Chapter 382 PK Shanghai Bell and Xiao Ge Have an Appointment
Academician Ni asked: "Director Li, do you understand the current domestic digital program-controlled switch market structure?"
"I roughly understand that the leader in this domestic industry is definitely Shanghai Bell Company, closely followed by a private company in Shenzhen called Huawei, and another company in Shenzhen called ZTE is probably also making similar products... …”
Li Xiaofan's answer somewhat surprised Academician Ni: "Director Li, have you already done market research?"
"Well, I probably did some research..."
At that time, Shanghai Bell Company was established in 1984. It was an enterprise directly under the management of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and the first Sino-foreign joint-stock company in the high-tech field in China. When Shanghai Bell was founded, China Post and Telecommunications Industry Corporation, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, held 60% of the shares, Bell Belgium held 32%, and the Kingdom of Belgium Cooperation and Development Foundation held 8%.
After the Shanghai Bell joint venture was established, it introduced the S12 digital program-controlled switch technology and production line of the Belgian Bell Company. The localization of S1240 broke the Western communication technology blockade on mainland China at that time, significantly lowered the price of imported program-controlled switches, and saved the country a lot of foreign exchange.
In his previous life, when Li Xiaofan left Singapore and returned to Shanghai to work, Shanghai Bell was one of their important customers. Li Xiaofan was responsible for a large number of FCT functional test fixtures and software, so he knew more or less about it.
Academician Ni said: "Four years ago, when I proposed the program-controlled switch project at the Lenovo meeting, Huawei had just started. Two years ago, I led the Lenovo team to launch the LEX500 digital program-controlled switch product in Langfang Bureau. When the start is successful, The Huawei company in Shenzhen also launched the C08 digital program-controlled switch at the same time. We both started at the same time. Now Lenovo's project has been cancelled, and now Huawei in Shenzhen has achieved considerable scale. I heard that last year's sales exceeded an astonishing figure. 1.5 billion!”
Li Xiaofan changed the topic and said:
"Academician Ni, after exiting a small stake in an online bookstore project in Singapore this time, I estimate that I can get a consideration of about US$20 million. For this US$20 million, I plan to use part of the funds to go to the Bay Area of the United States. Stanford University invests in setting up an offshore entrepreneurial incubator. Using this incubator can help our "Lianhai Microelectronics Design Center" project to incubate outstanding potential projects needed to support the industry chain, and introduce the good projects and talents we urgently need for our current "Lianhai Microelectronics Design Center" project. If you need any talents or technologies, just give me an order..."
"Great, Director Li, your idea is great. This is equivalent to us directly penetrating into the opponent's heart and sending a red flag into the opponent's base camp! Previously, too many outstanding talents in our country were lost abroad. ,it is a pity."
"Academician Ni, I also have an idea. I want to use part of the funds to invest in the digital program-controlled switch project that you presided over before. If this digital program-controlled switch project can make money, these profits can feed back into our future. "Lianhai Microelectronics Design Center". Do you think it is feasible for us to launch a digital program-controlled switch project now?
"Of course it is feasible! Director Li, as long as you have the funds to ensure sufficient R&D investment, the digital program-controlled switch project can definitely be launched. We have accumulated technology before, and it is not too difficult to get the original team together again and start this project again. matter……"
"Academician Ni, I would like to ask again, if we launch a new digital program-controlled switch project, how can we compete with companies such as Shanghai Bell and Shenzhen Huawei?"
"Director Li, you don't need to worry too much about this. I led the team to do research before. Our communication equipment market in mainland China is huge, especially the current market demand for digital program-controlled switches across the country. We did the research At that time, the major shareholder of Shanghai Bell and the person in charge of China Post and Telecommunications Industry Corporation told me that S The price of 1240 program-controlled switches was very high when they were first introduced, reaching 240 US dollars per line. Even with the promotion of localization, the price per line has only dropped by 30 to 40 US dollars. For remote areas in the mainland with poor financial income, Shanghai Bell. Switches are too expensive! So relatively cheap domestic switch products like Huawei have a lot of market space..."
Academician Ni continued:
"Shanghai Bell, a Sino-foreign joint venture, actually has an unavoidable problem, that is, China Posts and Telecommunications Industry Corporation, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, holds 60% of the shares in Shanghai Bell. It is a Chinese-controlled enterprise. Although Shanghai Bell The intellectual property rights of some foreign technologies have been purchased from foreign parties, but the core technologies of foreign parties are not available. The foreign parties have developed the most important core technologies of their products abroad. Foreigners are interested in our huge domestic market... "
Indeed, Academician Ni has hit the mark. In the previous life, although the S1240 product brought huge profits to Shanghai Bell, it also paralyzed Shanghai Bell's nerves. In the following golden decade, Shanghai Bell relied too much on imported technology, failed to establish an independent research and development system in time, and failed to strengthen its own research and development capabilities.
At the same time, the communications industry is undergoing tremendous changes. The development focus of the industry has shifted from fixed-line communications to mobile communications. Traditional fixed-line telephone services are gradually declining, while mobile communications represented by 2G are beginning to rise.
Except for S1240, most of the products of Shanghai Bell later lacked competitiveness. Especially in the field of broadband and mobile communications, the market share was even more dismal...
At the same time, Huawei, while increasing its R&D investment, adopted the strategy of "surrounding the city from the countryside" to develop the market in relatively economically backward areas such as Northeast, Northwest, and Southwest my country, and implemented a large-scale roundabout outflanking to gain market control in these areas. By 1999, Huawei's market sales reached 10 billion yuan, far surpassing Shanghai Bell. In the battle for the domestic market, Huawei won a great victory. Since then, Shanghai Bell, which lacked core intellectual property rights and R&D capabilities, has no power to make a comeback...
Academician Ni continued: "Mr. Li, if we develop digital program-controlled switching products with independent intellectual property rights like Shenzhen Huawei, there will definitely be a market. China is a vast country, and the cake of program-controlled switching is huge. If you are really interested in investing in this project, I can help you!"
"Great, Academician Ni, as long as you have confidence, I will fully support this digital program-controlled switching project. I will fully guarantee the investment in R&D funds. You can just make a plan for me when you have time!"
"Okay, then I will spend the next few days to transfer the funds that have been dispersed to other places. The company's original digital program-controlled switch project team was summoned back to continue our original plan. "
"Academician Ni, last week a new cash of 5 million US dollars was transferred from our Singapore Yifan Holdings Company to the account of Yangtze River Technology Investment Company. After the settlement, it was about 42 million RMB. This money can be used as the start-up capital of the digital program-controlled switch project. "
Li Xiaofan introduced Yang Feiyan to Academician Ni and said: "After I return to Singapore, my investment assistant Xiao Yang in China will be responsible for connecting with you. If you need anything, just tell me!"
...
After leaving Academician Ni, Li Xiaofan took Yang Feiyan to the Huating Hotel located at the corner of Caoxi North Road and Zhongshan West Road. At that time, the Huating Hotel was the largest and earliest five-star hotel in Shanghai.
In the coffee bar on the first floor of this most luxurious five-star hotel in Shanghai, a middle-aged man named Xiong Xiaoge had been waiting for them for a long time.