Reborn Tokyo Golden Age

Why is the United States chasing after Neon's semiconductors? This question seemed familiar to Sosuke Uno.

"Is it because the United States must maintain its leadership and dominance in the field of cutting-edge technology?"

Bai Chuanfeng once analyzed this issue with him, and Uno Zongyou himself also agreed with this statement.

"This is one of the factors, but even the United States cannot dominate the global semiconductor market.

In other words, apart from the United States, the global semiconductor market can accommodate a second or third player.

But the premise is that everyone has something to earn, or the United States can take the biggest piece of cake. "

When Bai Chuanfeng said this, the thoughts in the minds of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry became clearer.

"So it's because Neon took too much, and America got too little.

Doesn't it mean that the United States is going to kill Neon? "Uno Zongyou muttered to himself.

The recent series of actions in the United States have made the neon government a little confused.

Not to mention the various agreements, price limits, sanctions, tariffs, import and export controls, etc. After a combination of punches, many people in the government thought that the United States would kill the entire semiconductor industry of Neon with one stick.

Not to mention the struggle among the various internal factions for this matter, some with weak knees were ready to offer Neon Semiconductor with both hands, and directly knelt down and surrendered.

Of course, this matter is just some people's wishful thinking. Now the power of several big chaebols in Nihong can compete with the government.

Especially with the existence of the Keidanren Federation, the Ministry of Finance has suffered more than once in its hands.

As a consortium of chaebols, the Keidanren can even invite anyone who wants to shake their roots to visit the bottom of Tokyo Bay.

Even when he was really planning to do this, maybe Bai Chuanfeng would secretly help.

Blocking people's money is like killing their parents. What happened to government officials? Are there still few people who commit suicide inexplicably?

This is not Bai Chuanfeng's audacity, but the tacit choice of the chaebol group.

Before the bubble burst, Neon's chaebols were surprisingly powerful. The real decline came after the bubble and the stage when Koizumi came to power.

But this is something for later, there are not many people who dare to touch the chaebol in the current era.

So if Neon wants to give up the semiconductor industry, the big chaebols are the first to refuse, which is why Uno Zongsuke and the others are cautious.

As for what they thought was the idea that the United States wanted to completely abolish Neon Semiconductor, Bai Chuanfeng was also a little dumbfounded.

"Business competition is a process of you coming and going, not to say that in all industries, the United States cannot allow others to walk ahead of it.

The key is that Neon is going too far, and the United States cannot see the possibility of surpassing it in a short time. Even with the passage of time, this gap will become wider and wider.

Will the United States sit still as it gets bigger and bigger in the cutting-edge field? "

Obviously, the United States has already given its own answer, and Uno Zongyou's face became more serious.

"In addition, the industrial model of Neon Semiconductor is also a huge pressure on the United States."

"What do you mean by Bai Chuan-san's words?" This angle made Tamura Moto and the others startled again.

The industrial model of Neon Semiconductor? What's wrong with this?

"Tamura-san, I don't know if you have discovered that Neon's semiconductor industry is very complete.

Complete enough to be in the local area of ​​Neon, it can solve all the problems in the whole chip industry chain. "

"This is a normal behavior of business development, and the purpose is to keep costs down as much as possible and make Neon's chips more competitive internationally.

What's wrong with this? Could it be that the United States cannot tolerate these? "Tamura Moto was very puzzled by this, which is quite normal in Neon.

Many large companies complete everything from raw materials to finished products by themselves, and semiconductors are just a microcosm of it.

"If it's in Neon's home country, of course it's nothing. But for international trade, this is actually a kind of resistance.

Especially for high-tech industries such as chips, the IDM model is the vertically integrated manufacturing model.

In fact, it may not be a good thing for Neon, because it has taken away too much. "

To what extent is Neon's semiconductor industry complete?

From raw materials to silicon wafers, from lithography machines to etching machines, from the chemical materials used in the process to the process itself.

All of these, neon semiconductor companies can achieve self-sufficiency, which means that neon has opened up the entire industry chain of chips in China.

This is the so-called IDM-vertically integrated manufacturing model. In the case of occupying 70% to 80% of the global market, Neon does not leave any soup to others.

This directly led to the closure of a large number of fabs in the United States. Intel cut down seven of its own fabs last year and laid off nearly 8,000 employees.

Adding up all these losses, Intel has lost at least five or six billion US dollars, and this is just Intel.

Think about Micron, Texas Instruments, and Motorola, and the situation is not much better.

Faced with this situation, it is no wonder that the U.S. government is not ruthless.

Then again, is the United States really unable to tolerate the development of Neon Semiconductor? Bai Chuanfeng didn't think so.

If the United States really had this idea, it would not have opened up its semiconductor technology to Neon in the first place.

Even now, there is no barrier to communication with each other in the academic field.

The real key is that Neon's semiconductors do not threaten the industrial layout of the United States.

But thinking about every time Fujitsu and the others clamored to overthrow their counterparts in the United States and turn the world's top ten semiconductor companies into clubs from Neon, Bai Chuanfeng couldn't help but sigh.

Weakness is not an obstacle to survival, arrogance is.

Neon always exists as a vassal. Can it turn its back on customers and let Lao Mi follow it to drink soup?

