Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

57: Chapter 57: The Cornerstone of Communication, Huaxing CommunicationsThe heat from the Xinghuo Electronics press conference had not yet completely subsided, but Su Chen had already locked himself in his office on the top floor of the headquarters.

Outside the window was the bright night of Shenzhen, with neon lights outlining the contours of the city, and information flowing silently within it.

However, beneath this prosperity, Su Chen knew that the underlying technology supporting modern communication still carried the risk of being strangled by others.

He sat behind his large desk, his eyes focused on a virtual screen that only he could see—it was the interface from the ’Super-Dimensional System.’

On the interface, an option glowing with deep blue light was waiting for his confirmation: [5G Communication Key Technology Package].

”Millimeter Wave Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) enhancement technology... dynamic Massive MIMO channel estimation algorithms... and waveform design optimization suitable for high-mobility scenarios...” Su Chen whispered the core directory contained in the technology package. Behind every term stood a high ground on the future 5G communication battlefield.

These technologies were not a complete 5G blueprint, but they pointed precisely to the several major difficulties and key evolutionary paths of current research and development, enough to occupy an important discourse power in future standard formulation.

The price was high—1.5 billion system rebate funds.

After the exchange, 3.7 billion system rebate funds remained.

”But some things cannot be measured by money.” Su Chen’s gaze was firm, no longer hesitating, ”Exchange!”

[Ding! Consumed 1.5 billion rebate funds, successfully exchanged for ’5G Communication Key Technology Package’. Relevant technical data, algorithm models, and experimental data have been transmitted to the designated encrypted server.]

[Ding! Detected that the host has made a major strategic investment in the field of key communication technologies, triggering the ’National Heavy Weapon’ hidden reward. Rewarding key talents: Qin Yue (Communication Scientist), Mobile Phone Product Manager (Mobile Phone Product Manager). Talents have been arranged with reasonable entry backgrounds and will actively contact Spark Technology within 24 hours.]

The system’s prompt was cold and clear, but a fervent smile appeared on the corner of Su Chen’s mouth.

Capital and technology were hard power, but top-tier talent was the key to transforming these strengths into victory.

Sure enough, the next afternoon, Lin Wan brought two people with outstanding temperaments into Su Chen’s office.

The woman walking in front was about thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old, wearing a well-tailored dark gray suit skirt, wearing rimless glasses, with sharp and calm eyes, exuding a rigorous aura belonging to laboratories and data.

”General Manager Su, this is Dr. Qin Yue, a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from MIT, and former Chief 5G Architect at Qualcomm.” Lin Wan introduced.

Qin Yue stepped forward and shook hands with Su Chen, with moderate strength and a steady, clear voice: ”General Manager Su, I’ve heard a lot about you. I have brought some of my research insights in the fields of millimeter wave and MIMO, and I hope to contribute to the communication cause of China.”

Her words were concise, without unnecessary small talk, pointing straight to the core.

Following her was a younger-looking man, about thirty-two or thirty-three years old, wearing a fashionable casual suit, with his hair meticulously groomed, and sparks of creation dancing in his eyes.

Before Lin Wan could introduce him, he took the initiative to reach out, smiling brightly: ”Hello, General Manager Su! I am Mobile Phone Product Manager, a product manager who wants to make the best mobile phone in the world. I spent a few years at Apple, but I think the era that belongs to us has just begun!”

Su Chen shook hands with the two one by one, and could clearly feel their distinct qualities: Qin Yue was a scientist diving deep into the ocean of technology, rational and precise; Mobile Phone Product Manager was an artist soaring in the sky of user experience, enthusiastic and keen.

”Dr. Qin, Mr. Mobile Phone Product Manager, welcome to Spark.” Su Chen gestured for them to sit down, his expression solemn, ”The timing of your arrival is just right. Spark is about to launch a project that can change the industry landscape. I need you two to become the cornerstone of this project from the perspectives of technology and product respectively.”

He briefly revealed his intention to contact Huawei and cooperate deeply in the fields of 5G and high-end mobile phones.

A sharp light flashed in Qin Yue’s eyes, clearly full of anticipation for the technical breakthrough; while Mobile Phone Product Manager almost jumped off the sofa, rubbing his hands excitedly: ”Huawei’s communication heritage plus Spark’s hardware innovation! A match made in heaven! General Manager Su, I have a premonition that we can create a product that will make Apple tremble!”

