152: Chapter 152 Counterfeit Rice Takes the Lead in Mass Production

Finally, he put down the document and looked at Shen Fei.

"Mr. Shen, you win."

"Mr. Jacob, this isn't about winning or losing; it's about a mutually beneficial partnership."

He extended his hand.

"Transsion and Qualcomm will have plenty of opportunities to cooperate in the future."

Jacob looked at the hand and remained silent for a few seconds, then he reached out and shook it, his face showing only dissatisfaction with how this meeting had ended.

As for the cooperation Shen Fei mentioned, he didn't take it seriously at all.

Everyone used the ARM architecture, and he had no desire to see the other party again.

Unless the other party's semiconductor manufacturing process improved significantly, but how could that be possible?

...

After seeing Jacob off, Shen Fei returned to his office.

Huang Tianya followed him in.

"Mr. Shen, that patent fee..."

Shen Fei waved his hand. "That's not how you calculate the costs."

He looked out the window at the departing Qualcomm team. "Qualcomm being willing to sit down and discuss patent licensing—that is our biggest gain."

Huang Tianya nodded.

"Then what's our next step?"

Shen Fei thought for a moment. "The next step is to target Nokia; I've got my eye on the patents they hold."

"The 3.5-dollar 'Qualcomm tax' is still too little."

Huang Tianya also smirked...

Although Qualcomm had reached a licensing agreement with Transsion, they would certainly try every possible way to surpass them in the future; they could not afford to stop.

...

On April 8, 2010, an account called Digital Chat Station was quietly registered.

Digital Chat Station: "A certain mobile phone manufacturer has successfully taped out a domestic chip, with performance in the first tier."

Relying on the power of money, despite having zero followers, many tech enthusiasts saw the relevant Weibo post.

"Domestic chip?"

"Which company..."

"First-tier performance? Are they bragging?"

"Could it be that model from Transsion?"

"Brother upstairs, elaborate."

"Didn't the boss of Transsion say a while ago that their chip was about to be successfully taped out? You didn't know that?"

"I'm actually quite curious about what level the 'Africa Overlord's' chip can really reach."

"What level could it reach? Probably terrible."

...

Meanwhile, in Beijing, Yingu Building.

Entering April, Lei Jun hadn't been home for three days.

There was even a folding bed in his office, piled with pillows and blankets.

He had been sleeping there for the past few days, getting three or four hours of sleep before waking up to continue making calls.

Lin Bin pushed the door open and entered, his expression very grim.

"Old Lei, Samsung has delayed it again."

Lei Jun looked up. "Delayed until when?"

"Next month..."

Lei Jun's vision went dark, and he felt like he was about to faint.

Qualcomm had finally stopped dragging their feet these past few days and had sent over a batch of chips.

But the other supply chains were failing...

[Qualcomm: Actually, that's not the case.]

Whether the first batch of 80,000 units could be assembled had become a real problem.

"Old Lin, how many problems do we need to solve right now?"

Lin Bin opened his notebook.

"Qualcomm MSM8255 delivery is delayed. The 80,000 units that were supposed to arrive on the 20th of last month only had 40,000 delivered, and the rest won't arrive until April 20th."

"As for screens, they are prioritizing their own products, as well as Apple and HTC. Our order..."

"Because it's too small, it's already been pushed to the fourth tier."

"Secondly, a knockoff version of the first-generation Xiaomi has appeared on the market."

Lei Jun took it and looked, instantly speechless.

You couldn't say it was exactly the same, but it was definitely born from the same mother.

The same appearance, the same packaging box, and even the system was flashed with MIUI...

But the configuration was completely different; the processor was a MediaTek MTK6573, the memory was only 256MB, and it had the same plastic middle frame and plastic back cover.

The battery was cut to 1500mAh, and you got three batteries free with every purchase.

Lei Jun's face was filled with speechlessness.

"How much does this thing sell for?" Lei Jun asked.

"1699 yuan."

Lei Jun closed his eyes. This was just here to cause trouble.

Using their appearance, using their free system...

No wonder the number of MIUI activations had increased significantly since entering April.

It turned out they were all knockoffs.

If this thing sells for 1699, there must be at least a few hundred yuan in profit. After all, they don't need to develop or maintain the system themselves; they just take whatever MIUI has...

"Can the users tell the difference?"

Lin Bin smiled bitterly. "They are a 1:1 copy, just with slightly rougher workmanship."

"Average users can't tell the difference; they see the same interface and the same logo and think it's the genuine product, or even a 'Youth Edition' that we released."

Lin Bin hesitated for a moment. "In the past few days, this knockoff model has sold at least over 100,000 units."

Lei Jun was silent for a long time, then he opened his eyes.

"Old Lin, notify the team to ship immediately."

Lin Bin hesitated. "But we don't have enough chips and screens..."

"Ship as many as we have." Lei Jun interrupted him. "Ship 30,000 units first so users can get the real device. For the rest, keep pushing for stock."

He looked at Lin Bin.

"We can't let these knockoffs continue to impersonate our Dami Company."

Lin Bin nodded and was about to leave when Lei Jun called him back.

"Also, book a plane ticket."

"Where to?"

"South Korea, the United States, Japan."

Lei Jun picked up his jacket. "I'm going to go push for stock again..."

...

Just as Xiaomi was like an ant on a hot pan, MediaTek's Tsai Ming-kai arrived at Dami Company a step ahead, ready to provide support.

Lei Jun naturally hosted him warmly.

"Mr. Lei, I saw their launch event; it was very successful..."

"There might have been some misunderstandings between us, but I believe it was mostly for promotional purposes."

At this moment, Tsai Ming-kai was definitely a firefighter, and Lei Jun was also very polite.

The misunderstanding during the previous chip negotiations?

Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding? It was just that he, Lei Jun, had spoken poorly.

"Promotional necessity. I hope Mr. Tsai doesn't mind..."

Immediately after, Lei Jun explained the situation, and Tsai Ming-kai fell silent after hearing it.

Lei Jun's words were definitely half-true and half-false...

But thinking about what Shen Fei had told him—that this was a huge favor—he still smiled and nodded.

"Mr. Lei, I can't help with Qualcomm. But on MediaTek's side..."

He paused for a moment. "We can support you with a batch of MTK6573s."

Lei Jun let out a sigh of relief. "How many?"

"As many as you want."

This completely stumped Lei Jun; on one side was tight production capacity, and on the other was 'as many as you want'.

Qualcomm's performance was indeed stronger, but the power consumption was truly not low. Why not make a 'Youth Edition' to capture the market first, and at the very least, kill off the knockoffs.

But to let bygones be bygones, there must certainly be conditions attached.

"Mr. Lei," Tsai Ming-kai looked at him, "to be honest, MediaTek has always wanted to cooperate with Dami Company."

"If I can help this time, I hope Xiaomi will consider the MediaTek platform for its next-generation products."

Lei Jun was silent. As expected, this was the price.

Using MediaTek meant having to temporarily tug-of-war with Qualcomm; the relationship definitely wouldn't be as ironclad.

But he had no choice.

"Mr. Tsai, I agree."

"However, I hope to slightly change the name of this batch of chips. Let's call it the MTK65756, launched exclusively by Dami Company."