The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide.

Chapter 297 Graduation
"Actually, I don't have a good idea. Mphone 2 is already perfect. It's almost impossible to launch 3 this year.

Chip technology has not progressed, and the full-screen technology I mentioned earlier will most likely not be available this year. As for under-screen fingerprints, it can be produced. If it is just an iteration of under-screen fingerprint technology, users may not buy it. "

After Lei Jun became the CEO of Matrix, he did have a long chat with Zhou Xin.As the founder who shaped souls and created miracles for the Matrix, Lei Jun needed to know Zhou Xin's ideas.

The strategic plan was too rough, and Lei Jun hoped to get more specific guidance from Zhou Xin.Naturally, he would not ask Zhou Xin how stressful it is to be CEO. What should I do to eliminate doubts from the outside world?

Lei Jun's question was mainly about when the next generation of Mphone will be released. This will be his first product after serving as CEO of Matrix. Naturally, he wants to make Mphone3 another classic after Mphone2.

Lei Jun said: “We can add more colors and design a larger screen.

Even if it is just an under-screen fingerprint sensor, if we remove the home button under the Mphone2 and turn it into a complete screen, these iterations will be enough to satisfy users.

I have attended many mobile phone brand launches. In my opinion, their product updates have no substantial content at all. Most of the time, they are just cosmetic updates and can be launched as a new product.

Mphone2 sets the standard too high. If we continue to set such a high standard, it will become increasingly difficult to launch new phones in the future. I think this is not a good thing for consumer electronics brands. "

Lei Jun’s idea is what Apple did in later generations. Starting from the X, Apple’s mobile phones have less and less iterative content. Sometimes the only thing that can be discussed is the chip.

Even so, Apple still has a large number of fans around the world. Until new revolutionary products are released, Apple does not have to worry about its status being shaken.

Zhou Xin has thought about the strategic direction proposed by Lei Jun. Technology has an upper limit. Mphone cannot be eye-catching every time it is launched. Sooner or later, Mphone will follow the old path of Apple and Sony, that is, PUA users. User brainwashing.

But Zhou Xin believes that this time is not now: "Lei Jun, I understand what you are thinking.

We won’t talk about mobile phones, because smartphones and previous traditional mobile phones are completely different from products to consumer groups to marketing strategies.

For consumer brands, whether it is mobile phones, cars, or other consumer products, appropriate iteration is necessary. Even a century-old brand like Coca-Cola will change its packaging.

I partly agree with your point of view. For example, Mphone2 will launch more colors. I support this. We need new colors to stimulate users' desire to buy, but we can't call this 3.

This is just a new colorway.

We need to accumulate enough technology for Mphone3 so that it can set off the world again once it is launched, and then we can launch one generation every year because the brand has been completely established. "

After listening to this, Lei Jun could understand Zhou Xin's ideas, and he would not object to Zhou Xin's ideas, because Zhou Xin's ideas have been proven correct by the market countless times. Lei Jun just wanted to ask:
"President Xin, what do you think Matrix needs to do most now?
The accumulation of technology is done by the R&D department and upstream and downstream suppliers. What other important tasks does Matrix need to do? "

Zhou Xin had told him about some work before, but Lei Jun always felt that something was missing, but these things were not enough.

Zhou Xin said: "In terms of ecological construction, after acquiring Apple, Matrix can attack on two fronts in the field of operating systems. From mobile phones to computers, we have our own operating systems.

How to use this advantage to build the Matrix ecosystem is crucial.

Apple phones will use MOS, and Apple computers will still use MacOS. One of the most important tasks for Matrix is ​​to take advantage of this advantage and build an ecosystem that is easy to use. This is an opportunity to break Microsoft's monopoly.

MOS can learn from the good things about MacOS, and MacOS can also learn from the good things about MOS. MOS and MacOS can be completely integrated into one system, and this operating system can adapt to different hardware devices. "

This matter is obviously not that simple, because Apple's resistance will be great, and Apple's original executives may not be willing to do this, Lei Jun thought.

Lei Jun didn't say this. He knew that this was his job. He had the power to deal with Apple executives to achieve his own goals. This was also the best opportunity for Lei Jun to establish his authority internally.