A few days later, Huawei headquarters.

Unlike the modern and minimalist style of Spark Technology, the Huawei headquarters campus was more steady and heavy.

In the strategic conference room on the top floor, a discussion concerning the future direction of China’s technology was underway.

On one side of the heavy mahogany long table sat the core team of Huawei led by President Ren, with several vice presidents and technical heads looking solemn.

On the other side were Su Chen, Lin Wan, and Qin Yue and Mobile Phone Product Manager, who had just joined but had already been entrusted with important tasks.

Although President Ren was old, he was full of energy and had eyes like torches. When he shook hands with Su Chen, he had a lot of strength.

”General Manager Su, you are young and promising.” President Ren spoke, his voice loud, with a unique accent, ”We have seen the rise of Spark over the past few years. Especially your breakthroughs in core chips and key components, it’s very encouraging!”

”Ren, you are overpraising.” Su Chen’s attitude was humble and sincere, ”Huawei’s decades of deep cultivation in the field of communication is the true backbone of the nation. We at Spark are just standing on the shoulders of giants and doing some supplementary work within our capabilities.”

After the pleasantries, the conversation quickly entered the main topic.

Su Chen first elaborated on Spark’s cooperation vision: ”Ren, everyone, the current situation is very clear. Fighting alone, it is difficult for any of us to fully compete with international giants in the future 5G era and high-end market. We must unite and integrate advantageous resources.”

He signaled to Qin Yue. Qin Yue understood, opened the encrypted terminal she carried, and projected some non-core technical summaries onto the large screen in the conference room.

”This is some preliminary model and simulation data on our millimeter wave hybrid beamforming and dynamic MIMO channel prediction.” Qin Yue’s voice was as calm as if she were reading an experimental report, but every term made the Huawei technical experts on the opposite side look solemn, ”According to our analysis, these directions can effectively improve spectrum efficiency and connection stability, especially in high-density user scenarios.”

A technical vice president of Huawei couldn’t help but push his glasses and lean forward, carefully examining the curves and formulas on the screen: ”Dr. Qin, this algorithm model... seems to bypass some of Qualcomm’s patent barriers?”

”Yes,” Qin Yue nodded, ”We are taking a different path. Although it is more complex, it has greater potential and is cleaner.”

President Ren nodded slightly, with more profound meaning in his eyes as he looked at Su Chen. He originally thought that Spark only had achievements in hardware design, but he didn’t expect that such a deep foreshadowing had been laid in the more underlying communication algorithms.

Then, Mobile Phone Product Manager took over the conversation. He didn’t talk about technology, but about ”feeling.”

”Seniors, what I want to talk about is mobile phones, the product in the user’s hand.” Mobile Phone Product Manager spoke quickly, full of passion, ”Are we missing top-tier communication basebands? We are temporarily missing them. But we have the ’flint no. 2’ 16nm chip that is about to be taped out, with performance comparable to the flagship chips of the same era! We have self-developed ’Light and Shadow’ series camera modules, and the imaging quality is obvious to all! We also have ’Divine Travel’ battery technology, both endurance and fast charging are top-tier!”

He gestured with both hands, as if that dream mobile phone had already taken shape in his hands: ”Huawei has the most powerful communication technology, deep system optimization foundation, and global channels. If we join forces and integrate Spark’s hardware and some key algorithms with Huawei’s communication technology and system ecosystem... we can create an unprecedented product! It is not a simple stacking of materials, but a perfect fusion from underlying communication, chip performance to upper-layer user experience! We want users to feel not only fast but also stable when they hold it in their hands; not only clear but also shocking!”

Mobile Phone Product Manager’s words were full of infectious power and imagery, and even several Huawei executives who had been serious all along couldn’t help but be moved.

The atmosphere of the conversation shifted from the initial cautious probing to a warm and in-depth discussion. The technical staff of both sides began to communicate on specific technical details, cross-licensing of patents, and participation in standard formulation.

After several rounds of intensive consultations, the framework of cooperation gradually became clear.

President Ren finally made the decision, his voice steady and powerful: ”General Manager Su, you have shown enough sincerity and hard power. In that case, Huawei will not be stingy either. I think this joint venture should be called ’Huaxing Communications Technology Co., Ltd.’! Huawei and Spark, take one character from each, implying the stars and the sea, and a bright future.”