Whimsical, arrogant!

This is Bai Chuanfeng's perception of the neon semiconductor industry at this time.

After listening to his explanation, Uno Zongyou and the others realized the problem.

It is not a good thing for an industry to be the top, at least for Neon.

"Does this mean that Nihong will abandon its martial arts and give up all its investment in the semiconductor field?"

Sugiyama Kazuo couldn't help asking back, after all, it sounds unacceptable.

"That's not necessary, but you may need to decide what to choose, or what to give up."

In fact, Bai Chuanfeng also hinted at this sentence in the internal meeting of the Federation of Economic Affairs, if he wants to change the state of the big stick, he must be willing.

After all, Neon is Miguo's loyal dog. After confirming that there is no threat, Miguo doesn't mind giving it some sweets.

This is different from the confrontation between different camps, there is no need to fight to the death.

Even when necessary, neon can become a model for the shining lighthouse of the United States in East Asia.

Although it doesn't look good on face, at least it has benefited.

Let's talk about Mu Qiang in his childhood, for this little thing, it's just a matter of sprinkling water.

"However, the above are all personal opinions. You just have to listen to it. Don't take it seriously."

At the end, Bai Chuanfeng didn't forget to give himself a buff.

It's all jokes, I don't recognize it when I come out of this door.

But even though he said that, the people on the opposite side were all thinking seriously.

"So this time, SIC contacted Beimi's capital for this reason?" Suddenly Uno Zongyou turned to another question.

"Cough~" Bai Chuanfeng coughed lightly, "SIC's foundation is too thin to handle the IDM model, so we can only use the vertical division of labor model."

Semiconductor companies that handle everything from design to manufacturing, packaging and testing, and sales of their own brand ICs are dominated by the IDM model.

Typical representatives are the six major semiconductor companies of Neon, NEC, Hitachi, Toshiba, Fujitsu, etc., as well as the early Intel.

They have strong capital and can directly launch many asset-heavy projects.

But SIC can’t do it. A production line with a mainstream manufacturing process costs at least a few hundred million dollars.

Where did SIC, which was just established in 1980, get the capital to do this.

Therefore, the vertical division of labor mode is the best choice for SIC, which only does chip design and does not have a chip processing factory.

In this way, the operation risk of SIC is reduced invisibly, and the only possible loss is the failure of tape-out.

However, compared with the loss of hundreds of millions of yen and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars, there is no doubt that the former is more in line with the situation of SIC at that time.

Even now that SIC has become the third largest processor design company in the world, Bai Chuanfeng still has no plans to follow the IDM model.

In the entire chip industry chain, SIC only took away the front-end design profits and patent licensing fees.

As for the profits of the back-end processing, packaging, testing and other links, SIC has left it to other supporting companies.

Some of these companies are in Neon, some in Beimi, and even enterprises in Ouzhou.

For example, for the chips supplied by SIC in Beimi, most of the production process is entrusted to local companies.

Upon closer inspection, this is infinitely close to the model of many fabless semiconductor companies in later generations.

Divide the entire production link into several parts and distribute them all over the world, which is a proper global operation method.

This approach of SIC has won the appreciation of Beimi. Otherwise, why do you think that SIC can sell chips in Beimi safely.

When Intel wanted to sanction SIC, many Beimi companies began to lobby Congress in turn without Bai Chuanfeng asking.

SIC has created many jobs for Beimi and brought profits to many companies in the chip industry.

If SIC is lost, a large number of workers will lose their jobs and many businesses will close down.

Look, although not choosing the IDM model lost part of the profits, SIC also gained more room for maneuver.

Don't underestimate SIC at this time, as the world's third largest processor design company.

There are still millions of chips supplied in Beimi every year, and the industrial profits surrounding these chips are not a small number.

Apparently, several members of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry also understand the deep meaning of SIC's vertical division of labor, which is to deeply bind the Beimi market.

For the United States, one is a company that is closely related to itself and can create value. The other is the company that eats all the meat and doesn't even keep the soup for itself.

How to choose these two together is too simple.

Even up to this moment, Bai Chuanfeng still felt uneasy, and planned to introduce Mi Zi to add an insurance policy for himself.

Uno Zongyou and the others thought they had seen Bai Chuanfeng's ultimate goal clearly, and they also approved of this approach.

However, with regard to Neon itself, several members of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry found it a little difficult to deal with.

The ship is in trouble to turn around, and it is too late to persuade several giants to transform.

Besides, as chaebols, they may not be willing to give up the part of the profits that are already in their hands.

"No matter what the future holds, Shirakawa-san, if SIC has any needs, please don't hesitate.

When necessary, Neon can be the strong backing of SIC. "

Tian Chuangyuan's eyes full of deep meaning also made Bai Chuanfeng quite emotional.

"Bai Chuan remembered Tamura-san's kindness."

The meaning of the other party's words was actually hinting at Bai Chuanfeng.

If SIC encounters a hostile takeover by American capital in the future, the Nihong government will protect him.

After all, it is Neon's only seedling in the processor field, and SIC is also registered with the government.

Besides, looking at the current situation, the future prospects of Neon's semiconductor companies are indeed uncertain.

If the worst happens, at least SIC will survive.

From this point of view, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry does not treat SIC well.