Face-to-face | Deeply explore China and meet each other halfway. Exclusive interview with Meng Pu, Chairman of Qualcomm China – International

Original title: Face to face | Deeply explore China and meet each other halfway. Interview with Meng Pu, Chairman of Qualcomm China

On November 5, 2023, at the 6th China International Import Expo, China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao visited the booth of Qualcomm. This week, “Face to Face” has an exclusive interview with Meng Pu, an exhibitor at the Shanghai International Import Expo and chairman of Qualcomm China.

Qualcomm, headquartered in the United States, focuses on the design and development of advanced mobile communication technologies and chips. It is the world’s leading semiconductor and communication technology company. Since 2018, Qualcomm has participated in the CIIE for six consecutive years.

Meng Pu, chairman of Qualcomm China, an exhibitor at the Shanghai International Import Expo:We demonstrate the latest technology at every session. The new technology that everyone talks about most this year is generative artificial intelligence, so we have been promoting the application of this kind of generative artificial intelligence on terminals, so this time we The booth also shows you what kind of generative artificial intelligence you can achieve on smartphones using Qualcomm’s existing products.

Generative artificial intelligence is an artificial intelligence model based on deep learning technology that can simulate human creative thinking and generate language text, images, audio and other content with a certain degree of logic and coherence. At this CIIE, Qualcomm demonstrated the third-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform for the first time in China. Large-scale AI computing that can traditionally only be performed in the cloud through an Internet connection can be realized on a mobile phone, providing a new platform for smart terminals. Adds new possibilities.

On November 5, 2018, the first China International Import Expo opened at the National Convention and Exhibition Center in Shanghai. As the world’s first national-level exhibition with the theme of import, it is China’s initiative to promote a new round of high-level opening up to the outside world. A major move to open the market to the world. As a world-leading high-tech company, Qualcomm received an invitation from the organizer to participate in the exhibition.

reporter:Do you still remember how the invitation letter described the upcoming first CIIE?

Meng Pu:At that time, it was said that there would be another import expo of the same scale and attention as the Canton Fair. We felt that the country attached great importance to this matter because there were not many such large-scale conferences on par with the Canton Fair. At that time, we actually decided to first He hesitated.

reporter:Why the hesitation?

Meng Pu:Because we are a technology company and our customers are all enterprises. We do not make mass consumer products and need to be highly exposed to many people in society. So we also did in-depth research at the time and later thought that this should be a good opportunity to strengthen our Qualcomm is a platform for better communication with industry, society, and government in China, so we were among the first batch of American companies to sign up.

At that time, 5G communication technology was about to be commercialized. Qualcomm managers believed that they could use the CIIE platform to let more people understand this new technology.

At the first CIIE in 2018, Qualcomm highlighted a mobile test platform based on Qualcomm’s first-generation modem. This mobile test platform is close to the terminal product of a mobile phone.

Meng Pu:It is larger than the 5G smartphones we use now. It is mainly an engineering prototype for system interconnection testing for the global communications industry. Because 5G has not been distributed globally, it was completely a 5G pre-commercial product at that time. We will demonstrate to everyone what can be achieved on 5G. Regarding 5G, whether it is its download speed or some of its technical features, we are here to show you the future of 5G.

reporter:When you bring an engineering prototype or a pre-commercial product, who do you want to see it, the public, or your favorite manufacturers and partners?

Meng Pu:Because we have never participated in such a general exhibition or conference before, we actually feel that we have people in these industries who can understand our technical content and what kind of company Qualcomm is. Yes, we didn’t have much expectations at the time.

However, what surprised Qualcomm’s managers was that there was an endless stream of people visiting Qualcomm’s booth during the first CIIE. Within six days, the total number of people exceeded 70,000. Among the more than 70,000 people who visited Qualcomm’s booth, the vast majority were non-professional members of the public.

reporter:To you, is it important to watch people watching?

Meng Pu:Very important. Our business model is to sell products to these terminal manufacturers related to us, but their customers are the final consumer public. So from Qualcomm’s perspective, we have always paid special attention to the brand of our products, so we With this demand, seeing the general public coming to Qualcomm’s booth, I believe it also strengthens the branding of this product in China.

