Chapter 422: Pull One Hair, Move the Whole Body

Less than a month remains before the New Year arrives; not just domestically, but across the entire region influenced by Han culture, preparations are underway—and this is also the peak spending period of the year.

Not only are goods related to New Year provisions selling like crazy, but all kinds of electronics, appliances, and home devices are also seeing massive sales spikes.

Countless families work hard all year long just for this big New Year, and only now, after saving a year's wages, do they finally spend it on New Year goods.

Today, the New Year is still lively, but in a few more years, the scene will reverse: the New Year atmosphere at home will gradually fade, while in America, old Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere, Spring Festival events will flourish—even churches will start pasting up couplets…

The Yuhe Leisure Resort is now virtually at full capacity, especially after adding simple go-karts, merry-go-rounds, trampolines, and spinning slides—essentially matching the amusement park standards of Qianshi malls—yet it's still packed to bursting; if Li Li Dongling went there now, he'd likely find no space to stand.

Not only from within Hanzhong Province, but also from neighboring provinces and cities, many people bring their entire families to join the festivities; this is, in fact, due to the current scarcity of entertainment facilities nationwide, yet it has pushed Yuhe Leisure Resort into complete overload.

At Li Dongling High-Tech, things are also bustling, with constant preparations for the Spring Festival; in fact, as the New Year draws near—two months ahead—the sales of Xiao Xiao Lingtong phones, which had stabilized, are surging again.

Just like in Qianshi, during every Spring Festival, domestic sales of big-ticket items like real estate and automobiles spike dramatically, largely due to purchases by returning migrants.

Countless people work hard all year as beasts of burden; they can't return home empty-handed and risk losing face before relatives and friends—they must bring back at least something.

Now, real estate and automobiles haven't taken off yet, but that purchasing power hasn't vanished—it's simply shifted to today's big-ticket items: mobile phones, computers, large color TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and motorcycles, whose sales are now surging!

Among these, the Xiao Xiao Lingtong has become the representative mobile device; its domestic sales have skyrocketed, forcing Li Dongling High-Tech's production department to keep increasing capacity.

This year during the New Year, Li Dongling High-Tech's production department will likely need to work overtime; while other companies' staff may resent overtime, Li Dongling High-Tech's production staff don't resist it—in fact, many from financially strained households even look forward to it.

During the New Year holiday, staff who work at Li Dongling High-Tech receive double pay, plus various allowances—effectively 2.5 times their normal wage—and after the holiday, they get paid leave to make up for the time; thus, the sign-up list for overtime this year was filled quickly by Li Dongling High-Tech's production department.

When Li Li Dongling arrived at the technology department, every project team was still busy; because of Li Li Dongling's emphasis, the technology department has become Li Dongling High-Tech's most critical unit.

"Li Zong!"

Seeing Li Li Dongling arrive, Chen Tao, Luo Zheng, and several other heads of Li Dongling High-Tech's technology department rushed over.

Li Li Dongling toured all the major project teams in the technology department; this visit, besides checking progress on the projects, was also, as per tradition, an expression of his support for the technology division.

Unlike other companies, Li Dongling High-Tech is an engineer-driven firm; in fact, the entire company revolves around the technology department, using technology to drive its progress—this is the biggest difference between Li Dongling High-Tech and other companies.

Currently, Li Dongling High-Tech's technology department is divided into five main units: Digital Cordless Phone R&D, Computer Peripherals R&D, Communication Technology R&D, Mobile Phone R&D, and an Innovation R&D unit.

The digital cordless phone is Li Dongling High-Tech's most stable cash cow, and its R&D team continuously refines the cordless phone.

The computer peripherals department develops devices related to computers—mice, keyboards, headphones, data cables, routers, cameras—and has already launched mice and keyboards branded under the Silver Mink label, with a fairly positive response.

Today, Li Li Dongling focused mainly on the remaining three R&D teams: mobile phones, communication technology, and innovation R&D; electronic dictionaries, tape replay devices, and future Li Dongling High-Tech products will all be developed by the innovation R&D unit.

"We need to hire another batch of staff for the technology department—there simply aren't enough people here!"

As soon as he entered the office, Chen Tao couldn't help complaining to Li Li Dongling; this was only possible because Li Li Dongling had brought Su Su Chicheng as his assistant—if Hu Zi, who managed Li Dongling High-Tech's finances, were present, Chen Tao wouldn't dare ask so openly for more staff.

Currently, the technology department's engineers—junior, mid-level, and senior combined—number over 2,100, making it the largest R&D team in China's tech industry!

If we include the engineers at the Hanzhong United Laboratory as external personnel of the technology department, the total headcount would swell even further.

Junior engineers are the entry-level position upon joining the department, starting at 1,500 yuan; after passing review, they become mid-level engineers with a starting salary of 4,000 yuan—these are currently the core R&D staff of Li Dongling High-Tech's technology department.

