HLnovel Chapter 193 Technology Licensing
Chapter 193 Technology Licensing
The week after returning from Shenzhen, Xingchen Technology's official authorization letter was delivered to the 402 headquarters.
The letter was in a dark gray hardcover folder, the gold-embossed Star Technology logo on the cover gleaming slightly under the light. After Han Lu signed for it, she delivered it directly to Zuo Cheng's office.
Zuo Cheng opened the folder, which contained a technology licensing agreement and a confidentiality agreement. The scope of the license was clearly stated: non-exclusive use of three core technologies—neural signal acquisition hardware, basic decoding algorithms, and the NX-30 chip interface protocol—for a period of three years, at a cost of 50 million plus sales revenue sharing.
Han Lu stood to the side, quickly did some mental calculations, and said, "Fifty million upfront, plus five percent of sales, over three years it might be close to two hundred million."
Zuo Cheng asked, "How much cheaper is it than if we developed it ourselves?"
Han Lu said that according to Xingchen's patent portfolio, if we were to bypass their technological route from scratch, it would take at least three years and more than 500 million yuan in R&D investment. This does not even include the potential risks of patent litigation.
Zuo Cheng nodded and said, "Sign."
The signing ceremony is scheduled for three days later at headquarters 402. Xingchen Technology will be represented by Zhao Wenbo and its technical director, while 402 will be represented by Zuo Cheng, Yu Ying, Han Lu, and Shen Yiming.
The ceremony was simple: both parties signed the agreement, exchanged texts, shook hands, and took photos. Zhao Wenbo said that Star Technology chose 402 as its first authorized partner for neural interface technology based on full recognition of 402's technical strength and business reputation. We look forward to the cooperation between the two parties setting a new benchmark for the brain-computer interface industry.
Zuo Cheng said that 402 will go all out to maximize the application value of this technology.
Reporters present captured the signing moment, and the news appeared on the front page of several tech media outlets the following day. Industry analysts commented directly: Xingchen Technology's decision to license its core technology to 402, rather than an international tech giant, demonstrates that the technological strength of Chinese AI companies has been recognized by top global institutions.
During the group photo, Zhao Wenbo stood next to Zuo Cheng and whispered, "The chairman asked me to pass on a message: the NX-30's interface protocol contains some undisclosed parameters that might be helpful for your algorithm optimization. Dr. Shen can discuss the specific details with the technical director."
Zuo Cheng glanced at him and said, "Thank you."
After the ceremony, Zuo Cheng convened a meeting with the core team. The meeting room held over a dozen people, including the founding team, several key members of the research institute, and the head of the legal department.
Zuo Cheng explained the core terms of the licensing agreement, then said that the strategic significance of this matter went beyond simply obtaining a few technology licenses. Xingchen Technology's choice of 402, rather than those international tech giants, demonstrates their recognition of our AI capabilities. The bottleneck of neural interfaces lies in decoding, and the core of decoding is the algorithm, which is our strength.
Shen Yiming said, "I discussed the undisclosed parameters mentioned by Zhao Wenbo with the technical director this afternoon. If we can obtain the signal characteristic data at the chip's underlying layer, our decoding model can be optimized accordingly, and the accuracy is expected to improve by several percentage points."
Zuo Cheng said, "That's the first thing. The second thing is, the licensing agreement is signed, so how do we implement it?"
Han Lu suggested a three-step approach. First, within three months, the team should assimilate the technology and familiarize themselves with the NX-30's hardware characteristics and interface protocols. Second, within six months, leveraging AI capabilities, they should develop the first-generation joint decoding solution. Third, within twelve months, they should enter the clinical trial phase.
Zuo Cheng asked, "Can the time be compressed further?"
Liu Wei interjected, saying, "I've inquired; currently, only three hospitals in China are qualified to conduct clinical trials for brain-computer interfaces. Volunteer recruitment isn't the problem; the approval process is the bottleneck, taking at least six months."
Zuo Cheng said, "I'll handle the approval process. You just focus on perfecting the technology; I'll take care of the rest."
Han Lu thought for a moment and said, "The first step can be compressed to two months, but only if Xingchen Technology fully cooperates and makes all technical documents available. The bottlenecks for the second and third steps are not with us, but with regulatory approvals and volunteer recruitment—these are timelines beyond our control."
Zuo Cheng said, "Then let's focus on doing the first two steps perfectly. I'll figure out how to handle the third step, the regulatory issue."
After the meeting, Zuo Cheng kept Yu Ying behind. He asked if the research institute could spare some staff to support the brain-computer interface project.
Yu Ying said that arrangements were already being made. Tang Ning would lead a team, and three more people would be transferred from the neuroscience group to form a five-person team specifically to handle the technical documents from Xingchen Technology.
Zuo Cheng asked, "How did Tang Ning perform?"
Yu Ying said she works very hard. Last week, she read through all the papers published by Xingchen Technology over the past five years and made a 50-page technical review. I've read it, and the quality is very high.
Zuo Cheng nodded and said, "Let her be in charge of technical coordination; you take charge of the overall direction."
Yu Ying said, "I understand."
That evening, Zuo Cheng stayed alone in his office and opened the system panel. The panel showed his current score of 667 points, all seven branches were activated, and his skill boost was 1.4 times.
He clicked on the commercial spaceflight branch to view the specific capabilities of the eight blades. Rapid maintenance systems, launch density optimization, and low-cost manufacturing—these capabilities have already been validated through real-world projects. He noticed that the descriptions of several blades mentioned "cross-branch fusion compatibility," something previously unmentioned.
Zuo Cheng tried clicking the fusion option between the AI branch and the commercial aerospace branch, and a prompt appeared on the panel: "Dual branch fusion has been unlocked. Advanced fusion of three branches will be available after more branches are activated."
He turned off the panel and leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. Seven branches had already unlocked dual-branch fusion, but advanced three-branch fusion required even more. If the brain-computer interface became the eighth branch, the possibilities for fusion would expand further.
My phone rang; it was a message from Shen Yiming. The technical integration went smoothly, and Xingchen Technology released more data than we expected. The NX-30 chip has some previously unknown characteristics at its underlying level, which may change the design approach of the decoding model.
Zuo Cheng replied: Continue to dig deeper, and keep me updated on any discoveries.
He put down his phone and looked out the window. The city of Hangzhou was brightly lit, and in the distance, several office buildings in Building 402 of the science park were still lit. Under those lights, some people were writing code, some were reading papers, and some were discussing solutions.
The 50 million yuan licensing fee secured three years of technical support and data sharing from Star Technology. By any measure, it was a profitable deal. But Zuo Cheng knew that the real value lay not in the specific technologies, but in the strategic trust established between 402 and Star Technology.
StarCraft's choice of 402 signifies their recognition of 402's position in the AI field. This recognition is more convincing than any Google Ads or promotional claims.
Zuo Cheng stood up, turned off the office light, and headed for the elevator. There was still much to do tomorrow: technical integration, team building, and regulatory communication—every step had to be flawless.
But tonight, he can relax a little. The licensing agreement is signed, the seed for the eighth branch has been sown, and now all he needs to do is patiently wait for it to sprout.