Chapter 146: The Annual Meeting Cannot Stop

Li Dongling had never seen Ni Guangnan with such an expression. Seeing this, Liu Youguo also knew that Ni Guangnan had a private matter he wanted to discuss with Li Dongling, so he found an excuse to leave.

After getting outside, Liu Youguo looked at the constantly expanding Dongxin Semiconductor in front of him. He knew that the scale here would definitely continue to expand in the future. He heard that several plots of land around Dongxin Semiconductor had already been bought by Dongxin for backup.

"The Joint Laboratory needs to research and develop more things in the future!"

Liu Youguo said to Tan Minghua behind him. Now, quite a few universities in Hanxi Jiaotong University and Xiyuan in the provincial capital that wanted to do R&D were basically cooperating with the Dongling Gao Ke Joint Laboratory. There was no other reason, because the Joint Laboratory had funding!

The Joint Laboratory was now undertaking the task of overcoming technical difficulties for companies like Dongling Gao Ke, Dongxin Semiconductor, Dongfang Optoelectronics, and the Torch Group.

From its establishment until now, the new technologies and patents born in the Joint Laboratory had already exceeded 380, not to mention products like the electronic pet machine chip, which had earned hundreds of millions of US dollars globally and was also born in the Joint Laboratory.

And with the help of the Joint Laboratory, Liu Youguo and quite a few university professors had also relied on new scientific research results from the Joint Laboratory to continuously improve their reputation and status in the academic world. This had made the Joint Laboratory's reputation in the academic world gradually rise.

However, as the nominal first-generation person in charge of the Joint Laboratory, Liu Youguo was now also under considerable pressure, especially seeing the Dongling Gao Ke Technical Department and Dongxin Semiconductor continuously researching and developing results. He was afraid that one day the Joint Laboratory wouldn't be able to produce important results and the funding would be snatched away.

The scale of Dongling Gao Ke's R&D funding investment was getting larger every year, but there were truly too many places that wanted this funding. Dongling Gao Ke's own technical department, Feiyan Technology Technical Department, Dongxin Semiconductor, Joint Laboratory, etc. —if they wanted to get more funding, they had to produce results. These technical departments were now also secretly competing, all wanting to get more funding.

"Professor!"

Liu Youguo was still talking about letting those R&D personnel in the Joint Laboratory join forces to have another "battle" and produce a result like the electronic pet machine chip, when he heard Tan Minghua's voice coming from behind.

"I want to join Dongxin Semiconductor after I graduate next year!" After finishing, Tan Minghua didn't dare to look at Liu Youguo's expression.

He knew that Liu Youguo had always regarded him as the successor of his academic mantle, wanting him to stay at Hanxi Jiaotong University after graduation and enter the Joint Laboratory in the future to continue helping him.

After hearing Tan Minghua's words, Liu Youguo was indeed surprised, but he didn't have the angry expression Tan Minghua had expected.

"Have you thought it through?!"

Tan Minghua raised his head, and after seeing the expression on Liu Youguo's face, he nodded forcefully.

"Joining Dongxin Semiconductor and following Academician Ni, Professor Huang, and the others, you can also learn quite a few things. Later, I will personally talk to your Junior Brother Li about this matter. I must not let you be wronged!"

Liu Youguo patted Tan Minghua on the shoulder and began to impart his experience to him again. "Doing R&D and doing academics are completely different!"

"The most important thing is to master the funding well and also manage the people below. This is just like fighting a war. An incompetent general will exhaust three armies. If the direction of an R&D project isn't found correctly in the early stage, then in the end, it will only be a total defeat. If you make a mistake in academics, you can change it, but if a project with millions, tens of millions, or even more funding goes wrong, it's not something that can be solved in a word..."

Outside, Old Man Liu was rambling on, imparting experience to Tan Minghua. Inside the office, Li Dongling was sitting in front of Ni Guangnan.

"After I left Lenovo, quite a few people were affected, especially the program-controlled switch project, which has now been completely disbanded. The people responsible for this project have also been dismissed or transferred from their posts!"

Bringing this up, Ni Guangnan couldn't help but show anger. He and Boss Liu had already completely fallen out. Ni Guangnan wasn't surprised at all by Boss Liu's actions after he left. He knew Boss Liu's style too well; he truly didn't leave any face or retreat for his opponents. But seeing his hard work destroyed in a moment, it was still hard not to be angry.

"Luo Zheng and the others' technology is absolutely no problem. As long as they persist a little longer, they will be able to get orders. It's a pity..."

Bringing up the Lenovo program-controlled switch and Luo Zheng and the others who were responsible for the Lenovo program-controlled switch project, Ni Guangnan couldn't help but sigh. It was truly just a few months' difference. Just as Lenovo disbanded the program-controlled switch project, the Chrysanthemum Factory over there received hundreds of millions in orders.

Subsequently, the entire program-controlled switch industry erupted like a volcano, with a large group of companies including Julong, Datang, and Zhongxing emerging. The four companies of "Giant Dragon, Datang, Zhongxing, and Huawei" became the leaders of the domestic communications industry!

As for Lenovo, it had already disappeared from this industry, which made the stock price, which was already sluggish this year, even more unable to hold up.

Ni Guangnan couldn't care about how things were over at Lenovo, but he couldn't ignore Luo Zheng and the group of technical personnel who had followed him previously and were implicated because of him.

