Episode 169. Money is hard!
At Jae-woon’s words, Kim Yu-soo felt as if the rice cake he was eating was stuck in his chest.
“..what do you mean by that? Does this mean that you are going to hand over this advanced technology to the United States?”
“The technology itself, of course, will not be passed on. However, the product can be passed on. I don’t want it either, but there is no way other than this change of use has been rejected. It cost hundreds of billions of won to develop all 4G communication equipment and systems. For reference, if I go to the US administration with 4G network equipment, all necessary administrative approvals will be granted within a month at the most.”
Jaewoon opened his mouth again, gaining momentum.
“When 4G communication starts to be deployed, whether in Korea or the United States, the media around the world will make a special feature for a while. 3G is still not installed properly, so it will be a big issue. However, I am concerned that if 4G communication is installed first in the United States, people will be misunderstood.”
“..what misunderstanding are you talking about?”
“I think there may be some people who misunderstand that the Minister blocked the emergence of advanced technology called 4G. The Minister may not have had any ill intentions, but on the surface, this is just a situation that can be misunderstood, isn’t it?”
With those words, Kim Yoo-soo remembered the meeting with Doosung Group Chairman Koo Yeo-beom a few days ago.
“Minister Kim. Did you say that the world communications side applied for a change in the use of the 2.1Ghz frequency band?”
“That’s right. We’re reviewing it internally right now, so it’ll probably come out in a few days.”
“..How do you think the conclusion will come, according to the Minister’s expectations?”
“Maybe it will be approved. It will be a daunting task for Chairman Koo, but if the president rejects Kang without any particular reason, the situation can become noisy.”
The old woman said with a smile.
“You can’t be president for a thousand or ten thousand years, and he has less than a year left, right? After all, the minister will have to step down after the president’s term ends, so is there any need to be so loyal?”
“It means looking more broadly. If you are going to end your career as a minister, my words will not mean much, but in my view, Minister Kim is not the kind of person who will end this way.”
“yes. It is a national loss to erase the good abilities that you have accumulated while coming here. When your term as minister is over, how about going to the National Assembly and doing a little more for this country? I will do my best to support you.”
Of course, the refusal to change the use of the frequency applied by World Telecom before that would have to be done.
Kim Yoo-soo thought about it for a moment, then smiled.
“The law should be fair to everyone. If you wait, you will hear the good news.”
“haha. It looks like we will be seeing each other for a long time with Minister Kim. Come on, let’s have a drink.”
Kim Yoo-soo, who could not give up his regrets about the position of a member of the National Assembly, continued.
“..even if you want to do it, you can’t, if I approve the change of use, only the world telecoms side has the opportunity to start the 4G communication business first. In a word, you will be given preferential treatment, but as the head of the institution, you cannot do that. Shouldn’t we give other telecom operators an equal chance to compete?”
“A chance to compete on an equal footing? That was impossible from the beginning and will always be. Because other carriers would not be able to do it even if they wanted to do 4G anyway. 4G communication technology is the only technology in the world that only Damoye has, and at least until the 4G infrastructure of global communication is completely built, there will be no technology to provide to other carriers. So, the minister’s such consideration will eventually come to an end.”
“..4G communication equipment was developed by Damoye?”
“That’s right. The modem chip, which is a key component of communication equipment, was made by myself.”
Kim Yoo-soo looked at Jae-Woon with surprised eyes.
“..even directly..?”
Hearing that, Kim Yoo-soo laughed bitterly inwardly.
‘I haven’t heard of this, this, that 4G communication equipment was developed at Damoye… but the former chairman Lee Yangban didn’t finish his words. If CEO Kang is right, it would be difficult to see President Koo in a good shape even if I had to give him time… If things don’t go well, Chairman Koo will not be able to keep his promise. Besides, if the world’s first 4G communication network is installed in the US, and even if it is revealed that it is a domestic technology, no matter what the law is, my reputation will be considerably damaged…’
There was no need to gamble with a high probability of losing, even when there was no certainty that Koo Yeo-beom would support him.
Kim Yoo-soo, who had decided to reject Koo Yeo-beom’s offer, opened her mouth.
“Certainly, this is an important issue for us to refer to. The change of use will be reviewed again from the beginning.”
Jae-Woon smiled with satisfaction.
“After all, the Minister is a reasonable person. Can I ask you one more thing?”
“I would like to receive a new 2.6Ghz band for 4G communication.”
“2.6Ghz? There is no place to use it right now, so it is possible to allocate it, but the 2.1Ghz you received before would be sufficient, so is there any reason why you need an additional one?”
“If the number of users increases, the existing ones may not be enough, so I plan to prepare them in reserve.”
Somehow, it didn’t seem like that was the reason.
Kim Yoo-soo immediately nodded.
“All right. But do you know that you have to pay extra for the project?”
Since the frequency was a public good, I had to pay some kind of usage fee to use it.
The government collected the money in the name of project expenses.
Jaewoon nodded his head happily.
“of course. Of course you have to.”
“Then please fill out the frequency assignment application form and send it to us. We will deal with it as soon as possible.”
“Thanks for your cooperation. Minister.”
After meeting with Minister Kim Yu-soo.
As I left the Ministry of Information and Communication, I smiled.
‘haha. Money is solid.’
One of the advantages of LTE was that it could increase the speed by bundling different frequency bands.
For this reason, in the 4G era, mobile carriers will compete fiercely to secure many frequency bands.
As a result, frequency usage fees skyrocket.
Compared to the money to be paid back then, the project cost now was only about one-fifth.
It was much more advantageous for me to be assigned a frequency now.
“Now, all that remains is to build a 4G communication infrastructure across the country.”
#Damoye Shopping Mall Sales Team Manager Park Si-woong returned home after work.
