Chapter 601: Besieged on All Sides
"Keep working on our solution."
When Liang Mengsong said they had a plan, Su Yuanshan didn't hesitate for even half a second.
He didn't understand copper interconnect technology, but he understood his senior, Chen Jianguo, and he understood Liang Mengsong's genius—if both of them still had fight in them, then the truth of the technology was still in Yuanxin's hands.
"If you're both still unwilling to give in, it means we're still on the right path."
"What about the partnership then?" Chen Jianguo asked. He wasn't surprised by Su's stance—he had only been worried about what to do next. According to the terms, once one side made a breakthrough, the project would shift focus accordingly.
"I'll give you two options," Su said, after a brief pause. "If your plan is theoretically sound and likely to yield results soon, we stall. Say the technology isn't replicable, nitpick, throw up roadblocks while we finish our own development."
"Second option—agree to their terms, push forward, and then hit back once our own version is ready."
Liang and Chen exchanged a look. "No other way?"
"Only other option—terminate the collaboration."
"..."
"..."
Clearly, termination wasn't a realistic choice.
Both IBM and Yuanxin were high-profile companies, and a public breakup would hurt their reputations. Unless absolutely necessary, that was a line neither side wanted to cross.
And truthfully, Yuanxin had been in the lead at the outset. Their early progress had made them bold—maybe too bold—and that might've been what pushed IBM to fight back and produce results first.
Even so, Liang and Chen both agreed that IBM's solution was, frankly, subpar.
After a few seconds of silence, Liang nodded. "Let's stall. Dr. Chen, can you head over to their side and see what's what? I'll stay here and keep refining our steps. With some luck, we'll have results within a week."
Chen laughed, "Let's hope our luck holds out. We're back to engineering superstition again."
Su laughed too, seeing how smoothly the two worked together. "Please, don't talk like it's voodoo—you're not designing analog circuits here."
Just then, Wen Xiaoqian knocked on the door and entered, holding Su's phone. Her expression was unusually serious.
"What's up, Xiaoqian?"
"A call from VP Duan. Something's off at the launch."
Something off?
Su raised an eyebrow and took the phone. The first voice he heard wasn't Duan's—but Wang Chaoxin's.
He answered with a quick "Hello?"
Moments later, Duan's voice came through: "President Su, Nokia, Siemens, and Motorola all unveiled new phones—at shockingly low prices."
Su's eyes narrowed. "How low?"
"The cheapest is under 2,000 yuan. The most expensive is about equal to our Vidoo6."
Then Wang Chaoxin's voice came back: "We're up next. I've already informed our partners to cut prices across the board—President Su, we're surrounded on all sides…"
Surrounded? Su was briefly stunned.
What did that mean? A coordinated price drop? Across the board? A price war?
He inhaled deeply and nodded.
"...If you've already made the call, stick with it. I'm at Deyuan now—let's meet at the hotel at noon."
"What happened?" Chen Jianguo, watching Su's face, instantly sensed something had gone wrong.
Su snapped back to attention and forced a smile. "Nothing serious. Just some big-name phone brands throwing a tantrum and slashing prices."
He stood up. "Alright, I'll leave you to it. Stick to the plan—if we stay confident and push forward with our tech, IBM won't be a threat."
"Got it," Chen nodded. He trusted Su implicitly. To him, there was nothing this younger genius couldn't handle.
"One more thing." Su turned to Liang. "Dr. Liang, please ask Dr. Zhang to compile a full cost analysis of all chips processed at Deyuan. I want a forecast for potential cost reductions."
Liang sensed this wasn't just about pricing but nodded without asking. "Understood."
...
Leaving Deyuan, Su's expression turned serious.
He sat in the back of his car, took out his phone, and called Chen Jing.
Her voice confirmed she had just been updated on the expo situation.
"Jing-jie, can you pull the latest domestic smartphone shipment numbers? Q1 is fine, and if you can break it down by brand, even better."
"Got it," she replied.
"Thanks. Honestly, this price drop doesn't really hurt us—it mostly affects domestic brands using our tech."
"I'll call marketing next."
He ended the call and immediately dialed He Wei.
She was wrapping up the final stages of Yuanxin's partnership with Chengdian Gaoke and had already received the alert from the marketing team.
She promised to be there that afternoon.
...
Back at the hotel, Su had barely washed his face when his uncle called.
After a few awkward laughs, his uncle admitted he had signed a pricing confidentiality agreement.
Su wasn't bothered. "It's fine, Uncle. You run a retail chain—you sign those to keep the business flowing. Otherwise, no one would work with you."
"Exactly. We're locked in competition with Jiamei and Anning. The domestic market's still expanding—we can't afford to ease up."
"Understood. No worries. If price drops alone were enough to win, we wouldn't need marketing or sales teams."
"That's true. Still, you and Zhongxin need to be cautious. These foreign brands came in swinging—they've benefited from local policies and slashed costs hard."
"Thanks for the heads-up. We're about to meet and discuss a strategy."
Hanging up, Su tightened his jaw, then opened his notebook and began drafting the meeting agenda.
...
At noon, Duan Yongping and Wang Chaoxin arrived at the hotel right on time.
"Where's Xiaoliang?" Su asked.
Cao Xiaoliang had always impressed him—calm, detail-oriented, excellent at executing campaigns. While He Wei had more strategic vision, Cao excelled at turning ideas into action.
"In the market—scoping things out. He'll be back soon. Let's eat first."
"Alright."
They sat down for lunch, but conversation was minimal. Su mostly listened as the others recapped the morning expo.
One thing was clear: the coordinated price drop by international brands reeked of conspiracy.
Nothing about it was "coincidental."
But no one discussed it too deeply. They treated it like background noise—for now.
After lunch, the four of them returned to Su's suite. Before Wen Xiaoqian could finish preparing the tea, Cao Xiaoliang burst in, lugging a massive shoulder bag.
Without a word, he dumped the entire contents onto the coffee table.
