dtnovels Chapter 283 Qualcomm
Chapter 283 Qualcomm
"Ms. Saionji," Viterbi began, her tone calm, "we appreciate your sincerity. However, before delving into the details of the terms, I'd like to have a frank discussion on the technical aspects—this is also a matter of responsibility towards your investment."
Satsuki made a "please" gesture.
"The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) has voted to establish the TDMA standard. The prevailing opinion in the industry is that CDMA will cause serious multipath interference in densely populated urban areas due to multiple signal reflections."
"The major carriers refused to provide us with a testing environment precisely because of this concern. And Tokyo—one of the most densely populated cities in the world—has a more complex signal environment than New York. You're willing to lay out a test network there, and I'd like to understand what your assessment of the technological risks is based on."
This is a well-designed question.
On the surface, it's about understanding the investor's risk assessment logic, but in reality, it's about probing the depth of their understanding of the underlying technology. A pure financial investor and someone who truly understands the technology will give drastically different answers.
Satsuki's expression remained unchanged as she pondered for a moment.
"Doctor, I have read your core paper published in 1967—Maximum Likelihood Sequence Decoding Using Convolutional Codes."
"This algorithm has proven its value in deep space communication under extremely low signal-to-noise ratio environments."
Viterbi's brow twitched slightly.
"The industry's fear of multipath interference." Satsuki's right fingertip lightly traced two intersecting lines on the table. "The root cause is that they are still stuck in the linear thinking of time-division multiple access."
"Within the TDMA framework, only one valid signal is allowed to exist in a single path, and any reflection is noise that must be eliminated. Therefore, when they envisioned the ubiquitous signal bounce in a steel jungle like Tokyo, their conclusion was naturally pessimistic."
Her gaze met Viterbi's.
"But the underlying logic of CDMA is different. Let's make the scenario more concrete—a signal reflects off the facade of a skyscraper in Shinjuku, creating a copy with a delay of several microseconds. In a TDMA system, this would be a fatal interference. But in a CDMA system, the RAKE receiver can independently capture and separate each delay path. Combined with closed-loop power control and soft handover technology at 800 times per second—"
Her fingertip lightly tapped the table.
"Those reflected signals are no longer noise. They are effective energy that can be constructively superimposed through phase alignment. The more complex the multipath environment, the more energy paths can be utilized. Tokyo is not the graveyard of CDMA, but rather its most ideal testing ground."
The meeting room fell silent for a moment.
Viterbi did not respond immediately. He leaned back in his chair, his gaze shifting slightly to the few lines of formulas he had written on the whiteboard before returning to Satsuki.
He has spent decades in academia, interacting with countless brilliant minds. To be able to seamlessly integrate fundamental communication theory with specific urban terrain to this extent is something that cannot be achieved by simply memorizing a few pages of technical briefings.
He glanced at Jacobs and nodded slightly—a very subtle gesture, but Jacobs understood.
This person knows what they're doing.
Jacobs's guard visibly relaxed. Funding, licenses, physical testing grounds, plus a technologically astounding ability—he could find no reason to continue refusing to pursue further negotiations.
White could no longer contain himself. He reached for the draft letter of intent on the table, flipped to the terms page, and said, "Ms. Saionji, regarding the equity ratio corresponding to this investment, our initial internal thought is—"
He had barely begun to speak when a hand gently pressed down on his left.
Jacobs pressed his palm against the pages of the letter of intent, stopping White from turning the page.
White paused for a moment, then turned to look at him.
Jacobs did not respond to White's gaze. He and Viterbi exchanged another very brief glance.
They had discussed a certain issue before the meeting, but had been waiting for an opportunity to confront it directly.
And now, that time has come.
Jacobs took a deep breath and fixed his gaze on Satsuki.
"Ms. Saionji." His voice lowered by half an octave. "Before we discuss the equity terms, there's something I must be honest with you."
Satsuki's expression didn't change, but she slightly raised her chin, waiting for the other person to continue.
Motorola officially filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Qualcomm in Chicago federal court last month.
Upon hearing this, White's face visibly stiffened for a moment. He was clearly caught off guard by Jacobs's decision to be frank at this moment.
"They brought in a top-tier intellectual property litigation team," Jacobs said, his hands flat on the table, "and demanded exorbitant damages, intending to drain our cash flow through a protracted legal battle. After news of the lawsuit spread in the investment community, almost all the venture capital funds we had already approached in the United States withdrew their offers. Our funding channels were completely cut off."
He paused for a second.
"If you only discovered this during the due diligence phase, it would damage your trust in Qualcomm's senior management. That's why I chose to tell you now."
He glanced at the photocopy of the bank draft on the table.
"Frankly, the cash on hand is barely enough to last until the first hearing next month."
The words fell.
The gentle, academically-inspired composure on Satsuki's face quietly faded away.
She looked up at Jacobs. Three seconds of silence. Four seconds. Five seconds.
“You mean,” she began, her voice low, “that I flew eleven hours from Tokyo to San Diego, sat down at this table with the full funding budget—and you only told me forty minutes after I sat down that Qualcomm is being sued by an industry giant and is about to be cut off from funding.”
Satsuki's small face was already covered with frost.
She pulled the copy of the bank draft back from the table and handed it to Fujita. He took it, put it in his briefcase, and the sound of the zipper closing was particularly sharp in the quiet conference room.
Satsuki stood up. The chair leg scraped against the floor with a short, sharp sound.
