Chapter 136 - The World of Academic Elites
Just as Chen Jing had sensed, the reason Su Yuanshan was so quick to decide to visit the island was indeed because he wanted to use the opportunity to reconnect with UMC. Last year, his father had personally stepped in to help UMC and the SEZ government establish a connection. At the time, both sides were enthusiastic, but as the year drew to a close, the talks had stalled again.
Su Yuanshan didn't know the exact details, but a deal that dragged on for three months without closing usually indicated trouble. Unless there was external intervention or one side made a major concession, it was likely doomed. He needed to understand the situation. Even if it wasn't for the SEZ government, he had to think ahead for Yuanchip's sake.
Bringing in a wafer fab couldn't be just about tax revenue. In fact, foreign-invested fabs were usually tax-exempt for three years. The real value lay elsewhere — supplying a large number of domestically-needed components and creating thousands of engineering jobs. It was a high-end industry, not a low-end assembly line. You couldn't run it with just middle school graduates. These engineers and skilled workers were precisely what China lacked the most.
Meijie's design center was located within their factory complex. When Chen Jing brought Su Yuanshan in, the engineers inside almost all stood up and applauded to welcome him. This surprised Su Yuanshan a bit — he had half-expected some drama, like someone failing to recognize him and Chen Jing stepping in to humiliate them or him needing to crush someone himself.
"Warm welcome to President Su," said Huang Yaoting, head of the IC department, who was currently managing the design center while Chen Daohua recovered at home. His face was full of excitement as he shook Su Yuanshan's hand. "We've been looking forward to this!"
"Brother Yaoting, you're too polite. We're brother companies; facing difficulties together is only natural," Su Yuanshan said with a smile. "Let's start with a technical meeting. I discussed some ideas with President Chen yesterday and refined the plan. Let's try to finalize the chip features quickly."
"Of course, of course! Right this way."
Soon, a dozen engineers filled the conference room, all looking at Su Yuanshan with anticipation.
Su Yuanshan smiled lightly, "Everyone should have received President Chen's email, right?"
"Received it."
"Good. Let me explain the technical implementation in detail."
After the meeting, Su Yuanshan immediately began working with Huang Yaoting on the chip design. Huang was an expert in BIOS design on Meijie's side. At this point, the BIOS market was still fiercely competitive — AMI, AWARD, PHOENIX, and even BYOSOFT all had decent market shares. Under such conditions, developing a standalone diagnostic card was complicated. But integrating it directly into the motherboard wasn't — you only needed to focus on the BIOS your own factory used. In Meijie's case, that was AWARD BIOS.
One day for planning, two days writing hardware description language, and by the fourth day, they were already simulating designs. Su Yuanshan once again demonstrated to Meijie's engineers what true ability looked like.
On the fifth day, Su Yuanshan had just finished shaving — as someone who had lived through it, he hated the teenage years when he'd grown a scruffy beard but refused to shave.
"Today, let's take a break," he said, sitting opposite Chen Jing.
Chen Jing sat across from him, legs neatly together, smiling softly at him. "Thank you for all your hard work."
"It's alright. This trip has also been a mental break for me," Su Yuanshan said.
Chen Jing paused, suddenly realizing that Su Yuanshan had spent the past six months designing CPUs by day and teaching himself physics at night. "If you call thinking about another technical problem a 'break,' then sure," she laughed. "Honestly, I feel inferior. I can't understand the world of academic elites."
"Heh, what academic elite? It's all forced," Su Yuanshan replied with a grin.
Chen Jing stared at him speechlessly. After a moment, she blinked and asked, "Why did you kill the conversation?"
"Did I?"
"You did. You say something and then ask me the same question twice. I don't know how to answer you," Chen Jing said, smiling wryly. "When you talk about work or technology, you're unstoppable. But outside of that, your conversation skills are hopeless."
"Really? I don't think so," Su Yuanshan laughed.
"See? You just did it again," Chen Jing said, throwing up her hands.
"Alright, let's change the topic. Let's talk about you, Sister Jing — your school, your friends, your boyfriends..."
"No exciting stories," Chen Jing said, shrugging. "Just studying, reading, internships."
"And boyfriends?"
"Broke up."
Su Yuanshan blinked, then said bluntly, "That guy must have been an idiot."
Chen Jing chuckled softly, "I dumped him."
"Well, that's more like it. You're excellent. But be careful — too much excellence might leave you single forever."
Chen Jing blinked, puzzled, "Single forever?"
"I mean, being a 'leftover woman,'" Su Yuanshan explained. "If you stay single too long, you become what we call a 'leftover warrior.'"
Chen Jing laughed out loud, "I'm only 22!"
"Weren't you 22 last year?"
"My birthday's in three months. I'm not 23 yet!"
Su Yuanshan grinned, "Such precision over a few months?"
"Of course. Otherwise, I'd feel way older than you," Chen Jing said, smiling nervously under his gaze. Then she abruptly stood up. "Come on, let's go walk around the island."
"Alright," Su Yuanshan said, smiling.
In truth, he didn't feel like walking around at all. He knew, based on Chen Jing's habits, that walking around probably meant shopping.
Three hours later, his guess was confirmed.
Not only did she drag him through shopping malls, but she also bought him a bunch of clothes — ones he couldn't refuse.
The next morning at 8:30, Chen Jing knocked on Su Yuanshan's hotel room door.
Once in the car, Su Yuanshan closed his eyes, discussing the island's semiconductor industry situation with Chen Jing. By now, new players were rising fast. Veterans like Meijie could still rely on old distribution channels to survive, but everyone knew the semiconductor industry was both the easiest and hardest sector — you could rise miraculously like Yuanchip, but a wrong step could send you straight into oblivion.
The semiconductor industry was prone to cycles of booms and busts. Worse still, it was sensitive to "directional mistakes." A wrong move meant irreversible disaster.
Meijie had almost made such a mistake — but thanks to Su Yuanshan, they were back on track.
UMC, though still the island's biggest semiconductor company, was feeling the pressure.
Su Yuanshan's goal now was simple:
intensify that pressure and convince UMC that putting some eggs into the mainland basket was their best strategic move.
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