Chapter 423: A Last Stand

To be honest, the salary Li Dongling provided to the technical department was high, but there was no such thing as a free lunch. It wasn't so easy for the R&D teams in the technical department to get their hands on that money!

Take the communication technology R&D team led by Luo Zheng, for example. The projects they are currently developing are actually divided into four main parts. The first part is naturally the R&D of radio frequency chips for PHS mobile phones.

The second part is baseband R&D, and the third part is the R&D of 2G communication technology. 2G is primarily GSM-based, dominated by companies like Ericsson and Nokia. The R&D team led by Luo Zheng is mainly focused on 2G baseband technology in this area.

The final part is the exploration of 3G communication technology. 2G hasn't even been fully popularized yet, but mainstream communication technology companies have basically started exploring 3G technology.

The landscape of the 2G communication era was basically determined several years ago at the World Communication Conference: the GSM communication technology standard, fully supported by the Old Europe side, plus the CDMA standard from Qualcomm in America, which was just playing a supporting role.

Ericsson, Nokia, and Qualcomm basically hold seventy to eighty percent of the patents and standards in 2G communication.

Among these, the GSM standard is more mature and stable than CDMA technology. The 2G era is basically the era of GSM!

As for CDMA, it only managed to secure a portion of orders in places like America, Canada, and the ROK. More importantly, Qualcomm was doing base stations, chips, and mobile phones all at once at the time, making the communication industry very wary of them. Everyone was worried about them monopolizing the market, especially communication equipment manufacturers, who all treated Qualcomm as a rival and were unwilling to support them.

The 2G era hasn't fully arrived yet, but the market has long been carved up. Companies like Qualcomm are now eyeing 3G, and this includes Dongling Gao Ke!

Li Dongling asked Luo Zheng about the progress of baseband R&D. His R&D work with the team wasn't just a simple technical task; Dongling Gao Ke's subsequent layout was closely related to baseband chips!

Li Dongling was preparing to find a good opportunity to sell the PHS brand to a sucker, and then launch mobile phones with baseband chips that could support multiple standards like GSM and CDMA.

But the prerequisite was that Dongling Gao Ke could produce 2G mobile phones, including core components like baseband chips. Otherwise, if the PHS brand was sold and Dongling Gao Ke hadn't produced its 2G phones, that wouldn't be harvesting leeks—it would be digging a hole and burying himself.

"Currently, the most advanced baseband technology belongs to overseas companies like Texas Instruments and Qualcomm. The technical department has completed the R&D of channel encoders and digital signal processors, and is currently developing modems and interface modules.

In terms of baseband chips, Dongling Gao Ke is the only company in the country, and even in Asia, currently developing baseband technology. There isn't much technology available for purchase overseas, so the technical department has to develop it themselves. It is expected that by next year, the Dongling Gao Ke technical department will be able to initially launch experimental basebands!"

Luo Zheng said truthfully. As a disciple of Ni Guangnan, he was the talent who helped Legend develop the most advanced switchboards back then—technology even more advanced than the switchboards from the Chrysanthemum Factory at the same time.

However, within Legend at the time, the infighting between Boss Liu and Ni Guangnan was irreconcilable. Luo Zheng was Ni Guangnan's disciple, and the switchboard was also a project led by Ni Guangnan. Boss Liu would rather destroy Legend's switchboard project than let Ni Guangnan and Luo Zheng's switchboards come to the fore.

As someone who could benchmark against the Chrysanthemum Factory's technical team in terms of switchboards, Luo Zheng's level in communication technology was absolutely top-tier in the country.

But in terms of basebands, to be honest, there aren't many players in the world right now. Dongling Gao Ke belongs to the first batch of companies to eat the crab. If they want to buy technology, there's nowhere to buy it; they can only move forward by exploring it themselves.

"It's not just the baseband. What Dongling Gao Ke launches in the future must be integrated baseband chips, not external baseband chips!"

"If the communication technology R&D department can develop the baseband, they must work with Dongxin Semiconductor to launch Dongling Gao Ke's integrated baseband chips!" Li Dongling said, looking at Luo Zheng.

Hearing this requirement from Li Dongling, a rare look of distress appeared on Luo Zheng's face. The difficulty of developing a baseband alone was already high enough; putting the baseband function on the same chip processor would increase the difficulty almost geometrically.

"This... technology, I'm afraid it's not that easy. Even Texas Instruments hasn't been heard to have achieved this step!" Luo Zheng said.

"Just because Texas Instruments can't do it doesn't mean other companies can't. Dongling Gao Ke must have its own integrated baseband chips. The funds and R&D personnel needed by the communication technology R&D department can be prioritized by the Dongling Gao Ke headquarters!"

In his past life, as the hegemon of mobile phone chips, how was it defeated by Qualcomm? In the early stages, Qualcomm's chips were actually inferior to Texas Instruments', even in the 3G era.

Relying on American intervention, Qualcomm's CDMA became the 3G standard, occupying all the advantages of time, place, and people, but in chip technology, it was still inferior to Texas Instruments.

