Reborn: Billionaire in College

"From the end of March to the beginning of April, the total sales of Orange S1 reached 12 million units by the end of December. In comparison, the sales of iPhone 1723 in the first half of its launch were only 4 million units. This data includes the sales of shopping malls, self-operated stores, channel dealers and contract phones." At the year-end summary meeting, Lin Bin spoke as a representative: "Our Orange Pad S614 and Bluetooth headset FreeBuds S1 sales were 1 million and 487 million units respectively."

This is a summary meeting for the calendar year, not an annual report for the fiscal year, so Orange Technology cannot calculate the profit and loss situation for the time being.

Chen Pingjiang was still very satisfied with the data.

"It's a good performance. We have suppressed the sales of iPhone 4."

Everyone present was very excited.

"It's mainly because of Mr. Chen's excellent pricing strategy. The lowest price of iPhone 4 in China is 4999. Compared with that, ours is more cost-effective."

Chen Pingjiang asked: "How is the development of Orange S2 progressing?"

"Everything went smoothly and the prototype has been released," Zhou Guangping said with a smile, "In terms of hardware, we use a larger 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of VGA (480*800). The display effect is very amazing, and it is not inferior to the iPhone 4 with a retina screen. The CPU uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 dual-core processor with a frequency of 1.5 GHz."

"In terms of mobile phone thickness, it surpasses all competitors at 8.9 mm and weighs only 115 grams. The front camera is 200 megapixels, the rear camera is 800 megapixels, it supports 1080P video recording and playback, and the battery capacity reaches 2100 mAh."

After introducing the hardware, Lin Bin also took over and continued to introduce the software: "Our Orange UI 2.0 version has also been developed. We have made hundreds of optimizations and improvements based on the usage habits of domestic users, with better user experience, smoother software operation and more stable operation basis. Nearly sets of desktop themes are available for download, and the ever-changing lock screen prevents smartphones from being "same-faced"."

"In addition, we have added a free desktop, which breaks the conventional arrangement of icons on the traditional desktop and introduces the concept of 'scene' to the mobile phone screen. You can switch between the traditional desktop and the free desktop by swiping down with two fingers. This scene may be a real study room, where the furnishings in the room and on the desktop are all apps; or it may be the game interface of Angry Birds, where each bird is a specific app. In this case, the placement of icons completely complies with the setting of the scene and can be set by the user according to his or her own preferences."

"In addition to the upgraded beauty camera function, the main selling point of the Orange S2 this time is HIFI. For the first time in the industry, the CS8422 that solves the SRC problem and the DAC decoding chip CS4398 are put into the phone. In addition, an OPA2604 sports/power amplifier chip is added separately. The sound quality of the phone has surpassed that of the iPhone."

In fact, many people cannot distinguish the relationship between HI-FI and Dolby Surround.

Hi-Fi pursues high fidelity, while home theater emphasizes overwhelming audio-visual effects. Using sound effects tools to adjust the pitch, frequency, amplitude and other indicators of the sound beyond recognition is very different from the "accuracy" pursued by Hi-Fi.

Mobile phone HIFI means that the mobile phone has high-fidelity audio playback function, that is, the built-in or external audio device of the mobile phone can provide high-quality audio experience with close to lossless sound quality.

After listening to the introduction, Chen Pingjiang nodded and said, "Then we will produce the engineering machines as soon as possible and stock up more. We will discuss the specific price again after mass production."

At this point, Chen Pingjiang added: "Didn't I make relevant suggestions when the leaders came to inspect Orange Technology before? The response we have received so far is that it is already in the demonstration and discussion stage. As for some industry leaders in chip design and manufacturing, we need to communicate with them ourselves. Next year is a critical year. I will focus most of my energy on the wafer fab project. By then, in addition to tax cuts and financial subsidies, the policy support will also include interest-free loans from banks."

Zhou Guangping was a little surprised: "Mr. Chen, is the support so strong? What about the other supporting industrial chains?"

"The industrial chain is definitely not something that can be built overnight. It requires not only support from the national level, but also the cooperation of universities and research institutes, and more importantly, the cultivation of local governments. Wafer factories cannot wait for them and must start production first."

Unfortunately, it is only 2010 now, and it is still too early for Yangtze Memory Technologies and Moore's Law to come into being.

"We not only have to make mobile phone chips, but also design memory chips, flash memory chips, inference chips, computing chips, display chips, transmission chips, microwave chips and even PC chips. Some of them can be used, but they cannot be absent," Chen Pingjiang added.

Zhou Guangping swallowed his saliva repeatedly, wondering if he had heard it wrong. "Mr. Chen, there is no other company in the world that designs so many types of chips."

In this regard, Chen Pingjiang could only smile bitterly: "I really hope that I won't need it in the future, but I'll keep it as a spare tire. Old Zhou, you may think I'm exaggerating now, but have you ever imagined such a situation?"

"You say."

"If the Americans put extreme pressure on us and cut off all our technology and supply licenses, can we design and manufacture a chip independently?"

Almost without thinking, Zhou Guangping shook his head repeatedly.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible." Zhou Guangping counted on his fingers: "The first thing we face is the EDA tools for N7-N7+. Without EDA, it's like we don't have a pen for the exam. Simulation, tape-out, verification, and fab-related semiconductor upstream and downstream processes must all be done. There are no lithography machines, etching machines, photomasks, photoresists, electronic gases, wet electronic chemicals, and CMP polishing materials.

"So, that's what I told my leader. Can you say there is no possibility that the Americans will put extreme pressure on us?" Chen Pingjiang knocked on the table: "Don't forget how the automobile and chip industries were suppressed in the 80s. Once that day comes and we are not prepared, the result can be imagined."