Clatter! Dozens of phones spilled out.
"President Su, our marketing guys spent all morning hunting these down." Cao took a bottle of water from Wen and chugged it.
He wiped his mouth and smiled. "These are the foreign-brand phones released today that hit the market immediately. Some were sold out—we couldn't get them all."
Su nodded, knowing full well this was for analysis.
...
Cao carefully laid out the marketing brochures and aligned the phones by price—top to bottom.
The most expensive was Motorola's flip phone, the V76, priced at 4999 yuan.
On paper, it looked better than Yuanxin's Vidoo6, which didn't have built-in storage. The V76 lacked lyric display but supported MP3 playback, had 128MB flash built-in, and supported SID memory cards.
The cheapest was Nokia's 3370, a candy-bar phone at just 1999. Notably, all the phones had colorful, swappable shells.
As Su examined them, a wave of déjà vu hit him—they looked exactly like the feature phones he remembered from his past life.
Everyone took turns testing the phones.
They unanimously agreed: in terms of quality and tech, Yuanxin's Vidoo series was far superior.
But the foreign models were undeniably cheaper.
"Screwdriver?" Su asked.
"No need," Duan said, prying open a back panel. "Still the same old design. External baseband. Just slightly more integrated boards." He tapped the battery. "Nickel-cadmium."
"No wonder they're so cheap…" Wang muttered, checking a few more batteries—all Ni-Cd, a so-called sunset tech.
"Yeah. They've got joint-venture factories in China, loads of policy perks. Plus, since we signed that electronics parts agreement last year, import tariffs are way down."
Su leaned back. "We can't estimate their exact costs yet, but their margins must be razor-thin. They're exploiting the new Ministry of Information Industry, and both Unicom and Mobile slashed access fees… They caught us off guard."
He smiled, but his eyes betrayed deep concern.
No doubt—the foreign brands were targeting Yuanxin. More precisely, they were targeting the YX architecture.
Right now, YX had the most mature baseband integration tech globally. Two other chipmakers also licensed it.
If they didn't cut YX down soon, Western companies would lose face—and maybe market share.
"So what now?" Wang asked anxiously. He'd just committed to switching fully to integrated chips to help Yuanxin ship more and share costs.
Now this. Chinese phones were being outpriced by foreign ones—a cruel irony.
"Relax, Wang. We won't let you take a loss." Su smiled to reassure him. "And Deyuan's optimizing production—we'll cut costs soon."
"The real killer is battery cost. Lithium cells are still pricey. And… maybe we've been a bit greedy with pricing."
Everyone laughed—even if they were nervous.
Yuanxin's phones had always maintained high margins. The Vidoo6 had a 55% margin; Vidoo6M, 60%.
Zhongxin's phones, priced between 2000–4000 yuan, had margins above 30%.
Until today, that had been the industry standard.
Then Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens, and Motorola broke all the rules—dumping prices and abandoning their premium image.
These new phones had margins under 20%.
"What's our next move? We've already cut prices," Wang said, grimacing. Zhongxin had always priced slightly below foreign brands. With this drop, they were forced to slash 1000 yuan off the top.
If they didn't, they'd be dead on arrival.
"Let's not panic. We'll get full data by this afternoon."
Su's gaze fell on the spread of feature phones—different shells, identical guts.
He wasn't worried about Yuanxin phones. If anything, this would reinforce their high-end image.
As long as they kept innovating and pricing smartly, Yuanxin could cement its position as the #1 premium brand.
What concerned him was Zhongxin—and the many new domestic partners working with Yuanxin.
If they stopped pushing lithium batteries or using Yuanxin's reference designs, then Soxin's business and the YX baseband chip would take a hit.
Of course, Su wasn't too concerned about the baseband.
YX was Yuanxin-designed and Deyuan-manufactured. Pricing power was theirs alone.
Worst case? He'd cut profits and go for market share.
He refused to believe an integrated baseband SoC couldn't beat a clunky external one.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Albino1.
Chapter 602: Gazing Toward Huaqiangbei
"Let's stick to our own path."
When Liang Mengsong said they had their own plan, Su Yuanshan didn't hesitate for even a moment.
He didn't understand the intricacies of copper interconnect technology, but he understood his senior Chen Jianguo, and he understood Liang Mengsong's talent—if both of them still had fight in their eyes, it meant the real truth behind the technology was still in Yuanxin's hands.
"If even they haven't lost hope," Su thought, "then why should I?"
"What about the collaboration?" Chen Jianguo asked. He had expected Su's response. What concerned him was how they'd handle IBM—because according to the terms of cooperation, if one party presented results first, the rest of the effort would shift in that direction.
"I'll give you two options," Su replied calmly after a pause. "If your theoretical framework is sound and results are imminent, we stall. We'll claim we can't reproduce IBM's results, nitpick, delay—whatever it takes."
"Second option, we agree to proceed, fight for our rightful contribution, but continue developing our own version in secret. Then we counterpunch when ready."
Liang and Chen exchanged a glance. "No other way?"
"The only other path," Su said bluntly, "is to terminate the partnership entirely."
Liang: "..."
Chen: "..."
Obviously, ending the collaboration was out of the question.
Yuanxin and IBM were both high-profile. Backing out now would be a massive blow to reputation and credibility. It just wasn't an option unless they were desperate.
And to be fair, Yuanxin had been the aggressor at the beginning—pushing hard on the research front, probably spurring IBM to respond out of pride. That's likely how they ended up with their current solution.
But to Liang and Chen, IBM's work was riddled with flaws.
After a moment, Liang said, "Let's stall. Dr. Chen, can you go over there and take a look? I'll keep things moving here—if we're lucky, we'll get results within a week."
Chen nodded. "Alright, I'll go. And let's hope luck is on our side." He laughed. "Feels like we're back to engineering superstition again."
Seeing how well the two coordinated, Su Yuanshan felt reassured and joked, "C'mon, gentlemen. This isn't analog design. What superstition?"
