Chapter 304 Chip Li Hongzhang

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, all taboos are lifted to welcome wealth and send away poverty; on the sixth day, the New Year is over and the busy spring farming market opens.

Xie Jingxing, who had taken advantage of the good fortune intentionally or unintentionally, had breakfast at the hotel and was surrounded by the crowd and went to the City God Temple.

"Luzhou City God Temple has a long history that can be traced back to the Northern Song Dynasty. It was very lively in the 1980s and 1990s. People went to the temple fairs during festivals and guessed lantern riddles, which is the memory of a generation."

Getting off the bus at the Temple Front Pedestrian Street, Director Yang introduced the renovated shops on both sides of the street: "In recent years, the commercial street environment has not kept up with the times and is dirty and messy. It is imperative to renovate it. The overall renovation project was launched the year before last and will be almost completed in another year."

"All industries are waiting to be developed, and Luzhou is full of vitality." Xie Jingxing walked side by side.

Director Yang turned around with a smile on his face and pointed at the people behind him: "Don't take this as a compliment. Mr. Xie said that our previous work was not sufficient."

“Economic development jobs are never enough, and I always feel like my salary has room to go up.”

Xie Jingxing pretended to be an ordinary person in a vulgar way, and everyone laughed in unison.

"Tao Yongxiang's roasted nuts are a time-honored brand that has been passed down from the Republic of China to the present day, and their sesame candy is a specialty."

"Jianghuai Bakery has been around for quite a while. I remember when I first came to work in Luzhou, I would buy two old-fashioned loaves of bread after get off work, and then go to the side to buy some art supplies to take home. My wife and children were very happy."

"There are also several tailor shops. The masters have good skills and charge affordable prices."

Director Yang introduced each store as he walked around, saying, "The renovation project has affected their business, but they have to change for the sake of future business. If you come here again next year, it will definitely be a big change. There will be a second and third phase of the project in the future."

The aroma of broad beans wafted from the old snack shop. A few young girls chattered as they walked from the costume shop, picking up rented dance costumes, into the tailor shop at the other end. An old couple leaned against each other on a bench in the alley.

The City God Temple is decorated with green tiles and red bricks and is hung with festive red lanterns. The quaint second-floor stage in the courtyard is empty. Elderly people light incense and pay homage to the statue of the City God from all directions; young people wear painted masks, wave golden hoop sticks, and carry blessing sachets.

Director Yang spoke tirelessly, with concentration and anticipation, and was completely different from the day before.

"Mr. Xie, please burn some incense."

He stopped and stood firm, with his figure as the boundary. All the people accompanying him fell behind half a step, stood with their hands folded, and smiled gently.

The citizens and tourists who were originally standing in front of the temple unconsciously dispersed and looked on curiously. They didn't know what this group of people were doing, but they could recognize their neat executive jackets.

"Go ahead, you're welcome." Director Yang nodded slightly to encourage.

Xie Jingxing smiled, and stepped forward step by step on the heavy blue bricks. The wind blew, and the incense stick in his hand ignited and light smoke swirled up, mixed with the rich fireworks in the incense burner, and dissipated, blending into the air and spreading throughout the city.

There was sparse applause coming from the people in executive jackets. The citizens and tourists didn't understand why, but they were moved by their simple ideas and clapped their hands in unison.

But you know what, the young man standing in front of the temple had a very straight posture, his back was straight, and his expression was solemn and dignified, just like a relative of the City God.

It looks really good. Even though there is such a large empty space, people feel embarrassed to go over and burn incense at the same time as him. It seems that he should have the incense burner and fireworks all to himself at this moment.

"Click." The curious person silently took out his mobile phone and froze the picture.

【Xie Jingxing appeared in Luzhou, accompanied by the main leaders of the local development zone management committee. 】

[It’s settled! The market-oriented 100 billion semiconductor industry fund led by Xiyou Capital has landed in Luzhou and will complete the fundraising progress and be put into operation within the year. ]

[If friends and relatives in Luoyang ask me, there is a piece of ice in the jade pot - seeking fame and reputation and carrying firewood for the public, Xie Jingxing gave the answer with practical actions one month after his speech at the annual economic summit. ]

[Informed sources said that Xie Jingxing's visit to Luzhou was very hasty, and Luzhou did not even have time to issue the corresponding notice. There are still many practical problems to be solved before the project is actually implemented. Excessive public attention is a pressure on the project itself, and social capital and entrepreneurs should look at it rationally. ]

【Luzhou Xinhai Semiconductor Industry Guidance Fund, relevant staff said that the project has successfully entered the registration and review process and is progressing in an orderly manner. We welcome all sectors of society to pay attention to and gather in Luzhou to promote the development of the semiconductor industry. 】

"Do you know the rules of the pirate ship game in the Age of Exploration?"

