Chapter 85 The Butterfly's Wings
To be honest, no one at Yuanchip had expected that the authorities would place so much importance on the Taipei Computer Exhibition — or rather, on Yuanchip itself. After it was confirmed that Yuanchip would participate, a call from the Ministry was directly placed to Professor Su Xinghe's office, asking how Yuanchip was preparing and whether they could showcase some decent results. There were even some veiled criticisms about Yuanchip launching the VCD directly at an exhibition without going through formal scientific achievement verification first. (Note: back then, the country paid serious attention to scientific progress — falling behind yet obsessed with saving face. Although outside of national projects, it was rare for private companies to do formal result verification, passing it could still secure funding or policy support — essentially turning the state into an angel investor.)
Thus, Su Xinghe understood — the authorities wanted Yuanchip to show its face again.
Unlike the exhibition in Las Vegas, which was about national pride, the Taipei Computer Expo was more about sending a message: "Look, things here are great too. There's a future here. Come back soon."
...
"This is... kind of unreasonable," Su Yuanshan said after hearing his father's explanation, laughing bitterly. "What cutting-edge tech do we even have left for June? Just two chips, and the CRM system Silicon Valley is launching. You're not expecting us to parade the VCD around again, are you?"
"I told them as much. The leaders said 'do your best,' and suggested that I lead the delegation instead of you," Su Xinghe said with a sly smile.
Su Yuanshan couldn't help cursing under his breath.
"Hahaha! It's not what you think," Su Xinghe said, laughing. "It's mainly a safety consideration. With real talks starting between both sides, and your name now so well known, they figured it's safer this way."
Su Yuanshan pouted: "If it's about safety, you shouldn't be going either. You're now the top expert in microcontrollers and microelectronics in the country — any chance you'll be named an academician this year?"
"No idea. I heard my name was submitted," Su Xinghe said, feigning indifference. "Stay calm."
"Yes, yes, stay calm."
No matter how calm he was, though, once his father had political tasks to fulfill, Su Yuanshan had to do his best to help. The next day, Yuanchip began aggressively contacting all major home appliance manufacturers, heavily promoting the UESTC91 microcontroller and promising free functional design services and training in CC language programming.
To back Yuanchip's efforts, the Ministry issued a memo subtly encouraging state-owned enterprises to favor domestically produced components — like microcontrollers — provided they met quality standards and were competitively priced.
In less than two weeks, a flurry of cooperation proposals landed on Yuanchip's desk, giving the company its first real taste of the power of administrative support.
...
In late June, Professor Su Xinghe, Vice General Manager Chen Jing, and a team of employees traveled en masse to the Special Economic Zone. After inspecting Sun Xihui's branch office in Hong Kong, they would head to Taipei for the computer exhibition.
Meanwhile, Silicon Valley's branch brought along the final prototypes of the cordless phone and CRM software.
Leading the Silicon Valley team was none other than their CEO, Ms. Carly — she, too, needed to formally meet Professor Su Xinghe, the real "Big Boss" behind it all.
After seeing his father off at the airport, Su Yuanshan stayed behind with Tang Wenjie, waiting for a flight from the capital.
Squatting by a flowerbed, Su Yuanshan nudged Tang Wenjie: "Senior Brother, your wife's coming back. Aren't you excited?"
"We've been married a while now — what's there to get excited about?"
Tang Wenjie had been hitting the gym lately. Though he hadn't lost weight, he had bulked up considerably. His words sounded casual, but the fiery glow in his eyes was impossible to miss.
Su Yuanshan smirked: "Yeah, right."
Soon, a plane landed, and Yang Yiwen, dressed fashionably, appeared dragging her suitcase.
Tang Wenjie broke into a jog, ignoring the stares of onlookers, and scooped her up in a bear hug, spinning her around.
Seeing Su Yuanshan laughing, Yang Yiwen playfully bit Tang Wenjie's shoulder, forcing him to put her down. Grinning like a fool, he grabbed her suitcase and followed her.
"Sister-in-law, welcome back," Su Yuanshan said, spreading his arms wide. "How about a hug for your little brother?"
"Of course," Yang Yiwen said boldly, stepping forward for a polite hug.
After the embrace, Su Yuanshan winked exaggeratedly at Tang Wenjie: "Senior Brother, jealous yet?"
"Pfft. Jealous? We're getting married. Want to come pee in the wedding bucket?" Tang Wenjie joked.
"Bah!" Su Yuanshan spat theatrically — it was local custom to have a young boy pee into a wedding bucket for good luck.
Tang Wenjie laughed heartily, throwing an arm around Yang Yiwen's shoulders as they headed toward the car.
Yang Yiwen's return wasn't just a personal trip.
While she needed to reconnect after being abroad so long, she also represented the Silicon Valley company and needed to discuss business developments with Su Yuanshan.
Under Carly's powerful network and sharp leadership, Silicon Valley Xinghai had established a cordless phone production line with Southwestern Bell. Orders were flooding in — the proverbial "gold with every engine start." Meanwhile, the rollout of EDA training in universities was also progressing smoothly, largely thanks to Yuanchip's foresight in preparing Chinese, Japanese, and English versions of their teaching materials from the start.
The Xinghai forum's activities had also produced an impressive crop of excellent free IP designs — many created by university students.
Through this kind of spiraling mutual reinforcement, Yuanchip's influence in EDA was becoming unstoppable, driving rapid advancement in chip design as well.
It reached a point where Professor George Zoe, Xi Xiaoding's mentor, publicly remarked: "Yuanchip EDA is like adding an engine to the semiconductor industry."
— "Of course you'd say that — it's your student's work," one of Zoe's academic rivals snorted.
...
That night, Su Yuanshan, Qin Weimin, and Yu Yurou hosted a welcome dinner for Yang Yiwen at the hotpot restaurant upstairs.
"According to the latest market reports, in the West, we've captured 75% of the market share," Yang Yiwen said casually, dipping a piece of beef tripe into the hotpot.
"That's great!" Tang Wenjie raised his beer glass, beaming at Su Yuanshan: "Come on, Senior Brother, let me toast you!"
"Great my ass," Yang Yiwen retorted, rolling her eyes and turning to Yu Yurou: "What do you think, Yurou?"
Yu Yurou bit her lip and shook her head: "All I know is that 75% market share qualifies as a monopoly, but whether it triggers an antitrust investigation... I'm not sure."
Both the tech-pure Qin Weimin and Tang Wenjie froze for a moment, then turned to look at Yang Yiwen.
Yang Yiwen looked straight at Su Yuanshan.
Su Yuanshan took a sip of beer and said lightly: "Our competitors, struggling to cling to Intel and IBM's coattails, will definitely push for an antitrust investigation."
Qin Weimin frowned: "But isn't this a technology-driven monopoly? It's not like we merged companies like AT&T or Exxon did."
"True," Yang Yiwen said, shaking her head with a smile as she dipped the beef tripe into her sauce. "But right now, seeing a backward country ride roughshod over them in semiconductor base technologies — they can't afford to lose face."
"My dad says Yuanchip's dominance in EDA and chips has even made trade negotiations tougher for them."
Su Yuanshan's eyes sharpened instantly.
The butterfly's wings... could it already be affecting the WTO negotiations?
(End of Chapter 85)
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