Hearing Ni Guangnan say this, Li Dongling already understood his meaning. It was clearly that he wanted Li Dongling to help Luo Zheng and those people.

Without waiting for Ni Guangnan to say more, Li Dongling thought for a moment and said directly, "Academician Ni, you can let Luo Zheng and the technical personnel of the Lenovo program-controlled switch project come over. Dongling Gao Ke welcomes them to join!"

"Dongling Gao Ke also wants to do program-controlled switches?!"

Ni Guangnan couldn't help but ask. Now, the program-controlled switch project was quite hot. Besides the companies represented by the four of "Giant Dragon, Datang, Zhongxing, and Huawei," there were also a group of other companies that had squeezed into this industry, with dozens or hundreds of companies, large and small, fighting for the market.

Of course, the revenue of the program-controlled switch industry was also growing crazily. Telephone bureaus were now blossoming everywhere in domestic large, medium, and small cities. Telephones were no longer something only a few families could possess. Even in towns and villages, they began to install telephones. This year, the output value of the entire program-controlled machine industry was expected to reach as much as 10 billion!

"No!"

Li Dongling shook his head. Li Dongling hadn't even entered the pager industry, let alone the program-controlled switch industry, which was even more fiercely competitive. At the latest by next year, this industry would begin a "hand-to-hand" battle.

Domestic major switch companies were not only fighting against foreign giants like Bell, Siemens, Ericsson, Nokia, Fujitsu, NEC, etc., but domestic companies were also killing each other, with price wars being fought fiercely. If Dongling Gao Ke went in, it would probably just be cannon fodder.

The Chrysanthemum Factory was actually also quite good at fighting price wars. At the most intense times, they would even give away machines for free, and only after "rolling" their opponents to death would they start making money by relying on after-sales maintenance and replacing parts.

"Dongling Gao Ke has a new project, the 'Xiaolingtong' mobile phone, next year. Luo Zheng and the others can join the Xiaolingtong project and be responsible for R&D in communications!"

Li Dongling directly told Ni Guangnan about the Xiaolingtong project. Dongling Gao Ke had already obtained the authorization for "Xiaolingtong" from the author of the book *Xiaolingtong Roaming the Future*.

Xiaolingtong was Dongling Gao Ke's first step in the mobile phone industry. Besides increasing revenue, the most important thing was to increase Dongling Gao Ke's experience and technology in the mobile phone industry, hoarding technology for developing the next generation of true mobile phones.

The joining of Luo Zheng and the others was beneficial to Dongling Gao Ke. They could help Dongling Gao Ke research and develop 2G communication networks. For this thing, now all mobile phone companies in the world were actually just starting R&D. There was no such thing as backward or advanced; Nokia was also just starting.

If Dongling Gao Ke could take a step ahead, then when the mobile phone industry began to develop in the future, Dongling Gao Ke, relying on the communication patents in its hands, might also be able to create something like a "Dongling Gao Ke Tax," making mobile phone brand peers pay patent fees to Dongling Gao Ke.

Dongling Gao Ke would also enjoy the treatment of Qualcomm and Nokia—there were a bunch of people who didn't like them, but they couldn't kill them, and they still had to pay patent fees...

Ni Guangnan hadn't expected that Dongling Gao Ke was actually prepared to start getting involved in the mobile phone industry. However, thinking of the heroic performance of the Shenzhou telephone domestically and overseas, entering the now most fashionable mobile phone industry was also within reason.

"I will call Luo Zheng and let them come to Hanxi!" Solving the way out for Luo Zheng and those people, the burden in Ni Guangnan's heart was also lifted, solving his last worry about Lenovo. From now on, they would be true opponents.

The Mercedes-Benz drove on the streets of the provincial capital. Li Dongling looked outside. If the changes in Pingyang were slow and not easily perceived by those within it, then the changes in the provincial capital were significantly greater.

Bicycles flowed like a stream on the streets, motorcycles passed through from time to time, and cars were not yet the mainstream on the streets. On both sides of the street, one side was a dusty construction site where modernized buildings were rising from the ground, while the other side was quite a few wooden buildings. The hawking of street stalls and the food stalls set up constituted the "human fireworks" of this era.

When Li Dongling returned to Pingyang, a few snowflakes were drifting in the sky. By evening, the snowflakes were getting larger and larger. People standing outside for a while would be covered in snowflakes.

But for Dongling Gao Ke, it was not affected by the falling snow; instead, the atmosphere was getting hotter and hotter.

The entire Dongling Gao Ke Industrial Park was already decorated with lanterns and colored streamers. The closer it got to dark, the more people poured into the Dongling Gao Ke Industrial Park. Not only were the staff working here, but their family members were also invited to come here. This year's Dongling Gao Ke annual meeting was held here.

The newly built employee activity center had not yet finished its renovation inside and was still in a rough state, but it didn't hinder the noise here at all.

Just entering inside, one could smell a fragrance. One could see in the corner of the activity center, chefs invited from several restaurants in Pingyang were busy with a large group of kitchen helpers and apprentices. Dish after dish was made, ready to be served on the tables already placed in the activity center.

And on the temporarily built stage in the activity center, a banner was hanging: "Celebrating the Dongling Gao Ke 1995 New Year Grand Ceremony!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 147 =====