From the filing of the investigation on November 2 to the preliminary findings on February 27, it took less than four months for China Antitrust to give Qualcomm a heavy blow.
This speed is still quite rare.
It is also quite intriguing that it chose this juncture to announce preliminary results.
However, an investigation at this level is destined to have reactions at the same level. However, as a party involved, Qualcomm did not raise any questions or objections. Instead, it stated that it would actively communicate.
This is because the Chinese market is very important to Qualcomm. Fighting will be punishing, and punishment will be punished. The market that deserves it must still be needed. What's more, it is only a preliminary investigation result, and there is still room for mediation in the future.
This mediation came to...Fang Zhuo.
Sanxing stabbed Yike in the back, but Yike didn't make a sound.
Cook pointed out the problem and started a dispute with Samsung. Fang Zhuo did not respond to the interview.
Antitrust gave Qualcomm preliminary investigation results, and Yike also only did its own thing.
As a result, part of the lobbying from the United States even reached him, the litigant, which really made Fang Zhuo dumbfounded. Some American friends were indeed trying to find benefits between the two sides.
In fact, Yike did not cooperate with the antitrust authorities on this matter. The focus this time was really on the complicated legal procedures, hoping to fundamentally solve the problem.
Of course, whether there is cooperation from the antitrust side and whether unilateral cooperation counts as cooperation depends on how others interpret it.
Fang Zhuo maintained a simple and straightforward attitude towards the American friends he was entrusted with, and everything followed legal procedures. This was not a personal grudge, but purely a conflict of mutual interest standards.
Anyone who wants to be a lobbyist should bring in green dollar bills.
Out of our sincere friendship, we don’t have to worry too much. Not counting the multi-year patent licensing fees that Yike will have to do with Qualcomm in the future, we can just make up for one year’s fees, which is almost US$5.6 billion.
Um……
The outcome of the patent litigation was unclear. Someone actually turned around and asked Qualcomm if they were willing to pay for it, and they were decisively rejected.
From Qualcomm's perspective, the chances of winning this patent lawsuit with Yike are high, and once Yike is determined to lose the lawsuit, it will pay more patent fees this year and in the future.
As for the impact of Yike on the company's market value, this matter has indeed put a lot of pressure on the management. However, when the public attention gradually subsides and the legal results that really play a role are finalized, the stock price will eventually rise back.
Lobbyists in the middle expressed regret.
This kind of lobbying inspired by the preliminary antitrust investigation results can only be given up.
However, the 28nm process issues that Samsung has been implicated in seem to be more obvious. Customers currently negotiating with Nvidia, AMD, etc. have received vague responses, while UMC, another foundry company that also has 28nm manufacturing capabilities, has been much more candid.
According to unofficial news, UMC executives have informed customers that they will postpone the official mass production time in order to provide better services.
"Delay mass production", "better quality"...
In other words, the previous ones may not have been as high quality.
There are only a few 28nm OEMs in the world, including Taiji, Bingxin, Samsung, UMC, and GlobalFoundries. Among them, Bingxin has not introduced new customers except Yike. Among the remaining four, only Taiji is working normally.
Mass production.
Samsung, UMC, and GLOBALFOUNDRIES, what’s wrong with these three companies?
Soon, an unacknowledged but probably factual guess emerged. There was a problem with the process solution. Taiwanese journalists had previously defied the world to switch to the rear gate solution in the HKMG gate structure process technology... This was probably the development of the industry.
the optimal solution.
So, what about the ice cores that silently work hard to ship?
What is it?
As an authority in the field of wafer foundry, people from Taiwan Journal couldn't help but certify it.
"No problem is Samsung's lie."
“The reason why we switched from the front gate to the back gate is that it has more advantages in realizing a high dielectric constant metal gate structure. In the front gate solution, the gate is made by ion implantation in the drain/source area of the silicon wafer.
Previously, this may cause damage to the gate in subsequent process steps, ultimately affecting chip performance."
"Obviously, we made the right choice."
Jiang Shangyi was invited back to the Taiwan Press by Zhang Zhongtou. He was in charge of research and development and made great contributions to the smooth development of 28nm. He was also quite proud to speak out in front of the media this time.
Samsung is very ambitious in the field of wafer foundry and is very hostile to Taiwan journalists. It has formulated a "Kill TW" plan. The competition pressure is still relatively high.
Jiang Shangyi doesn’t mind coming out at this time to attack the reputation of Samsung technology.
By the way, he also answered reporters’ questions about ice cores.
"The ice core also adopts the rear gate scheme, but it is said that two schemes were tried in parallel, and it cost a lot of money to decide to completely switch to the rear gate."
