Reinventing the Millennium

“After Broadcom, Qualcomm once again looked for a new target and unexpectedly selected Avago, a Singaporean company that had previously acquired it.”

"It's somewhat dark humor."

"Avago remained silent and did not respond."

"According to senior legal experts, Qualcomm's acquisition of Avago does not require China's approval. This undoubtedly solves a major procedural problem because Qualcomm's antitrust investigation in China has not yet ended."

"But is Avago really suitable for Qualcomm? Can it become a replacement for Broadcom?"

"We have doubts about that."

"In any case, after Qualcomm was unable to acquire Broadcom, its decision seemed particularly urgent."

The Wall Street Journal tracked and reported on Qualcomm’s latest situation. Although it has not been fully confirmed, the ambiguous performance of many Qualcomm executives corroborated the relevant revelations.

This is shocking.

Qualcomm and Broadcom are a perfect match...

Broadcom fired its second CEO overnight and was eager to reconcile with Intel. Qualcomm also found a second target almost seamlessly after failing to marry Broadcom...

These two families really have no window period at all!

It's a pity that China beat the couple hard and broke up the two lovers whose temperaments were so compatible.

The New York Times looked at the situation and gave a more comprehensive explanation.

"Qualcomm must really miss the competitive environment six months ago."

"In half a year, it will face strong competition from Yike, Apple, Intel, Broadcom and other companies, and this fierce competition comes from two sources. One is that mobile phone manufacturers are unwilling to continue to share interests with Qualcomm, and the other is that Yike The company has made a breakthrough in the field of baseband chips."

"So far, Qualcomm's stock price has fallen by nearly 40% compared to half a year ago, and its market value of nearly $40 billion has disappeared. CEO Jacob is under tremendous pressure."

"If Mr. Fang is still willing to select the most disappointing CEO this year, Jacob will definitely get this trophy."

"If the media were to select the most disappointing company this year, Qualcomm would probably be on the list."

“Has Qualcomm reached a point where it must change?”

"I believe most people have similar answers."

"Qualcomm needs to make changes, and Jacobs does make changes under the pressure of the stock market, products, and antitrust investigations."

"To be honest, Avago may not be a good match for Qualcomm, but Qualcomm has few choices."

Qualcomm is under a lot of pressure, and Jacobs is under a lot of pressure.

No company or leader can ignore this kind of pressure, especially a sudden attack like vetoing an acquisition is even more destabilizing.

In this case, Avago is indeed, as the New York Times said, one of the few acquisition options. It is not that big, its business is similar to Broadcom, and it does not need to be reviewed by China. , can solve the dependence on a single business, and can revive the company's stock price...

As for whether there is revenge for the "humiliation" of the previous hostile acquisition, it depends on different interpretations.

Avago did not receive any real contact from Qualcomm for two days over the weekend, but news in the market was already spreading all over the place.

Guessing that the situation would not be clear soon, Fang Zhuo took a flight to Silicon Valley to fulfill his duties as the leader, and Ni Boren, CEO of Kesheng Company, was already waiting here.

It's July, and the second half of 2014 has already begun. According to Yusanjia's practice, flagship mobile phones will be released one after another. However, there has been no news from Yike this year, so there are rumors about the poor research and development of ice cores.

This wave of rumors had already appeared in the first half of the year, but because of the similar situation last year, it was not taken seriously.

However, now that the time between the traditional Q3/Q4 press conference is short or long, the news that was originally ignored has regained its gold content.

Not just gossip, many Yike executives, including co-founder Yu Hong, US Vice President Schroeder, etc., did not answer questions about the autumn conference and new products in interviews on different occasions, which is regarded as a kind of evidence.

Is there something wrong with the ice core? Something really went wrong? Can’t guarantee the competitiveness of Yike’s flagship phone?

Even Conexian Mobile CEO Ni Boren, who left Yike, is very curious about this issue. He vaguely feels that the gossip circulating now does not seem to be nonsense. This can also be seen from the changes in the resources available to him.

As a relatively independent company, Kesheng has gained greater freedom this year. It not only obtained chip solutions from Morningstar Semiconductor, but also tried Qualcomm's chips. Of course, Qualcomm's product supply was abruptly interrupted due to the patent litigation with Yike. However, Morningstar Semiconductor has already provided a chip solution based on 20nm in June.

20nm is supposed to be the most advanced mobile phone chip solution in the second half of the year and even the first half of next year. However, Morningstar actually came up with it earlier than Yike, which is inevitably confusing.

