Lei Jun announced a speech of 1.3 billion yuan to Wuhan University, and the full text came: My road to scientific and technological exploration

Today is the 130th anniversary of my alma mater, Wuhan University, and I would like to extend my most sincere and warmest congratulations to my alma mater, and happy 130th birthday of Wuhan University!

At the 9th Alumni Luojia Forum held by my alma mater, I was honored to be invited to share as a guest speaker again. I have always had an unforgettable love for my alma mater, and the small achievements I have made today are inseparable from the cultivation of my alma mater back then.

The following is the full text of the speech:

Dear teachers, seniors, and students, good afternoon!

I am Lei Jun, an alumnus of the class of 1987, first of all, I would like to extend my most sincere and warmest congratulations to my alma mater, happy 130th birthday of Wuhan University!

I have always had an unforgettable love for my alma mater, and the small achievements I have made today are inseparable from the cultivation of my alma mater back then. It can be said that it was Wuhan University that shaped me, allowed me to find my dreams, learned the method of learning, and gave me the most valuable wealth in my life. Wherever I go, I always think of the tremendous 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, it was also here that I said: in my heart, Wuhan University is the best university in the world, and there is no one. This sentence caused a huge response online. In fact, it doesn't matter, if you feel that there is a gap, all of us Wuhan teachers, students, and alumni of Wuhan University have a common goal: to build our alma mater into the best university in the world!

What is so good 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 architecture as an example, the old house, the old library, the old gymnasium, etc., fully embody the ideological pattern of the integration of ancient and modern, east and west, is a classic business card of Chinese universities, and a warm picture that we will always remember in our hearts.

Of course, more importantly, 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, never let students study to death, but let students fully develop independently, the teachers are also very friendly, and the relationship between teachers and students is particularly harmonious. Let me give you a small example, when I was in school, the teachers rarely dragged the class, because when the class was delayed, the students would knock on the table to protest, and the teacher immediately understood.

In August this year, I held my fourth annual speech, with the theme of "Growth", which mainly talked about how I went to university and started my own business, and most of the content was about Wuhan University. With so many friends at the scene today, let me ask a question, how many people have seen my speech in August?

In my memory, there are many stories about Wuhan University, and I only talked about a small part of them in my speech, mainly five experiences: just entering the university, reading "The Fire of Silicon Valley" in the library, completing four years of college credits in two years, how to become a master programmer, publishing papers in journals as an undergraduate, and trying to start a business in college.

Some netizens commented: This is a large-scale enrollment publicity of Wuhan University. This netizen is right, this speech is to promote Wuhan University and to warm up for the 130th anniversary of Wuhan University.

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 of life

I like chemistry before the college entrance examination, and I wanted to apply for the chemistry department at first. I have a good brother who wants to report to the computer. I changed my mind temporarily and applied for the computer science department of Wuhan University.

In retrospect, everything was arranged for the best. As soon as I entered university, I fell madly in love with programming, which can be said to be "addicted to it".

At that time, there were too few opportunities to get on the computer, I thought of many ways, and even did such a "bad thing" with my classmates - secretly climbed through the window in the middle of the night, slipped into the computer room, played with the computer all night, and was almost caught red-handed by the teacher. Of course, this is not right, and I would like to thank my alma mater for its tolerance back then.

The teachers have always encouraged us to continue to explore and innovate in technology, coupled with the free and relaxed environment and laboratory conditions, which gave me the courage to set no limits. At that time, I was involved in a wide range of areas, writing encryption software, antivirus software, financial software, CAD software, Chinese systems, etc., and also made hardware such as Hanka.

I can still find the code I wrote in my sophomore year on the Internet. A memory management software, called RI, was very popular, and I simply opened it up at that time. The main reason is to show off skills, write such a good code, you have to let everyone see it, and also play tricks and shouts with the masters of the country.

Therefore, I think that when you are young, you should try as much as possible, broaden your horizons, and enrich your "arsenal". Don't pressure yourself with more skills, give yourself more possibilities, and you will definitely be useful in the future.

2.2 Carry the banner of national general software

After graduating, I joined Kingsoft as the No. 6 employee and participated in the development of office software.

Many friends may not know much about the large business software such as office software, which is extremely difficult to develop, and the current global focus is on Microsoft Office and Kingsoft WPS.

WPS was born in 1988 and experienced great glory, but by 1996, "there was Microsoft in the past, and there was piracy in the back", and it fell into a desperate situation. In the toughest days, we discussed many times whether or not to continue doing WPS. Actually, from a business point of view, I can't see any reason to do it.

There is only one reason why we have never given up: WPS is the banner of national general software, and we cannot let this flag fall in our hands.

The hardest thing to do is to find a way to survive. We make various tools and software such as Kingsoft Word Tyrant and Kingsoft Poison Tyrant, we make games, etc., and we find living space in the cracks that Microsoft is unwilling to do and disdain to do, and we are desperate to make money. Then, use the money earned to support the WPS team, insist on continuous research and development, continuous improvement, and fight a protracted battle.

