Chapter 60: Cow Dung Chip

"Giant Group will invest 500 million to officially enter the health supplement industry!"

"Giant Boss Shi claims that health supplements will be one of Giant's most important industries, and the Giant Group will complete its IPO next year!"

"Foreign brand computers are coming aggressively, and the domestic computer brand market share has dropped to 22%!"

"Many domestic computer brands announce cooperation with overseas brands: Great Wall represents IBM computers, Founder represents DEC computers, Sitong represents Compaq, and many computer brands like Dell, HP, and Apple have all announced agency agreements with domestic distributors!"

In a company in Beijing that develops color printing, Wang Jizhi flipped through the newspapers in his hand. He flipped through several, and they were all much the same. Many domestic tech companies, facing the aggressive foreign companies, either avoided the battle and transformed into other fields, or chose "if you can't beat them, join them," no longer making their own computer brands, but representing those foreign brand computers.

This wasn't just in the computer industry; other industries were even worse. As long as a foreign brand entered an industry, the domestic brands in that industry would be beaten to a pulp, or even directly hand over the market.

Like Nokia and Siemens occupying the domestic communications industry, killing a group of domestic communications brands, only Huawei was still insisting on independent R&D of communications equipment. A group of domestic communications giants that were famous in the past performed very poorly at this time.

There were also Boeing, Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, Sony, Kodak, and other giants in aircraft, automobiles, motorcycles, cameras, and televisions entering China, which also formed a dimensionality reduction strike.

P&G, Whirlpool, SC Johnson, etc., entered China, using various means to defeat or shelve a group of old domestic brands like Snowflake, Narcissus, and Maxam, quickly occupying the market.

As for the soda and beverage industry, the performance was even more obvious. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo defeated a group of old domestic soda brands like Tianfu Cola, Beibingyang, Asia Soda, Laoshan Cola, etc., and there were almost no domestic soda beverages on the market.

Since last year, foreign brands had begun to attack the domestic market fiercely, and this year it was even more obvious. And domestic companies, whether in electronics, home appliances, automobiles, or beverages and food industries, facing the aggressive foreign brands, were few and far between.

Under such circumstances, it was no wonder that Dongling High-Tech could cause such a sensation after winning the lawsuit against the Silver Mink mouse in America. Other brands were running away, only Dongling High-Tech held the sword of Silver Mink and stood there. Today, it invested so much money in R&D, which naturally seemed unique in the domestic tech industry.

Flipping through the newspapers, Wang Jizhi shook his head. He was one of the highest-ranking figures in the domestic tech industry. He was once the chief engineer of the Sitong Group. The 2401 printer independently developed by the Sitong Group was brought out by him, becoming a cash cow for the Sitong Group, and it was quite advanced among similar products in Japan.

Wang Jizhi also introduced a technical genius to the Sitong Group named Qiu Bojun, who later joined a company called Kingsoft. In the future, Qiu Bojun would become the talent scout for a certain figure who shouted "are you ok." Like the academic circle, the tech industry also had inheritance and circles!

However, before the Sitong Group went public, Wang Jizhi fell out with the management over issues like salary and R&D funding. He had a fiery personality, couldn't tolerate sand in his eyes, looked down on those who formed cliques and climbed relationships, and finally ended up resigning. He didn't get a single Sitong share.

Looking at the news in the newspaper, Wang Jizhi shook his head. He felt that these domestic tech companies now were not as good as when he faced Japanese companies back then. At that time, he still dared to lead people to develop printers and fight against Japanese goods. Although Sitong didn't support his R&D and gave him less than 0.3% of revenue for R&D funding, he still did it.

But those companies now? They didn't even dare to fight and just ran away, which made him shake his head.

Just as he was about to put down the newspaper, a news item in the *Beijing Daily* marked as reprinted from the *Hanxi Provincial Daily* caught his attention.

"Dongling High-Tech invests 15 million to establish a joint laboratory with Hanxi Jiaotong University, and in the future, 5% of profits will be set aside each year for R&D..."