At that moment, Wen Xiaoqian entered, holding Su's phone, her expression tense.
"What's wrong, Xiaoqian?"
"A call from VP Duan. Something's not right with the launch."
Launch trouble?
Su was momentarily stunned, then took the phone. The first voice he heard wasn't Duan Yongping—it was Wang Chaoxin.
"Hello?" Su greeted.
Moments later, Duan's voice came through. "President Su, Nokia, Siemens, Motorola—they all launched new phones today. Extremely cheap."
Su's eyes narrowed. "How cheap?"
"The cheapest is under 2,000 yuan. The most expensive is barely on par with our Vidoo6."
Then Wang Chaoxin chimed in: "Our presentation's coming up next. I've already told our distribution partners to cut prices across the board—President Su, we're surrounded."
Surrounded. For a moment, Su was stunned.
What did that mean? A coordinated price war? A collective drop of 1,000 yuan across the board?
He took a breath and nodded.
"...If you've already made the decision, go with it. I'm at Deyuan. Meet me at the hotel at noon."
"What happened?" Chen Jianguo asked. The tension in Su and Wen's expressions made it obvious something serious had occurred.
Su's eyes refocused. He smiled. "It's nothing. Just a bunch of phone giants playing dirty. They all dropped their prices."
Standing up, he added, "I'll head out. Stick to the plan—if we stay confident and keep pushing the tech, IBM won't matter."
"Alright then," Chen nodded. He had an unshakable faith in Su—his genius younger colleague never failed to deliver.
"Oh, right." Su turned to Liang. "Dr. Liang, please have Dr. Zhang compile a full cost breakdown of all chips manufactured at Deyuan, and give us a projection for cost reductions."
Liang had a hunch this wasn't just about pricing strategy. He didn't fully grasp the phone market, but he nodded without hesitation. "Understood."
...
As soon as Su left Deyuan, his expression turned serious.
In the back of the car, he dialed Chen Jing.
From her voice, it was clear she had just been briefed.
"Jing-jie, can you get the latest domestic mobile phone shipment numbers? Even Q1 data will do. Ideally broken down by brand."
"No problem."
Su smiled. "Honestly, these price cuts don't really hurt us—they'll hurt domestic partners more, especially the ones using our designs."
"I'll call marketing next."
He hung up and immediately called He Wei.
She had just wrapped up the final stages of a major partnership in the Special Economic Zone and was seeing excellent results.
Sure enough, she had already been briefed and promised to fly in that afternoon.
...
Back at the hotel, Su barely had time to wash his face before his uncle called.
After a couple awkward chuckles, his uncle confessed that he'd signed a pricing confidentiality agreement.
Su wasn't fazed. "Uncle, that's fine. Retailers like you need those agreements. Otherwise, why would brands even work with you?"
"Exactly. We're in a brutal fight with Jiamei and Anning. The domestic market's still growing—we can't afford to slack."
"Right. Don't worry—price cuts alone don't win markets. If they did, we wouldn't need sales or marketing teams."
"True. But you and Zhongxin need to be careful. The foreign brands are aggressive this time. They've enjoyed policy perks and slashed costs—they're very competitive."
"Thanks for the warning. We're about to meet and plan our response."
After hanging up, Su pressed his lips together and opened his notebook to draft the meeting agenda.
...
At noon, Duan Yongping and Wang Chaoxin arrived at the hotel as scheduled.
"Where's Xiaoliang?" Su asked.
Cao Xiaoliang's professionalism and operational prowess made him invaluable. While He Wei was better suited for strategy, Cao was born to lead tactical execution.
"He's out scoping the market. He'll join us later. Let's eat first."
"Alright."
They didn't talk much over lunch. Su listened as they recapped the morning's events.
There was no doubt: the collective price drop from the foreign brands felt very much like a calculated strike.
No way it was a coincidence.
But no one said much. They treated it like casual chatter.
After eating, the four returned to Su's suite. They'd barely sat down when Cao Xiaoliang burst in, a heavy shoulder bag slung over his back.
Without a word, he dumped the bag's contents onto the coffee table.
Clatter! A whole bag of phones.
"President Su, our marketing team spent the whole morning tracking these down." He grabbed a bottle of water from Wen and chugged it.
Wiping his mouth, he smiled. "These are the foreign-brand phones launched today and already available for sale. A few models sold out before we could grab them."
Su nodded. This was clearly for teardown analysis.
...
Cao laid out the marketing brochures and arranged the phones by price.
The most expensive was Motorola's V76 flip phone, priced at 4,999 yuan.
On paper, it outclassed Yuanxin's Vidoo6. No lyric display, but it supported MP3, came with 128MB of internal flash, and had SID card support.
The cheapest was Nokia's 3370 bar phone—just 1,999 yuan. All the phones had colorful, swappable cases.
As Su examined them, he was hit by déjà vu—they were identical to the feature phones from his past life.
Everyone took turns testing them.
While they agreed Yuanxin's Vidoo series was far superior in quality and tech…
The foreign phones were dirt cheap.
"Got a screwdriver?" Su asked.
"No need, President Su. Same old design. External baseband, slightly more integrated PCB," Duan said, prying off a back cover. "Ni-Cd battery."
"No wonder they're so cheap…" Wang said, checking more batteries—all nickel-cadmium, a tech already declared obsolete. "We're using high-performance SoCs and lithium batteries. Of course our costs are higher."
Su nodded. "They've got local factories, policy perks, and after our trade deal with the West, import tariffs are way down. Of course their costs are lower."
"We can't estimate exact costs, but margins must be thin. They're exploiting the new Ministry of Information Industry and recent access fee cuts—hit us while we weren't ready." He smiled, but his eyes remained troubled.
No doubt, these brands were targeting Yuanxin—and more specifically, YX architecture.
Right now, YX was the world's most mature baseband integration solution. Two chipmakers besides Yuanxin had licensed it.
