Chapter 391 Unisoc's Aggressiveness
"It's like this, we plan to get into domestic scanner production.
Although there are already many foreign brands on the market and they work quite well,
someone still needs to do something for the domestic side,"
Wang Hongtao said, then gathered his courage and smiled shyly, waiting for Su Yuanshan's response.
Of course, he wasn't here just to "fix" a scanner or OCR issue.
Since there was an opportunity to get in touch with Yuanxin,
he had to seize it.
Even though Yuanxin didn't produce anything related to scanners directly,
it was deeply connected to fields relevant to scanners.
A simple example—
Sony and Yuanxin were strategic partners, and everyone knew Sony's CCD technology was world-leading.
But getting the meeting was easy; securing a true partnership was hard.
Wang Hongtao had done serious homework, studying Su Yuanshan's preferences through various channels—
the consensus was that Director Shan had no airs and was easy to talk to.
As long as you spoke about technology, you could chat for hours.
And he had a particular love for promoting domestic technology and products.
So, after careful preparation, Wang Hongtao had come in person under the pretense of "resolving issues."
Sure enough, when Su Yuanshan heard "someone has to do it,"
he laughed heartily.
"Yes, you're right—someone has to do it."
"But we don't have any scanner-related technology,
and we have no plans to get into that field," Su Yuanshan added, recalling Unisoc's past and present.
A few years ago, during the surge of school-run enterprises,
Tsinghua University had set up hundreds of small companies,
and Unisoc was just one among many.
Many of these ventures were hastily thrown together by professors with little planning—
resulting in a mixed bag of successes and failures.
Later, Tsinghua realized they needed to rein things in.
Professors should focus on teaching, not running businesses.
If they wanted to go into business, they had to resign or take a leave of absence.
Thus, starting last year, many of Tsinghua's enterprises were merged.
Unisoc became "Unisoc Group," formed by merging dozens of companies.
(There were others like Tongfang as well.)
"But OCR might be an area where we can help," Su Yuanshan smiled.
"Pandora Lab has a fairly mature algorithm that can be applied to text and image recognition."
"Oh! I know about it—that's Professor Seat Xiaoding's lab, right?
I've heard great things," Wang Hongtao said immediately.
"That's great—could you maybe help us get in touch with Professor Seat?"
"Sure, no problem," Su Yuanshan nodded.
However, he still looked a little puzzled—
What exactly was this guy aiming for?
If they wanted to focus purely on design and outsource manufacturing,
they should be talking to the Industrial Park, not him.
Seeing Su Yuanshan's doubt, Wang Hongtao smiled a little awkwardly.
"Director Shan... I heard that Yuanxin and Sony are very close,
and Sony makes the best CCDs."
Su Yuanshan suddenly understood—
so that's what this was about.
Still, he found it a bit amusing.
Just buying components required pulling strings?
If Wang Hongtao was approaching it like that,
Su Yuanshan would have to seriously reconsider whether to help at all.
His stance was simple:
normal business dealings should be straightforward,
not reliant on favors and backdoor deals.
Wang Hongtao, unaware that Su Yuanshan's mental "scorecard" had dropped,
adjusted his glasses again and continued,
"Plus, with the future boom in computing and the internet,
paperless offices are bound to rise.
So, the office equipment sector is worth entering."
Hearing that, Su Yuanshan raised an eyebrow and got serious.
"Alright, go on."
"After some rough market research—actually, no research needed—
you can see there are no domestic brands in office equipment.
Scanners, printers, copiers—it's all foreign brands.
All we can do domestically is sell paper and ink—
and even then, customers are scared the vendors might void their warranties."
Su Yuanshan pressed his lips together and nodded slowly.
"True.
While consumables seem like a steady revenue stream,
they create a lot of problems."
"Exactly. So...
we plan to fully enter the office equipment market."
"But frankly,
on our own,
the best we can manage is starting up a scanner line.
As for other products,
we lack the funds and technical reserves.
And without access to key components,
we can't compete with imported brands."
As Wang Hongtao laid out the real situation,
Su Yuanshan realized he had judged the man too early.
He smiled warmly.
"Mr. Wang, you're right.
Office equipment—printers, copiers, scanners, fax machines...
Well, fax machines are already a sunset industry.
Actually, scanners too, in a way."
Wang Hongtao blinked. "Huh?"
