Reinventing the Millennium

Hamilton is the person in charge of EDGE baseband chip research in Texas Instruments' wireless division.

He's been in a bad mood lately.

On the one hand, the company has cut employee benefits and reduced salaries and bonuses since June. On the other hand, his TI shares have also fallen by 37%. This is simply a bolt from the blue.

However, just yesterday, my wife was laid off.

This made Hamilton, who heard some rumors about his company, feel even more chilled.

Some familiar high-level friends said that the EDGE baseband department was also among the layoffs. Others said that the company planned to sell the baseband business as a whole. Some even said that even buyers were already in close contact.

Hamilton knew that the company's baseband research was relatively unsophisticated, but...

If this really involves aggressive layoffs or sales, how can TI's future mobile chips compete with Qualcomm?

On the evening of the 29th, a worried Hamilton was called to the conference room on the 7th floor. He once suspected that he was going to be laid off.

However, when he saw four other colleagues waiting outside, he let go of some of his worries.

At nine o'clock in the evening, five technical directors walked into the conference room together with five technical directors who had been waiting for half an hour but said nothing to each other.

Hamilton met Richard, the head of his family, and a group of other strangers.

"This is Mr. Fang from Yike Company. Please introduce the technical content you are currently responsible for."

When Hamilton heard the leader's bland order, he looked at the other party in confusion, and then at the smiling oriental man next to him.

He was standing in the first place. He had no time to think about such a battle and said subconsciously: "I am Hamilton, the supervisor in charge of EDGE baseband design. I am responsible for studying EDGE's support for multi-slot capacity transmission data. What we are doing is computing system reception." The number of MIPS required for the mode to work."

"Because synchronization, equalization and channel decoding require DSP MIPS, the EDGE baseband structure in receive mode will require 15 DSP MIPS."

"This is without taking the 8PSK equalizer into consideration. If this is added, there will be eight different channel coding modes that can be switched according to the channel quality..."

Hamilton spoke more and more smoothly, putting aside the worries and pressure caused by the economic situation.

When he talked about relying on advanced virtual design, rethinking the division of algorithms, hardware and software, and completing RF, baseband and call processing simulations, the head Richard stopped this behavior.

"That's it, Hamilton, that's it." Richard glanced at the Yike team who were writing and drawing, and felt that this introduction method was really inefficient.

Hamilton stopped without knowing what he was saying, and glanced angrily at the oriental man who was always smiling, suspecting that he didn't understand what he was saying at all.

He had already recognized it. This was the same Yike Fangzhuo who had angrily criticized Nokia at the press conference.

"Richard, we have made very good progress in this research. We just need to allocate some more funds and we will get good results soon."

Hamilton felt that he had come, so he took advantage of the situation and made a request.

"Due to the company's overall strategic considerations, your department has been included in the scope of layoffs." Only then did Richard officially announce the purpose of this trip. He looked at the other four technical directors who looked uneasy and added He said, "Yours too."

Hamilton had no idea that his wife had been laid off just yesterday and that it would be his turn today.

This is Deyi!

It’s Deyi who has big customers like Nokia and Motorola!

Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly thought of his own stock, and he understood in an instant - this was also Deyi whose market value had dropped by nearly 40%.

The company's revenue this quarter was US$3.387 billion, down 8% year-on-year, and net profit was US$563 million, down 26% year-on-year. The company will face a more severe situation in the next four quarters.

Hamilton thought of the frowning brows of his executive friends at the dinner table, and thought of his pessimistic forecast that both revenue and profits in the next quarter may fall by 50% year-on-year.

This is a more pessimistic tone than the third quarter financial report, but...before today, who would have thought that the Dow Jones Index would drop nearly 800 points?

Unlike the confidence he had when he introduced his research content just now, Hamilton's thoughts became confused. Is his team going to be sold off? Yike Company? Does Yike need to research baseband? If you are laid off, where will you go? Broadcom?

The eight-person team accompanying Yike discussed in low voices.

Richard looked at his five technical leaders, listened to the discussion next to them, and then looked at Mr. Fang, suddenly feeling a little impatient. When will this happen?

