Chapter 269: Teacher Ma's Theory of Power and Responsibility
After three rounds of drinks, Xie Jingxing and Teacher Ma chatted for a long time in the deep night.

In fact, neither of them understands the chip industry, or it can be said that this is an extremely sophisticated and closed industry. Take the photoresist company's IPO prospectus project, which was his first assessment topic during his internship at Juntai, as an example.

Since the beginning of this year, social capital and policy guidance have grown together in the chip industry. After ten years of wild growth, the chief analyst of a securities company optimistically denounced passers-by who were pessimistic about the domestic photoresist industry.

However, that layman was the head of the raw materials procurement department of a leading domestic chip manufacturing company.

It sounds like a joke that the chief analyst of a brokerage firm issued a research report without knowing the relevant front-line executives. Even if we put aside the fact that the brokerage firm is garbage, the professional and technical nature of the chip industry can still be seen.

“How about asking your cloud business experts to give me a lecture?”

After talking about a lot of random and superficial things, Xie Jingxing finally made a request.

"No problem, drink this cup, I'll call him now to make arrangements."

Mr. Ma raised his wine glass with a big tongue and concluded: "Don't be fooled by the foreigners' boasting. Chips are actually just so-so! Before we started Internet mobile payment, they praised NFC credit cards to the sky; before we started e-commerce, they praised retail supermarkets to be so advanced. What about now? Systematic disruptive innovation can achieve overtaking. In this regard, our country can enjoy the demographic dividend for another 20 years!"

"Okay, okay, you're the best and you can always turn things around."

Xie Jing Xing pouted, but still clinked glasses and drank.

Mr. Ma's bragging is not ambiguous and his overall idea is quite interesting. He believes that in the future artificial intelligence will package general chip categories such as communications and Internet services to achieve innovation in the entire chip industry.

Therefore, Alibaba Cloud's strategic direction is to focus on niche technology areas such as images and voice that serve artificial intelligence. Foreign peers are not far ahead in this regard and are basically on the same starting line.

When artificial intelligence matures and is widely used in commercial applications in the future, Alibaba, which owns leading technologies in specific fields, will naturally integrate into the new chip ecosystem.

In short, his eyes have gone beyond the industry order created by many leaders including Qualcomm and Apple. Since the existing technological barriers are so strong that it is difficult to break in and get a piece of the pie, I won't play with you anymore.

To use the words of science fiction, see you in the next new era!
"You can have a good chat with them then, maybe we can work together."

Mr. Ma helped to call Alibaba Cloud experts to make an appointment on the spot, and then started to talk nonsense: "You are young and have not experienced the complete technological innovation. When I was young, there was a very popular joke. It said that a thief invented a patent for a Walkman in prison and thought he would make a fortune after he was released from prison. But no one used Walkman after he was released from prison!"

"The current chip industry is the same. Investing in chip fields other than artificial intelligence is like joining the army in 1949..."

As he was talking, he suddenly stopped being drunk, sighed deeply, and changed the subject: "Design, manufacturing + packaging and testing, and application. Each link involves dozens of sub-links, and each sub-link involves dozens of process technologies. Currently, the development of the entire domestic industry is zero, a blank slate."

"With so many things and so many people involved, we have no choice but to make down-to-earth plans based on the actual situation and place our hopes on the future."

Teacher Ma spoke in a low voice and raised three fingers to emphasize. He wanted to say something else and moved his lips a few times, but in the end he just smiled self-deprecatingly and rubbed his face.

We are all locals, so don't pretend to be foreign guests. If the chip industry were really that important, it would have been endowed with the same collective will as the two bombs and one satellite.

The fact is that this thing is important but not extremely important. We can still sing and dance without it, at least until it successfully leads the next industrial revolution.

Whether Alibaba or Meizu, they are just individual stakeholders. The butt determines the head and unilaterally endows the chip industry with emotions and values ​​that it itself cannot bear. Who cares about all these lofty aspirations?

To be pragmatic, you can try to gain some benefits and contribute to the development of the entire industry, but don't indulge in unrealistic self-admiration and fantasize about becoming a decent superhero. That will only lead to huge losses and you won't be able to accomplish any real work.

Teacher Ma spoke from the heart and said everything that should and shouldn't be said. Xie Jingxing took the initiative to pour the wine and drank it all in one gulp to show his gratitude.

He initially invested in Meizu for smart cars, and the subsequent investment in Goodix Technology for chip layout was a natural progression. Smart cars are inseparable from artificial intelligence and chips.

Later, the chip business was elevated to the level of a must-do because seeing that both the old and young Ma were showing off, I instinctively set a goal in my heart.

What if he doesn’t make chips? He has taken agriculture + Internet to the extreme and can still show off.

From Huang Zhang to Mr. Ma, Xie Jingxing was completely at ease after hitting the wall twice. He stretched his body and said, "The domestic chip industry is not a blank. I invested in Goodix Technology, a world-class fingerprint touch chip company."

"…If you're talking like this, I think you have bigger problems."

Teacher Ma made his comment with his eyes squinting, neither of the two kings was happy to see the other one being more skilled.

Xie Jing Xing pondered for a moment and didn't find anything wrong, so he humbly asked, "How do you say it?"

"Privately, I am willing to admit that Tencent's open symbiosis strategy is unique. Power and responsibility are equal. Why do many of Alibaba's investments fail? Because we have actual control over the invested companies, but we do not have the corresponding professional capabilities and cannot bear the corresponding responsibilities."

