On the afternoon of November 29, Lei Jun, the founder, chairperson and CEO of Xiaomi Group, gave a speech at the 9th Wuhan University Alumni Luojia Forum, a 1987 computer department alumnus of Wuhan University, confessed his feelings and blessed his alma mater.
Lei Jun attended the celebration of the 130th anniversary of Wuhan University. Photo by Gao Yong, reporter of Changjiang Daily
"Today is the 130th anniversary of my alma mater, Wuhan University. Here, I would like to extend my sincerest and warmest congratulations to my alma mater. Happy 130th birthday to Wuhan University!"
"At the 9th Alumni Luojia Forum held by my alma mater, I am honored to be invited to share as a guest speaker again. I have always had an unforgettable love for my alma mater. The small achievements I have achieved today are inseparable from the training of my alma mater back then. It was from Wuhan University that I embarked on the road of scientific and technological exploration."
The following is the full text of the speech.
Dear teachers, seniors, and students, good afternoon!
I am Lei Jun, a 1987 alumnus. First of all, I would like to extend my sincerest and warmest congratulations to my alma mater. Happy 130th birthday to Wuhan University!
I have always had an unforgettable love for my alma mater, and the small achievements I have achieved today are inseparable from the training of my alma mater in those years. It can be said that Wuhan University has shaped me, allowed me to find my dream, learned the way to learn, and gave me the most precious wealth in my life. No matter where I go, I will always think of the great support and care given by my alma mater, and my heart is full of gratitude.
01
"Wuhan University is the best university in the world"
Five years ago, also here, I once said: In my heart, Wuhan University is the best university in the world, no one. This sentence caused a huge response on the Internet. In fact, it doesn’t matter. If everyone feels that there is a gap, all our teachers and students of Wuhan University and Wuhan University alumni have a common goal: to build our alma mater into the best university in the world!
What’s so great about Wuhan University?
Not only is it a long history, achievements and many masters, just talking about the campus environment, our Wuhan University is definitely the best. Take the architecture as an example, the old zhai house, the old library, the old gymnasium, etc., which fully reflects the ideological pattern of ancient and modern, and the integration of East and West. It is a classic business card of Chinese universities and a warm picture that we will always remember in our hearts.
Of course, what’s more important is the humanistic environment of Wuhan University. The most attractive thing about Wuhan University is that it pays special attention to the free development of people, the style of study is diverse and inclusive, and it never allows students to study, but allows students to fully develop independently. The teachers are also very friendly, and the relationship between teachers and students is very harmonious. Let me give a small example. When I was in school, the teachers rarely delayed the class, because once the class was delayed, the students knocked on the table to protest, and the teacher immediately understood.
In August this year, I held my fourth annual speech, with the theme of "Growing Up", which mainly told me how I went to college and started a business. Most of the content was about Wuhan University. At that time, Secretary Huang Taiyan also came to the scene to support. There are so many friends on the scene today, I ask a question, how many people have seen my speech in August?
In my memory, there are a lot of stories about Wuhan University, and I only told a small part of them in my speech, mainly five experiences: just entering the university, watching "Silicon Valley Fire" in the library; completing four years of college credits in two years; how to become a program master; undergraduate ** in the journal; and the experience of trying to start a business in college.
I cut a short video for you to watch.
Some netizens commented: This is a large-scale recruitment promotion of Wuhan University. This netizen is right, this speech is to promote Wuhan University and to warm up for Wuhan University’s 130-week celebration.
Wuhan University also had a crucial impact on me: it was here that I embarked on the path of scientific and technological exploration.
02
My path to technological exploration
2.1 The path to take in life
Before the college entrance examination, I like chemistry and wanted to apply for the Department of Chemistry at first. I have a good brother who wants to apply for computer science. I just temporarily changed my volunteer and applied for the Department of Computer Science of Wuhan University.
Looking back now, everything was the best arrangement. As soon as I entered college, I fell madly in love with programming, which can be said to be "addicted to it, and I can’t extricate myself".
There were too few opportunities to get on the computer in that era, and I thought of many ways, and even did such "bad things" with my classmates – sneaking through the windows in the middle of the night, sneaking into the computer room, playing with the computer all night, and almost being caught by the teacher on the spot. Of course, this was wrong, and I have to thank my alma mater for its tolerance.
