Chapter 701: Cai Qiming's Uncle, an Opportunity to Enter the Chip Manufacturing Industry! Chen Yansen: Surprised, President Wang?

At 5:00 PM, the first Integrated Circuit Industry Exchange and Promotion Conference came to a successful conclusion.

Chen Yansen collected a stack of gold- and silver-embossed business cards and added dozens of entrepreneurs as friends on Cloud Ship.

He talked the most with Liu Xunfeng and Wang Chaixin. From silicon wafer supply channels to the quality of photoresists and sputtering targets, Chen Yansen quickly got the gist of it.

There were clear discrepancies between the contents of third-party research reports and what Liu Xunfeng, Wang Chaixin, and the others said.

But on second thought, Chen Yansen understood the crux of the matter.

Research reports are, after all, made by people. They hide all sorts of complex variables and only have a superficial understanding of the supply chain.

But those who had actually gotten their hands dirty on the production lines knew that in this business, you couldn’t trust the data on paper completely. Reality was full of too many hidden pitfalls.

Liu Xunfeng complained in a low voice that a certain silicon wafer supplier’s quote was 10% lower than their competitors, but 5% of the wafers in every batch had micro-cracks invisible to the naked eye that would only show up during machine testing.

Wang Chaixin, on the other hand, revealed that the photoresist supplied by Shinetsu Chemical had “Applicable Temperature Range: 10 to 30 degrees Celsius” written on its spec sheet. But during the rainy season, even a slight increase in workshop humidity would cause uneven development—details you’d never find in an industry report.

Another example: a sputtering target’s nominal lifespan was 500 hours, but in reality, it had to be replaced after 450, or else pinholes would appear in the coating.

This was a common problem in the business world. No matter the industry, there was always the bad habit of fudging the data; it was just a matter of degree.

Chen Yansen thought for a moment, pondering internally: ‘I need to pick someone who knows the ropes, someone who not only understands the technology but also production.’

After bidding farewell to He Boting, Liu Xunfeng, Wang Chaixin, and the others, Chen Yansen took a car back to his hotel.

As soon as he entered the room, he saw Song Yuncheng sitting at the desk. She was wearing a set of light green cotton pajamas and looking through information from the key accounts investment attraction department, such as their progress for the first half of the month and the KA merchant reactivation rate.

Hearing the sound at the door, Little Orange subconsciously turned her head. Upon seeing Chen Yansen, she trotted over and threw herself into his arms.

Chen Yansen held her chin and pecked her on her plump, pink lips.

“How was the promotion conference today? Was it productive?”

Song Yuncheng smiled gently and asked casually.

“Yes, several billion’s worth.” Chen Yansen pulled her by the hand toward the bed and sat her down on his lap.

Song Yuncheng was just about to say something when she felt a pair of large hands slip under the hem of her pajamas.

“Feels like they’ve gotten a little bigger?”

Chen Yansen muttered under his breath.

With her weak spot seized, Song Yuncheng’s body went limp, and she collapsed.

It wasn’t until 8:00 PM that the two of them walked into the hotel restaurant.

Chen Yansen took out his phone and only then discovered dozens of new messages. They included greetings from CEOs in the semiconductor industry as well as private chats from people like Zhou Hongyi and Zhang Chaoyang.

“Old Zhang invited me to go sea fishing. Do you want to go?”

Chen Yansen asked Song Yuncheng.

“Will it interfere with your schedule for tomorrow?”

Song Yuncheng wanted to go but was afraid of disrupting his original plans.

“No.” Chen Yansen picked up a piece of shrimp that Song Yuncheng had peeled for him, popped it into his mouth, and replied with a light laugh.

“Then I’ll catch fish for you to eat?” Song Yuncheng proposed with a grin.

“Deal.” Chen Yansen nodded slightly.

‘Considering she just changed into that Pikachu cosplay for me, I’ll let her ‘catch’ a few extra fish tonight.’

「Meanwhile.」

Xucheng, Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park, Office Building Six.

Cai Qiming, the director of the design department, was leaning back on the sofa in the breakroom, calling his uncle on Taiwan Island.

“What the hell! Is the Intellectual Property Court’s second-instance verdict blind? TSMC’s demands are completely unreasonable.”

Cai Qiming’s curse was mild, but the expression on his face was furious.

“There’s nothing to be done. TSMC is just afraid I’ll leak specific process details and material formulas to Mountain Star. By the way, are you getting used to life on the mainland?”

Hearing his nephew stand up for him, a warm smile couldn’t help but spread across Liang Jingsong’s lips.

“Whoa, Uncle, I bet you can’t even imagine how fast the mainland is developing. You can travel all over the country with just a smartphone. Even when you’re eating snacks at a street-side night market, you can pay by scanning a code. BEEP, and it’s done. My boss, Chen Yansen! You’ve probably heard of him—he’s even more amazing. He’s only twenty-one this year, and he’s already the richest person in the world. And let me tell you, the Orange Mobile Phone might outsell Apple this year. And I mean global sales!”

Once Cai Qiming started talking about the changes on the mainland, he couldn’t stop, his words filled with adoration for Chen Yansen.

“Mm, I know. TSMC is responsible for manufacturing the Celestial Craft A100 Chip. From the instruction set to the architecture, it’s almost entirely based on their own in-house R&D. The mainland is making rapid progress in chip design. I heard that Apple, Mountain Star, and Qualcomm have all purchased architecture licenses for the Orange Z1 Instruction Set.”

Liang Jingsong replied with considerable approval.

As far as he knew, NVIDIA’s next graphics card would be using Orange Technology’s Profound Core architecture.

In the past, something like this would have been completely impossible.

After all, everyone knew that Hua Country’s integrated circuit industry had always been a technological backwater.