If no one stopped it, the West would lose face—and the market.
"What now?" Wang asked. He had just committed to switching to integrated chips, betting big on Yuanxin.
Now this.
"Relax, Wang. We won't let you take a loss." Su reassured him. "Deyuan's improving the process—we'll cut costs soon."
"Our real issue is lithium battery cost. Still high. Also... we've been pricing a little too aggressively."
Everyone chuckled—even amid anxiety.
Yuanxin's phones had enjoyed fat margins—Vidoo6 at 55%, Vidoo6M at 60%.
Zhongxin's phones, in the 2,000–4,000 range, held steady at over 30%.
Until today, that was the industry standard.
Now Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens, and Motorola had nuked the price floor.
These new phones had margins under 20%.
"What's our move? We've already slashed prices," Wang said, pained. Zhongxin had always been slightly cheaper than foreign brands. With this drop, they had to slash another 1,000 yuan just to stay relevant.
"Let's not panic. We'll get more data this afternoon."
Su looked at the lineup of cheap feature phones—different shells, same internals.
He wasn't worried about Yuanxin. This price war only strengthened its premium brand image.
His real concern was Zhongxin—and the domestic partners using Yuanxin's designs.
If they pulled out, Soxin and YX architecture would take a hit.
Still, the chip was Yuanxin's design, Deyuan's fab.
They held the pricing power.
Worst case? No profits. Just volume.
He refused to believe a tightly integrated baseband SoC couldn't beat a clunky external setup.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Albino1.
Chapter 603: A Ferocious Wave
In a past life, the image of Chinese consumer electronics evolved through four distinct stages.
The earliest stage—dominated by radios—barely counts. There was no foreign competition then, and the domestic economy was supply-side driven. Manufacturers could build with excellent quality without worrying about market constraints, so Chinese-made products earned strong reputations for reliability.
The second stage began with China's reform and opening up. Foreign brands entered in droves and crushed old domestic players on every metric. Local brands had no choice but to lower prices, meekly admitting inferiority.
Next came the wave of counterfeit or "shanzhai" products.
These weren't just fake phones—shanzhai TVs, fans, and stereos flooded rural markets. Cheapness was their only advantage.
And it wasn't just electronics.
Take knockoff leather shoes, for example—cheap, mass-produced, and available everywhere.
Shanzhai phones were simply the most intense phase of this larger shanzhai era.
Finally, after a long counterfeit period, domestic electronics began shedding their "cheap and low-quality" label and evolving into "cheap but reliable." Some even started to show real innovation.
But the damage had been done. The stigma surrounding Chinese brands lingered. Even with better products, they couldn't enjoy brand premiums. They were stuck fighting in the low- to mid-tier market.
Some had to rely on flashy marketing to sell straw as if it were gold.
Now, after spending tremendous resources and effort, Yuanxin had managed to change consumer perceptions—at least in the phone market. Su Yuanshan had no intention of letting a resurgence of shanzhai factories drag everything back into the mud.
In the future, it would be the legitimate players who wiped out the counterfeits.
But now, with foreign competitors slashing prices while supplying shanzhai factories with cheap solutions—pressuring Yuanxin from above while crushing nascent domestic brands from below…
Su wasn't about to sit still.
...
By the time the meeting ended, it was after 11 p.m. Su didn't bother returning to the Hilton; he stayed at the tech park hotel.
"He Wei, how's it going with Chengdian Gaoke?" he asked while walking along a quiet path in the park.
"Yes, President Su," she quickly replied, catching up to him. "After a year of expansion, their brand-exclusive PC stores have made a real impact. Recognition in the personal computer market is high. Plus, they've finally built a proper after-sales network, even if it took heavy subsidies."
"In other words, unless something goes terribly wrong, they've secured the home user segment. If nothing changes, they should be number one this year."
"Good. Go on."
"For commercial machines, Chengdian launched a new brand, Rongtian, with five different series. They cover everything from high to low end. The response over the past two months has been excellent—especially among banks and government agencies. We're getting preferred status."
"Oh? Why?"
"Heh... it's because our processors are inside, and we've been playing the 'security' angle a bit…"
"Seriously?" Su frowned.
He was already worried foreign markets would use the same excuse to block Yuanxin—he didn't expect his own team to play that card first.
"Best not to market it that way," Su said. "It's unprofessional and dishonest. We're aiming to be a global company. If others pull this same trick on us, how would that feel?"
"Understood. But even without that, we have advantages. In commercial sectors, after-sales support is critical, and our service team is fast. That alone gives us an edge."
"Agreed. Targeted positioning, fast response, plus Yuanxin's branding... I honestly don't know how other companies can compete." Su grabbed a twig from a bush and smiled. "Alright, get some rest. You've been working nonstop."
"It's fine, really. Each industry offers new insights—and that can only help us better serve the semiconductor sector."
"True. We touch a lot of industries, but our core is semiconductors. As long as the chips are strong, the rest will follow—just look at Intel."
He Wei nodded, then grinned playfully. "When are we going to beat Intel?"
"Beat Intel?" Su laughed. "Long way to go! We can't even beat Cyrix yet."
"But Cyrix doesn't even get supply from us anymore. How could they still be a threat?"
Su stopped walking and looked at her with surprise. Once he realized she genuinely believed that, he gave a resigned chuckle.
"He Wei, do you really think Yuanxin is invincible?"
"No, it's just... you're too good at this." She blushed. "That's what everyone says."
"Don't listen to the hype. I'm not a god."
...
The next day, Su didn't attend Duan Yongping's ongoing meetings. He sent Wen Xiaoqian in his place and spent the afternoon meeting with clients at the Hilton.
To be precise, he was there to reassure everyone.
"Don't worry. Supporting domestic brands and ensuring healthy growth has always been our strategic mission," Su said with a smile to the group of company heads led by Shi Dazhu.
