AWB Chapter 365 Xinghuo Group Strategic Meeting
Chapter 365 Xinghuo Group Strategic Meeting
Ling Yun asked Ni Guangnan, "Mr. Ni, we need to discuss the ARM license regarding the architecture. What's the current situation with ARM?"
Ni Guangnan pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "ARM mainly focuses on low-power chip architectures now, such as the ARM7 with the von Neumann architecture and the ARM9 with the Harvard architecture, which came out just last year. Many mobile phones, PDAs, and embedded devices on the market now use their architectures. The technology is very mature, and the power consumption is very well controlled. If we want to make mobile chips, we can't bypass them. Starting from scratch is too difficult, costing money and time, and there's no guarantee of success. We either need to get a license from them or acquire them."
The meeting room fell silent again. Zhao Weiguo coughed, and Ma Baoguo looked at Ni Guangnan, then at Ling Yun.
Ling Yun smiled. "What's ARM's market capitalization now?"
Ni Guangnan thought for a moment and said, "In March, it was about £100 billion. Now tech stocks are falling sharply, and although ARM is a British company, it is also listed on Nasdaq, and its share price has fallen along with it. I checked, and it's now worth about £80 billion. At the current exchange rate, that's about $120 billion."
Lingyun asked him, "Do they have cash flow problems?"
Ni Guangnan said, "There are problems, but they're not very serious. ARM's business model is selling licenses and collecting licensing fees and royalties. Now many clients are out of money, new projects have stopped, and they can't collect licensing fees. On the royalty side, mobile phone shipments are also falling, and their cash reserves won't last long. I heard they've already laid off a round of people. And Apple, as a major shareholder, is also having a tough time right now and has been reducing its shareholding."
"ARM's shareholding is relatively dispersed. Apart from Apple holding 20% of the shares, Acorn's 40% stake was sold in the two years before last and last year. Now the shares are in the hands of institutional and public shareholders, and there is no single major shareholder."
Ling Yun walked back to the whiteboard and looked at the words. He looked at them for a while, then picked up a pen and drew a line under "ARM". He turned around and looked at Ni Guangnan.
"Then let's not apply for authorization, let's just buy it directly."
Ni Guangnan paused for a moment, then said, "Buy it directly?"
Ling Yun nodded and said, "That's right. Licensing involves paying someone else, and once they buy it, they don't have to pay again. Besides, the ARM architecture is inherently low-power, which aligns with our mobile direction. By adding complex instructions to the ARM architecture to improve performance, it can be used in mobile phone chips and laptop chips."
Ni Guangnan looked at him and said, "Acquiring ARM is no small matter."
Ling Yun didn't answer. He walked back to his seat and sat down, looking at Fiona.
"How much money is left in the account?"
Fiona opened her notebook, glanced at it, and said, "Your personal account has $212 billion. The group's total is about $10 billion. IceCloud currently has no cash."
Ling Yun nodded and looked around at everyone.
"Give 100 billion to microelectronics, and 100 billion to ARM. The rest will be enough."
Ma Baoguo opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. Wang Jianguo lowered his head, writing something in his notebook. Li Mo stared at the words on the whiteboard, motionless. Zhao Weiguo leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling.
Ni Guangnan stood there, his hands trembling slightly. He took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Mr. Ling, are you sure?"
Ling Yun looked at him and said, "I'm sure."
Ni Guangnan nodded. He slowly sat down, his hands resting on the table, his knuckles white. He said, "I have a few old acquaintances at ARM who used to work there. We can make contact first and get a feel for things."
Ling Yun said, "Okay. You lead the team to England. Get the negotiation team together, and I'll take care of the money."
Ni Guangnan nodded.
Ling Yun stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and traced the eight characters again. He pressed the pen down hard, making the characters thicker. He turned around and looked at everyone.
"Is there anything else?"
No one spoke.
He nodded and said, "That's settled then. Laptop R&D, supply chain acquisitions, software spin-offs, lab development, and chip acquisitions. Five lines of work, running simultaneously. I need to see progress every quarter."
Ma Baoguo stood up and asked, "When will the aliens arrive over there?"
Ling Yun thought for a moment and said, "I'll contact them in the next couple of days. You should prepare the office space and equipment first."
Ma Baoguo nodded and sat down.
Wang Jianguo raised his hand and asked, "How will the finances be handled after the separation of System Technology and Nebula Technology?"
Ling Yun looked at Fiona, who opened her notebook and said, "Independent accounting, independent accounts. The group holds a controlling stake, and each subsidiary is responsible for its own profits and losses. If the group needs to inject capital, follow the normal procedures."
Wang Jianguo nodded.
Li Mo also raised his hand and asked, "Where does the lab come from to pay for the rewards?"
Ling Yun said, "It will come from the group. We'll start with a special fund of 100 million yuan. If that's not enough, we'll add more."
Li Mo nodded and sat down.
Ni Guangnan finally spoke: "When will ARM start?"
Ling Yun thought for a moment and said, "The sooner the better. You prepare the negotiation team first. Lawyers, financial advisors, and technical consultants, all ready. I'll go to England with you next month."
Ni Guangnan nodded.
Ling Yun looked around at everyone again. "Is there anything else?"
No one spoke.
He nodded and said, "Meeting adjourned."
People began packing their things. Chairs creaked, folders closed, footsteps echoed. Ma Baoguo walked to the door, glanced back at Ling Yun, said nothing, and left. Wang Jianguo walked slowly, head down, lost in thought. Li Mo walked quickly, a notebook in his hand, flipping through it as he went. Zhao Weiguo and Chen Lingling walked together; Chen Lingling was talking to him, and he nodded, then shook his head.
Ni Guangnan was the last to stand up. He walked to Ling Yun's side and stopped. The two stood side by side, both looking at the eight characters on the whiteboard.
Ni Guangnan said, "Ten billion? You're really generous."
Ling Yun smiled and said, "Money only has meaning when it's spent; otherwise, it's just a string of numbers."
Ni Guangnan added, "When I was at the Institute of Computing Technology, I wanted to work on chips, but I didn't have the money. Later, I had some wild ideas and wanted to work on them, but I still didn't have the money. I've wasted half my life and haven't accomplished anything."
He looked at Ling Yun and said, "You have more courage than I do."
Ling Yun turned to look at him and said, "It's not about courage. It's about the fact that if we don't do it now, we'll never have the chance again. The US has already turned its back on us. A technology blockade will come sooner or later, and by then it will be too late."
Ni Guangnan nodded, reached out and patted Ling Yun on the shoulder, then turned and left.
Ling Yun was left alone in the conference room. He stood in front of the whiteboard, looking at the eight characters. Sunlight streamed in from the window, falling on the whiteboard, making the two characters "Autonomy" appear white.