“Uncle, since TSMC’s injunction only prohibits you from working for Mountain Star, why don’t you come to Xucheng?”

Cai Qiming asked tentatively.

“What would I do in Xucheng? My technical and management experience is only applicable to the chip manufacturing industry, and Tiangong Technology is a chip design company.”

Liang Jingsong explained unhurriedly.

“Oh, is that so? I thought they were the same! Sorry, Uncle. You know me, I was an art student.”

Cai Qiming said with an embarrassed laugh.

He paused, then added, “How about you bring my mom over to the mainland for a few days? Just to relax and take your mind off things?”

In his view, his uncle was restricted by the non-compete agreement. He couldn’t go to Mountain Star and couldn’t return to TSMC. If he just stayed cooped up on Taiwan Island for the next two years, he’d go stir-crazy.

Besides, the mainland had changed so rapidly in recent years. Just the novelties of things like scan-to-pay, high-speed rail, e-commerce, food delivery, and smartphones would be fascinating for an older person.

Besides, his uncle knew the semiconductor industry like the back of his hand. Maybe if he came over for a look, he might even run into some new opportunities.

The Taiwan Island Intellectual Property Court’s ruling was that his uncle was prohibited from leaking TSMC’s trade secrets and from providing services to Mountain Star in any form before 2016.

So what if it wasn’t Mountain Star?

Then it would be fine!

“Alright. Your mom has been nagging me about wanting to try authentic Yanjing roast duck anyway. I’ll take her to the Capital City for a few days first, and then we’ll go see you.”

Liang Jingsong said to Cai Qiming after a moment of thought.

In reality, his sister was the one who had asked him to make this call.

Mother and son were both stubborn but soft-hearted. They clearly cared about each other, but neither was willing to be the first to dial the other’s number.

Cai Qiming hadn’t returned to Taiwan Island once in the two straight years he’d been on the mainland.

As the uncle, it was Liang Jingsong’s responsibility to step in and smooth things over between them.

“Great, I’ll book your plane tickets right away.”

Cai Qiming was a sensible person.

No matter how close they were or how rich his uncle was, he couldn’t take advantage of him.

He knew in his heart that his uncle was just accompanying his mom to the mainland this time; he couldn’t let him foot the bill.

Besides, as the design director for Pinbei, his annual salary, bonuses, and stock option awards added up to at least 2 million. An expense of a few tens of thousands was nothing to him.

Hearing this, Liang Jingsong smiled, gratified.

He wasn’t happy because he had saved some money. What truly gratified him was that his nephew’s gesture showed that he was earning a good income now.

With a solid financial foundation, his life naturally wouldn’t be too difficult.

Cai Qiming chatted with Liang Jingsong for another ten minutes or so before hanging up.

He stood up abruptly, pushed open the frosted glass door, and walked out.

‘It would be great if the boss got into the chip manufacturing industry,’ he thought. ‘With Uncle’s technical experience, process optimization skills, and supply chain connections, if not a CEO, he could at least be the CTO, no problem. Besides, Senlian Capital offers excellent compensation and has astonishing potential.’

「On the other side.」

Chen Yansen sent a list of names to the HR department, telling them to find everyone’s address and contact information as soon as possible.

President Chen’s talent acquisition strategy was very direct: Let others train them, and I’ll poach them.

In his eyes, there was no wall that couldn’t be undermined, only a pickaxe that couldn’t be swung.

With the strength of his Spiritual Power, as long as he made a move, he could poach at least six out of every ten people. He was practically a “human succubus.”

Just like at noon at the conference center, even Dai Zhenyu couldn’t help but ask him why Mike Keller was willing to cross oceans to come work for Tiangong Technology in a poor, remote place like Xucheng.

To the outside world, it was as if Mike Keller had been put under a spell.

After handling the work at hand, Chen Yansen didn’t stay idle in Yanjing. Using Hu Ruihui’s connections, he made a round of several universities and, relying on his outstanding ‘persuasion skills,’ successfully poached several capable R&D personnel.

He wanted overseas Chinese electronics engineers, but he couldn’t skimp on foreign engineers either, and a certain percentage had to be his own countrymen.

…

…

The next morning, Chen Yansen took a car to the Central Bureau in Yanjing.

The venue for the new energy vehicle subsidy symposium wasn’t the International Conference Center but was instead arranged at the Central Bureau.

As soon as he got out of the car, Wang Chuanfu, who was diagonally across from him, was taken aback.

‘What does a new energy vehicle subsidy symposium have to do with Chen Yansen, a guy who sells batteries?’

Chen Yansen glanced at him and greeted him with a smile, “President Wang, you look surprised.”

“Not at all, not at all. I heard President Chen had come to Yanjing, but I thought you had already returned to Xucheng after your meeting the day before yesterday.”

Wang Chuanfu quickly waved his hands and explained.

Chen Yansen didn’t mind. After making a small joke, he walked with Wang Chuanfu deeper into the Central Bureau.

He could guess the core topic of this symposium without even thinking.

In fact, it was more or less as Chen Yansen had expected.

Due to the emergence of the Deep Blue Battery, the higher-ups had changed the subsidy standards for pure-electric vehicles. Overall, the range requirements were now higher.

This first subsidy policy didn’t seem to have anything to do with Deep Blue Technology, but it was all good news for the Deep Blue Battery.

This was because if car companies wanted to receive the high subsidies, they had to improve the range of their electric vehicle products, and Deep Blue Technology was a hurdle they couldn’t avoid.

It slowly dawned on Wang Chuanfu, and he finally understood why the higher-ups had invited Chen Yansen.

「Meanwhile.」

A passenger plane that had taken off from Taoyuan was flying toward Yanjing.