Among them were Shi Dazhu from Giant, Qiu Yuliang from Kebang, Lu Liangcheng from Xiaxin, and Ma Tianping from Panda Electronics.
All of them were domestic phone manufacturers using Yuanxin's solutions. Over the past year, as Yuanxin provided comprehensive design packages while avoiding the low-end market, these brands had grown quickly and supported Yuanxin in return.
But they hadn't expected foreign brands to fight back by slashing prices—to the point of undercutting even domestic players.
Like it or not, foreign brands still held sway.
"President Su, we get what you're saying... but we can't match their prices, even if we sell at a loss," Qiu Yuliang said, clearly distressed. "They've set prices right around 2,999—exactly where our models sit. Unless we all slash to under 2,000, we can't compete... and then there's that 1,999 Nokia waiting at the gate."
"It's tough—really tough," Qiu sighed. "If we can't hold the line here, the mid-range market will be lost. We'll be stuck making bottom-tier phones."
Foreign brands had failed to crack the high-end market dominated by Vidoo, so they aimed squarely at the mid-range. And that's where most of the profits were.
Right now, China's middle segment made up over 70% of mobile industry profits.
This wave was designed to squeeze domestic brands out of the most lucrative bracket—unless Yuanxin lowered its prices too.
But doing that would mean Yuanxin, the "referee," was jumping in to play. That would shatter trust among its domestic partners.
Suddenly, Shi Dazhu asked, "Didn't the Japanese do this to the Americans back in the semiconductor war? Flooded the market with high-quality, low-cost products?"
Su nodded. That was exactly what had happened. Without protective measures like the so-called No.5 production license policy, domestic phones might never have stood a chance.
"So... will the government intervene?" Shi asked, eyes burning.
Su looked him in the eye, then slowly shook his head. "We just signed WTO agreements with the U.S. and Europe. These foreign brands are investing in China—not just exporting here."
Shi's face fell. "So the state won't help?"
"Not unless we completely collapse. Until then, the message is clear: we're expected to fight our own way out." Su smiled. "We won't collapse—but the road ahead will be hard. Stay sharp."
At that moment, Wen Xiaoqian stormed in.
After politely greeting everyone, she handed Su a document.
All eyes were on it.
Until now, Su had been reassuring them—but hadn't shown his cards. Just promised that the marketing and sales teams were working around the clock.
"Alright, gentlemen. I can now speak plainly."
"Yuanxin will provide a modular package—from PCB to chassis. Based on current component costs, if you place large enough orders and go for the absolute barebones spec, you can get materials costs under 600 yuan per unit."
The room froze.
Shi Dazhu blinked. "President Su... you're serious?"
"Dead serious." Su smiled and handed him the document. "See for yourself."
Shi took the paper and skimmed it—his expression quickly turned complex.
The others crowded around to look.
Su sipped his tea and smiled.
"Technically, we're competitors. But in times like this, we've got to fight the same enemy."
"In the feature phone era, there's little room for product differentiation. It's all about shells and gimmicks. Beyond that, it's about your sales channels and market reach."
"Honestly, I don't think this foreign price war is such a bad thing—it's pushing us to control costs and mature faster."
"But to truly win, we need tech. We need generational breakthroughs." Su set down his cup and looked at the room.
"In the feature phone era, let's hold the line. When smartphones arrive, we'll crush them so hard they won't know what hit them."
...
As a fast-moving company, once Yuanxin committed to supporting domestic manufacturers, they sprang into action.
PCB engineers swarmed into Hongyuan's factories. Deyuan rapidly shifted production to boost YX0315 baseband chip output.
The next day, Su hosted the first-ever YOS developer conference at the Hilton, welcoming PDA makers and digital hardware companies from around the world.
"YOS is the result of five years of refinement. It's designed for low-power mobile platforms. Compared to PalmOS, NewtonOS, or EPOC, YOS offers vastly more scalability and platform potential. The difference is like DOS versus Windows."
As he spoke, Su watched the 50+ representatives in the room.
Yuanxin had prepared nearly 100 Sony PDAs—ensuring everyone had a device to test.
"Compare our PDA to anything else on the market. To be blunt, ours actually lives up to the name 'Personal Digital Assistant.' The others? They're just glorified dictionaries."
A Samsung rep in the front row raised his hand.
Su smiled. "Mr. Lee, go ahead."
Lee Jaeyong returned the smile. "Mr. Su, there's no denying YOS's strengths. But I noticed that your plan includes an application management center... I hope I'm mistaken?"
Su blinked, seeing every pair of eyes turn toward him.
Internally, he cursed.
This guy... sharp as ever.
"Of course not."
He replied firmly. "What I mean is—Yuanxin doesn't intend to control the application center. So yes, it's a misunderstanding."
"Yes, the App Center currently connects to our servers in Hong Kong and North America. But it's only part of the YOS ecosystem. You're free to host your own."
"But let me be clear: the strength and longevity of YOS lie in its openness."
Su smiled at the room.
"The developer documentation isn't just for you. It's for every developer in the world who wants to build on YOS."
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Albino1.
Chapter 604: Locking Onto Symbian
The capital of the United Kingdom.
London.
Psion was a veteran digital device and technology developer that had been around for over a decade. Compared to its long history, Palm Computing in North America—creators of the Palm OS—was just a junior newcomer.
In Europe, Psion was a major player in the PDA sector, one of the first professional digital companies to launch PDAs and a widely recognized leader across the continent.
Today, a group of special guests had arrived at Psion's headquarters in London.
...
Psion's founder, David Potter, held a cup of coffee in one hand and a laser pointer in the other as he addressed the guests, explaining the future of the EPOC system.
"In the future, EPOC will evolve in three directions. For simplicity, we've given them codenames: Pearl, Quartz, and Crystal."
"These three sub-systems will inherit most of EPOC's core code, with only minor differences in interfaces and optimizations based on the product. For example, Pearl will be used for smart mobile phones."