"Haha, because digital cameras are coming," Su Yuanshan said.
He didn't bother explaining that soon everyone would have a phone capable of taking pictures.
"But that's still a ways off.
Now is the right time to enter the market—
and most importantly,
no domestic player is seriously doing this yet.
Even if there are, they're small-scale lab operations,
not true brands capable of independent expansion and competition."
"Yuanxin and Sony have no plans to enter office equipment.
But if we can help on components and technology,
even Sony wouldn't refuse to have one more client."
Upon hearing that, Wang Hongtao lit up with joy.
"Director Shan, then... if we set up an office equipment company,
could we bring in investment from Yuanxin and Sony?"
Su Yuanshan was momentarily stunned.
Now this was interesting—
was this guy trying to copy BOE's model?
Thinking it over, Su Yuanshan smiled.
"Mr. Wang, is this your personal idea,
or is it Unisoc's official strategy?"
He asked because just a few days ago, Zhou Xiaohui had casually mentioned Yuanxin's scanning difficulties to Unisoc—
and now, just three days later, this "Vice President" Wang Hongtao had shown up in person,
immediately proposing a three-way partnership.
The sheer speed of their reaction was astonishing.
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Chapter 392 The Confidence Raised by Yuanxin
After Zhou Xiaohui saw Wang Hongtao off, she returned to the office.
After tidying up the teacups, she sat down on the sofa, crossed her legs, rested her chin on her hand, and smiled at Su Yuanshan.
Su Yuanshan looked at her, puzzled. "What?"
"Did you think he was a fraud?" she asked, grinning.
"Yeah, a little," Su Yuanshan admitted frankly, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Honestly, Unisoc is a reputable name, but this guy came on way too strong...
trying to rope Yuanxin and Sony into a partnership from the start."
"And yet he turned out to be genuine, didn't he?"
"Yes," Su Yuanshan said candidly.
"It just shows that even though Unisoc has been restructured into a group,
it still hasn't fully transitioned into a commercial enterprise.
They're still operating with that old-school academic mentality—full of ideals, dreaming of punching HP and Canon while kicking Ricoh and Epson..."
This Wang Hongtao really was a Tsinghua lecturer,
and a properly graduated master's in microelectronics.
But this time, Zhou Xiaohui didn't join in Su Yuanshan's sighs or light mocking.
She simply smiled and said softly,
"Do you know what we secretaries were discussing while you were meeting the big boss during the ribbon-cutting ceremony?"
Su Yuanshan blinked.
He knew that day he had been seated next to his father, answering questions,
while Zhou Xiaohui, the city secretary, and other administrative staff waited next door.
It had been a three-hour meeting.
Aside from the necessary formalities,
most of it had felt like casual conversation, like leaders visiting the countryside to deliver warmth.
Su Yuanshan had had no idea they had started chatting among themselves.
"There were secretaries from the city leadership, a few people from the administrative office, and Secretary Li from Li's office..."
"Secretary Chen proposed an idea:
besides Yuanxin's contributions in technology and production,
its greatest achievement was setting an example and raising the confidence of the entire tech industry."
Zhou Xiaohui smiled gently.
"Everyone agreed. I tried to stay modest, but honestly... I didn't really feel it myself."
"But just now—
talking to that Wang guy—
I finally understood."
"No matter if he was full of youthful recklessness or wishful thinking,
even if he was exaggerating,
the confidence in his words was real.
Even if he was lying,
he had already fooled himself first."
Su Yuanshan pursed his lips and fell silent for a few seconds,
then sighed lightly, looking up at Zhou Xiaohui with a smile.
"You're right.
I was narrow-minded.
Yuanxin's example really has boosted the confidence of our domestic industries.
And right now, for our country,
confidence and hope are the most precious things."
"...That was very philosophical."
"Every now and then," Su Yuanshan laughed.
"Alright then—this matter is yours to handle.
Unisoc isn't too big or too small.
It's a perfect case for you to practice on."
Zhou Xiaohui opened her mouth instinctively to refuse—
but then closed it.
Su Yuanshan had told her long ago that she would eventually take charge of her own domain.
But still, she asked, "And you?"
"Me? I haven't done hands-on work in a while," Su Yuanshan said.
"I plan to dive back into coding for a bit..."
"When Brother Ding left, I wasn't upset—
in fact, I was happy.
He carries Yuanxin's genes,
and him building his own success outside is the best outcome."
