Chapter 341: A Fat Sheep from Asia Arrives, Slaughtered for 200 Million Dollars in One Cut

After Old Gao finished communicating with Qu Fang, he left a set of keys on the table before departing.

Chen Yansen raised his head slightly without speaking; he knew these were the keys to the villa near Sanjiaozhou Park.

This should be the seventh house he had bought in his life.

As for Room 0418, he did not plan to cancel the lease; the monthly rent was only 400 yuan. Occasionally returning there would allow him and Meng Jie or Song Yuncheng to experience the feeling of revisiting old haunts.

All five villas in Luzhou were under renovation; once the Sister Chengzi Technology headquarters was completed, they would move over then.

The original plan was to buy three sets, but after Chen Yansen pondered for a moment, he asked Gao Weilin to buy two more.

Three sets are not enough!

After handling the Xiaohongshu matter, Chen Yansen opened Cadence Spectre and continued his unfinished work.

Wu Shengyu and Michael Keller led the team, working overtime to develop the Tiangong T100 chip.

Of course, he would not be idle either.

Otherwise, relying solely on the small number of personnel in the chip department, it would be difficult for the Tiangong T100 to launch even within half a year.

Time passed second by second; the night quickly reflected on the glass, rippling with scattered spots of light.

After settling the new product launch, Wang Teng immediately took the intellectual property department staff, legal team, and finance team to the UK to discuss architecture licensing cooperation for the ARM instruction set patents with ARM.

However, ARM's asking price was extremely high; besides a one-time licensing fee of 200 million US dollars, they also required a 3% royalty commission based on chip shipments.

Before departing, Wang Teng had studied ARM's past licensing fee standards, which were basically a "slot fee" of 30 to 80 million US dollars, plus a 1% royalty commission.

For major clients like Apple, Gao Tong, Broadcom, and MediaTek, they would even proactively lower the royalty commission to 0.5%.

From this, it was clear that ARM had no scruples and wanted to treat Sister Chengzi Technology as a fat sheep in Asia to slaughter.

After a whole day of discussion, ARM only agreed to lower the royalty commission to 2%, while the quote for the one-time licensing fee remained at 200 million US dollars.

"Buzz buzz buzz—!"

At this moment, the mobile phone on the office desk rang.

Chen Yansen picked it up, did not think much of it, and pressed the answer button.

"Boss, things are a bit troublesome. ARM is sticking to the price of 200 million US dollars, and they also want a 2% royalty commission."

Wang Teng stood in the corridor of ARM headquarters, his face gloomy; at this moment, he was seething with anger. These bastards were completely treating him like a sucker to slaughter.

But in the eyes of ARM's high-level executives, Sister Chengzi Technology's valuation had already exceeded 20 billion US dollars; as the head of Senlian Capital, Chen Yansen's net worth was over 50 billion. Was their quote of 200 million US dollars too much?

Since Sister Chengzi Technology wanted to take the path of self-developed chips, was there any problem with paying some tuition fees?

These British folks slaughtered Apple, Gao Tong, and Broadcom without hesitation; how much more so for Sister Chengzi Technology?

Ten-plus years later, Huawei spent 1 billion US dollars just to secure permanent licensing for the ARMv9 architecture.

Therefore, given Sister Chengzi Technology's market scale, 100 million US dollars plus a 1% royalty commission was reasonable, but 200 million US dollars plus a 2% royalty commission was a bit too greedy.

"Can't negotiate it down?" Chen Yansen asked in a calm tone.

"The one-time licensing fee won't budge an inch; the royalty commission might be lowered by another 0.5%." Wang Teng reported truthfully.

In the chip field, ARM was equivalent to a developer providing unfinished houses to Apple, Gao Tong, and Huawei; the instruction set architecture was similar to renovation tools, and only after obtaining technical licensing could they develop processors.

For example, Huawei's HiSilicon K3V2 processor was a heavily modified version based on the ARM Cortex-A9 architecture.

Apple and Gao Tong could not escape this custom either; for every single chip, they had to pay ARM a "toll fee."

Because ARM's Reduced Instruction Set Computer patents possessed higher compilation efficiency, they could endow processors with power-saving and low-energy-consumption characteristics.

The technical moat that ARM had built over twenty-plus years, utilizing thousands of engineers through massive amounts of code and patents, was naturally not easily breached.

This was also the main reason ARM dared to open its mouth wide like a lion!

"Alright, I know. You come back first."

Chen Yansen narrowed his eyes slightly and said coldly.

"Boss, we aren't buying the architecture licensing?" Wang Teng was slightly stunned and immediately asked.

He deeply understood the importance of ARM's Reduced Instruction Set Computer architecture patent technology to the Tiangong T100 and the future development of Sister Chengzi Technology.

Being slaughtered by ARM was just one cut; being slaughtered by Gao Tong and MediaTek would be two cuts.