"I have to say that the price paid for the ice core is worth it."
"The development of ice core has been very fast. It is the most threatening opponent of Taiwanese. This time 28nm is nothing more than proving this point again."
The words of the vice president of R&D in Taiji were basically a concrete confirmation of Samsung’s technology and immediately triggered a drop in the stock price of Samsung Electronics.
You don’t need to know too much about the technology in the secondary market, as long as you know that there is a problem with something related to core competitiveness.
As a foil, Yike and Apple surged during the same period.
However, two days later, a copy of the Washington Post's concerns about the competitiveness of ice cores appeared on Fang Zhuo's desk, which inevitably made him...
"To be honest, half of Bingxin's international reputation was blown up by Taiwanese journalists!"
Fang Zhuo had nothing to do about it. He couldn't control what Tai Ji said, but that was the most expert.
As for Zhang Zhongtou and Jiang Shangyi, one is bragging about Fang Zhuo and the other is bragging about the development of ice core. They are quite happy to do it. Especially for people like Zhang Zhongtang, everything he says is openly endorsed by the members of the US Congress.
.
"I heard that Taiwan Journal will start small-scale mass production of 20nm this month." Liu Zonghong mentioned the work plan announced by Taiwan Journal last year. Small-scale mass production in the first quarter is not far away.
28nm is a process node with a long life cycle. Taiwanese reporters rely on process solutions to make correct decisions. On the one hand, they increase investment in factory construction, increase 28nm production capacity, and actively occupy the global market. On the other hand, they do not relax the research and development of advanced processes and next-generation nodes.
And so close.
"Taiwan Records is really strong, with generations of research and development and investment from generation to generation." Fang Zhuo flashed relevant news in his mind and sighed, "The sense of oppression is very strong."
Seeing this, Liu Zonghong imitated Zhang Zhongqian's tone during the interview and said: "Mr. Fang, the linkage between Bingxin and Yike, the persistent iteration, and the pursuit of advanced processes must have brought a sense of oppression to Taiwan reporters.
Very strong."
Fang Zhuo smiled slightly and calculated the time. If Zhang Zhongyan said it according to himself, Taiwan Journal's mass production arrangement for 16nm will be around March next year.
This will probably be the best chance for Ice Core to catch up or even surpass it.
Ups and downs are a given, but when Fang Zhuo thinks about the development of ice cores, he feels a little leisurely and fascinated. He just wants to receive good news from Liang Mengsong's team as soon as possible.
"We don't know yet to what extent Samsung's troubles will be this time. Most of Qualcomm's chips are scheduled at Taiji, and we don't know if Taiji's production capacity is sufficient." Fang Zhuo has already seen that some Samsung channels have suspended supply.
news.
Although it switched to Qualcomm's Snapdragon, there were problems with the temporary coordination of supply. It can be said that half of Trump's market has been destroyed this year.
Liu Zonghong remained silent here, knowing that his boss was probably sorting out his thoughts rather than wanting to hear his own opinions.
Anyway, this wave of competition related to Yike is quite chaotic, involving Qualcomm, Samsung, Taiwanese, Apple... and mixed with litigation factors at different legal levels.
He waited until his boss sat down to drink tea again before telling him the latest news: "Mr. Fang, Mr. Wang Fengyi and Mr. Wang made an appointment for dinner and said they wanted to talk about the money burning at Dada."
"Shenxin Kechuang is very rich, what can't he hold on to?" Fang Zhuo was a little surprised.
"Maybe the number one investor in China is asking for help from his friends." Liu Zonghong made a small guess.
In the complicated competition of Yike, the domestic competition has not stopped. After the Spring Festival, the subsidies for online ride-hailing have once again increased their efforts. Qi He seems to have personally supervised the battle and contacted the wind for Dada in order to fulfill the first promise he made a year ago.
I invested and got another wave of money.
This kind of money burning and competitiveness almost makes some investment institutions with insufficient strength feel desperate.
"Then let him come. Investors' lives are also lives. Call Qi He. If there are any business questions, he will definitely be able to answer them." Fang Zhuo agreed.
During this period of time, except for necessary overtime work at the company, he would go home to eat at other times. Otherwise, he would only see his child's sleeping face.
Liu Zonghong nodded. After waiting for a while, he didn't see that his boss had any other arrangements. He turned around and left the office and called Wang Fengyi.
When it was dinner time, Wang Fengyi arrived as promised.
However, contrary to Fang Zhuo's expectation, Wang Fengyi did not talk much about the madness of burning money and the difficulties of other institutional shareholders.
"What are Dada's investors thinking about now?" Fang Zhuo asked proactively after he was half full.