"But he and Pony practically took all the internet engineers with them...
That part makes me a little annoyed."
Su Yuanshan rubbed his forehead and sank into his office chair.
"Website code—especially code for functional sites with massive datasets—
needs to be designed to last for decades.
If we don't manage it properly from the start,
we'll end up with a giant steaming pile of crap."
Zhou Xiaohui: "..."
...
Spring passed, and summer arrived.
Just as Su Yuanshan had said,
he had not been involved in hands-on technical work for over a year.
His last real project had been designing the core architecture for Sol.
Last year, he had spent the entire time inspecting projects, negotiating deals, squeezing in time for experiments, and reading papers.
As for touching code...
aside from the small test tool he had coded to expose Intel's floating-point division bug,
he hadn't seriously programmed in three years.
And with programming, if you didn't practice for three days, you got rusty.
Thankfully, with the rise of the internet,
especially Xinghai's version of Github—called SChub—
a lot of tools and libraries had already been built.
And SChub was still in a growth phase;
post a question, and helpful experts would soon swarm in to assist.
Su Yuanshan had often logged into SChub with his SYS account when it first launched—he was considered a well-known figure there.
Now, even though he was falling behind in ASP and HTML,
he couldn't lose face.
He couldn't use his SYS account to post dumb newbie questions.
So he had registered a new, secret account early on.
Since he was just "reviewing" code,
not implementing features himself,
his questions tended to be intuition-driven—
he could tell a block of code was inefficient,
but he couldn't always suggest a better solution.
In short: he had lots of "idea problems."
One day, while reviewing code,
he thought a particular snippet related to auto-scrolling search suggestions was too cumbersome.
He figured it could be streamlined and made more efficient.
So he posted the code and his optimization idea anonymously on the forum.
"No Google... it's so inconvenient..." Su Yuanshan muttered as he waited.
After refreshing a few times,
he saw only two users joking around—
no serious answers,
no useful suggestions.
He sighed.
Thinking about Google naturally reminded him of Ye Rudai's project.
At the University of Pennsylvania, Ye Rudai hadn't exactly kept a low profile.
Within days of arriving,
she had been recognized as a participant in the World Collegiate Programming Contest.
And thanks to Seat Xiaoding's recommendation,
she had quickly made a name for herself in the lab.
Soon after,
she had reached out to Xinghai,
asking for a server for her research.
Just as Su Yuanshan was sighing,
a notification popped up—
the forum had received a reply.
(Yes, Chen Jianguo's team had long since implemented dynamic forums.)
Refreshed again—
a vaguely familiar ID had replied to his anonymous post.
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Chapter 393 In My Name
"If I'm not mistaken, the original poster wants to implement customizable content inside the search box to achieve search recommendations. If that's the case, the related code can be found in my signature space on SChub."
"By the way, I'm curious—what project is the original poster working on? Would love to connect!"
The reply came from a user named Y.Dill.
Su Yuanshan glanced at the time—
it was around 11 p.m. in Pennsylvania.
"Still awake at eleven..." Su Yuanshan muttered with a smile,
then casually clicked into Y.Dill's homepage and saw the uploaded code.
It was clean, beautiful—perfect for a public utility library.
After downloading Ye Rudai's code,
Su Yuanshan annotated it in his work log,
then posted a reply.
When he saw the request to connect,
he hesitated for a few seconds—
then decided to play dead.
He still had to maintain some dignity!
Still, seeing how quickly Ye Rudai was growing,
he genuinely felt happy.
From her project's structure, it was clear she had commercial applications in mind right from the start—
otherwise, there wouldn't have been such a strong focus on recommendation functionality.
And according to updates from Xinghai,
she planned to first collaborate with Xinghai's browser team,
embedding her search engine into their browser for a soft launch.
Just then, the phone on his desk rang.
...
Su Yuanshan answered—and was immediately blasted by Qin Weimin's excited roar.
"Xiaoshan! The process flow is finalized!"
Su Yuanshan straightened, immediately alert.
"Are you sure?"
"Heh, when have I ever lied to you?"
Qin Weimin laughed heartily on the phone.
"The layout is about to enter the photomask factory."
"Fantastic!" Su Yuanshan grinned.
"Is Brother Jiang Wanchao over there too?
We owe a lot to him this time—make sure to thank him for me."
