Reinventing the Millennium

When the plane arrived in Beijing, it started to rain lightly at night.

Fang Zhuo, Zhang Wenyi and others had no time to feel the heat that even the rain in June could not hide. After getting in the car, they headed straight for Wanshou Road.

The phone call has been made, but the boss is having a meeting, so it’s unclear whether I can see him.

Liu Zonghong was sorting out slightly messy information on the passenger seat, including information from SMIC executives, directors and major shareholders, as well as from the wafer alliance.

Zhang Wenyi pressed the phone slightly awkwardly, sending messages to old friends and replying to friends who cared about SMIC.

The results of the shareholders' meeting have spread. SMIC is a listed company and has also issued an announcement. Now everyone knows that SMIC's CEO failed to be elected as a director and that the major shareholder Datang intends to compete for control.

Also, some people in the industry and those who care about semiconductors know that the chairman of SMIC died of illness two days ago.

Fang Zhuo also received a lot of news here, but he had no time to pay attention to it now. The first thing he did when he got in the car was to call Teng Yilong, the head of Shencheng Industrial, to ask about today's situation. He got a "I do know about it, but it happened suddenly." s answer.

Datang had said hello in advance, but the advance time was very short. As a result, at the shareholders' meeting, they could only wait and see its surprise, and ultimately abstained from voting.

"Mr. Teng, SMIC needs stability. Datang opposes Wang Ningguo's selection at this time, which is harmful to the development of the company." Fang Zhuo gave his judgment in a deep voice and said directly, "There is also a board of directors on the 2nd. , is Datang going to nominate individual chairman? Are you going to sit back and watch this turmoil?"

Fuji Yoshitaka did not speak immediately. After a while, he said: "Mr. Fang, I understand what you mean. We are also meeting overnight to study this matter. However, what Datang means is that they are also here to build the company..."

Fang Zhuo frowned. This was further communication from Datang.

Yoshitaka Fuji briefly talked about Datang's planning and design for SMIC. Unsurprisingly, it was a set of integration rhetoric, which was to unleash the potential of the mainland semiconductor market and expand its scale in Shanghai.

Finally, he said awkwardly: "Mr. Fang, if Bingxin needs help or cooperation with anything, that's easy to say, but after all, this is SMIC's business..."

Fang Zhuo asked: "Mr. Teng, am I not a shareholder of SMIC?"

"Yes, Mr. Fang, you are. The problem is that SMIC was developed in Shanghai after all." Fujiyoshitaka paused, "Whether it is from the perspective of company development or how to put it, we all feel that Shanghai is still It’s very suitable to continue to grow bigger and stronger.”

"Mr. Teng, if Datang has had detailed communication before today and has discussed Datang's plans for SMIC with Dr. Jiang and Mr. Wang, even if there are differences in opinions, it will now stand up to influence the development of the company. , Okay, I also think this is a matter of SMIC's internal strategy, I won't say anything." Fang Zhuo said calmly, "How did it do it? It raided the shareholders' meeting while everyone was grieving the death of Dr. Jiang. What’s the approach?”

Fuji Yoshitaka was speechless.

Fang Zhuo asked: "Mr. Teng, is this the way to do things? Without a plan, you suddenly jump out and talk about integration. Is this the way you think is suitable for becoming bigger and stronger? Is this the attitude of your Shencheng Industrial shareholder? ?”

Yoshitaka Fuji couldn't bear the harsh questioning and replied in a low voice: "Mr. Fang, this, this... Datang is talking to Shining Yang from SMIC. It believes that Shining Yang can take on more important positions."

I don’t know if Datang will work, but Shining Yang joined SMIC in 2001, and later went to Chartered Semiconductor, where he carried out 65nm R\u0026D and mass production. In 2010, he was invited by Dr. Jiang to serve as COO, hopes to promote SMIC’s high-end technological progress.

Yang Shining is definitely capable. Logically speaking, it is not impossible to further replace Wang Ningguo or even serve as chairman.

Compared with Wang Ningguo's efforts to turn around the financial situation, his position and work are more focused on research and development, so he is somewhat dissatisfied with SMIC's strategy led by Wang Ningguo.

Datang is now talking to Yang Shining, and I am afraid it has also noticed this. Although it is a major shareholder, it still needs to rely on internal factions if it wants to control SMIC in a short period of time.

