Reborn Tycoon Rise

"Have you been able to produce 64K memory chips?" Xu Zhi asked calmly.

Since he traveled through time, he has changed the development of many electronic industries, but the main impact is in the market terminal area, that is, various new concept products, games, computer software and some creative hardware such as modern mice and keyboard settings. , computer appearance, etc.

But there has been almost no change in the semiconductor field. This field is not controlled by businesses, but is the responsibility of countless laboratories and scientific researchers. The development of semiconductors is still developing at a high speed in accordance with Moore's Law, doubling in 18 months.

64K DRAM is currently the most popular advanced chip product in the world. Although 128K DRAM currently exists, the cost is too high and cannot be popularized on a large scale.

In the current market, only the United States and Japan can manufacture 64K DRAM, and now it seems that Samsung has successfully boarded this train. Although the technology is purchased, in the chip industry, the yield rate cannot be determined by purchasing. Obtained, this can only rely on excellent management to control quality.

Xu Zhi couldn't help but glance at Li Jianxi. This man's ability was indeed too strong. No wonder his father Li Byung-cheol broke the Korean chaebol's family inheritance rule of passing down the family inheritance to the elders and handed him the throne of Samsung.

Samsung Group has entered the field of electronic products since the 1960s. It took less than ten years to go from OEM for Japanese brands to building its own brand and successively entering the washing machine, refrigerator, microwave oven, color TV and other markets. It achieved quite a bit of success.

But these are all traditional home appliance fields. Although Samsung has also accumulated a certain amount of technology, it mainly relies on the low production costs of South Korea to make profits. If it develops in this way, the future of Samsung Electronics will at most be the achievements of Haier in the mainland. Although the scale is not small, it is far from the giants that will monopolize the semiconductor field in later generations.

When Samsung entered the semiconductor field, Lee Byung-cheol and many of its veterans were actually very hesitant because semiconductors are not home appliances. Once invested, they would be a huge gold-swallowing beast, either making huge profits or losing money. After going bankrupt, it was finally with Lee Kun-hee’s strong insistence that Samsung decided to enter the semiconductor field and began a desperate development.

In 1974, Samsung acquired the Korean Semiconductor Company. After three years of hard work, in 1977, the company finally began to produce transistors through reverse research and development. However, the quality was so poor that even other electronic companies under the Samsung Group were unwilling to use this transistor. product.

However, Li Jianxi did not give up. He went to Japan in person and led his team to visit several semiconductor manufacturing plants. Although they could not take photos, everyone just relied on their memory to remember many important quality control points.

In order to recruit some engineers from Japanese factories to go to South Korea to assist in the production of Samsung semiconductor factories, Li Jianxi even visited in person and impressed dozens of engineers and technicians with his absolute sincerity.

The conditions offered by Samsung were very astonishing. The treatment paid to these Japanese engineers when they came to South Korea was even better than that of the top managers of Samsung. In order to make it more convenient for the Japanese engineers to go home on weekends, Li Jianxi persuaded his father to make the only company in the Samsung Group A business jet was borrowed from the company to transport these employees back and forth between Japan and South Korea every weekend.

With an attitude of excellence and a management strategy that values ​​talents, Samsung successfully developed 64K DRAM chips, breaking the monopoly of Japan and the United States.

Of course, this is only 64K. In fact, Japan and the United States are currently producing 128k in small batches and are also working on 256k.

Technically, there is still a gap of almost 5 years between Samsung and these top companies.

Li Jianxi smiled proudly: "Yes, our company's semiconductor factory in Daegu City has been able to mass-produce 64KDRAM. In terms of cost, it is definitely cheaper than its counterparts in Japan and the United States. Therefore, if Midea cooperates with us, it will definitely be able to achieve greater success." Reduce operating costs to a certain extent.”

Xu Zhi said with a smile: "Mr. Li, our Midea company also has its own chip factory in the Hsinchu Industrial Park in Taipei City, Taiwan. As it happens, we have just acquired the ability to produce 64K DRAM."

In 1982, due to the strength of Japanese semiconductors, the American Micron Semiconductor Company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Samsung seized this opportunity and introduced its 64M DRAM technology, but it did not buy out the patent. After learning about this, Zhang Zhongmou also went to Micron Group negotiated and not only purchased the same technology, but also brought most of its technical staff back to Wanwan. At the same time, like Samsung, it also poached a large number of engineers in the same industry from Japan.

With the efforts of many parties and money, Midea Semiconductor has also successfully acquired the ability to produce 64K DRAM chips. However, the chips have just been produced and the production capacity is not very large. Currently, they are only consumed internally by Midea, so outsiders Didn't know about this.

Although Li Jianxi was a little surprised after hearing this, his expression did not change at all. He still smiled and asked: "Mr. Xu, I have heard about your company's factory in Wanwan, but as far as I know, it is not very big. Your company's various electronic products are sold all over the world, and the demand for memory is very large. For the time being, your company still needs to purchase large quantities of memory chips from the outside world."

"Not bad." Xu Zhi smiled and nodded. Li Jianxi's analysis was indeed correct.

Li Jianxi continued: "During this period of time, I think Samsung can still have a very pleasant cooperation with Midea. Mr. Xu, what do you think?"