"Of course. We're planning to celebrate tonight—want to come?"
Su Yuanshan looked at the empty seat across from him and shook his head regretfully.
"I'll wait until the chip actually tapes out."
"OK," Qin Weimin replied succinctly and hung up.
Su Yuanshan closed his eyes and let out a long breath.
It was late May now.
It had been three months since Texas Instruments had brought over the 0.5-micron process package.
Although Yuanxin's chip designs were based on that standard,
getting it to work properly with Derun Semiconductor's equipment was far from straightforward—
there were many potential incompatibilities.
The reason it had taken three months to move forward
was that Yuanxin, Derun, and Jiang Wanchao's EDA teams had all worked together
to perfectly adapt the process.
Now that they could send layouts to the photomask factory,
it meant the integration was complete.
Derun Semiconductor was officially capable of producing 0.5-micron chips.
No wonder Qin Weimin had called to invite him to celebrate.
Su Yuanshan wanted to go...
but Zhou Xiaohui had just flown to Japan with the Unisoc people
to negotiate an office equipment project.
He felt it would be troublesome to go alone.
Besides, a successful tape-out was just the beginning.
In both his past and present lives,
Su Yuanshan had seen plenty of bloody examples:
Intel was never merciful to challengers.
Much as he hated to admit it,
Yuanxin's next steps would depend heavily on Intel's reactions.
And there was another headache coming.
Thinking of this,
Su Yuanshan grabbed the phone and dialed Zhang Rujin's number.
...
Early summer arrived,
and a major event, one that would have a profound impact on the island, finally occurred.
The once-calm sea was now roiling with waves.
...
Yuanxin Science Park.
Although Su Yuanshan had moved his main office to the Special Economic Zone,
his office at the Science Park wasn't closed—
just emptied of files, while everything else remained the same.
Even the computer and pen holder were left untouched.
But no matter how often the office was cleaned,
without someone using it daily,
it inevitably lost its human warmth.
Su Yuanshan wandered around his old office for a bit,
then walked straight into Chen Jing's office.
Over the past two months,
Chen Jing had clearly become much more anxious.
Compared to Su Yuanshan,
the burden on her was heavier.
"Jing Jie," Su Yuanshan said casually,
leaning against her desk.
Chen Jing had welcomed him with just a glance when he walked in.
Now she put down her mouse and reclined in her wide chair.
"My brother is working hard to smooth things over—shouldn't be a big problem," she said.
Her tone was calm,
but she couldn't hide the fatigue in her eyes.
"Mm.
Brother Chen's situation is easier to manage.
Technically, he's not classified as a 'high-tech talent'..."
Even now,
Chen Jing almost laughed at that comment.
She glared playfully at Su Yuanshan.
"Say that to his face if you dare."
"I'll pass.
I don't want to get beaten up."
"..."
"But honestly, Jing Jie, I'm a little worried about you," Su Yuanshan said,
turning serious.
"In the semiconductor world, your reputation is far bigger than Brother Chen's now."
Because of the ongoing "standoff,"
a certain sentiment had begun fermenting on the island:
calls to restrict tech cooperation with the mainland.
Officially, Zhang Rujin and Liang Mengsong had been kept low-profile.
Even though Liang Mengsong had been instrumental in achieving the 0.5-micron process,
they deliberately avoided publicly praising him too much.
Despite all precautions,
Zhang Rujin, as the head of Derun Semiconductor,
had received an official "recall" warning from the island authorities.
As for Chen Jing—
perhaps because she was "just" a business leader,
or maybe because of her gender—
she hadn't received official threats.
But public criticism was growing louder.
And even within Yuanxin,
there were some murmurings:
was President Chen's background becoming a liability for her leadership?
"I'm doing alright," Chen Jing said, shaking her head and smiling tiredly.
"It's just... a little exhausting lately."
"Yeah," Su Yuanshan nodded with a smile.
He understood.
She was mentally exhausted.
"That's why I'm back," Su Yuanshan said, tapping his toes lightly on the floor
before plopping onto her desk and laughing.
"Notify everyone—two days from now, we're holding a mid-level leadership meeting.
All M4 and P4-level managers and above must attend."
"And make it clear—
it's in my name."
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Chapter 393 In My Name
"If I'm not mistaken, the original poster wants to implement customizable content inside the search box to enable smart recommendations. If that's the case, you can find related code in my signature section on SChub. Also, I'm curious—what project are you working on? Would love to connect."