The next morning, before Xie Jingxing left for the capital, he said to Tang Man alone: ​​"In a democratic system, all crew members have the right to vote to elect the captain, distribute the spoils, and decide which ship to rob... But after the battle begins, the captain has absolute control over the entire ship."

"Understood. I will try my best."

Tang Man felt under tremendous pressure and wanted to post on a question-and-answer website for help. What should she do, but her boss was getting better and better at pretending to be powerful and then running away, leaving the dirty work to his subordinates?
From this perspective, it was very self-aware for him to call himself a personal hero during his speech.

As a hero, you can't be riding a white horse with a sword on your waist on your way to slay a dragon, then stop at a roadside inn to eat a bowl of beef noodles, and then say to the boss that you are short of money, "I'll wash dishes for you for three days to pay off the debt, and then go slay the dragon a few days later."

Then the boss rolled up his sleeves and spat on the ground, saying, "You bastard, you eat for free, so you eat for free. Why do you think I'm a fool?"
A person who is troubled by such things may be a true hero, but it is unlikely that he will be able to defeat the evil dragon in his lifetime.

Xie Jingxing spread out a piece of paper: "It is now the end of February, and the formal cooperation plan will be signed by the end of May at the latest."

"In other words, during the negotiation period, we will simultaneously set up an investment team and advance the fund registration process?" Tang Man took a deep breath to confirm.

“There is also due diligence on direct investment projects.”

Xie Jingxing shook the paper in his hand: "Contact them as soon as possible. The government funding will be in place first. We will invest as much as we can in these projects according to priority."

Megvii Technology, Intellifusion, and CloudWalk Technology.

Tang Man couldn't help but frown as he carefully looked through the list of more than a dozen chip companies. Some of them were sought after by venture capitalists, while some of them he had never even heard of. In short, they all seemed unreliable at first glance.

"If nothing goes wrong, I will gain something from my trip to Beijing this time. I will try to get a landmark chip company to come in. If the ones on this list are not working, I will just establish contacts first." Xie Jingxing explained and comforted. Tang Man took the list without commenting. Perhaps she could raise funds to attract social funds to improve investment competitiveness.

"What else?" she asked puzzledly after coming to her senses.

Xie Jingxing just stared at the list silently. Tang Man shrugged indifferently, lowered her head to look at it again, and stuffed the list into the shredder.

…………

"I know you're busy, but I really can't leave right now. I have an appointment with someone from SMIC. I don't know when the meeting will be over. He hasn't come yet. If it doesn't work out, we can go directly to see Zhu Yiming tomorrow. I'm really sorry."

The weather in Beijing was colder than in Luzhou. In a coffee shop on the street, Xie Jingxing hung his coat on the back of an empty chair next to him and unbuttoned the collar of his shirt to relieve the stuffiness.

After returning from vacation, Yu Nian quickly met with Zhu Yiming, the founder of GigaDevice. However, the situation in the domestic chip circle was more complicated than expected. In her words, it was a martial arts world in the late Qing Dynasty.

The local ruffians were acting arrogantly and violently, the orthodox martial arts sects were fighting each other, the foreigners and warlords took out their machine guns and fired a volley of bullets into the air, and all parties scattered like birds and beasts. Their talk of morality and integrity turned into the howling of ghosts and wolves, and they did not forget to pull each other down and use them as scapegoats.

They need to talk, she wants to discuss it in advance so she can be mentally prepared.

But Xie Jingxing had already received instructions from the orthodox sect before his eyes and had no time to pay attention to other things. A 60-year-old man in a hurry appeared at the gate of the community and walked towards the coffee shop. He buttoned up his clothes again, stood up and opened the door to greet him.

"Relatives came to visit and I couldn't leave."

