Chapter 126 - All Relatives
The next afternoon, Su Yuanshan and his father, along with Pan Xiaojun and two department heads, stood downstairs at the branch office to welcome the leaders from the four ministries.
When Su Yuanshan saw that the leader from the Ministry of Machinery and Electronics was Director Yu, he immediately felt reassured.
In that instant, he could clearly judge the tone of this "summons."
This wasn't the kind of "summons" that carried the flavor of a scolding, like those that would become common in later years.
It was more of an overall "background check" on Yuanchip — exactly what Su Yuanshan had guessed all along.
And when the identities of the other ministry leaders were revealed, Su Yuanshan was so pleased he almost wanted to invite them all to hotpot.
Yang Weichang, Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation —
he also happened to be Yang Yiwen's father.
Min Guangliang, Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications —
and he too had another identity: an alumnus of UESTC.
From the arrangement of personnel, it was obvious that the three ministries' stance toward Yuanchip was clear:
even though Yuanchip was a private company with no official rank, based on its influence and Su Xinghe's qualifications, they were giving Yuanchip the treatment of a deputy-bureau-level enterprise.
This level of recognition was equivalent to that of many large state-owned enterprises.
Compared to the deputy directors who held real power, the highest-ranking person administratively — Secretary-General Liang Wenshu from the Academy — had very little real authority here.
...
"Professor Su, today we mainly want to understand Yuanchip's situation.
Everyone can speak freely, haha,"
Director Yu said first, setting a relaxed tone for the meeting.
He had a very good impression of Su Yuanshan and knew about his reputation and influence in Silicon Valley.
"Director Yu, you're too kind," Su Xinghe said smoothly.
"In fact, we were planning to seek some policy support from the relevant ministries after our year-end report.
This is just a bit ahead of schedule."
With years of experience, Su Xinghe was completely at ease now.
He joked,
"But if the leaders ask me questions, I might not be able to answer.
This kid here is the real decision-maker."
Indeed, after establishing himself academically, Su Xinghe carried himself differently.
The father and son had already agreed beforehand:
they would blame any "rashness" on Su Yuanshan, the "young and reckless" son.
If anyone had to be chastised, it would be harder to scold a "kid."
"So... Uncle Yu, what do you want to ask about?"
Su Yuanshan said sweetly, addressing him directly as "Uncle."
He had already switched to this term during the "battle" in Las Vegas last year — it wasn't random.
As soon as he called him "Uncle Yu," the atmosphere became even more relaxed.
"Hehe, let's start with your CPU progress," Director Yu said, smiling before turning serious.
"Xinghai acquired Cyrix in Silicon Valley.
Although technically Xinghai has no direct link to China, we all know Xinghai is under your control.
So, regarding Cyrix's technologies and patents, how are you planning to handle them?"
"According to Western law and government mandates, such technology and patents cannot be transferred to China.
I must remind you — if the West finds any sign of technology transfer, Xinghai will immediately face a crisis.
You must be clear-headed about this."
Hearing this, Su Yuanshan felt a warmth in his heart.
As expected from his "grandmother's side" —
even if they couldn't help directly, they cared about him.
"Very simple, Uncle Yu," Su Yuanshan took a deep breath.
"Right now, domestic Yuanchip and Xinghai are working under a joint development model.
There's no illegal technology transfer because Yuanchip currently can't manufacture CPUs."
"In our cooperation, Yuanchip will provide key patents and technologies to Xinghai in exchange for equivalent patents and technologies."
"Meanwhile, Xinghai will actively seek a settlement with Intel to obtain X86 authorization.
Yuanchip will leverage Xinghai's success to also obtain X86 authorization."
"In this way, Yuanchip can legitimately 'introduce' X86 licensing and related technologies back to China, planting them firmly here."
After Su Yuanshan finished speaking, the four leaders furrowed their brows and pondered for a long time.
Eventually, it was Yang Weichang, Yang Yiwen's father, who understood first.
He clapped lightly and said,
"What a clever move — bypassing the warehouse!"
Su Yuanshan smiled modestly.
"The reason for taking the roundabout way is simple —
Intel is shameless.
They never intended to license the X86 architecture to anyone else.
Yuanchip has the skills but no stage, so we have to use Cyrix to flex our muscles."
At this point, the other three also realized the strategy.
Liang Wenshu frowned and said,
"Sounds good, but your plan hinges on two critical points:
First, that Xinghai and Cyrix can actually get the license.
Second, that your patents are valuable enough to force Intel into a swap.
Does Yuanchip really have that strength?"
"Secretary Liang, believe me," Su Yuanshan said calmly,
"The new core architecture being jointly developed by Yuanchip and Cyrix will be a revolutionary product.
If Intel refuses to swap patents, it will risk being crushed by a combined Xinghai, Cyrix, and AMD alliance.
I bet they won't dare."
"As for whether Xinghai can get the license —
don't worry.
Intel is already inclined toward settlement."
After hearing Su Yuanshan's explanation, Liang Wenshu nodded and said no more.
Su Yuanshan smiled and continued,
"Uncle Yu, let me also update you on the YX architecture.
As we've been promoting, it follows a low-power consumption route.
And we try not to sell complete CPUs — only license the architecture IP."
Director Yu asked,
"Ultimate goal — monopoly?"
"Monopoly is the natural pursuit of any enterprise," Su Yuanshan said calmly.
Director Yu nodded slowly, then smiled and turned to Min Guangliang.
"Old Min, your turn."
Min Guangliang laughed,
"Let's talk about your wireless communications progress.
Last I heard, you filed quite a few technical standards with Europe."
Su Yuanshan inhaled deeply and pulled a report prepared by Tian Yaoming from his briefcase.
"Yuanchip's wireless communications division is currently our largest department —
and the least focused on short-term returns.
We aim to participate in next-generation standards and lead the generation after that."
"We haven't reported everything to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications because...
we're still slightly behind."
"After all, we've only been around for two years,
while our competitors have been around for a hundred."
As he spoke, Su Yuanshan distributed four copies of the report to the leaders.
The reports included Yuanchip's current progress, pending patent applications, and analyses of international 3G development efforts and predictions.
Even though the 2G standards hadn't yet unified globally —
and Europe had only just begun commercial deployments —
scientific research was always ahead of the market.
Based on existing patents, Qualcomm had already built a substantial patent pool around CDMA technology —
including the basic "CDMA principle" patent.
In fact, CDMA's core principle derived from Hedy Lamarr's spread spectrum technology —
a World War II-era invention that the U.S. military had deemed "useless" and shelved under secrecy protocols.
It wasn't until the late 70s and early 80s, when military restrictions were lifted, that Qualcomm leveraged this dormant technology to develop CDMA communications.
Now, although Qualcomm already possessed foundational patents,
Su Yuanshan knew the truth:
beyond the CDMA principle,
there were still four critical patents forming CDMA's true core.
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