On November 10, 2018, the first CIIE concluded. More than 3,000 companies from more than 130 countries signed up to participate in the CIIE, with a cumulative intended transaction volume of US$57.83 billion.

Meng Pu:The platform of the CIIE has played a great role in deepening China’s cooperation with local governments and society.

The effects brought about by the first CIIE made Qualcomm’s managers fully aware of the importance of the CIIE platform. From November 5 to 10, 2019, the second CIIE was held as scheduled, and Qualcomm sent more powerful The exhibition team has a richer display content.

Meng Pu:In 2019, the country issued 5G licenses to several major operators, and 5G was officially commercialized in China. So in 2019, our booth will be filled with 5G smartphones from our partners, as well as some products on the industrial Internet. The applications of 5G are all displayed on these exhibits.

At the third CIIE in 2020, the table tennis-playing robot at Qualcomm’s booth became the star product of the CIIE.

Meng Pu:When we came to the exhibition in 2020, because 5G has been commercially available for a year and a half, everyone has already experienced the application of 5G, so we will expand it to thousands of industries. What do you mean by the thousands of industries? What does it mean and what can you see? So a big part of our booth that year was a table tennis robot. We wanted to use this to tell everyone about the power of 5G in various industries.

In recent years, 5G technology and artificial intelligence are rapidly and profoundly changing people’s lives, which has also become a highlight of Qualcomm’s exhibition at the CIIE.

Meng Pu:With the application of 5G, the meaning of smart terminals has expanded from smartphones to any terminal device that you can use with electricity. Cars are a good example, so Lynk & Co will exhibit at the CIIE in 2021. 09. At that time, Lynk & Co 09 was an experience that reflected Qualcomm Snapdragon technology in the smart cockpit. In the past two years, we have cooperated with more than 40 Chinese car brands and supported them in releasing more than 100 new models. Energy vehicles.

With the iterative upgrade of 5G technology, Qualcomm hopes to exhibit its sixth-generation mobile communication technology at the CIIE in the future.

From the first to the sixth CIIE, Qualcomm has experienced six years of rapid development. The CIIE platform has helped Qualcomm continue to expand the Chinese market. So far, Qualcomm has invested in more than 70 Chinese companies, and the company’s market revenue in China has accounted for more than half of the world’s total revenue.

reporter:If I have participated for six years, how can it reflect that my participation in this program is valuable?

Meng Pu:We have always said that the fundamental point of our operations in China is that we are rooted in China, so we will not say that it is participating in an exhibition, or doing a certain activity, or releasing a certain technology, or a new product. Specifically, we have to calculate its We have not done this in terms of revenue returns. We value more whether these have strengthened our cooperation in China and whether they can expand our circle of friends in China.

As the head of Qualcomm China, Meng Pu has led Qualcomm to actively participate in the CIIE for six consecutive years. He and his team deeply understand the long-term benefits brought by the CIIE platform, even if sometimes, the complex and ever-changing international environment Will bring some challenges.

Meng Pu:There will be a lot of changes, which I think every company, including our senior executives in the company, have to face. But on the other hand, I think because some things are actually not necessarily controllable by us, but you still have to do it yourself. We are confident, so in the past six years, because we have participated in the CIIE every year, there should be thousands of companies now, and only 200 companies have participated for six consecutive years. So we are also very lucky and we are also very proud. Qualcomm The company is one of the two hundred companies that has participated in the CIIE for six consecutive years. Whether it is participating in the CIIE for six consecutive years,

Should we continue to increase our investment in China and strengthen our cooperation with Chinese enterprises? I think this shows that we have confidence in the Chinese market and our cooperation with our Chinese partners. We must meet each other halfway. This It’s something the corporate world can do.

Producer丨Liu Bin

Reporter丨Dong Qian

Planning丨Meng Ke

Director | Wang Huidong

Editor丨Wang Feng

Photography丨Yang Fan, Liu Hongbo, Gao Zhong