150: Chapter 150 Qualcomm's Visit

"Mr. Ren."

On the other end of the line, Mr. Ren's voice came through: "Mr. Shen, calling this late, is something the matter?"

Shen Fei laughed, "Mr. Ren, I would like to invite you to see something."

"What is it?"

"Transsion's first self-developed SoC, which integrates both CPU and GPU, has already passed comprehensive testing."

There was a brief silence on the other end of the line, and then Mr. Ren said excitedly, "When can I go?"

"Anytime."

"I will head to Yangcheng first thing tomorrow morning."

...

The next morning, Mr. Ren rushed to the Transsion Semiconductor laboratory in Yangcheng.

Professor Li Jiahui stood by, introducing the parameters, process, and performance.

The initial parameters were only slightly shocking, but considering Transsion's technology, they could be reasonably explained.

It wasn't until Mr. Ren heard about the Taishan process that he stared blankly at the wafer.

28nm process—if he remembered correctly, the most advanced one currently was 32nm, but that was just an official announcement for small-batch trial production this year; large-scale mass production would still take some time.

As a result, Transsion... in the semiconductor field, had suddenly taken a leap forward.

He didn't ask how the technology was solved; he only knew one thing: HiSilicon could now use the 28nm process.

He had definitely hitched his wagon to the right star.

If one really had to pin the blame on someone, it must be that the National Semiconductor Fund had "exerted its power."

[National Semiconductor Fund: What? You're making me the scapegoat?]

Finally, he looked up: "What is the yield rate?"

Professor Li Jiahui shook his head slightly, which made Mr. Ren's heart jump into his throat.

He even started imagining the worst, but then thought, it's fine, the technology is leading, there is plenty of time to improve it.

"It's a pity, it's only 89%, it didn't even hit 90%, it's too much of a failure."

Mr. Ren quickly turned his head to look at Professor Li Jiahui. 89%—and this was called a low yield rate...

A new process is considered a success if it breaks 20%, and 50% is already top-tier. Coming to Professor Li...

"Mr. Shen, isn't Professor Li being a bit too humble here?"

"Sigh, this is their consistent style... if it's not perfected to the extreme, it's not considered a success."

Shen Fei also waved his hand, though the proud expression on his face clearly couldn't be contained...

"Good! This spirit of research is great!" Mr. Ren looked at Shen Fei and said, "What's the next step?"

"We will use the enhanced version, and you will use the standard version. We will release the enhanced version to you in the second half of the year. There is only one goal: to start mass production immediately and promote China's semiconductors to the world."

"This..."

Mr. Ren hesitated for a moment: "Mr. Shen, 28nm is too advanced. Once exposed, you should know the consequences. If the supply of materials is cut off, that's no joke. Do we have that much inventory?"

"Why worry about inventory? We can just poach them over," Professor Li Jiahui said confidently.

Looking at them, Mr. Ren realized he had overthought it. The most advanced process, the only one of its kind—how could it be constrained by the outside?

The related issues should have been resolved.

"Alright, since that's the case, we're in."

...

On April 6, 2010, just as people on the internet began to question Transsion's chip resources, Paul Jacobs, the CEO of Qualcomm, officially arrived at the Yangcheng airport.

Meanwhile, at Transsion headquarters.

Wang Hua, the head of the logistics department, and Huang Tianya reported together in Shen Fei's office.

"For Qualcomm, Paul Jacobs is coming in person."

Shen Fei looked up: "When?"

"The appointment is for 2 PM this afternoon."

Shen Fei thought about it. He hadn't poached many people from Qualcomm. Could it be that he snatched a patent they wanted, causing alarm...

That shouldn't be the case, right?

"What are they coming for?"

Huang Tianya answered the question first: "Probably to hold us accountable, or..."

"To divide the territory."

Shen Fei nodded.

Huang Tianya handed over a document containing a list of patents and the Qualcomm shares held by Huaxin Investment.

"The patents we use in Africa, Qualcomm claims they are theirs and wants to collect royalties. The 4G and 3G patents we own, Qualcomm also claims they are theirs..."

He looked at Shen Fei: "And some of my actions have been discovered by the people behind them. It has been confirmed that we own their stock, but don't worry."

Regarding the free market of the United States, Shen Fei was not surprised; hiding it was only to ensure the plan went smoothly.

"How much did they find out?"

"Currently, they've found 7.5%. In reality, we have 9.5%, making us a solid major shareholder," Huang Tianya said, "It's scattered under more than a dozen investment companies; they've been investigating for nearly half a year."

Shen Fei nodded: "Then do they know it's us?"

Huang Tianya shook his head. Those shares were scattered across more than a dozen investment companies and finally converged in the Cayman Islands. Tracing it back had a certain level of difficulty.

After all, those investment banks wouldn't launch a large-scale investigation for just one company like Qualcomm; the difficulty was simply too high.

"Not sure. But Jacob coming this time should be to confirm this, as well as some patent-related issues."

Shen Fei smiled: "Then let them come! Leave the afternoon time specifically for him."

...

At 2 PM, Paul Jacobs arrived on time.

He was over 50, with blond hair, blue eyes, and wearing a custom-tailored suit. He was the son of Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs, and like Shen Fei, he was considered a successor to his father's business.

When he shook hands with Shen Fei, his eyes carried a sense of scrutiny...

"Mr. Shen, I've heard much about you."

Shen Fei returned the smile, his enthusiasm making it impossible to guess anything.

"Mr. Jacobs, please sit."

Qualcomm, or rather, Paul Jacobs sitting opposite, was more anxious than Shen Fei had imagined.

The lawyer sitting opposite preemptively delivered a blow.

"Mr. Shen, some of the communication technologies your side uses in the African market are suspected of infringing on Qualcomm's patents. This includes but is not limited to 3G basebands, multi-carrier aggregation, power control, and 23 other patents."

Shen Fei just listened there, occasionally picking up the teacup on the table and taking a sip, seemingly not taking Qualcomm's lawyer seriously.

The lawyer was professional and didn't get angry, continuing, "In addition, we have discovered that Transsion has preemptively registered 237 of Qualcomm's technical patents in the past year. These technologies are Qualcomm's R&D achievements, yet they were registered by you first."

He looked at Shen Fei's disdainful expression and continued hesitatingly: "We demand that Transsion immediately stop the infringement and compensate for the related losses. A total of 125 million USD."

After this dog finished speaking, Shen Fei looked at Paul Jacobs:

"Mr. Jacobs, is this your intention?"

Paul Jacobs did not answer directly: "Mr. Shen, Qualcomm's intellectual property is our core asset. We must be responsible to our shareholders."

Shen Fei laughed: "You should go find the original owner for this problem."

Paul Jacobs didn't react for a moment...

"We purchased chips from MediaTek. If your patents are infringed, you should go to MediaTek, not us."

He looked at the other party: "We are just users; we buy chips and assemble products. We are just workers."

Shen Fei's words were unanswerable!