Chapter 274 Gathering of Giants
Su Yuanshan quickly finished reading the document and project proposal, slapping his thigh repeatedly.
"This is fantastic!"
He was genuinely excited.
In his previous life, the Old Company had almost monopolized over half of China's 4G base stations — and for 5G, it had been an absolute monopoly. However, even then, the DSP chips used in those base stations had always come from TI. Yuanxin would face the same situation; if they couldn't produce their own DSP chips within two years, they too would have to rely on Texas Instruments for their base station DSPs.
The main reason domestic companies hadn't touched DSP chips before was due to that disastrous incident where someone polished a chip with sandpaper — an event that crushed national confidence in Chinese semiconductors from top officials to ordinary citizens.
But now, with Tang Jun joining Yuanxin, that kind of absurd fiasco obviously wouldn't happen.
After all, Yuanxin was a semiconductor company with its own wafer fabrication capabilities.
Still, after the initial excitement, Su Yuanshan quickly calmed down. He looked at Tang Jun seriously and asked, "Senior Brother Tang, if we move at full speed, how long would it take to design it? How much IP would we need to license? And could IBM come after us legally?"
Since Tang Jun came from IBM, it was inevitable that some of his thinking and methods would be influenced by IBM — just like how Su Yuanshan's designs, although based on future technologies, still bore traces of Intel and ARM.
Moreover, in the modern era, IP licensing and technology royalties accounted for a huge chunk of chip development costs — sometimes up to a third.
But right now, Su Yuanshan wasn't worried about cost. He was concerned with how fast they could deliver.
Seeing that Su Yuanshan had gone straight to the heart of the matter, Tang Jun's respect for him rose another level. Confidently, he replied, "At the slowest, about a year and a half until we can tape out the first chip — but I'll need an elite team. As for IP, I personally hold over a dozen patents. For the rest, we'll need to license a few pieces from IBM. Given IBM's broad-minded culture, it shouldn't be a problem."
"Of course, even if IBM doesn't agree, there are ways to work around it. Worst case, we just use it — they'd have no real way to stop us. There are always more solutions than obstacles."
"Good," Su Yuanshan said, feeling reassured. He was familiar with IBM's reputation as one of Silicon Valley's true aristocratic giants — they didn't earn the title 'Big Blue' for nothing.
"As for the team... have you interacted much with Qin Weimin and Tian Yaoming?" he asked.
"I have," Tang Jun nodded. "Both of them are outstanding."
He couldn't help but marvel, "The rise of domestic chip design has really opened our eyes — those of us who drifted abroad — and filled us with renewed hope."
Hearing Tang Jun use the word "drifted," Su Yuanshan smiled to himself.
Regardless of his inner feelings, the fact that Tang Jun had returned to contribute was all that mattered.
"So about the team... what did they say?"
Obviously, the elite team Tang needed would have to be drawn from Qin Weimin and Tian Yaoming's groups.
"I only had a few informal chats — I didn't bring it up formally. Without you around, we didn't dare," Tang Jun said jokingly.
Su Yuanshan turned to Xi Xiaoding, who just shrugged with a smile. "Your senior brother, your responsibility."
"How many people are we talking about?" Su Yuanshan asked.
"Not too many. Ten or so would be enough," Tang Jun replied. "I'll also recruit a couple of math experts from Pandora Lab. Plus, we can start training newcomers early."
He paused before adding, "Besides, I've learned a bit about the smartphone SoC direction. If mobile internet is the future, then the SoC will definitely need to integrate a DSP module."
"Exactly," Su Yuanshan agreed.
"Which means our three teams — baseband, SoC, and DSP — are inherently interconnected. No one is poaching anyone."
Hearing Tang Jun thoughtfully prepare both the reasoning and the excuses in advance, Su Yuanshan didn't hesitate. He immediately headed to Qin Weimin's office.
After all, when it's your own senior brother asking, you always have the right.
...
"I knew you'd come to find me," Qin Weimin said as he stood up from behind his desk, tossing a handful of plums at Su Yuanshan. "Here, have some mountain plums."
Su Yuanshan caught one, popped it into his mouth, and mumbled, "You already guessed?"
"Of course," Qin Weimin laughed. "Old Tian and I discussed it. Tang Jun is definitely a talent. He even asked our opinion — believes Yuanxin urgently needs a DSP chip designed for mobile internet applications, and that it should eventually support floating-point units too."
"Exactly!" Su Yuanshan said.
"So if he needs to transfer people over, no problem. We already had a team focused on digital processing anyway. Honestly, if Tang hadn't come back, and we decided to develop DSPs ourselves, this team would have been spun off anyway. Now it's perfect — they'll have a real leader."
Hearing this, Su Yuanshan felt completely at ease. Spitting the plum pit neatly into a trash can two meters away, he grinned. "Perfect. Plus, since DSP, the YX architecture, and baseband are all built on the same foundation, it'll make cross-department cooperation much easier."
"Exactly. This is the benefit of 'mitosis,'" Qin Weimin said with a chuckle.
After leaving Qin Weimin, Su Yuanshan sought out Tian Yaoming — and to his surprise, Tian was even more cooperative.
Later, reflecting on it, Su Yuanshan understood why.
The DSP chips would mainly serve base stations — and base stations were Tian Yaoming's domain! If he didn't cooperate, who would?
After briefing Tang Jun and telling him to coordinate with Xi Xiaoding about staff transfers, Su Yuanshan plunged back into the lab.
Two days later, he finished revising his research paper.
With the diligence of a seasoned engineer, he rigorously reviewed every piece of data, every citation, and every reviewer comment before finally resubmitting it.
Right after that, he received word that the overseas team had already boarded their flight.
...
September 17th.
At the provincial capital airport, Su Yuanshan, Xi Xiaoding, Qin Weimin, and Tian Yaoming stood together, waiting.
To welcome the arriving VIPs, Yuanxin had sent three seven-seater business vans.
"Shouldn't we use our pull to drive straight onto the tarmac?" Tian Yaoming joked as he watched the endless stream of passengers pouring out.
"Please don't," Su Yuanshan said quickly.
"Maybe when we have our own private jet," Qin Weimin laughed. "By the way, Xiaoshan, I heard your little uncle wants to buy a plane?"
Su Yuanshan waved it off. "Hah, just hype."
With the National Day holiday approaching, Zhang Ke's shopping mall chain was gearing up for a major sales campaign.
As part of the promotion, he had been talking about building a national logistics network and even buying planes for express delivery — all part of creating a flashy image of wealth and power.
Not long after, amidst the bustling crowd, they spotted Qin Si's dazzling figure leading a group — the Xinghai team had arrived.
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