The reply came from a user named Y.Dill. Su Yuanshan glanced at the time—it was around 11 p.m. in Pennsylvania.
"Still up at eleven..." he muttered with a smile, then casually clicked on Y.Dill's profile and saw the code they had posted. It was clean and elegant, practically perfect as a reusable module. After downloading Ye Rudai's code, Su Yuanshan made some notes in his work log and sent it back. He saw the invitation to connect, thought for a few seconds, and decided to play dead. A little dignity never hurt anyone.
Still, seeing how fast Ye Rudai was growing, he genuinely felt happy. From the way her project was structured, it was clear that she had commercialization in mind right from the start—otherwise, there wouldn't have been such a focused implementation of recommendation functionality. According to Xinghai, she planned to embed her search engine into Xinghai's browser for a trial launch.
At that moment, the phone on his desk rang.
Su Yuanshan picked it up and was immediately jolted by Qin Weimin's excited shout. "Xiaoshan, the process integration is done!" Su Yuanshan instantly tensed up. "Are you sure?"
"Heh, when have I ever lied to you?" Qin laughed heartily. "The layout is about to go to the photomask factory."
"That's amazing!" Su Yuanshan laughed. "Is Senior Brother Jiang Wanchao there with you? We really owe him for this—make sure to thank him for me."
"Of course. We're planning a little celebration tonight. Want to come?"
Su Yuanshan looked at the empty desk across from him and regretfully shook his head. "I'll wait until we get a successful tape-out before I celebrate."
"OK." Qin hung up succinctly.
Su Yuanshan closed his eyes and let out a long breath. It was already late May, and it had been three months since Texas Instruments had delivered the 0.5-micron process. Although Yuanxin had designed their chips using TI's standard design kits, applying them to Derun's machines was far from plug-and-play. There were bound to be compatibility issues.
It had taken three months of collaboration between Yuanxin, Derun, and Jiang Wanchao's EDA team to perfect the process. Now that the layouts were headed to the photomask factory, it meant that the integration had succeeded. In other words, Derun Semiconductor could officially produce 0.5-micron chips.
That's why Qin had called to invite him to celebrate. Su Yuanshan wanted to go, but Zhou Xiaohui had just flown to Japan with the Unisoc team to negotiate an office equipment deal, and he didn't feel like going alone.
Besides, a successful tape-out was just the beginning. If life had taught him anything, it was that Intel was never one to play nice. They had a reputation for ruthlessly crushing their competitors.
As much as he hated to admit it, they would have to see what kind of attitude Intel showed when the time came. And on top of that, another headache was coming.
Thinking of this, Su Yuanshan picked up the phone and dialed Zhang Rujin.
After summer began, something happened that would have a profound impact on the island. The calm sea was suddenly churning.
Yuanxin Science Park. Although Su Yuanshan had relocated his main office to the Special Economic Zone, his old office at the Science Park hadn't been shut down. The filing cabinets had been emptied, but everything else remained—even the computer and the pen holder. But a room left unused for too long, no matter how clean, always felt lifeless.
Su Yuanshan strolled through the room, then headed straight for Chen Jing's office. Over the past two months, Chen Jing had clearly been under more stress. Compared to Su Yuanshan, she bore a heavier burden.
"Jing Jie," Su Yuanshan said as he walked straight to her desk and leaned on it, putting on a casual and relaxed demeanor. Chen Jing acknowledged his arrival with a glance. She put down the mouse and leaned back in her wide chair, curling up into it.
"My brother is working all the angles—things should be fine," she said, trying to sound even, but the exhaustion in her eyes was hard to hide.
"Yeah. Brother Chen's case isn't too sensitive. Technically speaking, he's not even considered a high-tech talent..."
Even now, Chen Jing almost burst out laughing. She shot him a playful glare. "Say that to his face, I dare you."
"I'll pass. I don't want to get punched."
"…"
"But Jing Jie, I'm honestly worried about you." Su Yuanshan suddenly turned serious. "In the semiconductor world, your reputation is now much bigger than your brother's."
Because of the standoff over the past two months, a certain narrative had been building on the island: to counter the mainland through technological means. The idea was to prevent the island's top talent from working for mainland companies.
