Chapter 309 The Father of Magnetic Head and the Idea of New Company
After some inquiries, Li Xiaofan finally found the R&D director from mainland China named Dr. Mao Siming at the Seagate Head and Media R&D Center in Fremont, California in the afternoon.
In the laboratory of the R&D center, Dr. Mao Siming, who was busy doing experiments, received a call from the front desk saying that someone was looking for him, so he put down his work and walked out.
After coming out of the laboratory, Dr. Mao Siming, who was tall and cheerful, met the unfamiliar Li Xiaofan at the front desk of the R&D center and asked curiously: "Hello, are you looking for me?"
Li Xiaofan smiled and said: "Hello, Dr. Mao, yes, I am looking for you. Let me introduce myself, my name is Li Xiaofan, from Singapore Yifan Technology Company..."
"Mr. Li, you are from Singapore, why do I seem to have never seen you before!" Dr. Mao Siming became more and more curious after taking Li Xiaofan's business card.
"Dr. Mao, you are so famous, it's normal that you don't know me. I know you, I used to sit in on your physics class at Tsinghua University..."
"Ah, you sat in on my physics class at Tsinghua University, why don't I have any impression of you?"
Li Xiaofan laughed and said, "Haha, maybe because it's been so long, you have so many memories!"
Dr. Mao Siming in front of Li Xiaofan is a very influential figure in the field of international magnetism. He was once known as the "Father of Magnetic Heads" by the industry, but he was also deeply involved in a marathon-style intellectual property lawsuit that made him famous all over the world for his "net worth" of $600 million.
Dr. Mao previously received a master's degree from the Department of Technical Physics at Peking University, and then worked as a lecturer at the Department of Modern Applied Physics at Tsinghua University for a period of time before going to the United States to study and received a doctorate in physics from the University of Maryland. He is currently the R&D director of the Magnetic Head and Media R&D Center of Seagate Corporation in the United States.
In his previous life, after joining Seagate, Dr. Mao Siming led the development of a new generation of magnetic read heads and sensors such as GMR (Giant Magneto-Resistance Head) and TMR (Tunnel Magneto-Resistance Head), and was known as the "Father of Magnetic Heads" by the industry. He led the team to develop a number of "first technologies" in the industry, helping Seagate successfully replace IBM's market position in the industry, and Seagate became the world's largest manufacturer of hard disks, disks and read-write heads. He is also known as the global leader in magnetic storage.
In his previous life, in October 2006, Dr. Mao Siming left Seagate and took up the position of Vice President of R&D at Western Digital, a competitor of Seagate. At that time, Seagate's hard disk ranked first in the world, and Western Digital ranked second. The two companies were the main competitors in the global hard disk field.
Dr. Mao Siming's job change later triggered a series of lawsuits. After Dr. Mao's job change, Seagate immediately filed a marathon lawsuit against Western Digital and Dr. Mao Siming himself on the grounds of "leaking trade secrets."
In the six years from 2006 to 2012, Dr. Mao led the team to help Western Digital increase its annual sales from US$4 billion to US$12 billion, tripling.
However, after five years of litigation, at the end of 2011, an arbitration institution in Minnesota made a binding interim arbitration decision, ordering Western Digital to pay Seagate $100 million in compensation for the heavy losses caused by Dr. Mao Siming's job-hopping and "leaking trade secrets". In 2013, a local court in the United States ruled that Western Digital lost the case and needed to pay Seagate $630 million and stop the production of its SAS hard drives. Although Western Digital appealed to the Supreme Court, the final result was still to uphold the original judgment.
After the arbitration institution in Minnesota made the ruling at the end of 2011, Dr. Mao Siming subsequently resigned from Western Digital in early 2012 and returned to China to start a business.
In the previous life, it was when Dr. Mao Siming returned to Shanghai in 2012 to start a business that Li Xiaofan met Dr. Mao Siming by chance. At that time, Dr. Mao was developing a magnetic sensor and automotive electronics project for the electronics and electrical industry. The angel investor was Jin Shengguang, the father of Li Xiaofan's junior high school female classmate Jin Yajun and a very powerful private entrepreneur in Minnesota. At that time, Dr. Mao needed Li Xiaofan's company to help him make some test fixtures.
In the previous life, because it was a project invested by the father of a junior high school classmate and the business cooperation, Li Xiaofan and Dr. Mao Siming were very familiar with each other and often drank together.
But now, the reborn Li Xiaofan knows Dr. Mao Siming, but Dr. Mao doesn't know Li Xiaofan at all.
When Dr. Mao was studying at Peking University, there was a classmate named Fei Jianming who was from Mingzhou. After graduation, Fei Jianming returned to his hometown Mingzhou and entered the system. Now he is a deputy director of the Mingzhou Science and Technology Bureau. At that time, Mao Siming returned to China to start a business. It was the matchmaking of old classmate Fei Jianming that made Mingzhou Shengguang Group, under the command of Jin Shengguang, the father of Li Xiaofan's junior high school female classmate Jin Yajun, angel invest in Mao Siming's entrepreneurial project.
Li Xiaofan smiled and said, "Dr. Mao, my hometown is Mingzhou City, Zhijiang Province. I am a friend of your old Peking University classmate Fei Jianming. I came to California on a business trip this time and passed by your place, so I came to see you by the way..."
"Oh, so you are Jianming's friend. By the way, Mr. Li, you just called Jianming Director Fei, is he promoted to director now?"
"Yes, your old classmate is now a deputy director of the High-tech Industry Department of the Mingzhou Science and Technology Bureau."
"Wow, that's good!"
After the two chatted for a while at the front desk, Li Xiaofan made an appointment with Dr. Mao Siming to get together after get off work and find a Chinese restaurant nearby to have a drink.
After get off work, Dr. Mao Siming drove his newly bought Chevrolet Camaro and took Li Xiaofan to a Chinese restaurant called "Bandit Hunan Cuisine" in the Chinese community in the south.
On the way, Li Xiaofan heard Dr. Mao Siming introduce that he felt very comfortable and at ease working and living in Fremont.
When it comes to Fremont in the Bay Area of the United States, many people think of the Tesla factory at the first time. In fact, in addition to Tesla, Fremont is also the most suitable city for family settlement and the happiest city in the United States.
Mao Siming told Li Xiaofan that Fremont is one of the most concentrated high-tech companies in the United States. There are more than a thousand world-leading high-tech, life science, and clean energy projects settled here, such as the Apple factory of the first Mac computer, and a number of semiconductor high-tech companies such as the well-known Ci
us Logic Lingyun Logic, Asyst Technologies, Mattson Technology, etc. are also gathered here.
This beautiful town in the Bay Area has industries, jobs, and life, making it a very livable and business-friendly city.
At the same time, Fremont is an inclusive and diverse city, and a city that is friendly to Asians. More than half of the population is Asian, with Indians and Chinese accounting for the majority, and only 23% of the population being white.
Mao Siming told Li Xiaofan that for Chinese people, life in Fremont is extremely convenient. There are two Chinese business districts in the south and north of the city, with supermarkets, restaurants, etc., and life is very convenient. If you have elderly parents in the United States, you can also participate in activities such as middle-aged and elderly dance troupes and Tai Chi organized by organizations such as The Fremont Senior Center. Sometimes they also perform outdoor activities on weekends, which is very lively.
Listening to Dr. Mao's introduction and browsing the beautiful and tidy scenery of Fremont outside the car window, Li Xiaofan said casually: "It's great. I suddenly have the idea of opening an investment company here in Fremont!"