298: Chapter 298 The New Era of Glory

"Didn't Transsion say they weren't in a hurry?"

He looked at Lin Bin, his face full of disbelief.

Lin Bin's expression was also grim; he was looking at news notifications on his phone, one after another, all about Transsion building a factory.

"Lei Jun, Transsion is forcing our hand.

If their factory goes into production first, their cost advantage will be greater than ours, and our position in the India market will become even more difficult.

But there is one point: we aren't sure if this is a smoke screen or if it's real."

Lei Jun stood up in a panic and paced back and forth in the office.

The carpet was thick, so his footsteps were almost silent, but Lin Bin could feel his inner anxiety; after all, this was happening too fast.

"He should know. With news this big, it's impossible for him not to know."

Before their voices had even died down, Anil's call came through.

"Lei Jun, Transsion is going to build a factory in India. 20 million units per year."

Anil's voice wasn't as relaxed as usual; for the first time, there was a hint of panic.

"Our factory must speed up. India's market must be handled by the joint venture, and we don't need an ungrateful manufacturer taking it away!"

The expression on Lei Jun's face finally relaxed a little. That's right, this is Xiaomi's true advantage; the local Indian faction is on their side...

"Mr. Anil, what is your plan for the new factory?"

"The original plan was 10 million units. Now, we need at least 20 million to compete with Transsion."

20 million units, double the original plan.

Lei Jun did the math in his head. The investment for a capacity of 20 million units would at least double, from 200 million USD to 400 million, and that was just an estimate.

Everything that followed—factory buildings, equipment, labor—would all have to double.

"The investment will have to double," Lei Jun said.

"Funding is not an issue. I have already secured a policy for you."

Anil's tone carried the pride unique to the local faction.

"The funds needed to build the factory will be entirely covered by local banks. We don't need to pay a single cent, and the loans provided to us are interest-free.

But there is one point: the technology licensing must double.

The India factory needs more technical support from Xiaomi."

Lei Jun's heart sank instantly; he wasn't so sure he wanted this deal anymore.

After all, this wasn't an interest-free loan; it was an interest-free loan bought with their patents.

"System testing protocols, supply chain integration plans, and... packaging and testing processes."

Lei Jun's brow furrowed. The packaging and testing process was one of Xiaomi's core technologies; this process was developed by Xiaomi in collaboration with MediaTek over two years at a cost of tens of millions of dollars.

It involved a series of critical links such as chipsets, packaging, testing, and yield rate control.

If licensed to Xiaomi India, it would be equivalent to exposing their trump cards to Anil.

"Mr. Anil, the packaging and testing process isn't ours alone; it cannot be licensed."

Lei Jun's tone was firm.

There were some discussion sounds from the other end of the phone, as if confirming something, but after receiving an unpleasant answer, his attitude became much colder.

"Lei Jun, how can we build a factory without packaging and testing?

As far as I know, Transsion's factory is the full package, the real deal.

If they can do it, why can't we?"

Lei Jun sneered. Transsion's factory is the full package?

Anil could fool others, but he wanted to fool him too...

Transsion's factories in the Africa market, even the one in Mr. Adebayo's hometown of Nigeria, were just simple assembly plants.

Later, to attack him in the India market, giving the full package... even including chipset packaging... Anil couldn't be dreaming that big, could he?

"Lei Jun, we are partners. The factory uses Xiaomi's technology, and it produces Xiaomi phones. The technology is licensed to the joint venture, not to Reliance. What are you afraid of?"

Lei Jun didn't speak.

What he feared was the technology in this joint venture; he worried about whether Anil had a way to bypass Xiaomi and get his hands on it.

"I'll consider it." Lei Jun hung up the phone.

He looked at Lin Bin and repeated Anil's demands. After listening, Lin Bin's expression also changed.

"It seems Transsion building a factory in India is indeed a bluff, or perhaps it's a good show they've put on in collaboration with the Indian government?"

Lei Jun shook his head; he wasn't entirely sure about this!

"Lin, we can't hand it over, and we can't hold onto any illusions. After all, Shen Fei has too many underhanded tricks."

"We can consider the system aspect; we can license out a stripped-down version of the system.

As for the supply chain integration plan, that is our lifeline; it absolutely cannot be licensed."

"I know."

Lei Jun sat back down in front of the sofa.

"I'm considering the probability of Transsion actually entering the fray.

If they really enter the market, with double our capacity and lower costs than us, what is the probability of that actually happening?"

"Negligible.

But if we give it, Anil might copy our processes and make his own phones in the future."

After they finished speaking, both fell into thought; this was a decision that would determine Xiaomi's survival.

"Lei Jun, is there any way we can provide the technology while preventing Anil from playing tricks or stealing core technology?

That way, the factory's speed will definitely be fast."

Lei Jun thought for a moment: "There actually is.

The production line equipment will be purchased from suppliers we designate, and the parameters will be set by our engineers.

Anil's people cannot access the core parameters.

The yield rate debugging of the production line will be completed by Xiaomi engineers; the Indians will only be responsible for operation and assembly and cannot touch the parameters."

Lin Bin nodded: "Can Anil accept this plan?"

"He has to accept it whether he wants to or not; this is the bottom line."

Two days later, Lei Jun finally picked up the phone and called Anil.

"Mr. Anil, you've seen the latest list of licensable technology, right? We can license most of the processes."

The other end of the phone wasn't very happy; after all, Anil wasn't a fool. He could clearly see that although many core technologies were licensed, there was a consensus: they were guarding against him.

Ultimately, he said without any emotion: "Fine."

Xiaomi India's factory began construction after the contract was signed. The timeline provided by Anil was for production to start in February 2013.

...

But just when Lei Jun was happy, the Huawei Terminal official Weibo account delivered a new surprise to Lei Jun on October 18th.

Huawei Terminal: "Welcome Zhao Ming to the Honor team as the product manager for the Honor brand.

A new journey, a new Honor, stay tuned."

The accompanying image was a photo of Zhao Ming. He was in his 30s, wore glasses, and had a gentle smile, giving the impression of a scholar-general.

But people in the tech circle knew that this person was no pushover.

Zhao Ming had worked inside Huawei for over 10 years, rising from a grassroots engineer to Vice President of the Western Europe region; he was one of the most capable warriors under Big Mouth Yu.

There had been rumors before, but for some reason, they had been put on hold...

Now that they were transferring him back to Honor, it meant that Huawei was going to get serious in the mid-to-low-end market.

Now, this is truly a hundred schools of thought contending.