"I'm afraid of the intensity of burning money. Don't worry about what they think." Wang Fengyihun replied nonchalantly, "They asked me to ask, but they have nothing to ask."
He shrugged, conveying absolute trust, and said: "Besides, Yike is currently fighting with Qualcomm and Samsung. Why bring this up? If you really have something to do, I can just ask Qi He. I'm just here."
That’s what I mean, I’ll have an explanation when I meet Mr. Fang.”
Fang Zhuo laughed dumbly.
Qi He gave a thumbs up, look, this is the magnanimity of China's number one investor.
Recently, because Dada was burning money, he was actually asked many times by many investors, both overtly and covertly.
"There should be a decision by the middle of the year at the latest, or maybe a little earlier." Qi He still talked about the current situation and said with a smile, "Bumblebee may be running out of money."
Fang Zhuo nodded slightly and had no intention of asking any more questions. Just as he had thought before, Dada's funds, resources, and team configuration were sufficient, so it was natural that he should be at the forefront.
…
Bumblebee is running out of money.
When this matter was extremely obvious, founder Li Yongjin couldn't sleep well for several nights in a row and had to consider his own retreat.
This time when he started his own business from Tudou.com, he was not alone, but a team formed by a group of talented people.
If this project of Bumblebee is cheated, it will not only be its own fault, but also its brothers and sisters. What Bumblebee faces is not only the lack of money, but also the increasingly fierce competition in the industry.
Even if the Hornet works hard to raise another amount of money, how long can it sustain in the next competition? Can it outlast Penguins, Alibaba and Yike?
Li Yongjin didn't dare to think about Yike. In addition to Yike himself being very rich, the group of investment institutions surrounding Yike were also very powerful.
The most important thing is that although Yike's investment frequency is not as high as Penguin, its investment results in the past few years have been very good.
How does Bumblebee compete with these monsters?
Li Yongjin felt pain that he had never experienced in his previous job.
Funds are tight, the situation is deteriorating, and the prospects are bleak.
Li Yongjin was tossing and turning again one night when he suddenly thought of the head of Yike. If it were Mr. Fang, what would he do?
The history of Mr. Fang’s fortune is well known in the industry.
Li Yongjin thought of Mr. Fang’s first project. At that time, it seemed that it could continue to hold on, but Mr. Fang made a decisive strategic retreat and turned around to establish Yike.
Let it go when it's time to let it go...
There is no shame in strategic retreat!
Li Yongjin tried to figure out President Fang's state of mind at that time, and was somewhat inspired. He thought carefully for two more days, considering the current fierce and anxious competitive situation, and felt that he might have to borrow something from President Fang.
He called Cheng Wei, the head of Didi, with whom he had communicated, and discussed the idea of selling Bumblebee.
However, Cheng Wei just laughed and refused.
Before Duji invested in Bumblebee, Didi and Kuaidi bid for Bumblebee together. Then, Didi and Kuaidi made an appointment to postpone the price reduction, and secretly contacted Bumblebee separately. Unexpectedly, Bumblebee immediately informed Kuaidi to raise the price.
…
He never thought that he would quickly negotiate with Bumblebee, but Bumblebee regretted it and finally accepted Duji's investment.
There is such a thing in front of us. Cheng Wei does not plan to acquire Bumblebee this time. One of the important reasons is... After nearly half a year of burning money, the customer base has been cultivated, but they recognize the subsidies but not the brand...
Alternatively, Alipay's built-in and Yixin mini-programs can add extra points, but it mainly depends on subsidies.
"Didi is really not interested?" Li Yongjin held up the sign, "Then I can only sell it to Mr. Fang."
"If Mr. Fang is interested, will you still come to me?" Cheng Wei is not in a hurry. He is 70% to 80% sure that Yike will not acquire Bumblebee because the industry situation is different from before.
"It's not that Mr. Fang is not interested, but that Bumblebee was driven out of Shanghai by Yike. It's not that there is no way out in the end. I don't even consider Yike." Li Yong said plausibly, "Mr. Cheng, I am very optimistic about the development of Didi.
, if you don’t think about it, then I will find someone faster.”
Cheng Wei still smiled: "Mr. Li, you go and talk peacefully first."
This phone call did not make any progress, but it once again made Li Yongjin aware of the disadvantages of today's competition. Alas, the "Duji Wallet" behind it was not very successful either.
He did not follow his previous idea and go find Kuai. Instead, he thought carefully and called Qi He, the president of Yike YMS.
"Mr. Qi, what do you think about Bumblebee being run by Duji himself?"
Qi He was surprised and quite amused when he heard these straight-to-the-point words that wanted to drag Du Ji down.
This chapter has been completed!