Everyone in the conference room gasped.

Lin Bin also nodded: "This possibility is not impossible, and we should indeed plan ahead."

Before entering the chip-related industry, Chen Pingjiang actually did not understand the difficulty involved.

Only by doing it can you understand the hard work and difficulty of Huawei. Chen Pingjiang can only say that he is awesome for being able to break through layers of blockades and design the Kirin 9000S.

One company took over the world's work, and it only took three years.

What is even more surprising is that Mr. Ren is not a time traveler and he actually started planning so many years in advance.

However, there was also an executive in the conference room who had studied in the United States and made a tactful analysis: "Mr. Chen, our Daqin chips also need to be profitable. We can't always rely on the group for blood transfusions. That won't last long, right? With so many additional R&D tasks, and LTE 4G chips to be developed, the financial report will be very ugly. And... and our current relationship with the United States is pretty good, so we shouldn't be suppressed to the extreme as you said, right? Isn't it a bit..."

Chen Pingjiang looked at the executive and smiled: "Is it a bit of worrying about the future? No, I prefer to describe it as preparing for a rainy day."

…………

Chen Pingjiang stopped by DJI to take a look. In the past six months since moving to Dongjiang, DJI has developed very rapidly.

We have money and resources, and with the support of Dongjiang, a city of science and education, we have a steady supply of talent.

In just half a year, DJI’s total number of employees surged to 400.

When Chen Pingjiang arrived, he found a group of people gathered in the open space in front of the building and testing a drone.

"You're moving so fast, have you finished it?"

Wang Tao greeted Chen Pingjiang immediately before introducing the drone, saying, "This is just a test aircraft. It is mainly used to test the flight control system of the drone we just developed. We named it WooKong-M, which is the English pronunciation of Wukong. WKM can provide GPS autonomous balancing and hovering functions for both professional and amateur multi-rotor aircraft. It is suitable for aircraft with four or eight propellers."

Chen Pingjiang nodded and pointed at the connecting arm under the drone: "Is that the gimbal?"

"Yes, Zenmuse gimbal and GoPro camera. Our previous gimbal was still too slow to respond and the image was shaky. Zenmuse uses a brushless motor direct drive to control the gimbal, which is much better. I plan to complete the debugging according to the camera model and lens model. I just need to install the camera and install it on the aircraft. There is no need to adjust the gimbal or change its mechanical structure by myself, nor do I need to add other peripherals to the camera."

After some testing, Wang Tao was still a little dissatisfied. He dusted off his hands, asked other employees to go back first, and he accompanied Chen Pingjiang for a walk.

"We still need some time. The flight control system performs well, but the gimbal still needs to be adjusted. After everything is done, I plan to make a cost-effective drone product that can be taken off at any time without the need for players to assemble it themselves."

Chen Pingjiang was a technical novice who didn't understand the specialized terms that came out of Wang Tao's mouth from time to time. The only thing he could give Wang Tao was advice on the future trend of drones.

After the two chatted for ten minutes, Chen Pingjiang patted Wang Tao on the shoulder and said, "Come on, if you have any difficulties, just tell me, don't be shy."

For a technology fanatic whose mind is full of data and work, Wang Tao spent just ten minutes introducing the bottlenecks encountered in the R&D process. The embarrassing thing was that Chen Pingjiang couldn't get a word in. He finally tried to lead the topic to daily life, but Wang Tao talked him back to the topic after just a few words.

"Maybe this is the reason why Wang Tao was successful." Chen Pingjiang thought.

After seeing Wang Tao off, Chen Pingjiang strolled around the Qingshan Lake base alone.

The Dongjiang River was already a bit cold in early winter. He walked around with his hands in his pockets, thinking only about next year, that is, 2011.

What will happen next year?

What impressed me most was naturally the mobile payment license. With this thing, take-out can be promoted nationwide, and the group buying market can be expanded two or three times.

Next up is electric cars.

Tesla on the other side of the ocean has already gone public.

"Maybe Musk is developing the Model S now? The Roadster has been on the market for two years."

As I thought about it, my thoughts turned to Boston Dynamics and SpaceX.

Robots and launch vehicles must be put into use as soon as possible, otherwise we will be left far behind by our competitors.

“There’s not enough time. Absolutely not enough time.”

"Mr. Chen?" Just when Chen Pingjiang was lost in thought, a voice came from behind.

"Hmm?" Chen Pingjiang turned around and saw Lin Bin standing beside him. "What's wrong, Lao Lin?"

"I was going to the cafeteria to eat, and I saw you walking here alone, so I came over to ask you to eat together."

Chen Pingjiang smiled and nodded: "I'm lost in thought. Let's go. I haven't eaten in the public cafeteria before. Let's not eat in the executive cafeteria today."

"Mr. Chen, I didn't mean to eavesdrop on you. But I heard you talking about Tesla and SpaceX?"

“Yeah, have you heard of these two companies too?”

"Haha, how could I not have heard of it? You are not planning to do it too, are you?"

Chen Pingjiang nodded: "I have this idea, but it will take time and opportunity. There are too many projects to be launched at once, and I don't have enough energy."

"I'm relieved when you say that. Otherwise, I would have thought you were an iron man. It's already a great thing for an ordinary entrepreneur to build a great company. How can you own several well-known companies at such a young age? Don't put too much pressure on yourself. You are still young."

The two walked towards the cafeteria.

As Chen Pingjiang walked, he said, "It is precisely because we are young that we should strive for success. When I am older, I may not have the leisure and motivation to do so. By then, I should retire and travel around the world." (End of this chapter)