Teacher Ma is a real man, he kills one thousand enemies and loses eight hundred of his own without mercy: "For example, when we acquired Xiami Music, it was doing well at first, but now it's almost dead, because the decision maker doesn't understand music at all!"

"Then why don't you adjust your investment philosophy?" Xie Jingxing opened his eyes wide in confusion. Teacher Ma slapped his thigh with confidence: "If we adjust Alibaba, it will no longer be Alibaba. Isn't it the same for you?"

"I didn't." Xie Jingxing quickly shook his head to deny it.

"You see, this is your biggest problem right now."

Mr. Ma spread his hands and said, "You made your debut by doing the WhatsApp acquisition and formed alliances that were in line with Tencent's investment style. How many important nodes did you lead in the subsequent investment in Didi? If you go to their company and shout now, at least you can attract dozens of people to follow you willingly, right?"

"Looking back, you started a money-burning competition in the local life project and killed Zhang Xuhao. You directly took over as CEO of the Meizu project. Now you want to start from scratch when it comes to chips."

He sneered and said, "You know nothing about chips and mobile phones. If I really gave you a chip and asked you to build a mobile phone, could you do it? If I asked you to come up with a specific marketing campaign for a new big hungry company, could you do better than the employees below you?"

Xie Jingxing felt a chill on his back, and his brain, which was paralyzed by alcohol, instantly became more sober. He was unwilling to show weakness and said angrily, "Although I don't understand professional knowledge, I didn't make any mistakes in the general strategic direction."

"So the projects you've invested in are all doing well for now, but if things keep going like this, your strategic vision will be fine, but your energy will be. You got sick from exhaustion a few days ago."

Teacher Ma had the upper hand and drank a sip of wine happily: "Your behavior is like the emperor in the novel. You want the people under the throne to obey you unconditionally at any time, but you can't be found anytime and anywhere when something happens. Do you think you have a problem? Are you mentally retarded?"

"I...what novels do you usually read?" Xie Jingxing suddenly reacted.

"Then don't worry about it."

Teacher Ma's mouth twitched, and he quickly dealt with it vaguely, saying to himself: "I know that I have a problem, but you don't think you have a problem, which is very fatal."

"Wait, lend me your phone."

Xie Jingxing remembered something, picked up Teacher Ma's personal mobile phone, downloaded Ele.me, registered an account, selected the Magic City as the location, and clicked on the homepage'Afternoon Tea Event'. The page showed that all the merchants and stores had labels of 50 yuan off 8 yuan.

He then took out his mobile phone and performed the same operation. The neatly selected merchants with free delivery displayed on the page were extremely dazzling. When he logged out of his account and logged into Mr. Ma's account, the selected merchants with free delivery were also displayed.

"Still drinking?" Teacher Ma smiled and watched the fun as usual.

Xie Jingxing thought for a while and said, "Next year, New DAE will continue to compete with Meituan, and Wang Xing may find an opportunity to enter the mobile payment market."

Mr. Ma looked solemn and nodded like a statue. Even Xiaomi had to introduce Yunfeng Fund to sit on the fence. The intensity of the Internet industry's stance is about to be upgraded.

"Let's talk about the chip business later while I sort out my thoughts." Xie Jingxing waved his hand and left in disappointment.

The afternoon tea discount activity is the legacy that Zhang Xuhao left to Ele.me. He used this trick to attract a large number of white-collar workers and petty bourgeoisie users with precise portraits, and the effect has always been good and is still used today.

Xie Jingxing often uses it when he treats his employees to milk tea and desserts. Once, Zhan Yunping and his team of three complained that it was easy to fail at selling products at merchants with big discounts, and that it took a long time to search through the products of selected merchants scattered among a string of discounted merchants before finding what they wanted.

So he casually told Song Anli to ask Xu Nuo, since the activity was aimed at a precise user group of white-collar workers and the middle class, could it be more refined to meet user needs.

A few days later he received a reply saying it was OK. He opened his phone to check and found that the selected merchants were ranked high, which made it easier to use.

It turned out to be a customized service for mobile phone IP. Xie Jingxing suddenly realized it and couldn't describe the feeling in his heart. No wonder he used Alibaba's social product "Laiwang" to chat with Teacher Ma before, and he felt it was particularly difficult to use, but the other party was so proud of it.

I just need to say that my dragon-slaying sword will soon chop down WeChat...

"Is there anything you want to say?"

The sky outside the window was slightly bright. Xie Jingxing, reeking of alcohol, sat on the carpet with his legs bent, staring at his figure reflected in the floor-to-ceiling window.

“Most of the selected merchants do not cooperate with the full-discount activities. The price/quality sensitivity of you and the employees of Grapefruit Capital is somewhat different from the mainstream user groups in the data statistics. Meituan copied our activities, but we have maintained a competitive advantage in the overall activity plan.”

Xu Nuo, who drove from Shanghai to Wuzhen overnight, explained everything one by one.

Xie Jingxing listened carefully and tried to come up with an optimization plan. It seemed a bit difficult as he really did not have the corresponding professional ability.

After a long silence, just when Song Anli wanted to speak to ease the atmosphere, Xu Nuo slowly added: "This activity plan was formulated by Mr. Zhang. You rarely interfere with specific business."

Therefore, everyone thinks that Mr. Xie feels it is an eyesore and wants to remove the traces left by Mr. Zhang, but this set of activity plan is effective, so it would be better to make sure that Mr. Xie can't see it and it is not an eyesore.

Everyone knows that he is a hands-off boss with countless investments under his name, and his colleagues have to rely on their performance for a living, so the choice is not difficult to make.

(End of this chapter)