In 2002, we made an important decision to rewrite WPS from scratch with a total of 40 million yuan in cash and a handful of all-in. It was a very difficult decision, involving tens of millions of lines of code rewrite, and it took a lot of courage and determination. After 3 years, I finally completed a new structure in 2005. We have put a lot of effort into this architecture, and we can proudly say that it represents the most advanced level of office software in the last 20 years, and it has been used to this day.

In this protracted war, Jin Shan endured a long period of loneliness and suffering. At that time, there were not many people who understood us, and not so many people cheered for us. We just thought we should do it.

In 2011, I became the chairman of Kingsoft and led Kingsoft's transformation into a mobile Internet. The advantages of WPS rewriting architecture are reflected, and this time, we finally overtook Microsoft Office in a corner, and became the best office software on mobile in China with the largest market share. After 20 years of groping in the dark, Jinshan has finally regained its glory at the beginning of its business.

In 2019, after 31 years of perseverance, Kingsoft WPS was finally listed.

At that time, the entire IT industry said that WPS was a hard-core technical hero's dream and the most inspirational story in China's software industry.

Today, the number of monthly active devices of WPS has exceeded 586 million, with R&D expenditure accounting for more than 35% and R&D personnel accounting for more than 60%.

The breakthrough of hard-core technology relies on lasting resilience and persistence. WPS's counterattack is the victory of persistence.

To this day, when it comes to independent and controllable, domestic substitution, and office software, there is WPS, which has never worried everyone.

The history of WPS also proves that as long as you insist enough, any hard-core technology field, Chinese engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs, can all do it and win!

2.3 From Software to Hardware

At the age of 40, I stepped into the field of hardware technology again.

In 2010, in a small office in the Yingu Building of Baofu Temple Bridge in Beijing, I founded Xiaomi with 13 colleagues.

A programmer who has been working in software and the Internet for 20 years suddenly crossed into the hardware industry, which can be said to be "ignorant and fearless". But the most important thing about my association at Wuhan University gave me inexplicable confidence that as long as I have the ability to learn, there are no problems that I can't solve.

Everyone knows what happened later, Xiaomi won a fantastic start, and because the hardware capability is not firmly rooted, it once encountered great difficulties. In 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 for the class, and focus on hardcore technology.

Speaking of which, daring 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, I can be regarded as having some hardware foundation.

At that time, I had more than 20 meetings every day, learning the latest technology of mobile phone hardware, discussing engineering solutions with colleagues, and frantically recruiting the best engineers to expand the team and enhance R&D capabilities. Looking back now, those more than 1 year were not only not human life, but even cats and dogs couldn't stand it. But nothing is in vain. Just like when I practiced programming at Wuhan University, my hardware skills were quickly improved.

In March 2021, Xiaomi Group officially announced the construction of a car, and I began to learn the technology of the car frantically, and I will share it with you after the official launch of the Xiaomi car.

2.4 In the next decade, from "striving for energy" to "leading"

Xiaomi's mission is to "insist on making good products that move people's hearts and are kindly priced, so that everyone in the world can enjoy the beautiful life brought by technology", which determines that Xiaomi must be a technology company.

Many people still have a lot of misconceptions about Xiaomi. There are always people who say, "Xiaomi is an assembly factory, Xiaomi has little R&D investment, and Xiaomi has no core technology." "On the whole, Xiaomi does have a certain gap compared with 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.

I would like to report a set of figures to you: in the past five years, Xiaomi's R&D investment has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 38.4%, Xiaomi's R&D investment in 2022 will be 16.2 billion yuan, and it is expected to reach 20 billion yuan in 2023, and more than 100 billion yuan will be invested in technology research and development in the next five years. In September this year, the National Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Finance issued the "2022 National Statistical Communiqué on Science and Technology Investment", which showed that the national R&D investment in 20202 was 3,078.29 billion yuan. Xiaomi's R&D investment has accounted for 0.53% of all R&D expenditures in the country, including central enterprises, state-owned enterprises, universities, research institutions, and private enterprises.

As another example, let's take an area 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 especially needs to accumulate and precipitate, and it needs to be boiled for years. But even so, in this year's China Academy of Information and Communications Technology's "Ranking of Global Patent Family Enterprises with Effective 5G Standard Essential Patent Declarations", Huawei is the world's leader, accounting for 14%, while Xiaomi's patents account for 4.1%, which has entered the top 10 in the world.

I've also been troubled by misunderstandings. Later, I figured out that there is no need to dwell on it, the key is to see my own growth.

On the other hand, everyone compares the 13-year-old Xiaomi with Apple, Samsung, and Huawei, which is a very high expectation and high demand for us. It's just that the rice is eaten one bite at a time, and the road is taken step by step. I believe that as Xiaomi's R&D investment continues to increase and its strength becomes stronger and stronger, we will definitely be able to win everyone's trust and recognition by virtue of our continuous growth.