The teachers have always encouraged us to continue to explore and innovate in technology. Coupled with the free and relaxed environment and laboratory conditions, I have the courage to set no limits. At that time, I dabbled in a very wide range, writing encryption software, antivirus software, financial software, CAD software, Chinese systems, etc., and also did hardware like Hanka.
Today, I can still find the code I wrote when I was a sophomore on the Internet. A memory management software called RI, this small software is very popular. At that time, I simply open-sourced it. Why open-source it? The main reason is to show off my skills, write such a good code, let everyone see it, and challenge the experts in the country.
Therefore, I feel that when you are young, you should try as much as possible, broaden your horizons, and enrich your "arsenal".
2.2 Hold the banner of national general software
After graduation, I joined Kingsoft as employee No. 6, participating in the development of office software.
Many friends may not be familiar with the fact that large-scale commercial software such as office software is extremely difficult to develop. At present, the world mainly includes Microsoft Office and Kingsoft WPS.
WPS was born in 1988 and experienced great success, but by 1996, "there was Microsoft before, and then there was piracy", and it was in a desperate situation. In the most difficult days, we discussed many times whether to continue to do WPS. In fact, from a business perspective, there was no reason to continue.
There is only one reason why we have never given up: WPS is the banner of national universal software, and we cannot let this flag fall in our hands.
To keep doing WPS, the most difficult thing is to find a way to survive. We make various tools and software such as Kingsoft Word and Kingsoft Drug Tyrant, and we make games, etc. We find survival space in the gaps that Microsoft does not want to do or disdains to do, and work hard to make money. Then, use the money earned to support the WPS team, insist on continuous research and development and continuous improvement, and fight a long-term war.
Of course, it is impossible to win by making small repairs to the original architecture alone. By 2002, we had made an important decision to rewrite WPS from scratch with all the money we had worked so hard to save over the years, a total of 40 million yuan in cash, a handful of All-in. This was a very difficult decision, involving the rewriting of tens of millions of lines of code, which required great courage and determination. We worked on it for 3 years, and finally in 2005, we completed a new architecture. We have made great efforts to build this architecture, and we can proudly say that it represents the most advanced level of office software in the past 20 years, and it has been used to this day.
In this protracted battle, Jinshan endured a long period of loneliness and suffering. At that time, there were not many people who understood us, nor did they cheer for us. We just thought we should do it.
In 2011, I became the chairperson of Jinshan, leading the transformation of Jinshan mobile Internet. The advantages of WPS rewriting architecture are reflected. This time, we finally overtook Microsoft Office and became the best office software for mobile end and the largest market share in China. After 20 years of groping in the dark, Jinshan has finally regained the glory of its early days.
In 2019, after 31 years of perseverance, Kingsoft WPS finally went public.
At that time, the entire IT industry said that WPS was a hardcore technology hero dream and the most inspiring story in China’s software industry.
Today, the number of WPS MAU equipment has exceeded 586 million, R & D expenditure accounts for more than 35%, and R & D personnel account for more than 60%.
The breakthrough of hard-core technology relies on lasting resilience and persistence. The counterattack of WPS is the victory of persistence.
To this day, when it comes to autonomous control and domestic substitution, in the field of office software, WPS has never worried anyone.
The history of WPS has also proved that with enough perseverance, Chinese engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs can all succeed in any field of hard-core technology.
2.3 From software to hardware
In the long-term battle of Jinshan, at the age of 40, I once again ventured into the field of hardware technology.
In 2010, in a small office in the Silver Valley Building of Baofusi Bridge in Beijing, I founded Xiaomi with 13 colleagues.
A programmer who had been working in software and the Internet for 20 years, and suddenly stepped into the hardware industry, can be said to be "ignorant and fearless". But the most important thing I did at Wuhan University gave me inexplicable confidence. As long as I have the ability to learn, there are no problems that cannot be solved.
Later, as everyone knows, Xiaomi won a fantastic start, but also encountered tremendous difficulties due to the lack of a solid foundation in hardware capabilities. At the most dangerous and difficult moment, in May 2016, I had to personally take over the mobile phone department, leading the team to seriously make up lessons and focus on hardcore technology.