After all, Gao Tong and MediaTek both had to pay royalty commissions to ARM; this part of the cost was naturally added to the customers' heads.

"Not buying it."

Chen Yansen said in a deep voice.

Although in 2012 ARM held a vast number of instruction set and microarchitecture patents, totaling as many as 2,700 items, as long as they avoided technologies like the Thumb instruction set, multi-core scheduling, and conditional execution, Sister Chengzi Technology could still find another way and independently develop a brand-new CPU architecture.

As far as he knew, in the future, ARM would even change its commission target from chips to terminal devices.

The price of a single chip ranged from 5 to 40 US dollars, while the selling price of a single smartphone was over 150 US dollars.

In other words, ARM increased the copyright commission by several times, or even more than ten times, all at once.

For this reason, Apple had to launch the Apple Silicon architecture; domestically, the development of the free and open-source RISC-V architecture was accelerated; and countries in Europe and America even launched "Chip Regulations," raising billions of US dollars in one go, just to independently develop instruction set patents.

There was no way around it; in terms of slaughtering customers, ARM was always ruthless to family and friends alike.

"Then what about the Tiangong T100 chip?" Wang Teng thought the boss was just speaking out of anger.

"I will solve it." Chen Yansen said with conviction.

If he couldn't even handle a mere CPU architecture, wouldn't his rebirth be in vain, and wouldn't his cheat be in vain?

He originally intended to start from the chip design field and gradually break into the semiconductor industry, but since ARM was determined to slaughter him with one cut, Chen Yansen could not tolerate it.

At worst, he could just activate the 【Planck Time】 talent for two seconds every day; he didn't believe that if Apple's R&D department could solve the problem, Sister Chengzi Technology couldn't chew through it!

If ARM wanted to seek death, then he would fulfill its wish!

Chen Yansen immediately made up his mind: once the R&D was successful, he would directly license it to the outside world at a low cost, first squeezing ARM into bankruptcy.

Seeing this, Wang Teng immediately understood that his boss was not joking, so he took a deep breath and said, "Boss, I know what to do."

On the other side.

In a conference room at ARM headquarters, five or six staff members responsible for business negotiations were arguing in low voices.

"Warren, your quote is too high; I'm afraid Orange Technology will find it hard to agree," said one of the bald middle-aged men.

"Victor, you don't know the status of this phone manufacturer in Asia. It is said that Orange Phones' global shipments in 2012 already reached 40 million units. Do you know what concept that represents?"

Another person of medium build, wearing a black suit, smiled and retorted.

"I know what you mean, but there must be a reasonable baseline for the price. Your quote is obviously inflated," Victor said with a shrug.

"Nonono! Asians are richer than you imagine. MediaTek can afford a price of 160 million US dollars. Could it be that an Asian super-wealthy individual with a net worth of 50 billion US dollars cannot come up with 200 million US dollars?"

Warren waved his hand, dismissing the concern.

Victor smiled and shook his head. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a commotion outside the door and had to quickly fall silent.

"Creak!"

The conference room door slowly pushed open. Wang Teng stood outside, his eyes bright, a beam of faint light shining into the room from behind him.

On his left and right stood six accompanying personnel.

"Mr. Warren, Mr. Victor, since your company's quote is extremely unreasonable, our company has decided to terminate the negotiations," Wang Teng straightened his back and announced loudly.

"That is truly a pity."

Warren shrugged, appearing indifferent, and interpreted Wang Teng's performance as a negotiation tactic of retreating to advance.

In his view, within two days, Wang Teng would completely submit and obediently sign the licensing contract for the ARM architecture patent. He had seen the same negotiation tactics countless times on the representatives of Qualcomm, Apple, and MediaTek.

"Don't think you can bluff me!"

Warren muttered inwardly, then stood up and escorted Wang Teng and the others out of the ARM headquarters building.

"Victor, how about a bet? I guess they will come knocking again within a day," Warren looked at his colleague beside him and said with certainty.

"Judging by the expression on that person's face as he left, I estimate it will take a day just for the news to spread. I'm in! I guess within two days," Victor said with full confidence.

In 2012, ARM held a pivotal position in the global chip design and manufacturing fields; this was the source of their confidence.

However, what Warren and Victor did not expect was that two days passed in a row without receiving a visitation call from Orange Technology.

Later, after inquiring at the other party's hotel, they learned that the people from Orange Technology had already left Cambridge a day ago.

The two looked at each other, faces full of confusion.

Meanwhile.

Chen Yansen hung up the phone, starting his research from CISC, moving on to RISC and EPIC, from the x86 architecture to PA-RISC, PowerPC, MIPS, and SPARC architectures, intending to conceive a brand new CPU architecture.

First, collect data and information, then fuse and reorganize them, and finally activate the 【Planck Clock】 talent to select the best technical solution from tens of thousands of possibilities.

It must satisfy higher compilation efficiency while also reducing energy consumption.