Fang Zhuo knew about Yang Shining. In addition to talking to Dr. Jiang about internal senior management, Fang Zhuo also knew that when Yang Shining came over, SMIC's former CTO Ji Minghua passively changed his position in order to make way for him.

With this move, Ji Minghua immediately rebounded...the bounce hit the ice core, and he is now the CTO in charge of the ice core storage business.

Talents like Ji Minghua and Yang Shining are very high-spirited. Once they are not treated fairly and fully respected, they will naturally have thoughts in their hearts.

"What did Yang Shining say?" Fang Zhuo asked directly.

Fuji Yoshitaka replied with some embarrassment: "Datang has not given the results yet. Their candidate for No. 2 should be determined tomorrow."

"Mr. Teng, Board of Directors No. 2, are you determined to side with Datang?" Fang Zhuo was still direct.

Yoshitaka Fuji was in a dilemma and said vaguely: "Mr. Fang, we have to judge based on the current situation what is the choice that is suitable for SMIC and Shencheng Industrial."

"Mr. Teng, do you think Datang can gain control this time?" Fang Zhuo suddenly asked.

Fuji Yoshitaka did not answer this question, but still said: "Mr. Fang, Datang is the major shareholder after all. If Yang Shining wants to go further..."

Fang Zhuo gave his answer with certainty: "Datang can't get it."

Listening to Mr. Fang's tone, Fuji Yoshitaka was silent for a few seconds: "Is Mr. Fang so sure?"

"Because it was too rough." Fang Zhuo gave the reason. "It thought it saw an opportunity, so it made an impromptu decision, and it is only now talking to Yang Shining. Mr. Teng, do you think such a rough approach can get things done?"

Fuji Yoshitaka felt his head twitching: "..."

Hey, if there is another reason, I can’t say, if it comes from Mr. Fang’s comments on the tactics used to fight for control...

If it comes from Mr. Fang’s comments on how to get things done...

Fuji Yoshitaka suddenly felt that this was more convincing than anything else.

Fang Zhuo felt the silence on the other end of the phone, softened his tone, and said, "Mr. Teng, I must reiterate what I mean. What SMIC needs is not turmoil, but development. If it doesn't work, you can stay on Board No. 2 until the end." If we vote again, I believe we will achieve more consensus later.”

Fuji Yoshitaka was pressed before, so the delay was like a spring springing back, and he agreed: "Okay, Mr. Fang, since you said so, we at Shencheng Industrial also hope that SMIC will develop well."

call ended.

Yoshitaka Fuji put down his phone and thought about it. He felt more and more that Mr. Fang's comment that "it was too rough" was deeply rooted in his heart, and he also provided a less sharp approach.

The board of directors has a total of 7 votes. If the first 6 votes can be decided, then there is no need to work hard on your own.

As for this “more consensus”…

If Datang fails to succeed on the board of directors and Mr. Fang makes subsequent moves, there will be no choice.

Yoshitaka Fuji thought for a moment, then called the vice president and asked him to tell Datang that he still needed to seek understanding from management and shareholders, especially the understanding from the fifth largest shareholder.

"Mr. Teng, are you dissatisfied with Mr. Fang?" the vice president asked.

"Mr. Fang has already expressed his attitude and may ask about this matter." Fuji Yoshitaka said, "But he is not a director. As far as this board of directors is concerned, his strength is limited."

No matter what Mr. Fang does, the board of directors will vote on these votes.

"Mr. Fang's relationship with SMIC..." The vice president hesitated.

There is no doubt that Bingxin has a certain degree of competition with SMIC, and many SMIC people have changed jobs or been poached to Bingxin. In addition, Fang Zhuo resigned from the SMIC board of directors last year...

The real relationship between the two families does not seem to be so close. This time it is ultimately SMIC's own business.

"I heard that Bingxin got a lot of help from SMIC when it started, and it seems to be true now." Yoshitaka Fuji said thoughtfully, "The personal relationship between Mr. Fang, Dr. Jiang and Mr. Zhang seems to be better than imagined. Also, Mr. Fang’s ‘Same Qi Lian Zhi’...”

There is a saying from Mr. Fang that is circulated in the world, the core is the core and the ice is the core, the same energy connects the branches.

Of course, the words should be said as beautifully as you want. Besides, this is not the line of the leader of the Five Sacred Mountains. Did it come true when it was co-written in your mouth?

