The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide

The Neon semiconductor industry has a glorious history. In the 1980s, they conquered cities around the world, mocking their counterparts in Silicon Valley for falling behind, and ridiculing researchers in Boston for chewing on the results of the Neon research team.

If it was glorious in the 1980s, it is so painful now. First, memory chips, the main source of profits, were driven out by Korean manufacturers, and Elpida, the last hope, seemed to be unable to sustain itself.

Then the consumer electronics industry is being squeezed by Chinese manufacturers. The same mobile phone sold by Sony Ericsson costs US$500, but the smartphones exported by China only cost US$200, or even lower.

Neon manufacturers relied on low-price strategies to seize the living space of American manufacturers. Now it is their turn to be occupied by others.

Yuji Hirama was able to sit in the position of Vice President of Sumitomo Chemical from graduating from the Department of Literature. Although he does not understand technical details, his overall understanding is not weak, and his understanding of the industry is top-notch.

Yuji Hikaru has changed from the main partner of Sumitomo Chemical Semiconductor Materials from Neon Enterprise to Koryo Enterprise, then to the sudden rise of Wanwan Enterprise, to the current situation of the tripartite confrontation between Huaguo Enterprise, Koryo Enterprise and Wanwan Enterprise. He is very clear about it. China's semiconductor companies are developing rapidly, and we also know what a behemoth Xinxin is.

Xinxin's acquisition of ASPLA is a landmark event for Neon Semiconductor practitioners, giving them a deeper understanding of the strength, courage and influence of this Chinese semiconductor giant.

Yuji Hirama heard from many colleagues that new chips can come first and carve up a large market share in chip manufacturing, but why can't ASPLA.

When they communicated privately, they had a lot of discussions. The general idea of ​​Sony executives was that the semiconductor industry and the consumer electronics industry are two sides of the same coin. When Sony's electronic equipment is conquering cities around the world, Neon's semiconductor industry is following suit. Going well together. After Korean companies led by Samsung and LG eroded Sony's market share in the field of consumer electronics, Neon's semiconductors also declined.

China's semiconductor industry also developed with the help of smartphones, just like Neon Semiconductor Company first developed with the help of radios.

Hirama Yuji believes that this is only one of the reasons, maybe the main reason, but in his opinion, China's enterprising spirit from top to bottom is also incomparable to Neon, which has been in economic decline for so long.

Sumitomo Chemical has a huge market share in China and also has branches. It has dealt with many Chinese entrepreneurs during the day and has been to China many times.

Take Liang Mengsong, who was negotiating with him, as an example. When dealing with the other party during the day, he smelled from the other party the kind of free-spirited drive that the company's executives had when he first joined Sumitomo.

Now, including himself, the entire Neon semiconductor industry has lost the vigor it had twenty years ago. At that time, all they were thinking about was how to drive Amerikan out. Three or four Neon companies monopolized the entire market. Which ones? The technical route may be the future development direction, ambushes in advance, etc.

But now everyone is concerned about financial reports, revenue and profits, market value, and digital games.

Hiroshi knew very well that selling technology to Xinxin was a recipe for danger. Although he didn’t know how long it would take Xinxin to fully replicate and surpass Sumitomo’s technology, he still learned from the transfer of Nikon lithography machine technology. Look, it won't be long.

There are voices within Sumitomo saying that it cannot sell it, and if it is sold to Xinxin, it belongs to itself and will bury itself.

The problem is that he can't decide on this matter. The market is short of money now. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is launching a stimulus package, and the money cannot be given to consortiums like Sumitomo, because they are not short of money and they need to save themselves.

People above believe that semiconductor materials are an industry with high investment, slow results, and limited market share. Sumitomo Chemical is not a monopoly in this industry. At best, it is a top player, so the technology is sold.

It can only be executed during the day. After the technology is packaged and sold to Xinxin, it can help Sumitomo turn its profits around this year. You must know that Sumitomo has never had a loss in its annual report since 2004. If it can still achieve this result this year, It will be a boost to Sumitomo's overall performance in the capital market.

The potential benefits this positive brings to Sumitomo are far beyond the US$3 billion.