"Gentlemen," she said, her gaze sweeping over the three men at the table. "A lawsuit that could plunge the company into liquidation at any moment was only disclosed after the investors came knocking. No matter how you try to justify this decision—it's deception."
She emphasized the last two words.
She stared into Jacobs' eyes for a moment longer.
"SA Investment seeks opportunities to monetize technology, not to pay damages for others' failed lawsuits. I need to reassess the risk structure of this deal."
She turned and walked towards the door of the conference room.
Jacobs and White stood up almost simultaneously.
"Miss Saionji, please wait a moment—"
Jacobs took half a step forward.
"We did not infringe on any of Motorola's patents. The underlying architecture of CDMA is absolutely original—every algorithm module has a complete development log and timestamp record!"
"Motorola's lawsuit is a form of commercial intimidation. They are afraid that CDMA will threaten their interests in the current standard, so they are trying to drag us down with legal means."
He paused for a moment.
"As long as we have sufficient funds to support our legal team in completing the court proceedings, we are fully confident of winning the case. Once we win, there will be no more legal obstacles to the commercialization of CDMA."
White then added, "The return on this investment won't be reduced by the litigation; on the contrary, it will be increased by the decrease in competitors after the litigation ends. Please reconsider."
Satsuki stopped in front of the door frame.
Her right hand was already on the doorknob. Her knuckles were slightly clenched, as if she would twist the handle and push the door open at any moment.
But she didn't move.
The silence stretched from three seconds to five, then to seven. Long enough for Jacobs to break out in a cold sweat.
Then she let go of the doorknob.
The fingers were slowly retracted one by one. It was as if a silent struggle was being waged against oneself, and reason barely managed to gain a half-body advantage.
She turned around.
The anger on his face hadn't subsided, but a layer of calm light had appeared in his dark eyes.
His gaze moved from White to Witby, and finally settled on Jacobs, lingering on his face for a long time.
Then she lowered her gaze and pursed her lips. It seemed she had made a decision.
Satsuki walked back to the table and sat down.
Fujita, expressionless, reopened his briefcase, took out the photocopy of the promissory note, and placed it back on the table. Satsuki's hand remained pressed against the paper, not pushing it across.
"sit."
There was only one word. The voice was not loud, and could even be described as flat.
But the three of them sat down almost simultaneously.
If someone were to ask them afterwards why—why three men who had spent most of their lives in Silicon Valley and academia would obey a seventeen-year-old girl's monosyllabic command so uniformly—they probably wouldn't be able to explain it either.
Perhaps it was because the promissory note was still pressed under her palm. Perhaps it was because she had actually walked to the door and truly let go, and in those few seconds of silence they had clearly seen Qualcomm's obituary. Perhaps it was simply because the act of her sitting down was a favor in itself—an enraged creditor was willing to sit down again; you wouldn't be foolish enough to remain standing.
The chair legs thudded three times on the carpet. The meeting room fell silent again.
“Mr. Jacobs,” Satsuki stared at him. “I can choose to believe that Qualcomm’s technology is original. But what you just did, whatever your motives, has fundamentally changed the risk structure of this deal.”
She placed her hands, folded together, on top of the promissory note.
"The current situation is that SA Investment not only has to fund the commercial R&D of CDMA and provide test networks, but also bears the full financial risk of a lengthy lawsuit against industry giants. Proving innocence requires a courtroom standoff, which requires burning through a lot of cash. This cost, which was not originally in the budget, now has to be covered by me."
She gazed into Jacobs' eyes.
"Therefore, the previous terms and conditions are no longer applicable. The following are the revised terms."
It paused for a second.
"First, regarding the equity stake in Qualcomm's parent company. SA Investment will acquire 29.9% of preferred shares, as well as a veto right on the board. I am not seeking controlling interest, nor will I interfere with daily R&D; the leadership in technological direction will remain in your hands."
White's shoulders relaxed slightly.
"I understand that once the founders are sidelined, the driving force of the technical team will wane. A group of senior employees who have lost their autonomy cannot create anything that changes the industry. So I'm retaining your leading role—but the price for this concession is reflected in two other aspects."
She held up one finger.
"Second, immediately establish a joint venture, with SA holding a 51% stake, to fully take over the exclusive commercial licensing rights for CDMA technology throughout the Asian market, especially in Japan and China."
The second finger.
"Third. Any hardware devices produced by the Saionji Group and all its subsidiaries in the future—terminals, base stations, chips—will be permanently exempt from licensing fees for all underlying patents under the CDMA system."
Silence fell over the meeting room.
Jacobs and Viterbi looked at each other. Neither of them spoke immediately.
The meaning of these three points stacked together is clear: she left behind Qualcomm's physical structure, and the dignity and technological autonomy of its founder.
But in Asia, the fastest-growing region for global telecommunications in the next decade, operators and equipment manufacturers will pay her royalties through that joint venture.
Her own hardware products were exempt from this cost from day one, which alone gave her a structural price advantage over all competitors.
She didn't take Qualcomm away, but she took away Qualcomm's most lucrative reward.
But between "dying now" and "ceding the future," there is no third pen on the table.
The silence lasted for a long time.
Finally, Jacobs reached out, picked up the pen, and uncapped it.
The pen tip touched the paper, making a slight scratching sound.
The three founders signed their names at the end of the "Letter of Intent for Exclusive Capital Injection and Asian Joint Venture Authorization".