Chapter 246 Elevating the Design Standards
"These are just some preliminary ideas." Duan Yongping of course knew exactly who he was speaking to—Qin Weimin and Tian Yaoming were titans of Yuanxin's R&D center. Tian Yaoming was hailed as the father of China's mobile phone and pager industry, while Qin Weimin was known as the only domestic CPU developer to reach international standards—the father of the YX architecture.
To be honest, Duan felt a bit nervous standing before these "juniors" who were several years younger than him but had already reached the peak of their respective fields.
Yuanxin's culture was unmistakably clear: science and research above all. From top to bottom, the atmosphere was one of scientific rigor and technical excellence. No wonder outsiders called it a mini-academy.
But Duan had had in-depth discussions with Su Yuanshan about the relationship between R&D, production, and marketing—essentially, how to balance technology, engineering, and commerce. He understood that Su Yuanshan was a technical purist at heart but pragmatic enough to know that technology must be industrialized and commercialized in order to thrive. At least, for the areas a company can touch.
So even though he greatly respected these two national heroes of tech, Duan had his own vision—and it aligned with Su Yuanshan's.
"When it comes to mobile phones, outstanding performance, practical functionality, and beautiful design—these should not be demands from the consumer. They should be goals pursued by the enterprise, guiding public taste."
He looked around the room, aware that most here were either in marketing, technical fields, or management. He knew aesthetic appreciation was probably not their strong suit.
But aesthetics could be both philosophy and daily life. For mass consumer products like phones, meeting aesthetic expectations was essential. Yet for a company to become truly great, it had to shape those expectations.
A company that only meets demand is one that caters. In the long run, that makes it second-rate.
"So whether we start from breakthrough technologies or aesthetics, the mobile division hopes R&D can quickly provide solutions for chip and baseband integration, increasing system integration and enhancing functionality."
Duan finished, smiled toward Qin Weimin and Tian Yaoming, and fell silent.
The two tech leads exchanged a glance, smiled, then fell into thought.
Wan Yongliang, meanwhile, shot Duan a look full of mixed emotions.
Chen Jing, like Su Yuanshan, maintained a thoughtful silence and then smiled faintly.
She knew Su had backed Duan's promotion. Not only because Duan had the skills—but because his expertise in single-product strategy was exceptional.
Duan had a background in radio electronics and had once led Subor. His technical acumen and big-picture thinking were impressive. What he lacked was a high-level platform and broader perspective.
After joining Yuanxin, it would be a stretch to say Duan felt like a fish in water. But with Su Yuanshan's tacit support, he did gain access to a bigger stage—and he was subtly reshaping Yuanxin.
Technology must be a company's strategic core—but it shouldn't dominate product design.
The conflict between design and tech had been clear since the design phase of the YX1201. Back then, Su Yuanshan had to intervene personally to shut down the arrogance of the R&D engineers.
The same issue resurfaced during Vidoo's development, eating up a lot of Duan's time before the product finally took shape.
The core problem? Yuanxin's R&D center was just too powerful.
...
The room had fallen silent. No one else spoke.
Chen Jing cleared her throat softly.
"In principle, I agree with Lao Duan. Public taste, aesthetic preferences, ideals, and culture—these need to be guided. Designers must not blindly cater to the market. And in tech products, elevated aesthetics must be backed by technical breakthroughs."
She looked toward Qin Weimin and Tian Yaoming.
"So, Lao Qin, Lao Tian—what's the progress on your end? What's the status of SoC integration and design planning?"
Tian Yaoming cleared his throat with a smile. "I'll answer that. Right now, our mobile communications design department has three main teams—baseband and chip design, base station systems, and protocol development. The protocol team is cross-functional and works with multiple departments in the R&D center."
"The baseband and chip team's progress isn't entirely up to us. We rely heavily on the foundry. In fact, by the end of the year, we should be able to prepare for tape-out. But how long that preparation takes depends on TI's process design timeline."
"Let me simplify the relationship between chip design and the foundry:
Chip design is like building blocks. What we're doing with EDA is designing new block shapes. But the foundry defines the size of each block. Once we design the shape, how those blocks are assembled—that's the foundry's job."
"So, if you want a precise timeline? We can't give you one. No one knows what issues might arise during tape-out or after."
"As for integration, that's the easy part. Once we integrate the baseband chip, the size will be about half a cigarette box." Tian Yaoming pulled a box out and placed it on the table.
"Depending on the design, it'll be smaller than this."
"Honestly, I think these concept phones look pretty good." Tian nodded toward the design sketches.
"I don't know aesthetics, but my gut tells me they're attractive—visually appealing enough to sell."
Duan nodded with a smile.
Chen Jing nodded as well, then glanced at Su Yuanshan—who clearly had no intention of speaking today. She smirked.
Then, turning to Qin Weimin, Tian Yaoming, and Duan, she said with a smile:
"Technology, design, and production must not be biased or disconnected—let alone antagonistic.
So I propose elevating the mobile design department's status, and based on that, forming a professional design division that spans all consumer electronics."
"In doing so, we'll establish a streamlined model covering four professional domains: foundational technology, design, manufacturing, and marketing.
That's how we turn technology into products—and sustainable growth."
Qin Weimin and Tian Yaoming exchanged glances again.
Then, smiling, they nodded simultaneously.
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