Moreover, according to the usual practice, Ice Core's initial 20nm production capacity will only be provided to Yike, and will be introduced to other customers slowly. Therefore, Morningstar's attempt based on 20nm may be a non-Ice Core wafer foundry.

Either Taiwan Journal, UMC, Samsung, or GF, there is no other possibility.

Ni Boren specifically communicated with Morningstar about this matter a few days ago and got an ambiguous answer - Mr. Fang does not prohibit us from cooperating with other foundry manufacturers.

In addition, Morningstar is not sure whether the 20nm process "Morning 3s" chip will eventually enter mass production.

Ni Boren is now certain that Morningstar's "Morning Light 3S" chip will definitely have strong technical support from Yike.

On July 18, Ni Boren, who had been waiting in Silicon Valley for two days, met Mr. Fang and accompanied him to inspect the R\u0026D center of his old employer in Silicon Valley.

Ni Boren previously worked in Yike Supply Chain, and has received very comprehensive training in the past few years. After going to Kesheng Company, he was extremely busy. This time he came to Yike Silicon Valley R\u0026D Center again, and he felt particularly emotional.

He never thought he would become the CEO of a mobile phone company.

"The competitiveness of Conexian mobile phones is still very good. Our competition with Samsung is very fierce around the world, especially in the mid-to-low end. It has become even more intense."

Fang Zhuo and Ni Boren were walking in the R\u0026D center, talking about the development of Conexian mobile phones.

The overseas company of Conexian Mobile is controlled by Yike, and it also uses Yike's channels. There is no problem in treating it as a sub-brand. However, in China, consumers are more differentiated between the two brands.

"Yes, Mr. Fang, this kind of fierceness can only be attributed to the fact that Kesheng's mobile phone is too weak and cannot suppress Samsung in the high-end market like Yike." Ni Boren said with a smile.

Why is the mid-range and low-end products more competitive? Because in the past half year, Yike almost beat Samsung to death in the high-end category.

The past half year has been Samsung's most sluggish performance since it entered the Android camp.

First there were problems with the 28nm process technology, and then there were minor issues such as workmanship. By the time the Qualcomm chip was switched, the best sales period had passed, and the publicity efforts could not be increased. In the blink of an eye, there was pressure to develop new processes.

Various factors have combined to cause Samsung to shrink in the high-end mobile phone market.

"This year is special." Fang Zhuo said with a smile.

Ni Boren hesitated in his heart. After taking a few steps, he finally summoned up the courage to ask about the next process of the ice core. Unexpectedly, he was startled by the oncoming mechanical sound when he turned a corner from the corridor.

"Hello, Mr. Fang!"

On the left and right of the corridor were two robots bowing and saluting, and the voice came from their mouths.

Fang Zhuo was also startled, and then he realized that he couldn't laugh or cry.

He pointed at a robot and hesitated: "This..."

Zhang Yaqin, the president of EBG who was following him, had a slight fever on his face, and he suppressed his shyness and said: "This is an intelligent robot exploration project under our business department."

Fang Zhuo turned his head and glanced at Zhang Yaqin, um...

"Mr. Fang, this is the robot we designed. In the future, we want to embed Siri into it." Qu Jiajun, one of the project leaders, was also in the team and introduced excitedly.

Zhang Yaqin inhaled slightly, and suddenly regretted his soft-heartedness.

When he joined Yike, he saw this project of an old friend and cut it off without hesitation. However, he was later lobbied by Qu Jiajun and the Siri team, and thus the joint project was formed.

The hardware aspect is the robot's action behavior, and the software aspect is Siri's intelligent brain. The future goal is to deeply integrate the two.

Fang Zhuo listened to the introduction from the project leader, well, how should I put it, this flattering robot, let’s try it again...

He didn't comment and moved on after listening.

Zhang Yaqin slowly fell behind in the team. Just when he was about to tell Qu Jiajun angrily about Mr. Fang's invisible attitude, he heard the other party's positive voice.

"Mr. Fang didn't deny it!" Qu Jiajun took the lead.

Zhang Yaqin: "..."

Yes, Fang always didn't deny it, but he didn't confirm it either...

He glanced at his old friend with an extremely troubled look and sighed: "Your talent and energy can be used to work on other projects."

"Hey, I think this is interesting. As long as Mr. Fang doesn't deny it and is willing to pay, I will continue it!" Qu Jiajun knew Zhang Yaqin's attitude and moved out of the big boss.

