Under the gaze of all eyes, the representative from Qualcomm Group emerged with a wry smile and presented various documents to the investigation team, documents that legally proved all the chips had indeed been supplied by them to Jiangnan Group.
"We originally intended to release these chips only after the 3G network was rolled out, and they were currently only undergoing usability investigations. We never imagined they would lead to such terrible consequences. We apologize for the immaturity of our actions!" Finally, the Qualcomm representative had to apologize on the spot, as, to a certain extent, they had escalated the incident step by step to maintain strict secrecy.
"How could this happen..." Billy Howard, who had entered the investigation site through media connections, trembled uncontrollably in a corner.
He had considered many ways for Jiangnan Group to prove its innocence, and through his relationship with Motorola and his own connections, he had reached an agreement with the investigation team leader in advance on how to refute the opponent's evidence on the spot.
If refutation was impossible, he at least wanted to muddy the waters, to at least make it impossible for the audience to understand the truth.
But Billy Howard never expected that the other party would directly employ a 'pulling the rug from under' tactic, severing the possibility of chip plagiarism from its very root.
After all, the numerous defenses Billy Howard had prepared were all aimed at aspects like technology, transportation, or forgery, all of which were based on the assumption that the chips were produced by Jiangnan Group itself... After all, a chip stamped only with a serial number and no company logo looked like it was self-produced by the company. Who would have thought it would be a Qualcomm trial product?
This directly severed all of Billy Howard's prepared sophistry at the fundamental logical level. You can say that the Chinese stole American technology to make their own chips.
But you can't say they stole American technology to make chips for other Americans!
Furthermore, given Qualcomm's expertise in chips, it wasn't always clear who was stealing from whom. So, once Hao Jianguo presented his evidence, this inquiry session was essentially lost. All the previous online vitriol lost its basis. Jiangnan Group had already won; the only remaining issue was how to lose gracefully.
"Ahem, we will discuss this matter after investigating the detailed information. However, the fact that your Tianxing 5 mobile phone uses Qualcomm chips does not mean you haven't stolen Motorola's chip technology. At the very least, we believe what happened to Professor Chen is true, and we can find reports from many Chinese news media at the time to corroborate this incident. How do you explain this?" Perhaps feeling obliged to deliver for the money received, the investigation team leader, after Jiangnan Group had proven the Tianxing 5 chips were not problematic, still tried to find some fault. He spoke from another angle, asking, "How do you explain this?"
"It's ruined!" Hearing this question, Billy Howard's expression turned extremely stiff.
"Damn it, I explicitly told him not to ask about Professor Chen himself! How did he fall into that trap?" Billy Howard's legs began to tremble.
Because he knew very well that Professor Chen was the biggest loophole in this entire affair. Given what had been done back then, Jiangnan Group certainly possessed irrefutable evidence that could easily restore the complete truth.
Therefore, it was absolutely imperative not to get bogged down in this issue. Instead, the focus should be on questioning whether the Tianxing 5 mobile chips contained Motorola's technology.
After all, mobile chip technologies across the board were mutually borrowed. Every chip contained elements of the other's technology. So, as long as they searched meticulously, they were bound to find Motorola's technology within the chips, which would then solidify Jiangnan Group's crime.
Even if they genuinely couldn't find it, they could fabricate it. Ordinary people wouldn't understand the origins of these technologies anyway. It was just that Billy Howard never expected these chips weren't produced by Jiangnan Group themselves, rendering all these problems moot.
And this investigation team leader could only attempt to find issues related to technology theft.
In truth, this investigation team leader genuinely wanted to fulfill his end of the deal and was trying to help out of good intentions.
However, Billy Howard hadn't told him the whole truth. After all, he dared not reveal to this investigation team leader exactly what Professor Chen had done back in the day.
Otherwise, even a fool would see the immense problems involved. The investigation team leaders would never have accepted the money and entered the game. Wouldn't that be like jumping into a mud pit?
Thus, the investigation team leader finally asked the question Billy Howard least wanted to hear.
Of course, Hao Jianguo, upon hearing this question, was overjoyed. He quickly smiled and said, "How shall I put it? Professor Chen did indeed steal Motorola's technology!"
"Hiss!" A wave of exclamations swept through the venue again. They were surprised that Jiangnan Group so readily admitted to it, thinking that technology theft had indeed occurred.
"Here's what happened: Professor Chen, in order to obtain research funding from our country, had his friend steal several chips from Motorola. He then copied the entire architecture of these chips from Motorola's database and reported it as his own developed chip, even holding a press conference!"
