268: Chapter 268 The Contract for Unblocked Voice Transmission (You're Not Worth Being Blocked)

After Li Long finished speaking, the others nodded silently, and there wasn't a hint of hesitation in anyone's eyes.

Shen Fei looked at them and realized that the other side's scheme had failed once again.

Even if they had succeeded, it would only mean losing one or two technicians.

However, to avoid falling into the trap of empiricism, he used the Loyalty System to check them.

Their loyalty ratings were all around 87, marking them as reliable employees with no signs of any sudden, drastic decline in the short term.

"What are your thoughts?"

Before Shen Fei's voice had even faded, a young man wearing glasses spoke up first.

"Of course I'm not going."

"I work in screen production, so why would Apple poach me? To calibrate screens...? I suspect they're offering such high prices just to spite the company. Once we've lost our utility, they'll just kick us to the curb."

This wasn't just empty rhetoric; it was a decision based purely on self-interest, which actually pleased Shen Fei greatly.

At this moment, another engineer also spoke up: "Mr. Shen, I'm staying too. Apple is a great company, but that was Steve Jobs's Apple. I'm not so sure about Tim Cook's Apple."

"I'm not leaving either. What's the use of a green card? I have a house and a car in Shenzhen, and my kids are doing well in school. Start over in the United States? We aren't that stupid."

After they finished stating their positions, Shen Fei let them leave.

...

Half an hour later, someone hesitantly knocked on the door of Human Resources Director Wang Xue's office.

When he entered the office, Wang Xue asked him what was the matter, but after hesitating for a long time, the other party finally handed over a letter.

Upon seeing it, Wang Xue didn't look surprised, only reminding him: "This is a voluntary resignation; there is no compensation."

The other party was actually a bit surprised. He was considered a core technician for a sub-project and served as the project's second-in-command. Now that he was resigning...

However, he quickly nodded again: "Director Wang, I understand."

"I was clear on this when I wrote this letter... but..."

"I know. There's no need to have any psychological burden. Mr. Shen has given instructions: Transsion does not hold people back. If you want to leave, I will sign."

The man was stunned.

"Boss, aren't you angry?"

"Why would I be angry? The patent moat is already prepared. Even if you go to Apple, you should be clear about what you can and cannot do."

As she said this, Wang Xue was also staring at him, as if to remind him.

The man nodded again, and by this time, Wang Xue had already finished signing the document.

"Alright, let's handle the handover of your work, shall we? Can you complete the handover within a week?"

"Yes." But at this moment, when he spoke, he no longer had the high spirits he felt when he first received the offer; instead, his hesitation had grown even more severe.

He didn't know if this letter was the right decision.

Transsion provided the platform, the resources, the trust, and the highest salaries and year-end bonuses in the country. Apple offered a high salary, a green card, and prestige... He didn't know if he was doing the right thing.

After signing the papers, Wang Xue waited for over half an hour before heading to Shen Fei's office.

"Boss, Apple is still contacting our people. In addition to the five teams mentioned earlier, over a dozen other people have received calls. Currently, one deputy team leader from the RF signal project group has officially resigned, but no one else has left."

They were relatively satisfied with this result. After all, with headhunters involved, it would be impossible to not have a single person poached.

However, Transsion's development over the past two years was no longer what it had been when he first took over, and it was time to filter the staff.

"Send an email to all employees. The general idea is that Transsion doesn't hold people against their will, but Transsion does retain its people. The company will provide the best development platform for those willing to stay. Those who want to leave can do so at any time; the company will not set up any obstacles."

"Boss, will this..."

"It won't." A smile curled at the corners of Shen Fei's mouth. "Our salary system is completely benchmarked against top-tier American tech giants. If they can't even see that, and want to go to the United States to become members of the middle class, then there's no need to keep such people."

Of course, what Shen Fei didn't say was that if someone considered jumping ship just because of salary, they really weren't worth keeping... For top-tier researchers, technology was just as important.

...

After the internal email was sent out, a hot post appeared on an external forum. The poster was Li Long.

"Last week, I received a call from Apple's HR. They promised an annual salary calculated directly in US dollars, and also offered a US green card and a house worth 2 million dollars. The conditions were tempting enough to move anyone. I thought about it for a day and refused."

"It's not because I don't love money, but because my salary already satisfies me. Don't think I'm bragging; as the head of Transsion's Energy Division, Wang Mengyang's chief disciple, and the second-generation successor, I have the confidence to say this."

"Most importantly, Transsion's phone battery energy density has reached 260, while Apple's are all based on public standard solutions. As for other things, I can guarantee that Transsion's batteries won't catch fire when pierced by a needle—Apple cannot achieve any of this."

"I've contributed more or less to all these projects. If I left for Apple, what could I do? Help them catch up to Transsion? In that case, I'd rather stay at Transsion and continue to lead."

Below, Li Long even showed off a little: his annual salary was 3.2 million.

People under the post were already doing the conversions. 3.2 million USD, based on the current exchange rate, was about 20 million—that was basically one year equaling six.

"Brother, you're confused! Even though you're a successor, your salary isn't high!"

"But it's worth it for Professor Wang to have a disciple like you."

"Brother, well done."

"As everyone knows, this guy is purely showing off. With project bonuses, year-end bonuses, and all the miscellaneous stuff, it has to start with a '1' (in tens of millions). To be honest, Apple is only offering less than a double increase, and they want him to lead a team. Only a fool would go."

When Apple's HR head saw this post, he was extremely shocked. He had already offered so much money, yet these people... not only were they ungrateful, but he had posted to mock him.

So, he immediately summarized the situation and sent it to Tim Cook.

When Tim Cook saw this email, he was just sitting down in his office, holding a bag of coffee.

He looked at the lines of text and felt the coffee in his mouth tasted even more bitter, then he called the head of the supply chain.

"Since we can't handle Transsion through their employees, then we'll strike at their supply chain."

In order to completely open up the Chinese market, Tim Cook had prepared multiple plans.

And these plans could be perfectly combined to ultimately deliver a fatal blow to Transsion. As for accidents, with such a perfect plan, there was absolutely no possibility of any accidents.

...

June 25th, Shanghai.

Apple's expansion channels in China were decided during that critical meeting on June 15th.

In addition to a comprehensive market assault, after-sales channels also needed to be fully accelerated. Otherwise, relying only on that partner, China Unicom, Apple would completely disappear from China within two years.

Consequently, Apple rarely approved 100 authorized retail stores to test the waters first.

The requirements weren't high, just a few points, and the most important one was: all of them must be opened right next to Transsion stores.