"Quartz and Crystal will be for stylus-based communicators and keyboard-based communicators respectively. Essentially, there's no significant difference between them, but we want to lay a foundation for diversified products in the future."
"Compared to Yuanxin's YOS, our EPOC is smaller, consumes less power, and is better suited to current hardware environments."
As David Potter spoke, the attendees continued flipping through the documentation in front of them.
These were representatives from companies that didn't want to "submit" to Yuanxin—or rather, couldn't psychologically accept YOS.
Nokia, Ericsson, and Motorola.
"So, gentlemen, what do you think?" David Potter looked at them intently.
The others smiled and nodded.
"What should we name the new company?"
"Symbian?"
...
Shanghai, Hilton Hotel Conference Room.
After Lee Jaeyong's initial question opened the floodgates, the second half of the YOS promotional event turned into a Q&A session for Su Yuanshan.
Far from being annoyed, Su was actually quite pleased. He was even starting to feel grateful toward Lee—was the guy deliberately playing wingman?
It was a well-known fact in marketing: the biggest fear during a launch event was silence.
The more questions there were, the greater the interest.
"We firmly believe that even without YX architecture, other integrated SoCs would eventually aim to combine the application processor and baseband—because that's the future of handheld smart devices."
"Whether it's smartphones, PDAs, professional digital media players, or even niche devices—like the mobile payment system someone mentioned earlier—they're all heading toward full-scale intelligence."
"And YOS is the platform for that evolution."
After answering the last question, Su Yuanshan looked out over the audience with a smile.
No more hands went up.
"Any final questions?"
"One last one," Lee Jaeyong said, glancing behind him and then raising his hand again.
Su nodded for him to continue.
"Mr. Su, is Yuanxin's next goal to combine PDA and phone functions into a 'smartphone'?"
Lee lowered his hand and smiled at Su.
Su blinked. "What do you think?"
A ripple of laughter spread through the room.
But then Su turned serious.
"Everyone here today is from the industry—there are no consumers present—so I'll be candid. Yuanxin has always positioned itself as a pioneer and pathfinder in digital technology. We put all our latest tech into products that may seem impractical or unmarketable—even if they're overpriced and likely to fail."
"The MP3 phone was like that. So was the Imusic."
"But even if those fail, they serve as lessons for our partners—even a dead end is valuable knowledge."
"Yuanxin has never, and will never, abuse its role in the supply chain to compete with our partners. For example, with this recent round of price cuts from foreign brands, Yuanxin could easily use its supply chain advantages to launch products at all price points."
"But we didn't. We chose to continue supporting our partners."
"So Yuanxin hopes our partners will open up new markets and new products. At the same time, we will continue to explore those frontiers and then leave the wider market to our partners. That is the responsibility of a core component and solution provider."
After finishing, Su once again looked at Lee Jaeyong.
Lee smiled and slowly began to clap.
Moments later, the room erupted in applause.
...
...
To "thank" Lee Jaeyong for his contributions, Su invited him to lunch the next day.
Though they hadn't reached an agreement during their last meeting in Japan, at least they were familiar.
And it seemed like Lee had something he wanted to discuss privately as well.
Unlike in Tokyo, where Lee could easily find top-tier cuisine, Su wasn't as familiar with Shanghai's culinary scene—he never cared much for food. Once he got wrapped up in work, food just became fuel.
So he treated Lee to French cuisine at the Hilton.
"Please, enjoy," Su offered.
"Thank you." Lee fastened his napkin and reached for the wine—only for Su to beat him to it.
"No need to trouble the staff." Su took the decanter and smiled at the foreign waitress nearby. "We're just chatting."
"Of course, sir." The waitress bowed and stepped away.
Su poured wine for both of them and raised his glass with a smile. "Welcome to Shanghai, Mr. Lee."
"Thank you for your hospitality."
"So, Samsung planning a full-scale push into China's mobile market?" Su knew Samsung had been making phones for years. As early as the '80s, they'd released in-car mobile phones, and during the Seoul Olympics, they even launched their own brick phones.
Well—copies of Motorola, to be honest.
During the brick-phone era, Motorola was the blueprint every company followed.
In the '90s, stubborn as ever, Samsung didn't give up. Despite starting with knockoffs, they kept investing in R&D. In 1995—after Yuanxin released its mobile solution—Samsung also launched its own true GSM handset.
But two years had passed, and Samsung phones still hadn't gained traction. They remained largely confined to Korea and were seen as low-end in Western markets.
Now, with China's market just beginning to boom, Samsung was definitely eyeing entry.
"Yes," Lee replied honestly. "China is too valuable a market to ignore."
"You're welcome here," Su smiled.
"Far too polite, Mr. Su."
"Well, the domestic market right now is more chaotic than the end of the Han Dynasty. One more competitor doesn't matter. But I will warn you—you'll have to get through Nokia, Ericsson, and Motorola first."
"Yes," Lee sighed.
Samsung had joined this year's expo too, though they kept a low profile. Even as an import brand, their competitiveness couldn't match Nokia or Motorola.
And if they tried to go low-end, they'd be up against domestic brands backed by Yuanxin's turnkey solutions—making those brands practically unbeatable.
"So what's your plan?" Su raised his glass again, like two old friends catching up.
Lee replied with equal ease. "Learn from you."
Pfft—
Su nearly spat out his wine.
He swallowed, then laughed. "Learn what from us?"
"Learn to look toward the future." Lee's smile turned meaningful. "This time, I'm really here for the YX architecture."
Su blinked, his grin widening.
"Welcome."
...
...
On May 25, Yuanxin officially announced the formation of the YOS Alliance.
Apple, Sony, Xinghai, Samsung, HP, Panasonic—just to name a few—were all on the founding members list. Together, they represented the majority of the global PDA market.
Meanwhile, a small snippet buried in the Science Times also landed on Su Yuanshan's desk:
Psion, in partnership with Nokia, Ericsson, and Motorola, had founded a new company: Symbian. EPOC was being rebranded under this new name.
