Reinventing the Millennium

In the last week of June, Fang Zhuo, who was still in Luzhou, received a call from Washington. The main content was to inform him in advance of the status of the temporary license.

pass.

Still passed.

BIS has already issued its ruling and only needs to make the final announcement, but the list is already being circulated.

Other overseas customers of Ice Core such as AMD, NVIDIA, and Marvell have also received temporary licenses like Yike. However, interested people have noticed one thing. The number of temporary licenses in the second batch has decreased, such as Intel's Broadcom Division. Didn't show up this time.

This basically means that Broadcom and Bingxin have ended their cooperation.

The stability of a company's supply chain is a top priority. Although the ice core's craftsmanship is very strong, when its name appears on Aramco's carefully selected list, this situation is doomed.

All this is not difficult to predict. Both Fang Zhuo and Ice Core executives are prepared for this. Moreover, overseas customers have indeed decreased, but domestic customers are enough to fill the vacancies. The advantages of advanced technology in products are considerable, and Mars 8.8 is the most popular one. Good proof.

Austin, Washington's close friend, mainly conveyed one meaning, advising Mr. Fang to promptly advance Yike's work progress and find a suitable chip manufacturer as soon as possible.

He also used Broadcom as an example to emphasize the stability of the supply chain.

"Austin, you are very good now. You can teach me how to run a company. If you want to start a business, I will definitely invest in you." Fang Zhuo expressed his attitude with a joke.

Among the close friends of the United States, Austin has almost the most contact with him. He was first introduced by former financial steward Geithner. After Geithner ended his term, he was still active in Washington and acted as a communication intermediary. Now of course he is Serving the largest shadow shareholders.

"Mr. Fang, the current situation is really not right. Let's talk privately. I think Yike should really..." Austin said helplessly without any intention of joking, "Even if you want to keep the ice core, according to your In other words, you should figure it out slowly, you have to know which one is more important now, right?"

"Yike has been talking, Austin, you should hang up the phone immediately, call the SEC and ask them why they intervened in Yike's investment in GLOBALFOUNDRIES." Fang Zhuo snorted coldly, "Is it because Yike doesn't want to talk? Who is it? Are you looking forward to Yi Ke’s death?”

"Yike does not need to invest in GF, but can choose to cooperate with GF!" Austin came up with an idea.

"If Yike doesn't have the right to speak, how can we optimize GF's technology and use it?" Fang Zhuo asked rhetorically, and then asked, "Samsung is dragging its feet, and Taiwanese reporters are getting involved with Qualcomm and Apple. UMC’s 16nm is not commercially available, do you think I’m not in a hurry?”

Samsung's own 16nm, like UMC, is not yet capable of large-scale mass production and is expected to be completed in Q3. Its new Glory flagship released last month uses Qualcomm chips manufactured by Taiji.

Even so, Yike is still negotiating with Samsung, but Samsung has suffered a lot of cannibalization in the mobile phone market. It hopes that Yike's competitiveness will decline, but it is just a compromise without sincerity.

The situation of Taiwanese reporters is somewhat similar. Ice Core has seized the 16nm process and has become the number one wafer manufacturing company in the world. This has brought great excitement. In addition, its production capacity is very close to Qualcomm and Apple, which is basically impossible. Evenly come out to Yike.

As for UMC, another wafer foundry located in Baodao, its situation is similar to that of GlobalFoundries. One is a process issue and the other is a geopolitical issue. It is listed in multiple places, both on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. , subject to multiple regulations.

These are the only manufacturers that have existing and planned 16nm processes in the world. Yike seems to have many choices, but the actual space has become more and more limited as time shortens.

The second quarter of this year is coming to an end. Wall Street, which has been paying attention to Yike's situation, has deeply analyzed and speculated on the dilemma in this regard. However, after their analysis, they also believe that there is no solution.

Including Intel, which had previously negotiated, even if the cooperation breaks down, there is still the possibility of restarting the cooperation.

However, the tighter the time, the more Yike will have to pay.

Austin knew these situations, but he was very sure that Mr. Fang knew the situation better than himself, and sighed: "Mr. Fang, are you really in a hurry?"

"I'm so anxious that I'm sweating. I've been working overtime since March." Fang Zhuo replied immediately.

Austin has nothing to say. He feels that the current situation is that Mr. Fang is facing the problem semi-actively and semi-passively. Apart from personal relationships, the shadow shareholders have no regard for a company like Yike, which has widespread influence and is highly representative of the East. I don't want to cause any more friction.

At least, not at this point in time.

"Mr. Fang, if Yi Ke continues like this..." Austin's tone became serious.

Fang Zhuo waited for the next step: "Huh?"

"Yike is digging his own grave if he continues like this!" Austin warned.

"Really?" Fang Zhuo asked.

Austin did not feel the effect of his words and threw out a time limit: "The license cannot be extended beyond this year."

The second license happens to end in the third quarter. If it is extended again, it will end on the last day of this year.

When Fang Zhuo heard this, he didn't have much emotion. He just reminded: "Remember to extend AMD's license and don't involve innocent friends."

Austin felt that Mr. Fang opposite him was like a hard stone, but he still responded: "Friends always get preferential treatment."

Fang Zhuo laughed and ended the call on his own initiative.

Austin was quite depressed. He was obviously the one conveying will and serious warning, so why did he feel so aggrieved?

He thought about it and suspected that Yike's business negotiations had progressed. Based on the current situation, it was either UMC, Intel, or...

Could it be that China's SMIC can come up with new technology this year?

This will indeed bring some respite, but it will still create new problems.

Austin planned to relay Mr. Fang's response exactly as it was, but he still felt a little melancholy in his heart. No matter what, Mr. Fang's past friendship was still very intoxicating.

Fang Zhuo didn't know that Austin still had some friendship in his heart. After he ended the call, he didn't take it too seriously. The other party's valuable information only had a time limit, but this was within his prediction.

The wind and rain have already come, and it will be unsteady for a while.

He continued his work arrangements and had a phone call with Qiu Ciyun, who had already flown to the French factory, to inquire about his condition and news about the French connection.

Compared with American customers, Europe has not been greatly affected due to joint ventures and because the customer's business is basically nearby. It is also an important part of future maintenance.

In addition to inspecting German and French factories, Qiu Ciyun also wanted to explore more ways of joint ventures and operations to prepare for possible greater impacts.

Bingxin's CEO went abroad, while CTO Liang Mengsong continued to devote high-intensity to research and development, leading the team to ensure the verification of the latest technology. Professor Hu Zhengming, who was originally semi-retired, also cheered up under the current situation and took the initiative to take on the responsibilities beyond the current situation. Less work content.

After Fang Zhuo and Qiu Ciyun finished talking on the phone, he was thinking about the division of labor among the top management of Ice Core and the companies that had recently moved to Luzhou intensively. He planned to hold two more meetings before returning to Shanghai next month.

As dinner time approached, secretary Liu Zonghong chatted about a piece of news.

"President Fang, Alibaba merged Xiami Music and Tiantian Dongting to form 'Alibaba Music'. They are really making big moves this year," Liu Zonghong said.

He was inspired to say that online music is Yike’s traditional business. iMusic software has been running for a long time and has always been very popular among users, but now this segment seems to be facing Ali’s attack.

Fang Zhuo nodded and said with a smile: "Okay, it will be shaky at the end of the year. Then let them sway with us."

Liu Zonghong couldn't agree more. It won't work if it doesn't float, it won't work if it doesn't shake. Yike will pay for this year's ups and downs.