"Newman, congratulations on your graduation, you will be the pride of Berkeley." William Oldham shook hands with Zhou Xin.

William Oldham is the chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering, and he personally served as Zhou Xin's mentor after Hu Zhengming left Berkeley.

The reason why William Oldham took action personally was because he was worried that Zhou Xin would poach Berkeley professors again. The treatment at Xinxin Technology's California R&D Center was much better than that at Berkeley.

Zhou Xin said: "Professor, thank you for your care. I am able to strike a balance between academics and entrepreneurship, which is inseparable from your and Berkeley's support for me."

In the first half of 04, Zhou Xin successfully obtained his PhD at Berkeley with a paper on a new method of X-ray diffraction for thin film crystal processing. This paper mainly described a complete method for constructing thin films with fiber texture, which was beneficial to Help people understand how thin film processing plays a role in microstructure.

This paper is more than adequate as a doctoral thesis at Berkeley, at least at an upper-middle level, but it does not match Zhou Xin’s business achievements in Silicon Valley. The professors in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Berkeley originally thought that Zhou Xin would produce some amazing results as a doctoral career. Results.

“Our mission has always been to facilitate students, not to mention the amazing things you’ve accomplished in Silicon Valley are the best publicity for Berkeley,” Oldham said.

The doctoral stage is more about independent learning and exploration. You also have sufficient resources in your own company to do this. There is no need to tie you to the school. People are different. "

Oldham then smiled bitterly: "And if Newman continues to let you stay at Berkeley, I don't know how many professors will be poached by you.

In the five years since you came to Berkeley, a total of five professors have been poached by you, not to mention Chenming, Tsu Jae was also poached by you, and there were three other professors.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard that you were graduating. I no longer have to go to the office to check my email when I receive a resignation application from a professor. "

Jin Zhijie is also a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Her well-known scientific research achievement is FinFET transistors. She collaborated with Hu Zhengming and made famous achievements in FinFET. However, she is not only good at theoretical research, but also has knowledge of chip technology. Very in-depth research.

Among them, the paper published in 2001 on the use of simplified processes to manufacture 60nm planar FinFETs played a guiding role in the manufacturing of FinFETs.

Without Zhou Xin, Jin Zhijie would have been the vice president of Berkeley all the way. Now after joining Xinxin Technology, Jin Zhijie has made considerable contributions to Xinxin's chip manufacturing technology.

For Oldham, Hu Zhengming and Jin Zhijie are both top research talents, and it is really heartbreaking to be poached by Zhou Xin.Zhou Xin said: "Professor, maybe you think more simply, I can still recruit people from Berkeley if I leave.

You should not think of this as a bad thing. It is precisely because I continue to introduce outstanding talents from Berkeley that Berkeley is also motivated to introduce talents from outside, thus forming a positive cycle.

Berkeley introduces talents, they produce good results at Berkeley, and then come to my company to realize their scientific research results. This is a win-win situation for all. "

Oldham wanted to curse in his heart, but thinking about Zhou Xin's identity and the fact that Berkeley would still expect Zhou Xin to donate more money in the future, he suppressed his words: "Newman, maybe you are right.

But you can consider schools like Stanford and MIT, which are either in Silicon Valley or not far from Silicon Valley.

Sometimes it is not a good thing that all the talents in a company come from the same place. The same background makes it easy for them to stick together, which is not conducive to your management. You can try to introduce talents from more universities. "

What Zhou Xin said makes sense. Because Zhou Xin was born in Berkeley, it has been easier for Berkeley students to find high-paying jobs in Silicon Valley in the past period, especially for Ph.D.s in the field of integrated circuits, which are quite popular.

Because for PhD students in the field of integrated circuits at Berkeley, Xinxin Technology is equivalent to a guaranteed offer. After you have a guaranteed offer, it is naturally easier to negotiate prices with other companies and negotiate higher prices.

Oldham had heard similar things from Berkeley graduates, and Zhou Xin's previous achievements made Oldham very fond of Zhou Xin. It would be better if Zhou Xin could not poach people from Berkeley. .

"Professor, what you said makes sense. I will seriously consider your suggestion. I have tried to recruit people from Stanford and MIT before, but compared with recruiting people from Berkeley, the efficiency is much lower." Zhou Xin teased road.