For example, if a company's credit rating can continue to be maintained at a high level, the cost of financing from banks will be lower, which can save a lot of interest, it will be easier to issue bonds, and the interest rates will also be lower.

"Everything has a price. According to the information we have received, Sumitomo needs cash. They need cash to fill the holes in the operation of the capital market." Guan Jianying is not surprised that Sumitomo will sell. He is surprised why Xinxin wants to buy it.

In his view, Xinxin’s business is already big enough. From chip design to chip manufacturing to semiconductor equipment and consumer electronics, the scale is huge enough.

It even spans the software industry. There is an operating system company that spans so many industries and is doing well. Even Android, which specializes in operating systems, ranks among the top three in market share, even higher than Windows. higher.

Guan Jianying believes that it is difficult to find a group that can compete with Xinxin in the market. The only one that is somewhat similar is Samsung. But do they really need to continue to expand and set up another company to digest the semiconductor material technology purchased from Sumitomo?

He was skeptical.

Zhou Xin was very happy. If not for the financial crisis, Sumitomo would not have been able to sell these technologies to them.

The semiconductor industry involves too many points, just like completing a task and lighting up a puzzle. Some puzzles cannot be lit up with money, and timing is very important.

And even though Xinxin is already a behemoth in the semiconductor industry and a force that cannot be ignored, Xinxin only lights up a quarter of the entire puzzle.

"Let the seniors continue to keep in touch with Sumitomo and hang on to them to see if they can come up with more technology. Money is not an issue. The budget is now 3 billion US dollars, right? Let's increase the budget to 5 billion US dollars. , see if I can dig out something more.

In addition, Renesas will see if they are willing to package and sell. If they are not willing, whether to accept a shareholding does not necessarily require an acquisition. Shareholding is also an option. "Zhou Xin finally made the decision.

After the high-level meeting was over, Guan Jianying approached Zhou Xin alone. He wanted to express his views:

"Boss, after we acquire Sumitomo's technology, are we going to set up a semiconductor materials company to operate this business?"

Zhou Xin smiled and said: "Yes, Uncle Guan, are you interested in the newly established company?"

Guan Jianying shook his head: "No, I just think we cover too many areas.

I always feel that we need to focus our energy like Intel on our core business. Our current business is a bit like spreading a pie.

In the past, we also spread the pie, because the pie was spread over a large area, but the quality did not become thinner due to the larger area, so I did not raise any issues.

This time we are going to enter semiconductor materials again. Although this industry is related to semiconductors, it is not actually that closely related to chips. So my doubt is whether we need to spend so much money to open up a new track again. "

Five billion US dollars is not a small number, and five billion in cash is not a small number. Coupled with Zhou Xin's vision, investing in companies such as Microsoft, Intel, and Google is enough to bring him a hundredfold return.

Baidu has been split into two companies, New Baidu and Google. Because Baidu's impact in the Madoff case was too bad, New Baidu's market share is far inferior to Google.

At the same time, due to the split of Baidu, Microsoft also launched its search engine business four years in advance, which is Bing, which will shine in the era of artificial intelligence in the future.

Zhou Xin can completely understand Guan Jianying's thoughts. There must be many senior executives within New Core who have similar doubts about why New Core wants to engage in such horizontal expansion and want to extend its tentacles to every corner of the semiconductor industry.

In the current era of economic globalization, the semiconductor industry is a classic case of economic globalization. Enterprises from all over the world cooperate, have a high degree of division of labor, and ultimately produce finished products, which is in line with the development trend.

No company would want to do it all by itself, let alone an industry like semiconductors that involves upstream and downstream.

IBM will abandon this business after the chip manufacturing declines. Intel will hand over chip foundry to TSMC after the chip manufacturing fails to meet expectations. Texas Instruments will package and sell this business after the chip manufacturing technology falls behind. These are all A high degree of division of labor is reflected in the fact that subdivided areas are left to the best companies, and I am only responsible for the business in which I have advantages.

But Xinxin is a heresy. Of course, there are heretics like Xinxin in the market, and Samsung is also a heresy.

Zhou Xin smiled bitterly, he didn't want to do this either, but these were just preparations for the future.

Others regard you as an opponent, and you have no right to refuse. You can only accept differential treatment from the other party.

