229: Chapter 229 Taishan 910: A New Year's Gift for a Competitor.

After getting into the car, Wang Jianzhou finally caught his breath, and his secretary carefully reminded him from the side.

"Boss, should we ask about it?"

"No need. Everything that needed to be arranged has been arranged. Let Cook go and see for himself. Once he's seen it, he'll know just how cutthroat the Chinese market really is."

...

Xidan Joy City, Apple Flagship Store.

By the time Cook arrived, a long line had already formed at the entrance.

Because today was Saturday and the iphone 4 had officially announced its first round of price cuts, plus the fact that he was here, the entire street was packed wall-to-wall.

Originally, Cook had hoped not to disturb anyone. He wore sunglasses and a regular jacket, dressing like an ordinary foreign tourist, intending to stand at the back of the crowd and walk in.

But now, that seemed almost impossible.

After the car stopped, the police officers immediately became alert; it seemed the pressure was on.

However, the car door didn't open immediately, and Cook looked out through the window.

In these lines were students in school uniforms and white-collar workers with briefcases, but what they all had in common was that they had waited in line for several hours just to see him once.

Just then, the captain in charge of maintaining order for the event knocked on the car door.

Their translator opened the car window, had a brief exchange, and then said to Cook:

"Mr. Cook, the other side just said that there are too many people now, and they want us to head to the store as soon as possible, otherwise it will put too much pressure on their work. Also, there are too many people, and it's easy for a stampede to occur."

Cook nodded and prepared to get out of the car.

The moment he appeared, the fans who had been watching from the sidelines immediately surged forward...

What followed was naturally a win-win-win situation.

The persona Cook envisioned—one who cares about the Chinese market—was perfectly realized. The die-hard fans got to see the Apple successor they had missed for so long, and the media got their news.

...

After the event ended, he headed to the China Unicom headquarters.

After all, during this inspection, he hadn't received only good news; there was some very bad news as well.

For instance, while many people still had loyalty to Apple, their families were more focused on product advantages. They preferred Transsion and the Mate series... This was not good news, and it made him even more dissatisfied with China Unicom's promotion.

Meanwhile, at the China Unicom headquarters, the welcome banquet was also held in a grand manner.

Wang Jianzhou stood at the entrance to welcome him personally, with a row of executives standing behind him.

A red carpet was laid from the entrance to the steps, with ceremonial attendants standing on both sides, holding flowers in their hands.

"Mr. Tim, welcome to China Unicom!" Wang Jianzhou extended his hand, smiling like a blooming flower.

Cook shook his hand and said in Chinese: "Thank you."

The China Unicom publicity department on site was stunned; they hadn't expected Cook to know Chinese. This was indeed different from Steve Jobs.

Immediately after, a burst of loud applause erupted at the scene.

At the banquet, Wang Jianzhou talked a lot, including China Unicom's layout in 4G, as well as the potential in the Internet of Things, smart cities, and user growth.

In short, it was one sentence: China Unicom remained Apple's best partner in the Chinese market.

China Mobile and China Telecom were already deeply tied to Huawei and Transsion; only they continued to choose to go all-in on Apple.

Cook listened very carefully, but his mind was on another matter.

After a few rounds of drinks, Wang Jianzhou suddenly asked: "Mr. Cook, you went to Transsion?"

Cook put down his wine glass and looked at him.

His face was filled with a hint of displeasure. After all, his visit to Transsion was a secret operation, and yet the other party had investigated it...

However, this was unfair to Wang Jianzhou, as it was Cook who had given him the cold shoulder first...

The atmosphere at the dining table cooled for a moment, but Cook still spoke up.

"I did, and we discussed some cooperation."

Wang Jianzhou nodded and asked again: "How did it feel?"

"They are very strong." A look of acknowledgement appeared on Cook's face.

He hadn't even shown such an expression toward Samsung; this was the first time.

Wang Jianzhou's smile froze for a moment, then quickly recovered: "Strong they may be, but Apple is stronger, right?"

Cook didn't answer; he just picked up his wine glass and gently clinked it against Wang Jianzhou's glass.

"Our cooperation will be very pleasant, and I also wish for our cooperation to be even smoother."

Wang Jianzhou smiled and finished his drink, but he knew very well that Cook's silence just now was more unsettling than any words.

He only hoped that this foreign brand could make more people willing to spend money.

...

Three days later, Guangzhou, Transsion Semiconductor factory.

Professor Li Jiahui was leading the team in the final work; the tape-out of the Taishan 910 had entered the most critical moment.

This chip was the core of Transsion's next-generation flagship and also Transsion's first attempt at a quad-core design.

Quad-core, improved 28nm process, main frequency of 1.8 GHz.

If successful, the performance would be two and a half times that of the Taishan 900.

If it failed, it would naturally mean that the past few months of R&D time and nearly 50 million in funds would all go down the drain.

Of course, Professor Li Jiahui believed that with his technical skills, it was impossible for his own project to fail.

"Professor Li, the signal is out!"

An engineer ran quickly from the front of the test bench, his voice very excited.

Professor Li Jiahui rushed over to look at the waveform on the screen, and his face instantly changed to a look of relief; it was steady.

But his heart was still pounding; the model diagram was steady, very steady.

He suddenly remembered a new testing software on the market called AnTuTu; why not test the performance first?

So he said with a smile: "Run AnTuTu first. Run it offline; don't connect to their database."

The engineer nodded, then took the engineering prototype from the side and tapped it lightly; the numbers on the screen began to jump.

Their test results were easily handled in front of the Taishan 910.

In less than 10 minutes, the benchmark run was over, and the number quickly broke the 10,000 mark.

Previously, the highest score was held by the Taishan 900 flagship chip, but now... it was a total crush as well.

The number on the screen finally settled at 28,000 points.

This concept represented a perfect alignment with expectations...

The Taishan 900's benchmark score was around 11,000 points, the Qualcomm 8255's performance was 4,300, and Samsung's Orion 4210 was just over 5,000.

28,000 points, two and a half times that of the Taishan 900, perfectly met expectations.

"Alright, if it can run benchmarks, then there's no big problem. Start the specific tests. We'll deliver after the New Year; don't delay the progress on Mr. Chen's side."

The engineer also nodded and began the testing work. After all, this was Transsion's first quad-core design chip; whether there were any detailed issues still needed to be carefully investigated.

Professor Li Jiahui picked up the phone and dialed Shen Fei's number.

"Boss, the Taishan 910 is basically ready. We just ran AnTuTu, and the score is 28,000. It's 2.5 times that of the Taishan 900."

Shen Fei heard this multiple, and suddenly remembered a meme; could this Professor Li Jiahui be a hater?

However, Shen Fei checked the time: "Professor Li, do you know what day it is today?"

Professor Li Jiahui checked the time. He had been so busy with work lately that he had ignored the time; he hadn't expected it to already be mid-December.

"December 15th... is there a problem?"

"There are 15 days left until 2012. This is a gift from China Transsion to the global semiconductor industry. I wonder if they will like it..."