"I am still very grateful to Berkeley for giving me the opportunity to further my studies. If Berkeley had not sent me an invitation in 98, I would not have achieved what I have now. I will donate [-] yuan to the Department of Electrical Engineering in the name of the Emerging Charitable Foundation. Billion dollars.”

Berkeley is a public institution, and its funding mainly comes from government grants. Social donations are small compared with other top universities. Of course, even among top private universities, a donation of US$1 million is a lot.

For Zhou Xin, donating in the name of a charitable foundation can also enjoy tax incentives, which is a win-win situation.

Who loses?The tax department lost.

Oldham smiled sincerely, stood up and hugged Zhou Xin: "Newman, thank you for your donation. I will send you an email when the Department of Electrical Engineering has available teaching capabilities.

I can even tell you what they like, want, and have hobbies. "

The US$1 million is earmarked for donation to the department and has not yet been earmarked for use. Oldham can create 20 permanent teaching positions, so it doesn’t matter if only 5 are left.

Oldham thought to himself, fortunately, no matter what Zhou Xin did before, he always greeted him with a smile. Now he finally got a lot of gold coins. US$1 million is already a big deal.

Zhou Xin stretched out his hand to shake Oldham's hand: "Professor, we have agreed that we will welcome Berkeley talents to work in my company in the future, and my company will always welcome Berkeley graduates."

Among Zhou Xin's companies, Berkeley and Yanda have the most universities. If we only count the number of employees in the Amerikan area, Berkeley has more universities than Yanda.

The siphon effect of Zhou Xin’s studies at Berkeley was too obvious.

Zhou Xin got his doctorate in June. At this time, the sale of Weibo had already come to fruition. Microsoft came out on top with a bid of 6 billion, of which more than 274% was settled with Microsoft equity, with less than 70.00% in cash. 70 million.

Compared with established giants like Microsoft, Baidu's financial resources are still not strong enough. At most, they can only offer about US$200 billion.

This quotation is not an exaggeration. As a pre-installed application for Mphone, it is released on multiple platforms at the same time. It has more than 3000 million users worldwide. Although the revenue is limited, less than [-] million US dollars, it is a star in the field of mobile Internet. Application, valuation and revenue have little to do.

When Facebook acquired WhatsApp, its offer was around US$200 billion. At that time, WhatsApp had only US$100 million in revenue, so Microsoft’s offer was even lower.

Zhou Xin also wanted to get rid of this hot potato because the election was approaching and he didn't want to cause trouble. Otherwise, if he was willing to give Baidu time to raise money, the transaction amount could go up again.

Of course, if it had been a time when the Nasdaq bubble had not burst, the 1000 billion U.S. dollars would have been paid for by the wrongdoer.

"Mr. Ballmer, Weibo is an amazing application. It is a joy that Microsoft can buy Weibo at such a low price."

At Microsoft's gala dinner that day, Paulson attended the dinner as a representative of Goldman Sachs, and he sat next to Ballmer.

Microsoft's acquisition of Weibo is actually facing a lot of resistance, because as a Silicon Valley giant, Microsoft's attitude has always been clear, that is, it supports the Donkey Party.

Although Bill Gates has not shown any obvious tendency to donate to both the Donkey Party and the Elephant Party, Ballmer's tendency is obvious, as is the tendency of most Microsoft executives.

Therefore, the White House was very reluctant to complete the deal, but under the wrangling in Washington, Microsoft successfully completed the acquisition.

Ballmer nodded: "This price is indeed much lower than our bottom line, and it seems that Newman is also facing a lot of pressure.

If Weibo wants to continue to be a pre-installed application on Mphone in the future, we need to pay Matrix according to the number of units.

The price hasn't been discussed yet, but I heard from Pony that the price of one unit is about US$0.5.

This made me realize once again the importance of ecology. If Matrix takes the ultimate lead in the field of smartphone operation series, it will be very detrimental to Microsoft. "

Ballmer was not too happy because he did not get much benefit from this transaction. For Microsoft to spend so much shares and cash, and at the same time to attack across the board in the fields of smartphones and game consoles, its cash flow is facing a problem. Unprecedented pressure.

(End of this chapter)