Su Yuanshan had anticipated this and had instructed Zhang Rujin and Liang Mengsong to keep a low profile. Liang, despite being a key figure in the 0.5-micron process, hadn't been publicly celebrated or rewarded—because even then, the island had been probing boundaries.
Even so, Zhang Rujin, as head of Derun Semiconductor, still received an official warning to return "by deadline."
Chen Jing, perhaps because she was "just" a business leader or maybe because she was a woman, didn't get any official threats—but the public backlash was intense.
Even within Yuanxin, murmurs began to surface: was President Chen's background a liability to her leadership?
"I'm actually fine," Chen Jing said, shaking her head and smiling tiredly. "I'm just feeling drained lately."
"Yeah," Su Yuanshan said with a smile and nodded. He knew she was mentally exhausted.
"That's why I'm back." Su Yuanshan tapped his toes and hopped up to sit on the desk. He grinned. "Announce a mid-level leadership meeting for two days from now. All M4 and P4 level managers must attend."
"In my name."
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Chapter 394 A Message of Openness
"Today's meeting will focus on three main topics."
Su Yuanshan sat at the podium, glanced at the speech manuscript in his hand.
At every meeting, he usually spoke off the cuff, perhaps using a simple outline. But today, facing Yuanxin's first-ever mid-year conference, Su Yuanshan took it seriously—he chose to read from a written speech.
"First, under the current domestic and international circumstances, as the mainland enterprise with the most business interactions and employee integration from across the strait, what kind of attitude should we maintain moving forward?"
"Second, as the domestic leader in semiconductors, what kind of competition will Yuanxin face in the future, and who will our competitors be?"
"Lastly, we'll be collecting and organizing feedback on organizational structure adjustments for Yuanxin."
"Now, let me begin with the first point."
...
Su Yuanshan began by stating Yuanxin's position: as a business enterprise rooted in the mainland but aiming for global reach, Yuanxin would always be market-oriented, technology-driven, and future-focused. Yuanxin had no political stance, would never take a political stance, and would not get involved in political disputes.
—It was the standard line used by major international corporations, but today, Su Yuanshan laid it out formally in the meeting. Besides being a political declaration, it was also meant to reassure the nearly one-third of Derun Semiconductor engineers who came from the island.
More importantly, it sent a message of openness to other engineers on the island.
After all, one of the fab's key upcoming tasks—besides improving yields and advancing the process node—was recruiting talent.
Su Yuanshan then spoke about future competition. He began by reviewing the developments in China's semiconductor and broader tech sectors over the past four and a half years since Yuanxin was founded. He outlined the reasons behind Yuanxin's growth. He also pointed out that as Yuanxin expanded, its future rivals would be global giants.
"But our competition with these global giants should be stable and healthy—a scenario where you are part of me, and I am part of you."
Su Yuanshan looked down at his speech again, sipped some tea, and continued:
"What makes international giants 'giants' is that they have achieved unmatched dominance in a particular field during their rise.
And that field is not only indispensable in the global commercial landscape—it's often the cornerstone of the industry."
"As a challenger, Yuanxin must maintain both passion and humility. And above all, respect."
He let his gaze sweep across the room—especially toward the R&D team—and smiled slightly:
"Let's drop the whole 'punch Intel, kick IBM' bravado, shall we?"
The audience chuckled knowingly.
"With the rise of technology and the internet, future communication and collaboration between individuals will become more important than ever—and the same applies between companies.
As Yuanxin continues to expand into a wide range of fields, it will inevitably gain many rivals. But these rivals are not mortal enemies—they are competitors and, at times, collaborators."
Su Yuanshan had to restrain a chuckle.
After all, this speech would be seen as a public signal: that Yuanxin was harmless, open for global cooperation—even if future competition turned fierce, the official stance must always be "let's all make money together."
...
"Finally, on behalf of the Board of Directors, I will now announce several preliminary decisions made by Yuanxin Holdings and the Yuanxin Technology board."
Su Yuanshan lowered his eyes slightly, casting a sidelong glance at Chen Jing beside him.
She seemed to notice and gave a faint smile, then subtly shook her head with an expression that said, "There's no stopping you."
"With unanimous agreement from the Yuanxin Technology board, we hereby appoint Chen Jing as Chairwoman of the Board and CEO of Yuanxin Technology Co., Ltd."
"Seat Xiaoding is appointed Executive Director of the Board, Chairman of the Scientific Committee, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), and Senior President."