”Good name!” Su Chen agreed.

”The equity structure should be 50-50, with Spark and Huawei each holding 50%.” President Ren continued, ”Establish a joint management committee to negotiate major decisions together. We, Huawei, will invest 8 billion and provide all our 4G/5G communication technology accumulation, some core production equipment, R&D system, and global market channels.”

Su Chen added: ”Spark will invest 2 billion, and provide full ’flint no. 2’ chip platform authorization, exclusive supply of ’Light and Shadow’ 2.0 camera modules, ’Divine Travel’ battery technology, and...” He glanced at Qin Yue, ”...this part of 5G key technology brought by Dr. Qin’s team, as our common R&D starting point.”

This investment plan, where Huawei provided the bulk of cash and the existing huge system, and Spark provided future core hardware and key incremental technologies, reflected the resource complementarity and strategic demands of both sides.

President Ren stood up, reached out across the long table to Su Chen again, and this time, his eyes were particularly solemn: ”General Manager Su, we cannot let outsiders strangle us in the field of communication anymore. We must have our own voice in technical standards and the high-end market. This cooperation is not for hegemony, but for a breakthrough, to fight for a future for China’s technology!”

Su Chen held President Ren’s hand tightly, feeling the heavy responsibility and expectation, and responded clearly and powerfully: ”Ren, if we join hands, it is the future.”

The speed of the agreement signing was surprisingly fast. The efficient teams of both sides immediately began to operate, turning the agreement on paper into reality.

Huaxing Communications’s headquarters was registered in Shenzhen, adjacent to the parent companies of both sides, which was convenient for coordination. The production base was set in Guancheng, where the industrial chain was extremely perfect, and began to receive and integrate some production lines from Huawei and hardware manufacturing technology related to Spark.

The day after the agreement was signed, Qin Yue and Mobile Phone Product Manager went to report to Huaxing Communications with Su Chen’s earnest expectations and a heavy list (composed of technical backbones drawn from both sides). Qin Yue served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO), fully responsible for the R&D of 5G and subsequent communication technologies; Mobile Phone Product Manager served as Chief Product Officer (CPO), and began to outline the blueprint for the first ”Huaxing” brand flagship mobile phone.

When the news that ”Huawei and Spark established a joint venture ’Huaxing Communications’, focusing on 5G and high-end smartphones” was officially announced through official channels, the entire technology industry seemed to have encountered a magnitude 9 earthquake.

”Technology Headlines” wrote with bold headlines: ”Dragon Combination! Huawei and Spark create ’Huawei’, the strongest alliance in Chinese technology is born, aiming at the 5G throne and the high-end mobile phone market!”

The in-depth analysis of ”Finance Weekly” pointed out: ”The birth of ’Huaxing’ is by no means a simple business cooperation. It marks that Chinese technology companies have begun to move from internal competition of zero-sum games to ’hand-in-hand breakthrough’ with core technology as the link. The combination of Spark’s hardware innovation and Huawei’s communication heritage will produce a terrible chemical reaction, and the global industrial landscape may be reshaped as a result.”

The internet was even more boiling, and topics related to ”Huaxing” instantly rushed to the top of the hot search list.

”My God! Huawei + Spark? What kind of dream linkage is this!”

”Self-developed chips + self-developed communication technology + self-developed imaging system... This configuration is invincible!”

”It’s over, Xiaomi, OP, VI are going to lose sleep!”

”This is the correct posture to fight international giants! Support Huaxing!”

As netizens expected, at the Xiaomi Technology headquarters, Lei Jun urgently convened all executives, and the atmosphere in the conference room was so heavy that water could drip out.

The heads of OP and VI also held strategic meetings at almost the same time to discuss how to deal with this sudden ”ultimate opponent.”

Huaxing has not released any product yet, but the potential for technology integration and brand appeal it represents has already made all domestic mobile phone manufacturers feel unprecedented pressure.

Even Apple’s Cook and Samsung’s Lee Jae-yong, who were far across the ocean, received this detailed cooperation briefing at the first time, and instructed the technical and market departments to conduct the highest level of attention and research on ”Huaxing Communications.”

A storm set off by ”Huaxing” has just begun.