slightly in his heart. I don't know since when, people who come to the door often mention Bingxin. Is his love for Bingxin so obvious?

He smiled, talked about Bingxin's production capacity for a few words, and finally reiterated the progress of the Android system, indicating that it is not time to really talk about cooperation.

Tsai Ming-kai comprehensively introduced MediaTek's technical team. In order to make a better difference in the field of mobile phone chips last year, they spent a lot of money to acquire an overseas team.

This reminded Fang Zhuo of Morningstar Semiconductor, which had similar actions this year.

It can only be said that the competition between the two companies is indeed quite fierce, worthy of being the big and small M.

"Mr. Fang, I wonder if Yike's first mobile phone will use Texas Instruments or Qualcomm chips?" Tsai Ming-kai asked about Yike's mobile phone at the end.

"It's not confirmed yet. It still depends on the progress of the Android system. However, our prototype uses Texas Instruments' 2420, and the effect looks good." Fang Zhuo revealed a piece of news.

Tsai Ming-kai nodded, and when he left, he expressed his ambition: "I hope that one day in the future, the name of MediaTek can also be added to the options of Yike's mid-to-high-end mobile phones."

"A scholar must be broad-minded and resolute. The task is heavy and the road is long. I also hope to see this day soon." Fang Zhuo shook hands with the chairman of MediaTek and personally sent them out.

Tsai Ming-kai left a MediaTek survey on the mainland white-label mobile phone market as a small gift.

After the group left, not long after, Liang Gongwei couldn't hold back his emotions and came to find Mr. Fang, intending to inquire about the situation.

Fang Zhuo did not hide his attitude: "Mr. Liang, of course I prefer to cooperate with Morningstar, otherwise I would not have approached you at the beginning, but the choice of which side will depend on the chip performance."

Seeing that Liang Gongwei's expression was a bit complicated, he smiled and asked: "If it were now, and Mr. Liang was the one who decided, what would you choose between MediaTek and Morningstar?"

According to the current situation, this is a question that does not need to be answered.

Liang Gongwei did not lie, but just said: "Fortunately there is still time, fortunately it is not me who decides, but Mr. Fang. Mr. Fang's foresight is not comparable to mine. Morningstar should be self-reliant and will definitely cherish such an opportunity."

Fang Zhuo likes such a statement. The opportunity is in front of him. Even if there is a certain standard floating range, he must be able to break through the threshold.

As for foresight or not, Morningstar will get closer to Bingxin in the future. There will always be a time when those who are close to red will be red.