The old man took off his scarf and waved his hand lightly, breathing out cold air: "No coffee, pour me a cup of hot water."

“Mr. Zhang, nice to meet you. Sorry to bother you during the New Year.” Xie Jingxing pushed the small gift box containing ginseng to the corner of the table.

"You're welcome. Your father told me that you want to invest in the chip industry."

The old man paused for a moment and then said slowly, "It's a good thing for young people to be motivated. I can't help you much, so I'll just briefly share my personal experience for your reference."

Xie Jingxing smiled modestly and nodded in thanks. This person was a connection that Old Xie had managed to obtain, Zhang Xueyi, the chairman of SMIC.

From the perspective of his status in the industry, he is qualified to speak so confidently, and he is even more qualified based on his resume and background.

SMIC has always been known as the Huangpu Military Academy for cultivating talents among domestic chip companies. On the one hand, it is because the talents it cultivated ran away due to low salaries, and on the other hand, it is related to its complex personnel background.

The founder is a Taiwanese-American businessman. Initially, he brought back talents and technologies from abroad that were difficult for conventional local companies to obtain, and formed a Taiwanese talent group within the company.

After the founder withdrew, his successor introduced a large amount of local state-owned capital, which formed a local talent faction and a local capital faction.

Two years ago, the highly respected second-generation leader passed away. No one could control the situation, and internal fighting broke out instantly. Not only was the passion burning, but the fight between the Taiwanese faction and local and foreign investors had to be mediated by the local authorities in Shanghai.

After all the twists and turns, Zhang Xueyi, a hopeless candidate with a career in the chip industry and a track record of reaching the top position in state-owned enterprises for most of his life, was pushed to the chairman's throne despite being an old classmate of the second-generation leader.

He then brought in a veteran Taiwanese executive to the CEO position to rebalance the company's internal personnel relationships. After putting out the internal fire, he is currently busy recruiting a top technical expert through three visits to the thatched cottage.

If we say that the chip circle was the late Qing Dynasty, then Zhang is definitely a high-level mounter. He has personally walked from the barbaric era of the domestic chip industry to the present, and has opened his eyes to look at the world.

He can make a move on any mountain or sect, and even if a local gangster doesn't like to hear him, he will have to think twice before saying anything. Except for foreigners who don't give him much face, it's not excessive for a warlord to call him "senior" to his face.

"Have you ever met Wang Dongsheng? BOE's management style is a bit mixed. It doesn't look like a state-owned enterprise, nor like a private enterprise, and it has a touch of Taiwanese capital. They have a big patent problem. If it is not resolved, they will never be able to get rid of the nature of a manufacturing factory."

The senior spoke bluntly and pointed out: "It's a factory that can do research and development, not a technology company that does research and development."

"I heard that domestic chip companies all have Taiwanese capital and Taiwanese talents."

Xie Jingxing pretended not to hear it. He was of course aware that BOE's patents had issues, and the same was true for SMIC. In a few years, if someone caught them by their weak points, they would be paralyzed and crawling on the ground.

It's just a matter of picking the tallest among the short ones. We have to come up with a landmark cooperation project first.

"It's a historical issue. In the 1980s and 1990s, China benefited from the international industrial transfer. Now the natural centripetal force of capital is definitely willing to return to China for development."

The old veteran pointed out: "Almost all existing domestic chip companies have state-owned backgrounds. We are wealthy local bosses and they are skilled workers. The working styles of the two sides are too different, which leads to internal strife among Taiwanese chip companies."

"It's a bit like the entertainment industry in previous years." Xie Jingxing echoed.

The old senior frowned slightly: "I heard that you are very close to female celebrities in the entertainment industry?"

"...There is investment and work needs." Xie Jingxing forcedly explained.

"It's understandable that financial investors want to be reckless in order to gain a good reputation, but not the chip industry. This industry is full of mediocre people who have been patient for decades, but in the end, they have nothing to show for it and die with nothing worth taking into their coffins."

The old senior squinted his eyes and said: "The scientific research competition is worse than the capital war. If you are not mentally prepared to be down-to-earth, you'd better stop messing around and just focus on playing with female stars."

"No need to delay, just do it while having fun."

"..."

The old man's eyes are no longer slanted, but his mouth is a little crooked.

(End of this chapter)