Not until eight o'clock in the evening did he walk out of the office, exhausted, his eyelids heavy, ready to fall asleep at any moment.

"Boss, what's wrong with you?"

In the first-floor lobby, Ye Qiuping, just about to get off work, saw Chen Yansen walking towards her, his face pale.

"Nothing, just need to go back and sleep," Chen Yansen said listlessly.

Having said that, he prepared to drive away.

Ye Qiuping's heart softened; unable to bear seeing Chen Yansen in such a state, she instinctively raised her hand and tested his forehead for temperature.

"Good, no fever," Ye Qiuping couldn't help but sigh with relief.

Immediately, disregarding Chen Yansen's objection, she pushed him into her car.

Seeing this situation, driver Xiao Li silently sat into the driver's seat and, familiar with the route, headed straight for Ye Qiuping's residential area.

Chen Yansen leaned against Ye Qiuping's shoulder, smelling the milky scent on her, and slowly closed his eyes.

Although he looked haggard at this moment, as long as he was willing, a casual wave of his hand could deliver a force of tens of thousands of kilograms.

Half an hour later, Chen Yansen lay on Ye Qiuping's bed, watching the woman bustling about before him, a slight smile on the corner of his mouth.

"Shall I make you a few small dishes? Or cook a bowl of sweet soup?" Ye Qiuping asked tentatively.

"Anything works; I trust your skills," Chen Yansen said, licking his lips.

Ye Qiuping keenly caught this detail and immediately turned to pour him a glass of water.

Unlike the youthfulness of Meng Jie and Song Yuncheng, Ye Qiuping was like a ripe peach, radiating fragrance all over her body.

Her life skills were perfect; not only could she go into the kitchen, but she could also help Boss Chen wash his socks and underwear without changing her expression.

Not knowing how much time had passed, Chen Yansen, in a daze, heard Ye Qiuping calling his name. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a bowl of brown sugar fermented rice with glutinous rice balls being held in Ye Qiuping's hands.

"Do you want me to feed you?" Ye Qiuping asked with a faint smile.

Chen Yansen opened his mouth; the meaning was self-evident.

Ye Qiuping scooped up a spoonful of sweet soup and put it into Chen Yansen's mouth, as if taking care of a child.

In no time, Chen Yansen had finished the entire bowl of sweet soup.

When he arrived in the living room, he found that Ye Qiuping had already prepared four dishes and one soup; they were all simple home-style dishes, yet plated exquisitely and fragrant.

As soon as Chen Yansen sat down, Ye Qiuping handed him the bowl and chopsticks.

"A gift for you."

Before eating, Chen Yansen took a set of keys out of his pocket and tossed them into Ye Qiuping's lap.

"Your house's keys?" Ye Qiuping held the keys, a hint of joy appearing in her eyebrows and eyes, like a blooming peach blossom.

"Sort of, but the house is in Luzhou and is still under renovation," Chen Yansen replied.

"How many sets did you buy?" Ye Qiuping silently put the keys into her pocket and then asked abruptly.

"One set," Chen Yansen said seriously.

Don't ask; if you ask, it's one set. It's the same for anyone.

"Thanks," Ye Qiuping said. She didn't believe it at all, but she didn't expose him either.

Some things are better left unspoken; it benefits three, four, or even five people.

"No need to thank me; it's just a key," Chen Yansen teased.

The implication was clear: Ye Qiuping had only the right of residence, not ownership.

"Must you be so blunt? Can't you let me be happy for a few seconds?" Ye Qiuping rolled her eyes and said in a huff.

"When have I ever failed to make you happy for two hours?" Chen Yansen raised an eyebrow, looking at her mockingly.

"Then eat quickly." Ye Qiuping, lost in thought, suddenly urged him.

Chen Yansen chuckled helplessly; his mental state was poor, not his physical condition.

Somehow, for a moment, even the overhead lights seemed much softer.

The next day at dawn, the sky was just beginning to brighten.

Chen Yansen stepped out of bed, refreshed; outside the window, everything was a vast white expanse, and a layer of fine snowflakes covered the balcony.

December had not yet arrived, but Xucheng had already seen its first snow.

The cold wind howled past, leaving behind a low, guttural roar.

For him, the three seconds of the 【Planck Clock】 still felt strenuous; even though his constitution had broken through 47, it only barely allowed him to maintain mental clarity and sufficient stamina after deactivating his talent.

Regarding the design of the instruction set, he already had a general direction in mind; all that remained was to proceed step by step.

At nine in the morning, Chen Yansen returned to the company by car. After handling work emails, he completely overturned ARM's fixed-length instructions, general-purpose registers, and conditional execution rules based on the characteristics of the RISC reduced instruction set, and instead adopted delay slot technology to replace conditional execution.

"Clockwork Limited Technology Company? Chang Wei?"

On November 28, Cheng Wei first learned of Chang Wei's existence.

Didi Bike has a new rival!

(End of this chapter)