Chapter 169 The Only Trouble
"Senior Brother Jiang."
"President Shan."
Inside the office, Su Yuanshan and Jiang Wanchao shook hands warmly. After they sat down, Su Yuanshan personally brewed a cup of coffee for Jiang Wanchao.
As he handed it over, seeing Jiang about to stand up, Su Yuanshan teased him, "This feels a bit strange. Back when we were still in Yuanxin, whenever I poured you tea, you wouldn't even get up—and you were picky about it too. Now that you're the boss yourself, you're suddenly so well-mannered?"
He was, of course, referring to the time when he was self-studying physics and Jiang Wanchao, with his background as an Applied Physics graduate from Peking University, mentored him and carried himself with a fair amount of pride.
Today, dressed in a suit and tie with polished leather shoes, Jiang Wanchao looked every inch the elite professional. Hearing Su Yuanshan's words, he quickly sat down again, smiling, "I forgot this is Yuanxin. Those old airs don't apply here."
Su Yuanshan smiled and shook his head. He knew Jiang Wanchao wasn't particularly ambitious—at least, not commercially ambitious. Otherwise, he wouldn't have handed over EDA so readily.
Precisely because Jiang lacked commercial ambition, he was somewhat dissatisfied with having to operate independently now. He envied people like Li Mingliu and Tian Yaoming, who remained at Yuanxin, working without worries, purely focusing on their projects. Especially the "May Veterans"—those first employees who joined Yuanxin back in 1991—who often reminisced about the early days when only a few dozen people worked day and night toward a shared dream.
Back then, Su Yuanshan and Xi Xiaoding were the company's living legends—there was no problem they couldn't solve together, particularly when it came to coding.
(This chapter title was initially wrong; it should indeed be Chapter 169.)
"This time I plan to bring Qu Hui along and also establish an R&D center in Silicon Valley," Jiang Wanchao said, sipping his coffee and sighing. "Even though our founding team here still holds absolute authority, the investors across the sea are still investors, and we have to show them some respect."
"Yes, that's necessary," Su Yuanshan agreed with a nod. He had already briefed Jiang thoroughly during the spin-off about what to do, what not to do, and how to go about it. "But for now, don't separate Xinghai's business. Wait until the branch office is fully set up."
Although Xinghai was doing well, losing the steady cash flow from EDA had made things a little shaky. They had to stabilize operations first.
Jiang nodded. "I understand. I've already been in touch with Carly. She said we can separate the businesses anytime—just whenever we're ready."
Su Yuanshan chuckled. "Just remember not to let the investors dictate your pace. Move at your own speed. Speaking of which... Yuanxin will also be setting up an R&D center in Silicon Valley. Hopefully, it won't trigger too much anxiety among certain parties."
Jiang Wanchao laughed. "I don't think it'll be a problem. We and Yuanxin have already clearly separated. Even if we both have R&D centers in Silicon Valley, they'll be entirely independent and won't interfere with each other."
"Hope so," Su Yuanshan said lightly.
The two discussed their respective travel plans for a while longer, after which Jiang went over to check on Qu Hui—who, it seemed, had settled very comfortably into her work at Yuanxin, showing no particular eagerness to leave.
Meanwhile, Su Yuanshan began preparing the technology and equipment for the upcoming exhibition.
First and foremost, they would be showcasing their mobile phone prototype. After countless rounds of design and engineering refinement, Wang Rui's team had finally produced the first prototype—more accurately, an engineering sample.
This phone was significantly smaller than anything currently on the market. It adopted a classic straight-bar design with a flip-down mouthpiece cover and a small external antenna to compensate for signal weaknesses.
Its screen, built using display technology already conquered by Zhongxin, could display two full rows of Chinese characters within its operating system—a remarkable feat for the time.
The phone had excellent ergonomics as well, though it was somewhat heavy due to its "high-capacity" nickel-zinc battery. But Wang Rui believed that, in an era where people still carried giant "brick" phones, a bit of extra weight was hardly an issue.
More importantly, it was the first phone that supported Chinese SMS messaging.
It's worth noting that when Yuanxin first submitted its SMS technology to the GSM committee, not long after, Europe's Acision also announced their own text messaging system. Since SMS wasn't part of the core GSM standard but merely a service feature, the committee was at a loss over which one to recommend.
Seeing the risk, Tian Yaoming worked overtime to develop a system that could process over a thousand text messages per second. This performance led the GSM committee to favor Yuanxin's standard.
By contrast, Acision's system could only handle ten messages per second.
Behind the scenes, Siemens, Ericsson, and several other companies also played key roles in supporting Yuanxin. After Yuanxin launched its SMS system, these companies rushed to adapt their phones to be compatible with Yuanxin's standard.
Under identical conditions, once one company adopted a superior technology, others had no reason to cling to an inferior one. It became clear that giants became giants for a reason: they acted decisively when real benefits were on the table. Acision wasn't anyone's "favored child," after all—why would they stick their necks out for it?
Thus, this represented a small but significant victory for Yuanxin in the communications sector.
Aside from the mobile phone, Yuanxin would also be showcasing their new CPU, code-named YX02. And this time, it wouldn't be a modest display.
Together with Qin Weimin, Su Yuanshan would personally unveil and promote the 100MHz YX02 CPU to the world—while coordinating their efforts with Sony for cross-promotion.
Yes, Sony would be showcasing its first-generation PlayStation console at this year's event.
Although they only had two games ready, the real purpose was to announce to the world—and especially to Nintendo—that Sony didn't need them. They could build a gaming console on their own—and it was the most powerful console of its time!
One of the games was Ridge Racer, a racing game that brilliantly showcased the PlayStation's 3D capabilities. It could easily be called the best 3D racing game on the market.
The other was a simple 3D block-stacking game.
These two games weren't really meant for commercial success—they were demonstration software, created solely to show off the PlayStation's power.
Sony's motive was simple:
To vent their anger.
And to signal to game developers worldwide: Come, friends—come develop for us!
...
On the 16th, led by Su Yuanshan, Qin Weimin, and Wang Rui, along with a seven-person logistics and administration team, a sizable delegation boarded a flight to San Francisco.
Waiting for them at the airport were Yang Yiwen and Carly.
"BOSS, welcome," Carly said, reaching out to shake Su Yuanshan's hand.
"Long time no see," Su Yuanshan smiled, and after the handshake, he opened his arms toward Yang Yiwen. "Sister-in-law!"
Yang Yiwen had been smiling the whole time but, given the many people around, she remained restrained and only gave Su Yuanshan a polite hug before turning to Qin Weimin. "Senior Brother, Wenjie sends his regards."
Qin Weimin smiled and nodded.
After some brief greetings, everyone got into their respective cars and set off grandly toward Silicon Valley.
On the way, Su Yuanshan chatted briefly with Carly about Xinghai's current situation.
According to Carly, Xinghai's growth was rock-solid. Even if they immediately spun off the EDA division, it wouldn't cause any problems for their cash flow.
The only slight issue was that Chen Haoming's pace had become a bit too aggressive...
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Albino1