Liu Cheng, being a researcher by training, had a strong sense of professional ethics regarding copyright. He was quite uncomfortable with the idea and, although he agreed, his face was full of reluctance.
"Don't feel bad, just say one thing: do you want money or face?" Lu Feng asked.
"Mr. Lu, to be honest, I want both money and face!" Liu Cheng said with a wry smile.
“You can’t expect to have it all. Go look at the history of industrial development. Which one didn’t start by copying and then develop independently later? After you copy something, you have to figure it out yourself and forge your own path in the future.” Lu Feng patted him on the shoulder and said, “After the group is formed, home appliances will become a category. There will be specific people in charge then, so I won’t interfere anymore. Didn’t I call you before to talk about communications?”
"Yes, what direction are you planning to take in communications?" Liu Cheng silently considered the R&D projects. These all cost money; the development of even a single product requires a significant budget. After thinking for a moment, he said, "President Lu, it seems like we're taking a bit too big a step next year!"
“We’ve always made great strides, and our product is still doing well. There are more and more paging platforms in China now, but pagers are still very expensive. What we need to do is break the price barrier,” Lu Feng said earnestly.
Liu Cheng pondered for a while. He had some understanding of the pager market, and said, "President Lu, I think the future market for pagers is so-so. The government is now vigorously promoting telephone booths, and many small shops have started installing telephones. There are already manufacturers making them. Last year, a company called Waveguide Electronics Communications was established, which makes pagers, and there's also Taifeng Electronics."
Lu Feng knew, of course, that some companies in China were already making them. But from 1994 to 1998, pagers experienced rapid growth, soaring from less than 10 million units to nearly 70 million units in use.
Most importantly, the pager's information transmission technology laid the foundation for the future mobile phone manufacturing industry, which is equivalent to obtaining the ticket earlier than other companies, especially the network access license and production license.
“Don’t be afraid of competition. Communications is the mainstream of the future, and we must enter the market early, especially in terms of technology accumulation. There’s another thing for next year that you should pay attention to: find an internationally recognized R&D company that isn’t too expensive and has some experience in the semiconductor field.” Lu Feng took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and said, “Next year we will focus on investing in this area and compete in the pager market.”
International acquisition?
Liu Cheng had heard him mention the acquisition of an international R&D company before, but he didn't expect it to actually be a real deal, which would require a large sum of money.
"President Lu, I'd like to know, roughly how much is our R&D budget for next year?" Liu Cheng asked cautiously.
"Four or five hundred million, I guess," Lu Feng said casually.
When Liu Cheng heard this number, his heart pounded. Where was he going to get so much money?
“We’ll discuss this later. Starting next year, we need to strengthen our technological accumulation in the communications field, especially in core semiconductors.” Lu Feng glanced at the time and said to Liu Cheng, “Let’s have a meeting to discuss this in detail later. It’s getting late, I have to rush to my dinner party.”
"Okay, are you going home or staying at a hotel tonight?" Liu Cheng said, "If you're staying at a hotel, I'll have someone arrange it."
Lu Feng thought for a moment and said, "Let's stay at a hotel!"
Around 6 p.m., Lu Feng got into the car and sped off towards the agreed-upon restaurant. Su Yourong, sitting next to him, said, "I drank a whole tub of coffee this afternoon."
"Drink more hot water, it's good," Lu Feng said without turning his head.
"Isn't it heartwarming?"
"No! Warm the meridians!"
Su Yourong couldn't help but roll her eyes and stopped talking.
Lu Feng arrived at the restaurant's private room, ordered the food, and waited for more than an hour before the waiter finally opened the door and said, "Mr. Lu, your distinguished guest has arrived."
President Li swaggered in with two vice presidents. When he saw Lu Feng, he said with a forced smile, "Long time no see, President Lu. It doesn't seem quite right for you not to stand up when you see me, does it?"
"You're late, a whole hour late!" Lu Feng's expression was not good.
"I'm late?"
The waiter pulled out a chair, and Li Guangfa sat down, looking at Lu Feng and saying, "Don't you even realize your current status? You think I'm late? Beautiful lady, am I late?"
Su Yourong nudged Lu Feng with her elbow, signaling him not to be so confrontational and that it was time to back down. She smiled and said, "You've come at the right time; we were already here."
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