Yoshitaka Fuji and Mr. Fang have not had much dealings with each other, including Bingxin's production line in Shanghai, which has its own operating logic of Mr. Fang and Yike Department. Now that they have such a conversation, the previous impression is obviously not right.

He thought about it seriously and said: "Anyway, we require shareholders to understand each other. This is right. The board of directors will know after looking at the situation."

Datang's actions this time have caused waves, and the city will hold a meeting to study it tomorrow. In principle, this is an internal matter of SMIC, but, Mr. Fang, the silent SMIC shareholder, can't say that he is not a shareholder.

Fang Zhuo on the other side hung up the phone and immediately called another SMIC director Liu Zunyi, who is the chairman of CIC International's Xiangjiang.

Compared with the communication with Fuji Yoshitaka, it was much smoother here.

Although Datang and CIC have similar backgrounds, it does not mean that they have the same views on specific businesses. On the contrary, CIC was not happy with Datang when it entered SMIC this year.

CIC originally planned to invest US$350 million, but due to the opposition of Datang, a major shareholder, the figure shrunk to US$250 million. In order to consolidate its equity position, Datang signed an additional subscription agreement with SMIC to subscribe for 84.97 million convertible shares. Preferred Stock and Warrants Preferred Stock.

When SMIC introduced Datang, it hoped that Datang would play the role of a strategic investor, but now Datang is obviously not satisfied with this positioning.

"There should be no problem with CIC. Mr. Liu is very happy. He has recognized you as taking over as chairman." Fang Zhuo put down his cell phone and gave Zhang Wenyi good news.

Judging from the communication with Liu Zunyi, CIC was also very confused this time and was caught off guard and abstained from voting.

As soon as Fang Zhuo expressed his desire for stability, Liu Zunyi gave the same opinion.

Zhang Wenyi nodded and said: "There were no problems in the previous conference call."

Everyone had a consensus before, but things suddenly changed after Dr. Jiang passed away.

When Fang Zhuo heard this, he sneered, but did not show too much anger. He just said: "Sichuan Xi Gang and Chen Liwu will wait until we return to Shanghai tomorrow to communicate face to face."

He had received a text message from Chen Liwu and made an appointment to talk tomorrow.

"If there are no problems with Sichuan West Gang, our board of directors should be stable this time." Zhang Wenyi thought.

"On Sichuanxi Gang's side, I have asked Mr. Zhang Rujing to communicate with him. If nothing unexpected happens, his position is from the company's perspective." Fang Zhuo said about the arrangements, and then said, "Datang must also be fighting for votes. Tomorrow, these two need to consolidate, and we have to invite the company's senior management to come over for another meeting."

First unify some of the internal affairs, and then discuss the votes with the directors.

Zhang Wenyi nodded, knowing that Mr. Fang had the outline of a struggle in his heart.

Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly remembered the phone call that Mr. Fang had just had with Yoshitaka Fuji, and asked, "Mr. Fang, why didn't you invite Yang Shining over today? He, Wang Ningguo, and Ji Kefei are considered the iron triangle at SMIC."

After the incident, SMIC's senior management meeting was held at Yike. In addition to himself, there were also CEO, CFO, CMO and others. When I thought about it, CTO Yang Shining was really missing.

Yang Shining holds two positions at SMIC, CTO and COO.

Since returning to SMIC, the outside world has believed that Yang, Wang, and Ji are the iron triangle of SMIC's top executives, who are expected to bring recovery and development to SMIC.

"Intuition." Fang Zhuo pointed to his brain and sighed, "The iron triangle is always unstable."

Seriously speaking, there are only a few senior executives of SMIC. Datang cannot directly parachute its people over in a short period of time. It must look for breakthroughs internally. It has opposed Wang Ningguo, and it will be Yang Shining.

As for what Yang Shining thinks...

If there is an opportunity to go further and if the company can move forward according to his strategic vision, he may not be willing to give it a try.

Zhang Wenyi's general reply was, well, what kind of intuition is this? Mysterious man's intuition?

He asked a key question: "If Yang Shining is willing to be with Datang, how will he deal with it?"

"Everyone and every party has their own considerations. Even if Datang is kicked out of the board of directors, it will still be the major shareholder." Fang Zhuo said slowly, "What we have to do now is not to defeat anyone, but to reunite our strength. , I think Yang Shining can communicate."