And what truly made it win was the same strategy as Microsoft bundling Office with its system: buying the baseband and getting the chip for free. Relying on a large number of exclusive patents and technologies for 3G basebands, Qualcomm's baseband left rivals like Texas Instruments, MediaTek, STMicroelectronics, NXP, and Broadcom far behind.

Even if these companies could develop basebands, they were still far inferior to Qualcomm's basebands. After all, the 3G technology and patents were developed by them; what could they use to fight Qualcomm?

Plus, Qualcomm's chips and basebands were both developed by themselves, so the integration effect was better. You could use them as soon as you bought them back, without needing to debug anything at all.

And if mobile phone manufacturers bought chips other than Qualcomm's, they still had to find Qualcomm to buy basebands and pay a large patent fee. Then, with external baseband chips, they still needed to debug them. Coupled with Qualcomm's sleazy pricing—almost buying the baseband and getting the chip for free—it left no room for Texas Instruments to survive. In just a few years, relying on basebands, it defeated all chip rivals and monopolized the 3G and 4G baseband chip era.

Even a company as strong as Apple suffered repeatedly with basebands. Apple's mobile phone signal has been criticized more than once or twice. In fact, it's because they didn't have their own integrated baseband chips, and all chips using external basebands face the phenomenon of no signal or easy disconnection.

Li Dongling didn't want Dongling Gao Ke's mobile phones to be held hostage by others in terms of basebands. Li Dongling wanted to use baseband chips to harvest leeks, not to be harvested by Qualcomm.

In the future 3G and 4G chip era, Dongling Gao Ke's mobile phones must at least be able to protect themselves. They shouldn't have to give more than 10%, or even 20%, of their revenue to Qualcomm for every mobile phone sold. You have to know that in his past life, the profit of a domestic mobile phone was less than 5% of the selling price, which was equivalent to working for Qualcomm for free!

Not to mention surpassing Qualcomm and collecting such heavy Qualcomm taxes, but Dongling Gao Ke must at least share the world with Qualcomm in the baseband industry. Both sides should harvest leeks together; Qualcomm shouldn't be allowed to monopolize the baseband market!

Luo Zheng could hear the determination in Li Dongling's words—that he would spare no cost to develop the baseband.

"I understand!"

Luo Zheng said with a solemn face. Li Dongling didn't say what the consequences would be if the communication technology R&D department still failed to develop the baseband after sparing no cost in funding the R&D. But Luo Zheng figured he knew there wouldn't be any good fruit to eat; he would probably have to pack up and leave.

If he had been kicked out of Legend before, Dongling Gao Ke had provided Luo Zheng with a way out. But if he took so many resources and funds from Dongling Gao Ke and ended up achieving nothing, only to leave in such a sorry state...

Then, whether there would be any place for Luo Zheng in the domestic scientific research industry, and whether other companies would dare to take him in, would probably be a problem. For Luo Zheng, this was also his last stand.

"There is one more question!"

Luo Zheng looked at Li Dongling and Chen Tao on the side. "For 3G technology R&D, which route should the communication technology department take?"

Dongling Gao Ke could no longer intervene in 2G technology. Now they are exploring 3G technology, but they face a problem: should they develop 3G technology based on GSM, CDMA, or other routes? This requires a firm decision. Once the route is wrong, all the hard work will likely go down the drain.

This kind of technical route dispute is actually the most tangled and headache-inducing place for countless laboratories and R&D institutions. One wrong step could mean every step is wrong. The key is that there is no way to turn back. Even if you know you're on the wrong path halfway through, you have to grit your teeth and keep going, because turning back would mean losing everything.

Just like Japanese car manufacturers betting on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Even if they watch with their own eyes that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles clearly cannot become mainstream, they still go all the way to the dark. Because the investment is too large—more than a decade of funds, time, manpower, and resources are all in it. Can they just quit if they want to?

"CDMA!"

"Develop 3G communication technology using CDMA technology!"

Li Dongling said to Luo Zheng, "The communication technology department will verify the feasibility of developing 3G technology using CDMA technology.

I believe that this time, Dongling Gao Ke can win!"

Chen Tao and Luo Zheng both opened their mouths wide, wanting to say something but unable to speak. The metaphysical content of Li Dongling's words was simply too high.

Verifying the route is definitely necessary, but in the final analysis, someone still needs to make the final decision on which path to take for 3G R&D. And now, Li Dongling has given his answer!

Since its establishment, under Li Dongling's operation, Dongling Gao Ke has almost never taken the wrong path. If Dongling Gao Ke can bet correctly on 3G technology, then the entire Dongling Gao Ke will almost certainly undergo a qualitative change.

Chen Tao and Luo Zheng nodded. With Li Dongling making the decision, the pressure on them was much less. With someone to bear the pressure for them, they could let go and do a big job!

"Li Zong, Beibeijia will start advertising tonight and officially start stocking!"

Just after leaving the technical department, Li Dongling received a call from Du Guoying, and then Li Yan, the president of Focus Media, also called.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 424 =====