As the business continued to grow, his work increased, and he was working overtime these days.
When I got home, it would spread like green onion kimchi.
He lay tired on the sofa and muttered.
“ah. good night.”
I was resting for a moment with my eyes closed, when suddenly the doorbell rang.
Park Si-woong frowned and headed to the intercom.
“Who is it? At this late hour… uh, bro?”
When Park Si-woong opened the front door, a strong smell of alcohol came out.
“What is it, bro? Have you been drinking?”
“Yeah, I drank some. why? Can’t my brother come over to my brother’s house after drinking?”
“..there’s nothing that can’t be done… come in.”
Jae-Woo Park sat down on the sofa and looked at Si-Woong Park with blank eyes.
“Is your company doing well these days?”
“Of course. I told you. Online shopping malls will become the mainstream in the future.”
Park Jae-woo smiled with a complicated face.
“Kuk. yes you wish The company is doing well, and promotions are fast. but do you know that Father, you cried a while ago.”
“..Father? why?”
“It looks like a department store, so will you cry or laugh?”
“..so bad?”
“Not good. Rumors are already circulating that Rude, a conglomerate, will close the department store business, will our Hwadong Department Store be okay?”
“Ludeya, it must have been that it was closed because it could not see the future rather than because of difficult circumstances? Since Hwa-dong is not an affiliate of a large corporation, it cannot be included in the top three department stores, and its sales ability itself is quite good.”
“Sales skills and whatever, all of you all beat them with a price. We hit once more with diversity and hit again with Dao Mall sales, but how is our Hwadong holding up?”
“..that’s what i told you. Please change the direction of business to online as soon as possible.”
Park Jae-woo’s voice grew louder at those words.
“Hey, we are Hwadong. My grandfather started with one dressmaker, and my father raised me to this point, so you want to throw it away?”
Park Jae-woo looked at Park Si-woong and continued talking.
“Seung-ah. Can’t you help me?”
“How can I help?”
“Stop expanding Dao Mall in the area where our Hwa-dong is located and raise the price of clothes a little bit. If we do just that, our Hwa-dong can survive.”
Park Si-woong looked at Park Jae-woo with compassionate eyes.
“..sorry. that’s not meant to be Maybe if I was the owner of the company, I was also an employee. How do I do that?”
“Hey, what’s good about brothers? Can’t you do that?”
“Don’t say nonsense. I’m older and younger, but publicly, I’m the manager of the shopping mall division. I can’t do that, even though Jang can’t set an example.”
At that, Jae-Woo Park wrinkled his face.
“..bad child. A lump of ice, a wretched child…”
As Park Jae-woo, who had been complaining for a long time, fell asleep, Park Si-woong laughed bitterly.
I didn’t join Damoyeo because I wanted things like this to happen.
When I was in college in the US, I was very impressed with the way the online shopping mall Yamazon operates.
I chose Damoye because I believed that the future of distribution lies online.
As a result, my father’s department store was put in a corner because of everything.
“..I’ll have to visit my father sometime soon.”
#TM Logic Headquarters conference room.
President Lee Byung-hoon informed me that Drill 4 Core Custom was over.
I was listening to him briefing on the results.
“So far, drill 4 core customization has been conducted a total of 7 times. Last week, the last core customization was completed, and as a result, the final performance is 2.0Ghz driving clock and 1.1W power consumption.”
“Wow! The maximum driving clock of this original would have been about 1.9Ghz, but it has exceeded it. president! How did this happen? haha.”
The boss smiled with a pretty tired face.
“I also didn’t think it would be possible to surpass the original copy that CEO Kang gave me, but it worked because 80 Ph.D.-level personnel from overseas prestigious universities and 20 people who were professors or active professors stuck together for 6 months. haha.”
“Are there 80 PhD-level personnel? It has grown a lot.”
“That’s only the number of people assigned to Drill 4 Core Custom, and if you include the next-generation CPU development team based on the IP (intellectual property rights) of the Drill CPU and other system semiconductor design teams such as image sensors, there are only 250 PhD-level personnel. There are about 40 people who are professors.”
“Five! At that scale, we can say that we have now become a full-fledged fabless company specializing in system semiconductors.”
The president had a proud expression on his face.
“Yes. Of course, these are talents that we were able to gather thanks to Drill’s reputation, but anyway, there is no place in Korea that can even compare to us, and there are not many fabless companies ahead of us in terms of the number and quality of employees. In particular, we can say that we are the best in the world for RISC CPUs.”
“Every time I hear the word “best”, it sticks in my ears. haha. What about other fields other than CPU?”
“New fields such as PMICs for power management semiconductors and FPGAs that can be programmed at the hardware level have just started, so there are no remarkable achievements. However, good manpower continues to come in and the company provides generous support, so the level is growing rapidly. I think, but before the end of the year, plausible sales will start.”
“okay. As I said before, I want TM Logic to grow into a total system semiconductor design company. Please take good care of this boss as you are now.”
“I will do my best.”
“Then when will the drill 4 prototype come out?”
“The order came in at the foundry, so it will probably come out next week.”
“As soon as samples are available, gather them together and send them to the tablet division. The CPU person in charge will be waiting for you. And take this.”
I pulled out a drawing and handed it to him.
The boss saw this and asked me.
“AP.”
Application Processor (AP).
It is a semiconductor that is designed as a single chip by integrating CPU, GPU (graphics card), communication modem, and GPS, and serves as the brain of a smartphone.
The Drill CPU series was made by integrating only the CPU and GPU, excluding all other functions, from the drawings of the APs I saw in my previous life when I was working at Hwansung Electronics.
What I brought today was a complete AP design drawing that included all the features that were originally removed.