In August this year, I announced Xiaomi's strategic goal for the new decade: to invest in the underlying core technology on a large scale, and strive to become a new generation of global hard-core technology leader.

Just last month, we released the Xiaomi Surging OS, which is the world's first operating system for the "whole ecosystem of people, cars and homes". Xiaomi Surging OS took 7 years of research and development, and more than 5,000 engineers participated in the unprecedented refactoring of the underlying system. It will become the "public base of the Internet of Everything" in the future world, ready for tens of billions of devices and tens of billions of connections in multiple scenarios such as mobile phones, homes, and cars.

At the same time, Xiaomi has been doing a lot of very cutting-edge and advanced technologies, such as AI, chips, intelligent manufacturing, humanoid robots, etc.

Internally, I told my colleagues that greatness comes out, and we need to be firm and patient enough. Xiaomi has only been gone for 13 years, and we will have to go firmly 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 really great companies have experienced more than 30 years of experience, whether it is Sony, Apple, Samsung, or Intel, AMD, NVIDIA, as well as our local Huawei, BYD, 30 years is a key threshold.

Why 30 years? Because 30 years is the time for generations of engineers to build a deep and leading technology system, and the time it takes to grow to a sufficient scale to catch up with and surpass the pre-existing giants in related industries. On the other hand, a technology company must go through several ups and downs, and go through the test of the industry and macro cycles, in order to lay a solid industrial foundation and form a deep influence and leadership on the industrial chain.

China's hard-core science and technology development, since the 90s of the last century, has gradually participated in global competition, is crossing the 30-year test threshold. On the one hand, China's science and technology enterprises are catching up with and surpassing the world's top R&D technology level in the current underlying 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 scientific and technological strength is the decisive force.

Modern science and technology is a global battle for technology, resources, talents, and markets, and we must seize the opportunity to win the future. In the current geopolitical environment, the more we face blockade and suppression, the more we cannot engage in self-isolation and self-isolation. We must always uphold a broad vision and mind, be self-reliant and self-reliant on the one hand, and cooperate and open up on the other, use global superior resources for us, form an open and innovative ecology with global competitiveness, and constantly move towards the high-end of the global value chain.

03

Gratitude and responsibility

3.1 The grace of a drop of water is reciprocated by a spring

When I was in college and started my own business, I received a lot of help from many people, and I am always 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 1.3 billion yuan in cash to my alma mater as a birthday gift to support the development of basic disciplines, scientific and technological innovation and the training of college students at Wuhan University.

This wish originated more than 30 years ago. I grew up in an ordinary family in a county town, and when I was studying at Wuhan University, the burden on my family was very heavy, and I was determined to survive on my own.

So I studied very hard and worked very hard to get a scholarship. I once won the highest scholarship of Wuhan University at that time: 2,000 yuan, which came from a donation from a company. I was very touched at the time, and I still remember clearly that on the podium, I secretly swore in my heart: when I have the ability, I will return it tenfold, hundredfold, ten thousand.

Six years after graduation, in 1997, when I was 27 years old, my salary was about 4,000 yuan, and I began my first donation to my alma mater, which was to set up the Lei Jun Scholarship (then called Tengfei Scholarship) in the School of Computer Science. From that time to today, 26 consecutive years of donation. In 2017, I finally donated a building at Wuhan University, and in June this year, the Lei Jun Building was officially completed.

Today, I have decided to donate 1.3 billion, and I am very excited.

What is the purpose of a lifelong struggle? Different people have different answers. For me, being able to go back to my alma mater and donate is one of the most rewarding things to do.

However, I have never advocated comparison. Everyone can give back to their alma mater with practical actions, and they can contribute with money and strength. There were many, many alumni donations for this event, and each donation was an alumni's love for their alma mater, and the weight was equally heavy.

My donation is mainly focused on three directions: supporting the basic research of mathematics, physics, chemistry, literature, history and philosophy, supporting scientific and technological innovation in the field of computer science, and supporting the training of college students. It is to allow more engineers, scientists, and technology entrepreneurs to emerge in China, so that China can have more Huawei, more Xiaomi, more BYD, and more CATL. With more such people and companies, China's hard-core technology will continue to rise and develop, the power supporting China's hard-core technology can continue to emerge, we can continue to lead the development of global science and technology, create a better life, and create a better and fairer world where all people can continue to share the fruits of development.

3.2 The spirit of Wuhan University is endless

Today, we gather here to celebrate the 130th anniversary of Wuhan University, not only about the glorious history and great achievements of Wuhan University, but also about the spiritual outlook and future blueprint of Wuhan University.

The history of the 130th anniversary of Wuhan University, as well as the rejuvenation of China and the changes in the world witnessed by Wuhan University over the past 130 years, tell us that we still have to believe. Believe in dreams, believe in perseverance, believe in endless strength, believe in beautiful and tenacious things that can pass through the vicissitudes of life.

Finally, I would like to congratulate my alma mater on its 130th anniversary, wish Wuhan University eternal youth, and wish all Wuhan University people a bright future!

Thank you!