Xu Zhidao: "Although the 64k DRAM currently on the market is not cheap, our Midea company will not change the supplier of this core product casually. If Samsung's products want to enter Midea's supply chain, they must have a full set of third parties. Qualification test and market certification for at least one year.”

"One year?" Li Jianxi paused.

"Not bad." Xu Zhi nodded.

Li Jianxi said tactfully: "Mr. Xu, there is no problem with the third-party test, but isn't the one-year waiting time a bit too long?"

Samsung Semiconductor does not have a great reputation in the current global market. The ability to start mass production of 64K DRAM has indeed attracted the attention of many people. In order to enter the procurement and supply system of international electronics giants, it is inevitable to pass third-party qualification verification. .

But the waiting time this year is the most troublesome thing. Many electronics giants are also reluctant to use Samsung chips like Midea. Even if the price is cheap, so what? They can do well in the electronics industry in the 1980s. , both profit margins are frighteningly high, and those companies that do poorly may not necessarily use the most advanced memory such as 64K in their products, and even if they do, the purchase volume is limited.

In the 1980s, there were hundreds of factories producing chips in the entire international market. In this era, the entry requirements for chips are not high. You only need to invest a few million US dollars to build a wafer factory. Unlike later generations in the 21st century, The most advanced wafer production lines often cost billions of dollars.

But just like in later generations, the continuous production of wafer factories is the main source of cash. The only solution is to obtain enough orders. The more orders, the lower the cost of single-chip memory particles. In the market It will be more competitive, and it will also be able to obtain funds to enter the research and development of next-generation technology and purchase of new production lines.

Samsung's semiconductor factories are now in a state of low-capacity production and are in urgent need of a large number of orders. If they wait for a year, they will lose money. Let's not talk about the losses. What worries Li Jianxi the most is that the semiconductor industry is upgrading very quickly. One year later, 128KDRAM It is possible that it will become the mainstream of the market, and the most advanced technology that you have finally purchased will be eliminated.

Xu Zhi said: "Without market certification, it is impossible for anyone to use your company's chips on a large scale. However, I can speed up the process and buy in smaller quantities first. As long as there are no problems, then I think your chips will be available in half a year." You can enter the scope of large-scale procurement, but there is a condition.”

"Mr. Xu wants to invest in Samsung Electronics?" Li Jianxi asked.

Xu Zhi smiled and said: "Yes, the shares I want are not many, 20% is enough. As for the price, I can buy shares at 1.2 times the current market price and pay directly in cash."

"20% is too much." Li Bingzhe said suddenly.

"How much does Mr. Li think is appropriate?" Xu Zhi asked.

Li Jianxi said: "5%, as for the price, the original price is enough."

Xu Zhi shook his head and said: "We have adopted a partial shareholding model for Midea's current main product suppliers, and 20% is already the lowest ratio."

Li Jianxi said: "Mr. Xu, Samsung is not an ordinary supplier."

"Maybe, but 5% is too low." Xu Zhi shook his head and objected.

Li Jianxi thought for a moment and said: "Mr. Xu, this is a rare time for you to come to South Korea. Please let us, Samsung, be our landlords and take you to visit some scenic spots in South Korea. My father and I need to hold another meeting on the matter of becoming a shareholder." One board meeting and I’ll get back to you later.”

"Okay," Xu Zhi nodded and agreed.

…

At this moment, although Samsung Electronics is still a novice in the semiconductor field, it can be considered a sizable company in the field of traditional home appliances. Even a 1-point share is worth tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars.

Midea quickly dispatched a professional acquisition and legal team responsible for international mergers and acquisitions to South Korea and officially started negotiations with Samsung.

Xu Zhi had several more confrontations with Li Jianxi, and finally decided on the shareholding ratio: 12%.

One more point, and Samsung's board of directors would not agree to it. Although he did not get the expected shares, Xu Zhi is still satisfied with this result for the time being, because there will be a better opportunity in the near future.

By next year, the global semiconductor industry will hit a trough, memory prices will plummet by more than 90%, and 64K DRAM will plummet from the original US$4 per piece to US$0.3.

This is the darkest era since the birth of semiconductors. Intel has therefore withdrawn from the field of memory production. Many Japanese electronics giants such as nec and Hitachi have massively reduced investment and reduced research and development.

But this was the craziest moment for Samsung. The term "countercyclical price war" was used vividly by Samsung. Others were afraid that I was crazy. Samsung desperately expanded its production capacity and accelerated the research and development of the next generation of large-capacity DRAM. In the end, in three years, , Samsung Electronics lost US$300 million and successfully occupied the market. By 1988, the demand for semiconductors had skyrocketed, but the number of professional companies capable of producing them was far less than a few years ago.

Samsung has been recognized by most electronics companies around the world in terms of production capacity and quality. In the end, in just one year, Samsung earned back all its investment in the previous three years. This was also the beginning of the development of Samsung's semiconductor business.

From a long-term perspective, countercyclical price wars naturally have great benefits. However, in the past few years, the entire Samsung Group’s business and funds have been consumed by the semiconductor business, causing the Samsung Group’s stock price to drop. plummeted.

In just a few years, it will be the best time to invest in Samsung again.