"Duan Yongping is appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Senior President."
"Wang Rui is appointed General Manager of the Overseas Business Division and Senior President."
"Jiang Qingchuan is appointed General Manager of the Processing Division in the Special Economic Zone and Senior President."
...
As Su Yuanshan read out each promotion, low murmurs inevitably spread through the room.
Everyone quickly noticed that all the promotions went to the business side.
Aside from Seat, not a single person from the R&D department was included.
Given what was discussed at the beginning-of-year meeting, this made many in R&D uneasy—
Was Su Yuanshan deliberately lowering the status of the R&D Center?
Although R&D and business were always two separate lines of operation,
and no number of "Senior Presidents" from the business side could affect R&D's domain—
this had always been the source of confidence for many of the tech engineers.
But promotions meant raises.
And that was the bottom line.
So all eyes turned toward the R&D leadership on stage.
Yet from Seat, to Qin Weimin, to Tian Yaoming—none of them showed the slightest reaction.
They sat there as if carved from stone.
Su Yuanshan looked out over the crowd.
This personnel adjustment had been planned since the end of last year.
Back then, he had hoped to implement it only after the founding team gained full control of Yuanxin.
But now, it was time to act—especially regarding Chen Jing's new role.
Take Xinghai, for example—Carly had consolidated power as both CEO and Chairwoman two years ago.
But at Yuanxin, because of some sensitive real-world constraints, the chairman's seat had remained with Su Yuanshan's father.
After all, Professor Su Xinghe was an academician—his title carried weight.
But Yuanxin no longer needed Professor Su's credentials to establish credibility.
In fact, by now, Yuanxin's status was beginning to overshadow his.
So this was the right moment to elevate Chen Jing fully.
To show Yuanxin's attitude to both its own people and the world.
As for Su Yuanshan…
He still held his original position and status at Yuanxin.
His interests in Yuanxin Technology would now be reflected through his equity in Yuanxin Holdings.
His control over the company was fully embedded in the founding team of the holding group.
Chen Jing becoming chairwoman wasn't just his decision—
it was the collective will of the founding team.
"Next, we'll go over the adjustment plan for the P·M ranking system across technical and business positions."
Su Yuanshan pursed his lips and glanced at the eager faces of the R&D staff staring up at him from the audience.
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Chapter 395 The Scientific Committee
Su Yuanshan's original reason for running parallel tracks for R&D and business departments was simple:
At that time, if he hadn't deliberately elevated the R&D department's status, the production and marketing divisions would have easily dominated the company.
After all, the one who made money would naturally be the boss—a universal truth everywhere.
So Su Yuanshan had no choice but to continuously "cheat," building himself up as a genius and almost a mystic figure, forcibly elevating the R&D department's standing.
Only then did Yuanxin's Science Park earn its "Little Chinese Academy of Sciences" nickname.
Only then could he ensure that Yuanxin invested heavily in R&D without expecting immediate returns and that R&D employees enjoyed outstanding benefits.
Would another person, or another company, have pulled this off? Doubtful.
But the consequences were also starting to show—
The R&D "lords" who spent the company's money began to look down on the ones who earned it.
They acted like spoiled princes even within the company.
That was why at the beginning of the year, Chen Jing's tough stance toward the R&D center won unanimous support from the leadership.
Six months later, the results were evident—
most people had become more restrained.
Since that had worked,
Su Yuanshan decided it was time to expand the P and M dual career tracks up to 18 levels, once and for all.
This would make future rewards and recognition for R&D personnel easier to manage.
For management staff, there were already plenty of standard titles: president, general manager, director, manager, supervisor, etc.
But in a company split between business and R&D tracks, most R&D teams had no fancy corporate titles—
just "team leads" and "group heads," sometimes managing groups within groups.
Thus, P-series technical rankings became the true pursuit for R&D staff—just like academic titles in universities.
"The P series will be expanded to 18 levels.
In principle, everyone will move up by one level.
Additionally, the Yuanxin Science Park Scientific Committee has unanimously decided to adjust titles for the following members:"
"Seat Xiaoding will be promoted to Level 17."
"Qin Weimin, Tian Yaoming, Li Mingliu, and Su Yuanshan will be promoted to Level 16 and appointed as full Scientific Committee members."
"Gao Xiaodi and Li Yinan will be promoted to Level 15 as observer members of the Scientific Committee."