Speaking of which, the courage to directly manage hardware research and development is still the confidence given to me by Wuhan University. Back then, when I was at Wuhan University, I soldered circuit boards and made programmable chips. Although I am not proficient, it can be regarded as some hardware basics.
At that time, I had more than 20 meetings every day, while learning the latest technology of mobile phone hardware, discussing engineering plans with my colleagues, and frantically recruiting the best engineers to expand the team and enhance the research and development strength. Looking back now, those more than a year were simply not a human life, and even cats and dogs could not stand it. But there is no wasted effort in the world. Just like practicing programming at Wuhan University, my hardware technology level soon improved.
In March 2021, Xiaomi Group officially announced the construction of a car, and I began to learn the technology of the car frantically. I will share it with you after Xiaomi Auto is officially launched.
2.4 In the next decade, from "striving" to "leading"
Xiaomi’s mission is to "insist on making good products that move people’s hearts and are affordable, so that everyone in the world can enjoy the good life brought by technology", which determines that Xiaomi must be a technology company.
Many people still have many misunderstandings about Xiaomi. What is the misunderstanding? Someone always says, "Xiaomi is an assembly plant, Xiaomi has little investment in research and development, and Xiaomi has no core technology."Overall, Xiaomi does have a certain gap compared to the world’s top technology companies. But as a 13-year-old company, Xiaomi’s investment and strength in research and development are still quite strong.
Let me report a set of figures: in the past five years, Xiaomi’s R & D investment has reached a compound annual growth rate of 38.4%. In 2022, Xiaomi’s R & D investment was 16.20 billion yuan, and it is expected to reach 20 billion yuan in 2023. In the next five years, more than 100 billion yuan will be invested in technology research and development. What is the level of 16.20 billion yuan? In September this year, the National Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Finance issued the "Statistical Communiqué on National Science and Technology Investment in 2022", and the national R & D investment 3.07829 trillion. Xiaomi’s R & D investment has accounted for 0.53% of all R & D expenditures in the country, including the sum of central enterprises, state-owned enterprises, universities, research institutions, and
Let’s take another example, let’s take a field that Xiaomi may be the least good at in everyone’s eyes, 5G standard patents. This field is the strength of communication equipment manufacturers, and it requires accumulation and precipitation in particular, and it takes years to endure. But even so, in the "5G Standard Essential Patent Declaration Valid Global Patent Family Enterprise Ranking" released by the China Institute of Information and Communications this year, Huawei is the world’s leader, accounting for 14%; while Xiaomi patents account for 4.1%, which has entered the top ten in the world.
On the issue of misunderstanding, I have also been troubled. Later I want to understand that there is no need to be torn, the key depends on your own growth.
On the other hand, when you compare 13-year-old Xiaomi with Apple, Samsung, and Huawei, you have extremely high expectations and requirements for us. However, rice is eaten bite by bite, and the road is taken step by step. I believe that as Xiaomi continues to increase its investment in research and development and its strength becomes stronger and stronger, we will definitely be able to win everyone’s trust and recognition by virtue of our own continuous growth.
In August this year, I announced Xiaomi’s strategic goal for the new decade: to invest heavily in the underlying core technology and strive to become a new generation of global hard-core technology leaders.
Just last month, we just released Xiaomi Surging OS, which is the world’s first "people, cars, and home ecosystem" operating system. Xiaomi Surging OS took 7 years of research and development, and more than 5,000 engineers participated in an unprecedented system underlying reconstruction. It will become the "public base for the interconnection of all things" in the future world, ready for tens of billions of devices and tens of billions of connections in mobile phones, homes, cars and other scenarios.
At the same time, Xiaomi has been working on many cutting-edge technologies, such as AI, chips, intelligent manufacturing, and humanoid robots.
I tell my colleagues inside the company that greatness is made, and we must be firm and patient enough. Xiaomi has only been around for 13 years, and we must be firm for at least 30 years before we can become a truly great company. This is an interesting phenomenon. In the field of hard core technology and manufacturing, almost all truly great companies have experienced more than 30 years of experience.