Senior engineers are far fewer in number, earning over 10,000 yuan; they primarily tackle difficult technical challenges, and it's at critical moments that they resolve major problems.

Above them are the technical giants—mainly academicians recruited by Li Dongling High-Tech; some were directly hired by the company, while others were recommended by Ni Guangnan, Huang Huang Lingyi, and Academician Fang Zheng.

Some of these academicians hold only honorary titles, but others have officially joined Li Dongling High-Tech; they have the authority to form their own R&D teams and use the technology department's resources and funding for research.

When Li Dongling High-Tech's projects hit roadblocks, they often rely on these academicians to bring in research institutes and industry experts; this isn't purely a matter of technical capability—sometimes they even influence industry policy-making, and for Li Dongling High-Tech, the more such academicians, the better.

If I must draw an analogy: imagine you've bought a half-finished building, and one of the units belongs to an academician—you needn't worry, because the building will definitely be completed; local and even provincial governments will send officials to visit and offer condolences…

The technology department is currently Li Dongling High-Tech's money pit; excluding bonuses and allowances, the monthly salary payments alone to its technical staff far exceed the annual revenue of many small companies.

"All major R&D teams are under heavy pressure: the communication technology team is developing baseband, 2G, and 3G technologies; the mobile phone team has even heavier tasks—developing the second-generation Xiao Xiao Lingtong phones and a 2G phone project—plus the innovation R&D team's electronic dictionary and tape replay device projects; we're desperately short-staffed!"

Chen Tao groaned; although the technology department seems large, when spread across all project teams, the numbers are truly insufficient.

Moreover, Li Dongling High-Tech's technology department must regularly send some engineers to the production department to upgrade production lines.

They must also station engineers at each supplier in Li Dongling High-Tech's supply chain to provide technical guidance and oversee quality control.

In Qianshi, major factories like Nokia, Apple, and Huawei were all renowned for strict quality control, routinely stationing engineers at component suppliers—not only to guide and upgrade their technology, but also to supervise.

For example, when Huawei partnered with car manufacturers, engineers tested products at component suppliers until 3 a. m. daily, then returned at 8 a. m. to continue testing; designs were revised round-the-clock until they passed inspection.

During Jobs' era, Apple was extremely strict about supply chain quality control; becoming an Apple supplier became a major selling point for those companies, making IPOs easier; every time Apple launched a new product, supplier stock prices surged.

But when Apple began using Indian suppliers, things became unpredictable—some devices were found to contain E. coli levels ten times over the limit; compared to that, minor issues like dusty lenses or screen burn-in became trivial.

But for India, this wasn't even significant—after all, eye drops manufactured for America have been found to contain Pseudomonas aeruginosa…

Major component suppliers are both excited and anxious about orders from Apple and Huawei: excited because landing such orders means future business is secure, but anxious because completing them is uncertain.

Li Dongling High-Tech's product quality control isn't yet at the Qianshi Nokia level—where phones could survive bullets—but it can't be allowed to fall too far behind.

Although Li Dongling High-Tech's technology staff seem numerous, compared to overseas giants like Toshiba and IBM, the scale of its technology department looks rather modest.

For example, IBM, currently collaborating with Shenzhou USB drives, has over 18,000 employees in its hard drive division alone—not counting its computer, semiconductor, or software R&D departments; the scale of these overseas tech giants is unimaginable.

R&D is always fueled by money—no exceptions; when you can no longer afford to spend, that's when your technology gets surpassed by competitors.

Li Li Dongling listened to Chen Tao's complaints without hesitation and said directly, "For next year's spring recruitment, the technology department can hire another batch of engineers—not just domestically, but overseas as well."

"For any technology department staff who wish to pursue a master's, Ph. D., or study abroad, the department will support them and cover tuition fees—but upon returning, they must fulfill their remaining contractual obligations with Li Dongling High-Tech!"

Regarding investment in the technology department—whether in R&D or staff recruitment—Li Li Dongling has provided full support, even at great cost, to attract talent.

At this time, studying abroad is highly attractive; if hiring talent requires funding their overseas education and Ph. D., Li Dongling High-Tech is willing to pay—this strategy can even attract overseas talent, since graduate and Ph. D. studies abroad are extremely expensive, and many still carry student debt over a decade after graduation.

Texas Instruments, known as the "Huangpu Military Academy of semiconductors," has a similar talent cultivation system; to nurture talent, they spend enormous sums—both the founder of TSMC and the founder of SMIC earned their Ph. D. s while working at Texas Instruments, then returned to continue working there.

After all, if we don't spend this money on the technology department, we'll end up paying patent fees to other companies—and we might not even be able to buy what we need; comparing the two options, the choice is obvious: some money, if not spent as military funding, must be spent as reparations.

"How far along is the baseband technology development?" Li Li Dongling asked Luo Zheng.

(End of Chapter)