Seeing these words, Wang Jizhi couldn't help but feel refreshed. He had heard of the name Dongling High-Tech and knew it had fought a lawsuit with Microsoft, but he hadn't paid attention to it at that time. But this time, seeing Dongling High-Tech invest so much money in R&D made him completely remember Dongling High-Tech.

You know, among so many domestic tech companies, there were many that earned more than Dongling High-Tech, but this was the first time Wang Jizhi had seen one willing to invest so much money in R&D with such great fanfare.

Looking at the news in the newspaper, Wang Jizhi felt both itchy and helpless. He was now co-founding a company with others, but after leaving the Sitong Group, Wang Jizhi felt that he was suitable for R&D and really not suitable for management.

He had founded several companies or cooperated with others, and there were two or three companies, but in the end, they all parted on bad terms. Wang Jizhi's career, compared to when he was at Sitong, was almost like riding a roller coaster—rising all the way, then falling, falling, falling...

Looking at the news in the newspaper, Wang Jizhi really felt that if Dongling High-Tech's joint laboratory had printer R&D, he would really be willing to close his current company and join them. But he didn't know what business Dongling High-Tech was doing now. What the scene would be like if he went over rashly, Wang Jizhi wasn't sure, which made him hesitant.

Not only did Wang Jizhi see this news, but in another computer brand company in Beijing, a man in his fifties with a thin frame, who was selected as one of the first batch of domestic engineering academicians and hung the title of chief engineer, couldn't help but pat the table when he saw the news of Dongling High-Tech establishing a joint laboratory.

In the current domestic tech industry, Dongling High-Tech dared to invest so much money in R&D, which made Academician Ni couldn't help but feel a bit envious.

Thinking of his own situation, he couldn't help but sigh again. Inside the company, because of whether to develop chips, they were already at odds and divided into two factions. However, most executives tended to support the other side, leaving him helpless.

With the previous heat, the news of Dongling High-Tech establishing a joint laboratory was quickly reported and reprinted by various media.

But regarding Dongling High-Tech spending so much money to build a laboratory and engage in R&D, whether it was the tech industry or the outside world, there was actually a lot of discussion.

Some said Dongling High-Tech was fishing for fame. Now other tech companies were buying overseas technology or buying components to assemble. Only Dongling High-Tech was unique, engaging in R&D and spending so much money. The technology developed might not be as good as foreign ones. What are they trying to do? If this isn't fishing for fame, what is it?!

"I think the domestic tech industry shouldn't close its doors to build cars. It should open its eyes to see the world. The whole world is a whole, and different places are given different divisions of labor. Under this system, everyone can make money.

I've also heard about some companies wanting to engage in independent R&D, but I want to say that independent R&D is not yet applicable to the current domestic situation. The most important thing now is to survive, not to engage in those strange R&D!"

Wang Tianan, the boss of the largest electronic trade import and export company in China, Tiancheng Trading Company, responded to his views on Dongling High-Tech establishing a joint laboratory in an interview with the media, quite disdainfully.

He believed that Dongling High-Tech had gained some fame and started to float, just tossing around blindly. With that money, wouldn't it be better to buy cars, buy houses, or invest in stocks, real estate, and futures? Why throw money into the bottomless pit of R&D, and in the end, not even a hair would be left.

Wang Tianan's trading company mainly did import agency for computer and other electronic components, that is, importing overseas computer components into China and selling them to other computer manufacturers and distributors. These years, he had earned a lot of money.

But the appearance of the Silver Mink mouse made Wang Tianan feel very uncomfortable. Since the Silver Mink mouse, the mice he imported from overseas, including Logitech, were all piled up in the warehouse and couldn't be sold.

Wang Tianan didn't care about the little money he lost, but what he worried about was that if domestic tech companies really developed their own products, who would he sell the components he bought from abroad to? Isn't this just messing around? He hated Dongling High-Tech's behavior of establishing a joint laboratory and wanted to criticize it severely, wishing he could dismantle the joint laboratory.

While the media was still arguing about whether Dongling High-Tech's establishment of a joint laboratory was necessary, Li Dongling arrived at the entrance of the joint laboratory that had been hung up.