Why 30 years? Because 30 years is the time for generations of engineers to build a deep and leading technology system; it is the time required to grow to a sufficient scale to catch up with and surpass the original giants in the relevant industry. On the other hand, a technology company needs to go through several ups and downs and experience the test of industry and macro cycles in order to establish a solid industrial foundation and form a deep influence and leadership on the industrial chain.
The development of China’s hard-core technology has gradually participated in global competition since the 1990s, and is crossing the 30-year test threshold. On the one hand, China’s technology companies are catching up with the world’s top R & D technology level in the current low-level technology tracks; on the other hand, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is surging, and the cutting-edge hard-core technology strength is the decisive force.
Modern technology is a global battle for technology, resources, talent, and markets. We must seize the opportunity to win the future. In the current geopolitical environment, the more we face blockade and suppression, the less we can engage in self-isolation and self-isolation. We must always uphold a broad vision and mind. On the one hand, we are self-reliant and open-minded, and we will use the global advantageous resources to our advantage, forming an open innovation ecosystem with global competitiveness, and constantly moving towards the high end of the global value chain.
03
Gratitude and responsibility
3.1 The grace of a drop of water, the spring returns
During my college years and during my entrepreneurial career, I received a lot of help from people, and I have always been grateful.
I often ask myself: what should I do for my alma mater? What should I do for this era?
This morning, I finally fulfilled a major wish: I personally donated 1.30 billion cash to my alma mater as a birthday gift to support Wuhan University’s basic discipline development, scientific and technological innovation and college student training.
This wish originated more than 30 years ago. I grew up in an ordinary family in a county seat. When I was studying at Wuhan University, my family was very burdened, and I was determined to survive on my own.
So I studied very hard and worked very hard to get the scholarship. I once won the highest scholarship at Wuhan University at that time: 2,000 yuan, a huge sum of money from a donation from a company. I was particularly moved at that time, and I still clearly remember that on the podium, I secretly swore in my heart: When I have the ability, I will return it ten times, a hundred times, ten thousand times.
Six years after graduation, in 1997, at the age of 27, with a salary of about 4,000 yuan, I started my first donation to my alma mater, which was to establish the Lei Jun Scholarship (then called the Tengfei Scholarship) in the School of Computer Science. Since then, it has been donated for 26 consecutive years. In 2017, I finally donated a building at Wuhan University, and in June this year, the Lei Jun Building was officially completed.
Today, I decided to donate 1.30 billion, and I am very excited.
Struggling for a lifetime, what is it for? Different people have different answers. For me, being able to donate to my alma mater is one of the most worthwhile things to do.
However, I never advocate comparisons in donations. Everyone can give back to their alma mater with practical actions, and they can contribute money and make a strong contribution. This event has many, many alumni donations, and every donation is the love of alumni to their alma mater, and the weight is equal.
My donation this time focuses on three main directions: supporting basic research in the six major disciplines of mathematics, physics, literature, history and philosophy, supporting technological innovation in the field of computer science and technology, and supporting the training of college students. It is to enable more engineers, scientists, and technology entrepreneurs to appear in China, so that China can have more Huawei, more Xiaomi, more BYD, and more Ningde era. With more such people and companies, China’s hard-core technology will continue to rise and develop, and the forces supporting China’s hard-core technology will continue to emerge. Only then can we continue to lead the development of global science and technology, create a better life, and create a better and fairer world where everyone can continue to share the fruits of development.
3.2 Wuhan University spirit, endless life
Today, we gather here to celebrate the 130th anniversary of Wuhan University, not only the glorious history and great achievements of Wuhan University, but also the spiritual outlook and future blueprint of Wuhan University.
The history of the 130th anniversary of Wuhan University, as well as the revival of China and the changes in the world witnessed by Wuhan University in the past 130 years, tell us that we still have to believe. Believe in dreams, believe in persistence, believe in endless power, and believe in something beautiful and resilient that can cross the vicissitudes of life.
Finally, congratulations to the 130th anniversary of the alma mater, wish Wuhan University forever young; wish all Wu University people a bright future!
Thank you very much.
(Source: Lei Jun WeChat official account)
