169: Chapter 169 Off-the-Spot Tactics, K3V1 Chip Fabrication

Not long after, COO Cook arrived at this office.

"Tim, do you know about the Motorola situation?"

Cook nodded with difficulty, "I know. They are selling very well in the United States market, even better than we are selling in China. We must think of other ways."

Cook stated the truth directly. Today's Motorola is just a puppet of Transsion.

Facing this confirmed news, Steve Jobs thought for a few seconds and proposed a shocking plan.

"Can we find a way to make them exit? Make them voluntarily withdraw from the United States market."

Cook gave a bitter smile; he had indeed thought of this plan. But it might be a bit difficult to execute.

After all, Transsion is not as simple as just a Chinese company; it is also colluding with United States capital, which creates a very complex situation.

"Steve, Motorola is a United States company. They have legal channels, a legal brand, and legal products. We have no way to force them out."

Although he spoke high-sounding words, Cook was also thinking of ways. It was just that it was a bit difficult to execute.

It is said that for Motorola S2 to be listed in the United States, Huaxin Investment promised some investment banks that it would not enter the NASDAQ within three years. But at the same time, the investment banks had to guarantee that Motorola phones would not be banned within these three years, and that Huaxin's existing assets would not be inexplicably wiped out.

Steve Jobs looked at the sales figures: "Then find a way to make their products illegal."

"For example..." Cook, still thinking of ways, said subconsciously.

"Investigate. See if their chips have backdoors, see if their systems have plagiarized our patents or left backdoors. There will always be problems..."

Steve Jobs thought for a moment and said seriously, "In short, I will not allow a rebadged machine from a Chinese company to steal our food in the United States market."

"If the investigation results are good, then report this matter. Chinese enterprises cannot challenge our market..."

"But if you really can't find anything, even if you have to use irregular means, you must drive them out. The United States market cannot have such an uncontrollable competitor."

July 8, 2010. Guangzhou, Huaxin Semiconductor production base.

He Tingbo stood in the waiting area, her palms full of sweat; this was HiSilicon's first mobile phone chip.

Since the project started, it had been in development for two years, with over 1 billion invested, and the previous few plans had all failed or failed to meet standards.

Under the guidance of Professor Li Jiahui, it was finally made. The fifth version of the plan went very smoothly...

Although Professor Li had said that her aptitude was very good and she learned very solidly, encouraging her by saying that this time it would definitely succeed, the difficulty of a one-time successful tape-out for a mobile phone chip is akin to reaching the heavens.

She only prayed... that a miracle could happen this time.

After about an hour or so, within the scheduled time, the engineer walked out, holding a wafer and some packaged chips in his hand.

"General Manager He, it's done."

He Tingbo took the wafer, her eyes filled with joy. It was a thin piece of silicon, but inside it was a complex technological city.

Inside, there were hundreds of millions of transistor residents.

A one-time success; a miracle had really appeared, and her hands began to tremble.

"What is the yield rate?"

"75%." The engineer, fearing she would be discouraged, quickly comforted her, "This yield rate is only temporary; it can be improved later. For an initial chip, it is very high. In the future, raising it to over 90% shouldn't be a big problem."

"Yes, it is very high."

He Tingbo showed a satisfied expression; she only asked for this chip to succeed. As for the yield rate, as long as it wasn't 20%, it was fine.

This result had already brought her a big surprise.

When the project was launched, Mr. Ren asked her how much money it would take to make the chip. She gave an estimate: at least 1 billion.

From the initial small batch of funds to later having enough, this was not just a supplement of funds, but also a responsibility.

Fortunately, it was finally a success.

This chip was called K3V1.

Single-core Cortex-A8 architecture, maximum clock speed of 1.2 GHz, supports audio protocols such as mp3, AAC, and WMA, and supports 480p video decoding.

The currently most advanced 720p? It does not support it.

This is a low-to-mid-range entry-level chip, but it is HiSilicon's first mobile phone chip.

He Tingbo immediately took some of the packaged chips and rushed back to Shenzhen.

Mr. Ren was listening to Big Mouth Yu's report. He looked up, saw the small chip in her hand, and immediately put on a smiling expression.

Then he asked in a tone full of expectation, "It's done?"

On the contrary, Big Mouth Yu on the side said in surprise, "It really succeeded."

He Tingbo nodded and placed the chip in front of them.

Mr. Ren and Big Mouth Yu each took a few. The chip's performance was not strong, but it was developed by them, belonging to the first batch of domestic products.

Apart from communication patents, this was the true moat.

Mr. Ren looked at it for a long time, feeling deeply: "Professor He, do you know? When I was young, I repaired radars in the army. At that time, all radar chips were imported. If they broke, there was no replacement, we could only wait."

He pinched the small chip in his hand. "At that time, I thought, when will we be able to make our own chips."

He patted He Tingbo's shoulder again and nodded with emotion.

What he didn't say was that that was when he was young and impulsive.

Later, after retiring from the army, he realized that a chip is a very complex systematic project, and in the end, he could only keep this plan in his heart.

But now he had succeeded; the company he founded had developed the first batch of mobile phone chips.

After a brief report, Big Mouth Yu followed her to the HiSilicon department.

Watching them test it there, Big Mouth Yu was so excited he stamped his feet.

"General Manager He, is the verification complete?"

"General Manager He, is there any problem? Our engineering prototypes are all ready."

After testing some data, He Tingbo also walked to his side.

"What's the rush? Chip verification is a very complex project; it cannot be sloppy, otherwise it will bring serious consequences. You wouldn't want users to encounter serious problems after the phone is released and come rushing to you for refunds, would you?"

"General Manager He, it's just that this is the first time seeing our own chip, so I'm a bit anxious. Please continue..."

Big Mouth Yu also made a zipper gesture with his hand, indicating he would stop talking.

A burst of laughter came from the laboratory.

After about two hours, the chip did indeed encounter some problems during verification, but there were no particularly complex logic issues, and they could be solved through modifications.

He Tingbo also excitedly announced: "The project is a preliminary success!"

"Success!"

"HiSilicon's first chip is a success!"

Big Mouth Yu was also the first to crowd over; he pinched the chip with his hand, too excited to speak.

"General Manager He, do you mean that this chip can now be used in mobile phones?"

He Tingbo nodded: "Yes. However, this chip's GPU and decoding are a bit weak; it can only support 480p decoding. It's enough for a low-to-mid-range phone."

Big Mouth Yu's eyes lit up: "That's great, our low-to-mid-range product line can also abandon MediaTek."

He looked at He Tingbo: "General Manager He, do you know how long I have waited for this day?"