Chapter 101 - Carly's Three Kingdoms Theory
Returning to Silicon Valley, Su Yuanshan quickly oversaw the investment department's independence, and after spinning off the investment department from Xinghai, he set up an employee stock ownership plan, established a board of directors, appointed Carly as President and CEO, and authorized her to be fully responsible for all affairs of Silicon Valley Xinghai.
His series of actions demonstrated what was meant by swift and decisive. Even Carly, who was known as a woman of action, privately expressed that Su Yuanshan was like a fearless newborn calf confronting a tiger — but she liked it.
As a professional manager, what she feared most was encountering a boss who was indecisive, wanted things done but refused to delegate authority, and then blamed the CEO for any business decline — she was here to build a career, not to become a mascot or scapegoat after her connections and resources were exhausted.
Subsequently, Su Yuanshan also formally visited Microsoft as the Chairman of Xinghai. Although this title elevated the level of reception, what truly made Mr. Gates engage in conversation with him was his nickname and the phrase that had already spread from Xi Xiaoding's mouth through Xinghai and all across Silicon Valley: "I know C++ best, challenge me if you disagree."
Su Yuanshan had a lot of respect for Mr. Gates — just as he had tried every means to join the X86 camp, he never saw Microsoft as an opponent but as a necessary partner.
There was no helping it; in terms of operating systems, Microsoft was simply too strong. Yuanchip (Yuanxin) had no chance of competing with Wintel; he could only hope to first join the X86 alliance as a subordinate, then slowly transform Wintel into WinYX.
Even if he ended up allying with AMD to help them create WinMD, it would be acceptable — the key was strategic alliances to prevent Intel from having it easy.
In addition, Su Yuanshan also visited enterprises like AT&T, HP, and DELL, forging good relationships.
Finally, with Carly accompanying him, he arranged a meeting with AMD's founder, Mr. Sanders.
...
"Mr. Wonderboy, I thought you had forgotten that we are also your partners," Mr. Sanders said with a playful smirk. Though he was over fifty and no longer the legendary playboy of the past, compared to Silicon Valley elites who were either overly affable or rigidly serious, he retained a trace of world-weariness.
At the very first meeting, he joked with Su Yuanshan, "You've been calling out to us since last year, yet you only come knocking now."
Su Yuanshan had a good impression of this old man and laughed heartily, "Mr. Sanders, don't forget that I was the one calling out to you."
"Later, I went to your company, but you weren't there. Right, Carly?" Sanders turned to Carly with a grin.
Carly cleared her throat, "Sir, you better repeat what you told us back then."
"Of course, I'm ready to repeat it." Sanders turned back to Su Yuanshan and sighed, "You want to acquire Cyrix? That's sheer nonsense."
Su Yuanshan smiled amiably, "But Mr. Sanders, I also want to make CPUs..."
"Then why don't you just buy our stock?"
"...," Su Yuanshan didn't expect the old man to be so direct. So he responded just as straightforwardly: "I'm broke."
Sanders: "..."
Su Yuanshan chuckled, "I know what Mr. Sanders is concerned about, but really, there's no need to worry. As purely commercial enterprises, both Yuanchip and Xinghai are market- and customer-oriented."
Sanders looked at him with a smirk, his expression clearly saying, 'You think you can fool me?'
Although he and some Intel founders had come from Fairchild Semiconductor, he was a businessman, not a techie. He understood very well that acting as both referee and player was not the way for a company to develop — for example, AMD's wafer fab mainly fulfilled its own production needs and found it hard to land other clients. Of course, right now, there was no urgent need for more outsourcing.
Su Yuanshan smiled and shook his head, "Mr. Sanders surely knows that EDA will be the most critical tool in the semiconductor industry's future — or more accurately, in the chip industry. Without it, the chip sector will struggle to move forward."
"Forget the future; it already is."
"Exactly... So, we've managed to get a slight head start. Naturally, we wouldn't hinder EDA's development because of Yuanchip's own growth. Similarly, we can't just cling to EDA and abandon all other businesses, right?"
Su Yuanshan spread his hands: "CPU manufacturing is so profitable; it's called modern alchemy. How could we bear to give it up?"
"So?"
"So, by the end of the year at the latest, Xinghai's sales and operations departments will split off, and EDA will transform from a department within Yuanchip into an independent company — it will open its doors to outside investment."
Sanders was stunned! He immediately realized that spinning off and accepting investment from related companies was Yuanchip EDA's optimal solution! It would bind it perfectly with major wafer fabs and IC design companies. While being supervised, it would not have to worry about favoritism from Yuanchip.
"You're serious?"
Su Yuanshan shrugged: "Come on, Mr. Sanders. You call me 'Wonderboy,' but surely you don't really think I'm some unreliable kid?"
Sanders chuckled awkwardly.
Su Yuanshan knew the old man's question was more of an instinctive reaction and wasn't bothered. He continued smiling, "From a business development perspective, we also hope AMD can stand up to Intel. If we can acquire Cyrix, we could become allies."
At this moment, Carly, who had been silent all along, suddenly said, "Mr. Sanders, I suggest you read a book."
"What book?"
Carly blinked, "'Romance of the Three Kingdoms.' It describes in great detail how two weak empires in ancient China joined forces to fight a powerful empire."
Su Yuanshan looked at her in astonishment.
She knew about Romance of the Three Kingdoms?
Seeing their expressions, Sanders was also confused but eventually nodded, "I'll check it out."
...
After leaving AMD, Su Yuanshan's series of visits came to an end.
On the way back, he looked curiously at Carly.
"You actually know Romance of the Three Kingdoms?"
"Last year, my husband got obsessed with a game called Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He played it all the time and dragged me into chatting about it. I ended up reading a bit of the book."
Carly kept her focus on driving, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "After reading it, I realized it truly is an epic — it's your country's real history, right?"
"Yes. If you read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the characters are real, and most of the stories are based on real events."
"Oh! It's such an ancient country. This book really gives a lot of inspiration."
Su Yuanshan was intrigued, "Like what?"
"For example, in the desktop processor field, Intel is like the Wei Kingdom. Cyrix and AMD are like Shu and Wu."
"And in operating systems, Microsoft is Wei, Linux is Shu, and Apple is Wu."
Listening to Carly adeptly use the forces in the Three Kingdoms to compare today's companies, Su Yuanshan suddenly felt enlightened.
No wonder this woman was so formidable — she had read Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
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