"Zhu Yonggui, Zhu Yuanxin, Cheng Peng... and others will be promoted to Level 14."
"And for others who have demonstrated outstanding technical abilities and contributions,
their promotions will be announced separately due to various circumstances."
As Su Yuanshan read out the list, the people below finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, Director Shan hadn't forgotten about the R&D department.
It was clear that the Scientific Committee would serve as the core leadership circle of R&D—
and Director Shan himself was in it.
Even top figures like Gao Xiaodi and Li Yinan—one leading CPU development, the other leading future wireless communications—
were only observer members at Level 15.
That showed just how high the bar was for the Scientific Committee.
Clearly, only "Father of [X]" level individuals could make it in.
...
After announcing appointments on behalf of Yuanxin Holdings and Yuanxin Technology's board—
or more precisely, on behalf of founding figures like Professor Su Xinghe and Zhang Ke—
Su Yuanshan concluded his speech and handed the floor over to Chen Jing, the new Chairwoman and CEO.
Holding both titles meant Chen Jing now had full and complete authority at Yuanxin.
Unless the board decided to remove her,
her decisions would be fully carried out.
"I am honored to have earned the full support of the Yuanxin Board of Directors to serve as Chairwoman,"
Chen Jing said, her voice as calm as ever.
After scanning the room, she continued:
"After discussion by the board and management, we have decided to implement a business cluster organizational structure."
"We propose to establish seven major clusters:
Yuanxin Research Cluster, Overseas Business Cluster, Manufacturing Cluster,
Investment and Development Cluster, Internet Business Cluster, Semiconductor Business Cluster,
and Mobile Business Cluster."
After reading the list, Chen Jing paused to look around again.
"All of you here are leaders of Yuanxin.
If you have ideas or suggestions about the new structure,
please speak freely.
You can email me or talk to me directly."
...
...
That evening, Su Yuanshan and several senior brothers walked by the lakeside, enjoying the cool breeze.
They found a pavilion to sit down.
Li Mingliu pulled out some cigarettes and offered them to Qin Weimin and Tian Yaoming.
"We're the Five Giants now," Tian Yaoming said as he lit up and took a satisfied puff.
"Across the lake, there's a lot more of them."
—Coincidentally, Chen Jing was strolling on the opposite side with the business leaders.
"Our Scientific Committee still needs to be strict," Su Yuanshan said, moving to sit next to Seat Xiaoding, who didn't smoke.
"Right, Brother Seat?"
"More or less," Seat Xiaoding chuckled.
"Even Brother Seat is learning how to hedge now," Tian Yaoming said with a laugh,
then sighed,
"You know, time really changes people.
Four years ago, Brother Seat always had a stern face, nitpicking code every day."
Seat Xiaoding: "..."
Li Mingliu smiled faintly,
"Wasn't it true that Brother Seat originally came to Yuanxin just to mess around?"
Qin Weimin answered,
"Yup. I interviewed him myself."
"You guys are too much," Seat Xiaoding said, laughing helplessly.
"You're all sounding like old men."
"Exactly.
The older you get, the more nostalgic you become.
I'm not even going to mention how Brother Seat once planned to just swing by Yuanxin, act like a big shot, and leave..."
The group burst into laughter.
Seat Xiaoding smacked Su Yuanshan on the back, but he couldn't hold back his own laughter either.
While laughing, he shook his head and sighed:
"Four years have passed in a flash.
Honestly, I do feel a bit old now—especially after starting to teach.
It's not as easy to fight like before."
Qin Weimin and Tian Yaoming nodded in agreement.
Li Mingliu just smiled slightly without commenting.
As Yuanxin's famously relentless "workhorse,"
Li Mingliu still believed he could fight.
And he was still fighting.
Because of the complexities of multi-layer processes,
the NAND flash memory project he was leading
was even harder and more complicated than CPU development.
His team was working day and night with Derun and EDA engineers, pushing design improvements,
now reaching the most critical stage.
If Su Yuanshan hadn't insisted he attend today,
he wouldn't have left the "battlefield."
After all, this was a new frontier Yuanxin was pioneering.
As a member of the Scientific Committee,
he was the only one not crowned as a "Father of X" figure—
and it bothered him a little.
Of course... Su Yuanshan didn't have a title either.
But he was the "Father of Yuanxin"—just a little too young.
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