Reading that line, Su was momentarily stunned.
"Xiaoqian, it's 1997, right?"
"...President Su?" Wen Xiaoqian looked at him, puzzled—was he confused? "Hong Kong returns this year."
"Oh—right." Su smiled and set the brief aside.
So Symbian had arrived a full year early.
And with the exact same players.
Su picked the briefing back up and jotted down a note below the Symbian story. Then he instructed Wen to send it to the YOS Lab.
"Tell Chen Gang," he added, "to keep an eye on them. Don't just watch—lock them down."
—Whether it was Symbian or Android, Su intended to strangle every threat in the cradle.
Most of the remaining briefing focused on the Southeast Asian crisis. The recent ASEAN finance ministers' meeting made it clear: Thailand's central bank was at its limit. They were scrambling for allies.
But as international capital kept pouring in to short the region, not just Thailand, but all nearby economies became targets. With panic everywhere, no one had the strength to help.
Worst of all, the U.S. seemed to have forgotten its former ally Thailand—offering no support.
Yuanxin's risk management division attached a report: they estimated Thailand could only hold its currency peg for another two weeks.
After that, the baht would collapse.
"The real storm is almost here," Su murmured after finishing the brief—just as the hotline on his desk rang.
He picked up. It was Chen Jing.
"Xiaoshan, True Corp's CEO, Mr. Bawon, wants to visit. Can you schedule a time?"
Su's mood instantly lifted. He flipped open his calendar. "I'm free the day after tomorrow. You?"
"I'll be tied up. You'll have to handle it. They've been wanting to meet you anyway."
Su smiled. "Great. Just confirm and let me know."
"Will do."
After hanging up, Su exhaled deeply.
Yuanxin's relationship with True Corp dated back to the pager era. It was also the first foreign telecom firm that Yuanxin invested in.
With Yuanxin's help, True Corp had risen from a minor player to Thailand's second-largest telecom, trailing only the state-run TOT. In infrastructure, they had even surpassed them.
If Yuanxin hadn't halted its Thai expansion before the financial crisis, True Corp might already be number one.
Now, with interest rates sky-high, asset prices crashing, and capital fleeing, Thailand's middle class was in freefall...
Yet in times of chaos, some industries—like basic infrastructure—found opportunities.
Clearly, True Corp was ready to act.
After a few calming breaths, Su dialed Sun Xihui.
She answered after a single ring.
"Sun-jie, it's me."
"Haha, I knew it. I was just betting with Qin Si about when you'd finally make a move. She said you'd wait for the baht to collapse. I said you'd act a few days earlier. Guess I win."
Su laughed. "Yeah yeah, you know me better. So—how's it going with Shinawatra?"
"Very smooth. But… you know, it's a family-run business. Their boss is... special. We won't be getting any big stakes. But partnership? No problem."
Su smiled. Of course. That boss would become Thailand's future leader. Years ago, he had already paid 20 billion baht for TOT's 20-year license.
From that angle, Yuanxin and Shinawatra were destined to be rivals.
"We're not after control—just cooperation. Can you arrange a visit to Yuanxin?"
"Sure. When?"
"If they can come the day after tomorrow, perfect." Su paused, then smirked. "Tell them Yuanxin wants to help facilitate cooperation between True Corp and TOT. And try to invite someone with real authority."
"Got it!"
After hanging up, Su thought of the stunning Thai businesswoman rumored to be part of the family—and found himself a little curious.
If it really was her, he'd definitely need to prepare.
First impressions mattered.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Albino1.
Chapter 605: Equality Beneath the Storm
Su Yuanshan and Zhou Xiaohui stood outside the airport, chatting as they waited for the plane to land.
"I heard the one from AIS is really pretty?" Zhou Xiaohui asked with a teasing smile. She was part of a small EM group chat with Sun Xihui and a few other women—mostly for gossip, never for work. When Sun Xihui told her the visitor was a stunning beauty, it instantly explained why Su was so well-dressed today.
AIS was the telecom company founded by the Shinawatra family.
"No idea, I just heard the same rumors." Su shrugged and glanced down at his shirt. Thankfully it had rained the night before, so the weather wasn't hot. Otherwise, he would've had no idea what to wear.
Soon, the plane arrived. Amid the crowd emerged a woman with an unmistakable air of elegance, surrounded by her aides.
Su and Zhou exchanged a knowing smile.
A beauty indeed.
"Ms. Qiu, welcome to the provincial capital. I'm Zhou Xiaohui from Yuanxin," Zhou said, stepping forward to greet Qiu Yingyue, AIS's de facto third-in-command.
Qiu shook her hand and responded in accented Mandarin with a smile, "Hello, Ms. Zhou."
Then, turning to Su, she added, "Hello, Mr. Su."
"Yuanxin welcomes you, Ms. Qiu." Su stepped forward, returning her polite greeting with a handshake.
On the way back in the business vehicle, neither Su nor Qiu discussed business or Thailand's situation. Instead, they chatted about her birthplace—Chiang Mai—and her ancestral roots.
"Have you considered visiting your ancestral hometown on this trip?" Su asked.
"No time this round, maybe next time," Qiu replied with a smile, looking out the window. "It's not going anywhere, after all."
"Haha, true. There'll be plenty of chances," Su nodded, though in his mind, he couldn't help thinking: both she and her brother would be "on the run" eventually…
While they talked, the car quickly entered the development zone.
As they passed from the rustic rural landscape along the airport expressway into a cityscape of densely packed high-rises, Qiu's expression showed clear surprise—this transformation had taken less than thirty minutes.
Due to provincial government planning—and especially after Yuanxin protested—the original industrial park model had been scrapped. The area was reimagined as a high-tech zone focused on software and internet industries.
To enhance its image as a national showcase, the Institute of Electronics was preparing to build a new campus in the park. President Zhou's dream was to establish a legacy before retirement: if the province wanted its own Silicon Valley, then the Institute would be its Stanford.
