Reinventing the Millennium

Yao Ming has retired, and the Rockets' offseason operations have not yet been determined, but team owner Fang Zhuo has already signed Ballmer, preparing to add another fire to the mergers and acquisitions integration industry.

Just one day later, the head of Yike and the co-founder of Microsoft went to Santa Clara, California, to visit Intel's headquarters for a friendship trip.

Both of them are well-known around the world. Ballmer has been an old friend of Intel for many years, Fang Zhuo is a man of the hour in the mobile market, and Bingxin International and Intel have quite in-depth cooperation in technology and technology, so they are naturally influenced by it. Warm hospitality.

Coincidentally, the ice core has a rotating team stationed in Santa Clara, which attracted visits from Fang Zhuo, Ballmer and others.

Intel is an undoubted giant. Even in the field of wafer manufacturing, it is the well-deserved number one, but it is not involved in the foundry market. According to the news that has been announced, Intel plans to release the first chip using the 14nm process in Q1 of 2015. It has a fifth-generation Core processor, which means it is faster than Taiwan Note.

Taiwan Note has already started small-scale mass production of 20nm this year, and it is very likely that more customers will be introduced in Q3, that is, the foundry capacity of 20nm will be officially launched. When it comes to 16/14nm, the gossip currently circulating is that it is doing risky trial production. , I am afraid it will take at least 3 quarters before it goes online.

However, the giants also have troubles. Intel misjudged the development of the smartphone market. Although it also launched the Atom series of processors, it still allowed processors with the ARM architecture as the core to dominate and failed to replicate its personal success in the field of mobile chips. Success in the computer processor market.

so……

When Fang Zhuo and Ballmer came with lobbying intentions, Intel's already ready mood was once again aroused. Among other things, Yike's baseband technology alone was a big temptation.

In February at the beginning of this year, MediaTek just launched its first baseband chip supporting 4G LTE. Counting it, there are only four manufacturers in the world with this technical capability.

Qualcomm, Yike, Intel, MediaTek.

At present, Yike has fully equipped its own Mars and Selfy series products with its own chips, and Apple has also announced the termination of cooperation with Qualcomm. But even so, Qualcomm still has more than 70% market share in the global 4G baseband chip field, with An absolute lead.

MediaTek has just started. Intel is stronger than MediaTek, but it is not much stronger after being betrayed by Samsung. In addition to technology, Yike also has product markets and is an excellent partner.

As for Broadcom mentioned by Mr. Fang this time...

For such a big deal, Intel has not considered acquiring it before. However, the larger the target, the more cautious its decisions will be. CEO Brian has mentioned two targets. Broadcom is one, and NXP is the second. Pu.

Of these two companies, NXP is more inclined to high value-added markets related to automotive electronics and safety, while Broadcom is more focused on the consumer electronics and communications infrastructure markets.

Now that Mr. Fang and Yike are willing to engage in joint acquisitions, using WLS as the main body to engage in a snake-swallowing attack on Broadcom, it seems that... the risk has been reduced, but it is not that it has failed.

From late May to early June, Fang Zhuo and Ballmer squatted in Santa Clara, California for half a month, and the situation became increasingly wrong.

On June 11, Ballmer clinked glasses to Mr. Fang during dinner with great satisfaction: "Mr. Fang, congratulations, Yike is about to add another general!"

Fang Zhuo drank the glass of wine with a smile on his face.

After the dinner was over, he slapped his thigh while sitting in the car. No, he couldn't have acquired Broadcom so easily, right?

Why did I really have an affair with Intel in Santa Clara?

What are the factors that hinder your failure?

There are actually no obstacles here at Intel. Even the current CEO Brian is actively promoting this matter, and Broadcom CEO Scott even made a secret visit and also expressed a positive attitude towards negotiation.

this……

Fang Zhuo felt funny for a while while sitting in the car, and he actually laughed out loud thinking about such a thing.

"Mr. Fang, why are you laughing?" Secretary Liu Zonghong asked.

"Anwar is so tall that everyone's thoughts on mergers and acquisitions have been ignited. Can our joint acquisition really be successful?" Fang Zhuo shook his head repeatedly.

Liu Zonghong naturally knew the boss's plan and offered his advice: "Mr. Fang, is the communication too secretive? Intel seems to want to communicate with all parties in advance, and then make a lightning-fast announcement. If you find someone to make it public now, there will be natural resistance. It’s coming.”

Fang Zhuo said "hmm", he knew this, but now that the communication was smooth, it was inevitable to think more about other possibilities.

Broadcom's current attitude of "I'm easy to accept" really makes people feel itchy.

When the car arrived at the hotel, Fang Zhuo still sighed. Although the three-party communication was very pleasant, the matter still had to be made public and exposed. Moreover, transactions of this scale needed to be reviewed. Yike was approaching a troubled time, and the probability of success was higher than that of Anhua. The acquisition of Qualcomm is high but low.

"It's a pity, Broadcom is still very good." Fang Zhuolin said before getting out of the car, "Find Zhao Zhishan to let people know and let this secret deal of ours out."

Liu Zonghong nodded. The lobbying leader Zhao Zhishan had many public opinion channels in the United States. Mr. Fang may have underestimated the influence of Yi Ke and himself this time.

…

Jacob has been under a lot of pressure lately.

On June 5th, Avago, which had been clearly rejected by Qualcomm, made a comeback, revised its offer, and launched an acquisition this time at a price of US$80.5 billion.

$80.5 billion!

This is already US$9.4 billion higher than Qualcomm's current market value of US$71.1 billion, which can be vaguely called a "very sincere" offer.

Jacob even sensed some internal commotion, and got some hints - not to accept the acquisition, but to bargain with Avago to further increase the offer.

This made Jacob shocked and angry!

If Avago really raises its offer further, what then?

And then sell Qualcomm to it?

Jacob would never allow that to happen.

He watched his father founded Qualcomm, and joined the company more than 20 years ago to work hard for development. His exhaustive thinking is far beyond what a professional manager can match.

Now facing this situation, we may not just refuse, but consider implementing more defensive measures.

That is to say, when the attitude of rejection was unified internally and countermeasures were discussed, a piece of news suddenly spread.

According to sources, Yike is conspiring with Intel to acquire Broadcom, hoping to gain greater competitiveness in the baseband field, consumer electronics, and communications infrastructure markets.

As soon as this news came out, Qualcomm's stock price took another hit, directly losing its market value of US$70 billion again.

Is Yike going to acquire Broadcom with Intel?

Who is this for?

Qualcomm bears the brunt!

Jacob felt more pressure. After the appeal, Yi Ke's lawsuit had vague tendencies. Apple, a major customer, had broken up. Avago raised its offer with the intention of forcing a marriage. Intel actually got involved again at this time...

At such a precarious time, the director's phone call came directly.

"Paul, hi, maybe we should meet and talk." Senior director Welsh's voice on the phone was serious.

Jacob agreed to meet. He increasingly felt that Qualcomm had reached a crossroads, and the challenges this time were beyond imagination.

When unrest was brewing within Qualcomm, the other three parties who were exposed to the secret communication were also very angry.

Intel is furious: Who leaked the news?

Broadcom is dissatisfied: Who is it!

Yike was both dissatisfied and angry: Yes, who is it! Hate! (End of chapter)