"Uncle Guan, I understand what you mean. The main reason is that I think this kind of technology is usually difficult to buy. Now that I have the opportunity this time, I will buy it and play with it.

Xinxin has developed to this point, and we have the capital to do whatever we want.

You can understand it as trying, trying the waters in a new field. "Zhou Xin said it lightly.

When Guan Jianying heard what the other party said, he nodded silently and did not continue the topic.

Because it is true as Zhou Xin said, Xinxin can be willful, and Xinxin's blood is thick enough.

Just like Microsoft, it can make MSN, make game consoles, make search engines, invest in AI, and acquire Blizzard. No matter how many times it fails, its basic base is still there, and it doesn't matter.

Xinxin has surpassed Microsoft in terms of revenue and profits, so they have the capital to try.

Not to mention, semiconductor materials are completely centered around their main business.

"Zhou Xin, come and help me see how the smartphone we designed looks like." Cao Yongluo handed Zhou Xin a smartphone that looked exactly like Mphone3.

Yongxin Technology, founded by Cao Yongluo and Zhou Xin, has developed rapidly in Guangdong Province with the help of the energy behind the Cao family and its status as a Matrix supplier.

Matrix ships 50 million units a year, and more than 60% of assembly orders and some parts with low technical content are handed over to Yongxin Technology. Yongxin Technology's status is equivalent to Foxconn.

Zhou Xin took the phone and asked, "Are you planning to start making smartphones too? Why does this look so familiar?"

Zhou Xin rubbed the phone and found it felt good in the hand. Although it had a plastic back panel, it didn't feel cheap.

Cao Yongluo shook his head: "This is a smartphone company I invested in. Their latest product will be released in the middle of this year. I will show it to you.

Who doesn't know the identity of the inventor of your smartphone? Please help me take a look, so as to give me some confidence. I have invested a lot of money in this company. "

After Zhou Xin heard what Cao Yongluo said, he noticed the Meizu logo on the back and nodded: "It looks pretty good.

I still have to try it on the specific operating system and software. "

After Zhou Xin returned to China, Cao Yongluo often interacted with him. He came to see him almost every now and then, and he would come and take a walk when he had nothing to do.

As for the other two roommates in the dormitory back then, Cao Yongluo still had contact with them, but Zhou Xin had lost contact with them a long time ago.

Like class reunions, Cao Yongluo would go there, but Zhou Xin never went.

“This company is doing well, selling about one million units every year, and they have very few offline channels and rely almost entirely on online channels.

They are relatively well-known in Southeast Asia, but due to limited capital, they have no channels to sell mobile phones to Southeast Asia.

Just through some backpackers and enthusiasts, Meizu was brought to Southeast Asia. Cao Yongluo said: "Because Yongxin helps them do OEM work, I pay attention to their financing information, and my relationship with Mr. Huang is also good."

In the first half of the year, they were short of money due to the financial crisis, so I invested a little bit in it. "

Zhou Xin thought, in this time and space, he poached Lei Jun to Matrix as CEO, and Xiaomi is gone, can Meizu replace Xiaomi's original ecological niche.

In addition, MediaTek’s status and influence in smartphone chips is far inferior to that of later generations. Meizu also purchases Yanque and Honghu series chips from New Core, so it will not be cheated by MediaTek.

Zhou Xin is very curious whether Meizu will decline like later generations.

Sometimes, the original people and things are changed by him, which is also a kind of fun.

Zhou Xin nodded: "The sales volume of one million is quite a lot, and when the channels are expanded, the shipment volume can go up again.

How much did you invest? Since you are optimistic about it, it means it still has potential. Why haven't you invested in emerging investments?

I didn't see in the internal management system that they invested in this company. "

Xinxing has invested in Blue Factory and Green Factory. Every investment made by Xinxing will be updated in the backend management system. As the owner of the highest authority, Zhou Xin can know every investment trend of theirs.

Cao Yongluo smiled and said: "Because Meizu believes that Matrix is ​​their biggest competitor, and Xinxing Investment and Matrix are both companies under your name, so they rejected Xinxing.

It was precisely because they rejected Xinxing that I had the opportunity to enter. "

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