He motioned to Mr. Fang to sit next to him, and then whispered a trend that would spread in the near future: "Mr. Fang, are you interested in the entire GSM/GPRS/EDGE baseband chip department?"

Fang Zhuo was shocked when he heard this: "The entire baseband department? This... that... um..."

If you sell the entire baseband department, it will be even worse to compete with Qualcomm.

To buy a processor from you, you have to buy the baseband from someone else, or more likely from your competitor. Even if you can buy it this way, it will still increase production costs, battery consumption and design difficulty.

How can you continue to have fun?

Fang Zhuo's thoughts turned. Richard, the head of Deyi, would only know Deyi's situation better than himself. If he wanted to use this to reduce expenses, it would definitely be the lesser of two evils, and Deyi would decline. The speed is faster than what I saw and imagined.

He hesitated and said: "If I remember correctly, TI's mobile phone baseband department can contribute a lot of revenue?"

"The second largest department in the wireless business." Richard nodded and spit out a number, "The package price is US$2.8 billion."

Seeing the shock on Mr. Fang's face, he added, "We can discuss the price, and we don't have to pay all in cash."

Fang Zhuo said tentatively: "800 million?"

Richard laughed angrily.

Fang Zhuo sighed and waved his hand: "It's too expensive, it's too expensive, Richard. The industry situation is unclear now. No matter who it is, they will be very cautious about large transactions. I am not interested in this yet."

This package price is indeed too expensive. The most important thing is that Yike has no evaluation of this transaction.

From Fang Zhuo's intuition alone, this is not cost-effective enough for Yike.

The financial crisis has just broken out, and we can look at the situation of the entire industry later.

"Mr. Fang, we think Hamilton's EDGE baseband design content is beneficial." The Yike team gave an opinion at this time. Hamilton and the ten engineers led by him are worth buying.

Fang Zhuo nodded slightly, turned his head and said to Richard, "This is pretty good."

Richard looked at Hamilton and replied: "Tomorrow the company will set up a layoff and employment team to be responsible for communication in this area and the proper placement of employees."

He said to Hamilton: "Hamilton, you can leave. Yike Company is interested in your research. You can chat with your engineers tonight. Other manufacturers may come to visit in the future."

TI's engineers are generally very talented.

Hamilton was still at a loss. He had worked at Deyi for twelve years. At this moment, these twelve years seemed to be condensed into a single sentence.

At this time, he saw the Oriental man getting up from his seat, walking up to him with a smile, and extending his right hand.

Hamilton shook hands subconsciously.

"I hope to see your research shine again in Yike in the future." Fang Zhuo said this and returned to his seat.

Hamilton has mixed feelings and is not sure whether Yike will be a good destination.

He wanted to speak, but the boss, Richard, was expressionless, and the colleagues next to him looked nervous. After all, they walked out of the conference room heavily without saying anything.

The Texas Instruments sign still shines in the night.

But Hamilton felt like he had faded.

Let's sell TI's shares tomorrow.

With this thought in mind, he silently left Deyi headquarters.

An hour later, four more people left silently.

When Fang Zhuo and Richard got up from the conference room, they both realized the unsustainability of this model tonight.

Deyi has too many people to lay off.

This selection speed is too slow.

"Tomorrow, I have two important global meetings to attend, and Anderson will be responsible for this work." Richard got out first, and then said, "Tomorrow, the personnel department will come up with a layoff list. You can Preliminary review first, otherwise, you will be in Dallas this week."

Fang Zhuo calculated: "Tonight involves 56 employees. It's okay to work overtime. For us, using a week is a sign of respect for Deyi."

Texas Instruments plans to lay off 600 employees, and Yike evaluates their work content in groups.

Richard said calmly: "The situation this time is more serious. Since you are here, you might as well take a closer look."

Fang Zhuo: "..."

It's as casual as going to the market to buy meat.

He took two steps and suddenly realized the problem and asked, "How many people will Deyi lay off this time?"

Richard said without any fluctuations: "There are probably more than 3,000 people, and they will be carried out in batches depending on the situation."