He took a breath: "It's easy to destroy but difficult to build. I had this feeling when I came to Sina. We still have to try our best to unite the system and the team. SMIC is in chaos now because it is leaderless and has defeated Datang. Everything is easy to say." "

Zhang Wenyi looked at the frowning Mr. Fang and thought for a moment. It seemed that it had been several years since Mr. Fang arrived at Sina.

He suddenly thought of the description in Jin Yong's martial arts. At that time, he was fierce and fierce, competing with the heroes of Sina, right? Looking at it now, Fang Zong's methodical arrangement, communication, and explanation gave him a feeling of "not being stuck in things".

The car slowed down slowly, and the destination was reached. There was already a secretary waiting at the door.

"Mr. Fang, it's almost another hour. Please wait in the office." The secretary confirmed that they would meet in the evening.

Fang Zhuo nodded and said to Zhang Wenyi before he got out of the car: "If we can meet today, let's go to Yuetan South Street tomorrow."

Both departments often interact with each other because of ice cores. The frequency here is more frequent, and the other department has more personal relationships. The leader of Nanjie was previously in charge of work in Anhui Province. Back then, he was in Luzhou watching the piling of ice cores. Now that the ice core has developed like this, Fang Zhuo can see the most genuine smile every time he sees him.

There was no idle time while waiting. Fang Zhuo sorted out the information submitted by Liu Zonghong and briefly went over the outline to make preparations.

At a quarter past eleven in the evening, the leader finished the meeting and walked into the office.

"Mr. Fang, you rushed to the capital to complain?" This is what the leader said.

"well."

Before Fang Zhuo could answer, he heard Zhang Wenyi next to him sigh deeply.

The leader smiled at Zhang Wenyi and said, "Old Zhang, should he bring you or you bring him to complain?"

Zhang Wenyi sighed: "I don't want to come. I'm old, so why bother wading into the muddy water? If Jiang Shangzhou can come by myself, I won't go here in the middle of the night."

When the leader heard Jiang Shangzhou's name, his smile disappeared. He turned to look at Fang Zhuo and got down to business: "Mr. Fang, I know the reason for your trip. Datang's report has also been handed over, and industrial construction needs to be strengthened. We need to explore an IDM model that is more in line with mainland development, don’t you think it’s feasible?”

Fang Zhuo said categorically: "No, it won't work!"

"You said no without even thinking about it for a second. When you say that, have you done research?" the leader asked rudely.

Fang Zhuo touched the thick pile of materials on the table.

Seeing this scene, the leader thought that sometimes he could get first-hand and first-line data of the mainland industry from the wafer alliance. He changed the subject and said, "Even if it didn't work in the past, if you work hard now, it will always not work in the future?"

Zhang Wenyi sighed deeply: "Alas."

The leader looked over.

"The chairman of a company with deep domestic roots like Bingxin said no, and I trust his judgment." Zhang Wenyi expressed his attitude.

Fang Zhuo pointed to the material: "Whether it's Datang's own situation or SMIC's newly stabilized situation, I think its actions this time are very thoughtless. Leader, I'm not here because I want to hold my shares in SMIC." The shrinkage is because industrial development is not easy and I really can’t stand it.”

"Sit, everyone, sit down." The leader took two steps and sat down first.

"What do Wang Ningguo, Ji Kefei, Zeng Zonglin and a group of talents from SMIC think about such a sudden attack by Datang? If this continues, it is impossible not to be turbulent." Fang Zhuo said, "I can sit back and watch, but not only I personally can’t stand it emotionally, and many people including us at Ice Core are also very angry. I don’t know how the report it submitted describes its actions.”

"First, it doesn't have that integration capability." Fang Zhuo pointed to the materials on the table, which was the latest analysis report for rush work.

"Second, it was not done from the perspective of SMIC at all this time. It was in vain to take into account the overall interests of the company."

"Third, its actions have hurt a group of semiconductor people. I won't say all of them, but at least a group of people who know how Dr. Jiang promotes industrial development."

Fang Zhuo paused and lowered his voice: "I don't agree with Datang's pursuit of control of SMIC this time, and I don't think it can succeed, as long as it follows the rules."

The leader glanced at the two people in front of him, thought for a while, and asked: "Then what do you, the chairman of Bingxin, want to do to SMIC? Absorb and digest? Combine them into one?"

Fang Zhuo frowned and said honestly: "I haven't thought about it yet."

Zhang Wenyi sighed deeply unconsciously: "Alas!"

Fang Zhuo glanced at Mr. Zhang, there was no need to sigh here.