Dongling High-Tech bought a piece of land next to Hanxi Jiaotong University for the construction of the joint laboratory for the R&D center. However, it would take time to build the laboratory, so the joint laboratory temporarily borrowed a three-story building from Hanxi Jiaotong University as a laboratory.

Entering the territory of the joint laboratory, pushing the door in, Li Dongling saw Han Qianyi and Liu Youguo directing a group of teachers and students to busily clean the rooms and move experimental equipment.

In the early stage of the joint laboratory, Dongling High-Tech provided the money, and Hanxi Jiaotong University provided the people to jointly develop products and experiments.

"This is the first project Dongling High-Tech has entrusted to the joint laboratory. I hope it can be developed as soon as possible. This also relates to how much funding the joint laboratory can get next year!"

Arriving at an office, Li Dongling handed the design drawing of the electronic pet machine he had made overnight to Han Qianyi.

Liu Youguo leaned over, and when he and Han Qianyi saw the motherboard chip design drawing, both of them had expressions of disgust. "Cow dung chip?!"

The structure of the electronic pet machine is very simple, basically just a few things: plastic shell, screen, buttons, internal motherboard, button battery. The only thing with technical difficulty is the core motherboard and chip of the entire electronic pet machine.

The motherboard and chip Li Dongling prepared for the electronic pet machine was the cow dung chip. The biggest feature of this kind of chip is... cheap!

That kind of thing on a motherboard with a black lump in the middle is basically a bonding chip, or cow dung chip. This kind of chip can't be called beautiful at all. Industrial design beauty doesn't exist in it at all. It's mainly because its R&D cycle is short, the technical threshold is low, the manufacturing process is low, and the cost is low. Electronic watches, calculators, electronic toys, etc., all have its presence.

"This chip will be used for a new product of Dongling High-Tech. I hope the joint laboratory can develop it as soon as possible." Li Dongling said to Han Qianyi and Liu Youguo.

"One month!"

Liu Youguo thought for a moment. "At most one month, I will lead people to get it out. However, the funding must be enough!"

"I will also let other technical personnel in the college and school help with R&D!"

Han Qianyi also said. This was the first cooperation between the two sides, and it also related to whether the joint laboratory could continue to be run in the future, so he couldn't help but be cautious. In this era, big spenders like Dongling High-Tech who were willing to spend money on R&D were truly rare.

"If it can be developed successfully and the new product's earnings are good, Dongling High-Tech will provide additional bonuses to the personnel participating in R&D from Hanxi Jiaotong University, and will also provide a donation to Hanxi Jiaotong University!"

Li Dongling wanted to pull Hanxi Jiaotong University onto Dongling High-Tech's chariot through the joint laboratory, letting Hanxi Jiaotong University know that as long as they helped Dongling High-Tech develop good things, Hanxi Jiaotong University and the R&D personnel could also get generous returns. This would form a community of interests.

No matter how much you talk, it's not as real as real money. As long as they see that participating in R&D for Dongling High-Tech can get bonuses and Hanxi Jiaotong University can get donations, then without Li Dongling spending more effort, they would also desperately help Dongling High-Tech with R&D. Who would go against "their own" money?!

Dongling High-Tech Electronic Industrial Park, under the construction of multiple construction teams day and night, the prototype of the simple factory building in the industrial park had begun to appear. It was expected that it wouldn't take long before it could be put into use.

On the other side, various production equipment and production lines were also continuously pulled into the industrial park, preparing to install production lines and other equipment after the simple factory building was completed.

And on the right side of entering the Dongling High-Tech Industrial Park, at a sign with the three big characters "Recruitment Office," many people were queuing up.

Song Yajun, the old ox of the technical department of the original Xicheng Wireless Factory No. 1, poked his head and looked inside, hesitant about whether to go in. ===== CHAPTER 61 =====

Song Yajun, the old workhorse from the technical section of the former Xicheng No. 1 Radio Factory, poked his head in, looking inside with a hesitant expression, unsure whether he should enter.