Zhang Yaqin hesitated again and again and did not continue. He decided to chat with Mr. Fang when he had time. However, it was not impossible to continue. Yike did have money now.

Although Fang Zhuo's inspection of the Silicon Valley R\u0026D center was relatively routine, in addition to the astonishing flattery robots he saw, there were also some similarly rambling projects.

A team simulated real traffic conditions in Silicon Valley and then placed programmed autonomous driving in the virtual space.

Fang Zhuo watched it for a while, and it looked like he was making a game. However, he did not deny it easily. He just followed the thoughts of the developers and observed.

Finally, when he saw that self-driving vehicles would also cut into traffic jams, he asked: "This car will cut into traffic jams. What if the car next to the traffic jam is also a self-driving algorithm? Do the two algorithms compete with each other?"

Fang Zhuo got an extremely accurate answer.

"I haven't thought about it yet."

Fang Zhuo was at a loss for words and ended his observation of this project. Finally, he saw a familiar mobile phone design in the next laboratory. He felt somewhat relieved that he was still a reliable old friend.

This year, count on your old friends to give your competitors a boost.

He couldn't say enough about his inspection of the R\u0026D center, but Ni Boren next to him was full of praise.

"Mr. Fang, the things developed by Yike are very interesting and forward-looking!"

"Well, it's quite forward-looking." Fang Zhuo wasn't sure whether the praise came from the heart. After thinking about it again, he felt that innovation was probably like this.

It's probably OK.

He calmed down and talked about the most important function of Conexian mobile phones in the second half of the year: "In late September, mobile phones equipped with 'Morning Light 3S' can be released first."

Ni Boren was shocked. If Mingguang 3S and 20nm were used by Kesheng, wouldn't they steal Yike's limelight? In other words, is Yike really encountering difficulties in this regard?

There was no joy on his face, but he said hesitantly: "Mr. Fang, it seems that the 'Morning Light 3S' is not manufactured by Ice Core."

"Well, GF's technology is also good. It took the wrong path at 28nm, but 28nm is suitable for the rear gate solution. At 20nm, it is suitable for the front gate solution. GF is now in small-scale mass production ." Fang Zhuo introduced the situation.

GLOBALFOUNDRIES can also be considered a competitor, but its attributes are different from Taiji.

Ice Core will definitely not be able to provide 20nm production capacity this year. Even if it achieves a breakthrough in 16nm, it will not be able to provide it to customers like Morningstar. Therefore, this is the current situation.

On the one hand, 28nm uses the HKMG second-generation process for performance enhancement, and on the other hand, it is looking for partners.

Ni Boren nodded silently, then hesitated: "Then, ice core..."

"The situation is not that good, but it is not that bad." Fang Zhuo said without any abnormality, "The progress of the ice core is a bit slow, and Yike's flagship this year will probably be postponed."

The ice core progress is a bit slow.

However, this is where 16nm progress is slow.

Ni Boren feels that he understands the situation. This matter, this matter is like Qualcomm having to choose Avago as a replacement, Yike now also needs to launch Kesheng as a replacement, so Morningstar suddenly has the "Morning 3S" Chip solution, this is probably one of the solutions originally named "Zhurong".

But no matter what, this is a good thing for Kesheng.

While he was chatting with Mr. Fang about the development of Keexian mobile phones and pondering the competitive changes in the second half of the year, he gradually became excited. If the boss is in trouble, the younger brother will show off.

Fang Zhuo could guess some of Ni Boren's thoughts, but in fact he was also happy to see the development of Conexian mobile phones. After all, he wanted to make his own cake bigger.

He continued to inspect Silicon Valley for two days and considered some cutting-edge developments in the industry. On Thursday, a new piece of news related to Qualcomm appeared in front of his eyes.

In the new week, on Tuesday, Qualcomm has begun actual acquisition contact with Avago, and the latter also confirmed the news.

However, just as the market was buzzing with discussions, the FTC's informal attitude was surprising, stating that it was considering vetoing Qualcomm's acquisition of Avago.

Jacob: Huh?

Chen Fuyang: Huh?

Fang Zhuo: Huh?

As soon as the news came out, the three families were stunned.

No, Ami, what are you doing? Don’t you know Qualcomm’s biological son?

After a short period of consternation, lobbying forces from Yike, Qualcomm, and Avago started in unison. The three companies all wanted to promote Qualcomm's acquisition of Avago.

On this day, the three companies with ulterior motives achieved great harmony in decision-making.