The mature application technology for 5nm transistors was actually Lee Jae-yong's most important objective in coming here today.
Samsung had yet to fully master the manufacturing process for 7nm transistors, while Origin Company was already mass-producing 5nm ones. Not to mention the possible 3nm or even 1nm processes—how could Samsung not be terrified?
It had already been firmly suppressed by TSMC's 7nm process, and now there was Origin Company as well. The road ahead was going to be difficult.
Thinking of Samsung Electronics' current predicament, along with the underhanded moves being made by members of his own family, Lee Jae-yong could not help feeling somewhat dejected.
Seeing Lee Jae-yong's flushed face, Chu Feng did not continue provoking him. After all, he did intend to cooperate with Samsung.
"Cooperation isn't impossible. You can hear my proposal first!"
Chu Feng's words made Lee Jae-yong feel as though the clouds had finally parted to reveal the moon. He had thought this trip would only bring him humiliation, but Chu Feng actually intended to cooperate.
"Please go ahead, Mr. Chu!" Lee Jae-yong said politely. What did losing a little face matter for Origin Company's technology?
This was also what made Koreans frightening. Since ancient times, they had been willing to humble themselves and compromise for their own development, but once they had an opportunity, they would bare their fangs.
"I can license you the manufacturing equipment for 5nm transistors!" Chu Feng's voice seemed like heavenly music, making Lee Jae-yong's heart tremble.
"What does Mr. Chu want?"
In order to obtain the 5nm transistor process, Lee Jae-yong no longer cared about the art of negotiation.
"First, Samsung Electronics products must use our Origin System from now on."
"Agreed!" Lee Jae-yong agreed without hesitation the moment Chu Feng finished speaking!
Using Origin was no different from using Android anyway, and Origin was even easier to use. He had already planned to switch.
"Second, Origin will have priority purchasing rights for chips produced by Samsung! And we will share patents!"
Lee Jae-yong considered it briefly this time before agreeing.
"Third, you may not shut down your processing plants in China! That is the final condition."
This condition caught Lee Jae-yong off guard. Samsung indeed planned to cut its processing plants in China, since its market focus was no longer there. Korea had an almost pathological pursuit of Western countries.
Whether it was products or even entertainment and culture, the moment they achieved some success, they sought Western recognition. As long as they won an international award, the entire country celebrated.
"Agreed! I accept all of those terms!"
Without wasting any more time, Lee Jae-yong agreed in a deep voice. No matter what, he would first get his hands on the technology and learn it.
"Then, happy cooperation!"
The two shook hands. Lee Jae-yong smiled warmly while inwardly mocking Chu Feng for being an idiot. Once Samsung had fully absorbed and mastered the technology, it would be time to cast Origin aside and go it alone.
Thinking of the restless sisters in his family, he felt this negotiation had been somewhat hasty, but it had still achieved its goal. He looked at Chu Feng even more amiably. What a sucker.
Ignoring Lee Jae-yong's inner monologue, Chu Feng was even clearer about the situation himself. He was merely giving up an outdated technology in exchange for a mature and stable foundry. Why not?
As for 5nm transistor technology? All he could do was laugh. Before long, it would be obsolete.
"Mr. Lee, are you interested in 5G?"
"Oh? Is Origin researching 5G as well?"
The most important cooperation had already been settled, so Lee Jae-yong did not mind spending a little more time. Hearing Chu Feng bring up 5G, he could not help feeling puzzled.
5G had long been under research worldwide. Samsung Electronics had used adaptive array transmission technology with sixty-four antenna units to make long-distance radio-wave transmission possible, while also tracking users' terminal locations in real time and enabling data upload and download exchanges.
All that remained was for the technology to mature before it could be put into use. It was also one of Samsung's key future research projects.
"Mr. Lee, take a look at this."
Chu Feng took a stack of documents from his desk and handed them to Lee Jae-yong.
After accepting the documents and flipping through them, Lee Jae-yong's expression abruptly changed, revealing his shock.
"This... this... When did Origin Company accomplish this?"
The documents were clearly a huge collection of 5G technology patent filings. Among global 5G SEP essential patents, Origin had filed as many as 5,575 applications, nearly equal to the total of all other patents combined. Samsung, meanwhile, had filed only around a thousand so far. The gap was enormous.
Furthermore, the documents showed that the Polar Code mastered by Origin Company already met the conditions for full commercial use. It was essentially just waiting for base stations to be built.
At that thought, Lee Jae-yong broke out in a cold sweat.
It was terrifying. Origin had silently registered so many 5G patents. Who would believe it had no plans or preparations?
If everyone else worked painstakingly to develop mature 5G technology while Origin had already begun applying it, then Origin would become the next Qualcomm!
"What does Mr. Chu mean..." Lee Jae-yong asked uneasily. This matter was too significant.
"The same thing: cooperation! Patent sharing. And I can reveal that my company has already reached strategic partnerships with Huawei and CITIC. The next step will be deploying 5G base stations!"
He was shocked by Origin Company's decisiveness and technological strength, yet he also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Then, happy cooperation!"
He did not want to be left out, so cooperation was the only option. With these companies working together, they would essentially sweep up all 5G technology. He truly wanted to see Apple's stunned expression when the time came.
At seven that evening, Samsung's official website and Origin Company's official website simultaneously updated with news of the negotiations.
The details of the agreement were not disclosed, but anyone with eyes could tell that Origin and Samsung had "taken a liking" to each other.
Within a week, Origin Company would help Samsung replace and calibrate all of its production lines.
Samsung also decided to establish China Samsung's R&D center in Hailing. The small city of Hailing once again became a center of activity.