Fang Zhuo stopped. This was five times as much information as he had received!

If we really go through all these employees, I'm afraid they will spend Christmas in Dallas.

Yike's eight-person evaluation team is simply not enough.

Fang Zhuo felt spoiled just by thinking about Deyi's number.

He sighed: "The impact of this financial crisis is really huge. I didn't expect that TI's transformation would be so rapid and resolute."

"There are ups and downs." Richard never had too many ups and downs. At this time, he said, "Slim down in crisis. There is nothing to hesitate. As long as there is a way forward, there is nothing to be afraid of."

"Now the demand for PC and mobile phone system chips continues to weaken, and our competitive environment has also seen many changes, but the demand for industrial application chips is growing rapidly."

Richard showed a smile: "Mr. Fang, if you have such customer needs, you can introduce them to us."

"The market for mobile phone chips is such a big one..." Fang Zhuo felt sorry for Deyi.

He has already felt the transformation pace of TI. The baseband business will be sold. If the situation goes wrong, mobile phone chips will not be far away.

"Few people can survive the global economic cooling. We must be prepared for a comprehensive decline." Richard shook his head, "Yike is a lucky man. Your growth in smartphones is commendable. Nokia, Motorola is not that lucky."

He continued: "As you said, Nokia has reached a very dangerous moment, and TI should also be prepared for this. Hamilton was an employee who joined TI in 1996. I regret that it was me who told him tonight. I talked about layoffs, but as long as Deyi doesn’t collapse, I really hope to see the day when he comes back.”

Fang Zhuo was silent for a while, knowing that Richard was not as calm as he appeared.

He just shook hands with the boss before getting in the car and said something similar to before: "I hope Yike will not bury the talents of these people."

Richard nodded and said goodbye to the first buyer who arrived at Deyi.

The evening assessment with TI's five technical leaders was really time-consuming, and it was already one o'clock in the morning when we got back to the hotel.

When Fang Zhuo got out of the car, he asked a question that was unspoken in Deyi: "Why do the five people at Deyi talk about five different technical contents and you think they are all OK? What if we meet ten people tonight? Same thing. Is everything okay?”

"But... they are indeed very good." Elder, the deputy technical director accompanying this trip, innocently spread his hands, "Maybe this is a meeting gift from Deyi."

Fang Zhuo thought about it, and it was possible that while others were still worried about the economic crisis, he had already arrived quickly, and he had to come up with some useful information.

The problem is, this is the first company we have seen in the United States. This first company has such a large scale of layoffs and its R\u0026D content is so good. What should we do next?

He looked at Elder and said, "Shake people, we need more people to evaluate what we need."

Elder felt the same way. Deyi was too fat and needed colleagues to come quickly.

…

The U.S. stock market plummeted, followed by global stock markets, and the financial crisis came.

Xiong Xiaoge, who returned to Beijing from Wuxi, is paying attention to the latest economic situation on the one hand, and considering the situation of Dangdang on the other.

He took people to quietly inspect the logistics center where Dangdang had stopped working. It was indeed planned well. The stoppage of work would be harmful to the company and the local area. At this time, heroes need to stand up.

On the last day of September, Xiong Xiaoge synthesized the information he had obtained, and while contacting his contacts to quietly convey the pressure of the shutdown, he was also looking for a suitable opportunity to meet Li Guoqing.

After all, Mr. Fang had some unpleasant experiences with Mr. Li before.

Although Mr. Fang had some misjudgments about himself, he must have a clear understanding of how to match him.

After two days of this, I heard that there was a new situation inside Dangdang, and Xiong Xiaoge felt that the opportunity to meet was coming.

October 3rd, National Day holiday.

Xiong Xiaoge went to Dangdang headquarters alone and knocked on the door of Li Guoqing's office.

Five minutes later, he was kicked out.

Xiong Xiaoge was not angry or disappointed.

I just feel that Mr. Fang did hurt others deeply.

Xiong Xiaoge remained patient and continued to wait. He could understand Mr. Li's displeasure, but...

When a crisis comes, there will always be an opportunity.