"This basically aligns with the facts reported by the current news media, so I won't repeat it much!" Hao Jianguo chuckled. "However, I don't know why Motorola hasn't disclosed the subsequent facts."
"Because Motorola itself reported the theft incident. They discovered Professor Chen's theft and subsequently reported it to our relevant authorities, leading to an investigation into Professor Chen."
"This happened on the second day of the investigation's commencement. Professor Chen had already secretly fled to the United States. The investigation team can verify this by checking customs clearance records or directly examining Professor Chen's passport, which should contain detailed time records."
"As for the entire subsequent investigation process, Motorola Group was fully involved. We have retrieved several investigation reports from the time, which detail the entire process. These reports also bear the signature of the President of Motorola Greater China Region, so these investigation records should be very thorough and reliable, and have been recognized by Motorola itself."
"According to the descriptions in these investigation reports, the chips stolen by Professor Chen were mobile chips developed by Motorola in 1996. These chips were commonly used in all Motorola mobile phones produced between 1997 and 1998."
"I believe that as long as the investigation team examines the Motorola phone models produced in those two years, they will understand the performance limitations of these chips. These chips are simply incapable of supporting the massive computational power required by the Tianxing 5. It's impossible for us to produce a phone that surpasses the market by two to three years with chip technology that is five to six years behind the market!"
"Just as many netizens have said online, China is still a developing country and lags far behind the great United States in technology. This is impossible and unachievable."
"Furthermore, according to the investigation reports, to ensure the security of their technology and products, Motorola's technical personnel participated in the investigation of Motorola's technical aspects throughout the entire process. They confirmed that there were no instances of copying or downloading technology during the investigation. This can fully prove the impossibility of any technology theft."
"These are the evidence we have submitted. Since this evidence is held by our relevant domestic authorities, it took a long time to obtain authorization and go through various procedures to retrieve it, which is why it has taken until now to present it."
"We deeply apologize for not being able to disclose this evidence earlier to prove our company's innocence and prevent the occurrence of this malicious incident!"
"..." The investigation team leader was rendered speechless by Hao Jianguo's words, and he glared fiercely at Billy Howard in the distance.
What had been said was completely different from what he was told. He immediately realized he had been tricked by Billy Howard.
In his anger, the investigation team leader naturally had no interest in continuing to cause trouble. After asking a few mandatory questions, he hastily announced the end of the inquiry session. The investigation would proceed independently, and the specific results would be announced within one to three months.
In the interim, no penalties or restrictions would be imposed on Jiangnan Group, BLm Company, or the Tianxing 5 mobile phone.
A month and a half later, the investigation results were released, confirming that everything Jiangnan Group had said was true and there were no issues of technology theft. However, by then, very few people were paying attention to these findings.
After the inquiry session concluded, the internet exploded with activity. All those who had previously vehemently criticized Jiangnan Group fell silent, and then a new wave of rational netizens emerged, relentlessly mocking the former critics as brainless idiots.
Curiously, some of the accounts belonging to these rational netizens were the very ones that had been the most aggressive in their condemnation of Jiangnan Group. For some reason, they suddenly became agitated and denounced their past actions.
Simultaneously, posts apologizing to Jiangnan Group also appeared online. While the popularity of this topic wasn't very high, as Americans weren't as fond of apologizing as Japanese people, over a hundred thousand people still expressed their apologies to Jiangnan Group.
However, neither of these was the most talked-about topic online. The most popular online were various Black communities, who triumphantly announced their victory, declaring that righteous Black people had defeated evil white supremacists.
Heaven knows how these people arrived at such conclusions, but undoubtedly, they had won.
As for Motorola, they remained completely invisible, not daring to utter a single extra word, acting as if they didn't exist.
The most unfortunate was Billy Howard. He couldn't sever all the threads, as Professor Chen himself was the biggest clue.
After an interrogation by an agency starting with 'f', Professor Chen readily confessed Billy Howard. Billy Howard was subsequently arrested and claimed he had been misled by incorrect intelligence. After a series of maneuvers, he was ultimately sentenced to three months of community service.
However, during one of his community service assignments, Billy Howard was accidentally struck by a concrete mixer truck by the roadside. The scene was so gruesome that his remains couldn't even be pieced together.
The driver of the truck was sentenced to ten years in prison for drunk driving. However, he soon received multiple reductions in his sentence for excellent behavior in prison and even obtained parole for medical treatment, emerging from prison in just three years.