The mayors of other cities in Jiangnan Province privately sighed that Hailing had produced a dragon.
How long had it been? Two global multinational technology companies were already planning to establish research centers here.
Together with the existing Origin Company, Hailing City's development was just around the corner.
Hailing City's mayor also issued instructions to fully cooperate with the establishment of the three companies' headquarters and set an example for other companies: Hailing welcomed everyone to invest.
After the Samsung contract was announced, Origin Company apparently felt things were not exciting enough and added more fuel to the fire.
"Origin Company, Huawei, Samsung, and ZTE Corporation, led by Origin Company, will comprehensively establish a 5G communications network. Origin Mobile already comes equipped with a 5G module, and Huawei has been commissioned to deploy 5G base stations."
This news drew even greater attention around the world.
5G communications were something every country was striving to research. Yet Origin Mobile had silently completed its 5G module deployment and had deliberately joined forces with so many manufacturers researching 5G communications.
5G quickly became everyone's topic of discussion.
Some people online also claimed that Origin Mobile was merely chasing publicity, and that true 5G technology had not yet matured for practical use.
Perhaps in the original world, it would have taken until 2019 for Huawei to ignite the 5G era, but Origin Company had already filed for most of the 5G patents.
As early as February 2013, the European Union announced that it would allocate 50 million euros to accelerate the development of 5G mobile technology, with plans to introduce mature standards by 2020.
On May 13, 2013, Samsung Electronics announced that it had successfully developed core technology for fifth-generation mobile communications, or 5G. The technology was expected to begin commercial rollout in 2020.
On May 8, 2014, Japanese telecom operator NTT DoCoMo officially announced that it would cooperate with six manufacturers, including Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung, to begin testing a high-speed 5G network with network capacity one thousand times greater than existing 4G networks. Transmission speeds were expected to rise to 10Gbps. Outdoor testing was expected to begin in 2015, with operations hoped to begin in 2020.
The advantages of 5G over 4G were also obvious.
As the fifth-generation network in the development of mobile communication networks, compared to the previous four generations of mobile networks, the 5G network demonstrated stronger capabilities in practical applications. Theoretically, its transmission speed could reach dozens of GB per second, hundreds of times faster than 4G mobile networks. In practical use, 5G networks offered more obvious advantages and more powerful functions.
And the 5G network was the foundation for the Virtual Reality technology Chu Feng planned to develop next. He had to get it under his own control first. If he delayed any longer, he would be constrained by other factors again.
No one had expected Origin Company to silently complete 5G research and make it fully commercially viable.
Origin Company also promised that electronic products manufactured domestically would not be charged 5G patent fees. Overseas licensing would require only a 0.5% licensing fee.
This caused an even greater uproar both domestically and internationally.
Because it was a direct slap in Qualcomm's face.
As the global leader in mobile chips, Qualcomm held an absolute dominant position in 3G and 4G mobile communications technology.
In fiscal year 2013, Qualcomm earned 24.7 billion Citibank Currency in revenue, with net profits reaching 6.85 billion. Its net profit margin of 32% made many industry insiders exclaim, "It's doing even better than Apple."
Qualcomm's main revenue came from selling mobile device chips and collecting technology patent licensing fees. While dominating the market, Qualcomm had also become embroiled in antitrust disputes across multiple regions worldwide.
In China, at the 2013 China Mobile Global Partners Conference held on December 18, 2013, China Mobile Chairman Xi Guohua publicly stated that China Mobile expected to sell more than 100 million TD-LTE terminals in 2014. Even calculated at a factory price of 1,000 yuan per TD-LTE terminal, Qualcomm's 5% fee would add 5 billion yuan in patent expenses. Adding chip and service fees, the total might exceed 20 billion yuan.
Qualcomm's share of patent licensing fees was exceptionally high. Depending on a phone's price, it charged patent fees of around 2% to 4%, earning it the nickname "Qualcomm tax."
As phone profits continued to decline, manufacturers suffered greatly. Chinese companies such as Huawei and vivo had net profit margins of only around 3.2%, while even Samsung, known for its "excessive profits," had only around 8%.
Considering the many complex issues involved in selling complete devices, Qualcomm, which "reaped the rewards without lifting a finger," had already caused substantial harm to the development of the global industry.
Origin's unexpected move looked foolish on the surface. It was giving up a massive market and enormous profits by charging only a 0.5% patent fee, even waiving fees for domestic production. Yet it was also a shot in the arm for the market.
With lower costs, manufacturers could sell at lower prices, and consumers could benefit as well. No matter how one looked at it, Origin Company seemed to be sacrificing itself for others.
Although everyone wore expressions of mutual goodwill on the surface, they were secretly mocking Origin for its idiotic behavior.
"The world laughs at me for being mad; I laugh at others for failing to see through it."
Chu Feng felt rather pleased with himself. He did not feel as though he was losing money at all, because in a few years, 5G would be everywhere, and the era of 6G would arrive.
Unlike 5G's millimeter waves, 6G would usher in the Terahertz era. Its speed would reach 1Tbps, one hundred times that of 5G!
Take a 5G dual-mode phone. Downloading a movie would take roughly one or two seconds, while 6G would make downloading completely unnecessary. Everything would be achieved by accessing cloud servers through powerful cloud storage and cloud computing.
The cloud would provide computing power as needed. More computing power could be allocated while gaming or working, while less could be used for listening to music and similar activities.
Phones and other electronic products would abandon devices currently pursued, such as CPUs, graphics cards, and hard drives. All that would be needed was a personal automated terminal.
Here is the first chapter for today. And while I'm at it, please send some recommendation votes.
Before you continue