Naturally, a model park like this had to be modern in both layout and infrastructure. Qiu's astonishment was understandable.
"Yingyue, welcome to Yuanxin," said Sun Xihui warmly as they arrived at the company's main entrance.
She and True Corp's president, Bawon, had been waiting for a while.
...
In Yuanxin's garden courtyard, Su, Sun, Qiu, and Bawon sat around a tea table. All four spoke fluent English, so no translation was needed.
"Your country's current situation is truly difficult. Every economic model we've used shows that the fall of the baht is inevitable. It's beyond what slogans from your finance minister can contain," Su said in a relaxed tone, though his words didn't stray far from Thailand's grim reality.
"As one of our most important markets and partners, we not only hope Thailand can ride out this financial storm safely, but also that it recovers quickly and regains its vitality."
Su's eyes alternated between Bawon and Qiu, but most of his focus was on reading Qiu's expression.
"Yuanxin is not a company that extracts wealth from others through its products. We want to work with every country to make people's lives better. That has always been our mission."
He saw that Qiu's expression turned more appreciative at these words.
"So Yuanxin will do what it can within our scope to help your nation recover."
Qiu nodded slightly, smiling softly. "So, Mr. Su, what exactly do you plan to do?"
Su smiled. "Once all the vultures looking to profit from crisis have flown off, we'll rebuild together."
In the coming months, from semiconductors to assembly lines, many Thai companies would go bankrupt.
Yuanxin had no intention—and no ability—to save Thailand. But acquiring two packaging and testing plants and integrating a few assembly lines was feasible.
Qiu nodded again, though she sighed a little.
Her brother's government was teetering on the edge.
With a master's in public administration and years of corporate experience, Qiu fully understood that Thailand's economic crisis couldn't be reversed by anything short of a multi-billion-dollar bailout. Not even a giant like Yuanxin could dodge the collapse—only sidestep its sharpest edge.
Fortunately, Yuanxin was the first company to openly state it wouldn't abandon Thailand.
But her brother's political ambitions would have to wait.
...
After a day of tea and conversation, Su personally led Qiu and Bawon on a formal tour of Yuanxin.
To help Qiu understand the tech, Su took care to explain each piece of technology, its applications, and how it compared globally.
To her credit, she wasn't a novice. As a telecom executive, she'd absorbed plenty of knowledge by osmosis.
When she saw Yuanxin's lab-based 3G network demo, her awe was evident.
Yuanxin's CCDMA baseband chip had completed its early design and was currently being tested on FPGA hardware. It wasn't ready for commercial use yet, but it was perfect for lab demonstrations.
Watching Qiu and Bawon marvel over the prototype phone's internet features, Su smiled. "According to our data, CCDMA is the fastest network protocol available."
The prototype used a layout and screen similar to Sony's PDA, running YOS with a built-in dialer. If not for the black-and-white display and PDA-style body, it could've passed for an early "off-brand" smartphone.
"Can it make calls?" Qiu asked, noticing the microphone, speaker, and dialer interface.
Su looked at Tian Yaoming, who grinned and replied, "If you stay here another month, it will."
Qiu smiled and said with sincere admiration, "You move so quickly."
Su gave a meaningful smile. "This financial crisis will be far-reaching, but life must go on. Nations must still develop."
Qiu and Bawon both turned to look at him.
"When a group of people fall while running, it's not about who ran fastest—it's about who gets up fastest."
"3G technology doesn't just offer faster speeds and better voice quality. It opens the door to new models and ecosystems. Whoever completes 3G deployment first, gains the edge in global expansion."
"So?"
"So..." Su turned with a grin to the least tech-savvy person present: Sun Xihui. "Wealth goddess, what do you think? You're the richest one here now."
Sun folded her arms and chuckled. "I'm just an outsider. You make the call."
...
One month later, Thailand's finance minister, who had stubbornly defended the baht's fixed exchange rate, resigned after burning through $30 billion in reserves.
That same day, the Thai central bank announced it was abandoning the 14-year-old fixed rate in favor of a managed float system. It also raised interest rates from 10.5% to 12.5%.
On that day, the baht dropped to 33.2 against the dollar, a devaluation of more than 30%.
The Thai baht had fallen. The Southeast Asian financial crisis had officially begun.
The great tide of history surged onward—those who went with it prospered; those who resisted perished.
No capital dared to wait anymore. It all fled in a frenzy.
In Thailand, over 60 financial institutions suspended operations—more than half of the nation's total, representing two-thirds of all deposits.
The baht kept sliding, with peak devaluation exceeding 40%.
One after another, thousands—then tens of thousands—of companies collapsed. Nearly three million people were out of work.
Under the raging storm, all were equal. Rich or poor, elite or common, no one was spared.
Billionaires were ruined, forced to sell pancakes to survive. Middle-class citizens lost their homes and cars and became day laborers. Ordinary people faced soaring inflation and spiraling prices.
The financial crisis was like a massive tsunami, quickly engulfing Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and the rest of Southeast Asia.
International capital—like vultures—descended on one market after another.
The so-called Four Tigers and Four Dragons were, in their eyes, nothing but tender carrion.
...
By mid-August, the hottest time of year, one seemingly minor news story quietly appeared amid the sea of financial headlines.
Yuanxin Holdings announced, without fanfare, that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with True Corp, AIS, and Xinghai (HK) for cooperation in telecom and hardware.
The MOU stated that the four parties would deepen collaboration in telecommunications—especially in base stations and user services. True Corp and AIS would pursue "unprecedented" cooperation to jointly embrace the mobile communications era.
In addition, the four would jointly invest in a telecom equipment manufacturing venture.
Tai'an Electronics.
With True Corp and AIS publicly confirming the MOU, a ripple spread across Thailand's stagnant, crisis-wracked stock market.
End of Chapter 605.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Albino1