Reinventing the Millennium

Fang Zhuo didn't know that Xiong Xiaoge, who was about to cut ties with him, had both high praise and slight slander behind his back.

He completed the integration half-promoted by Bingxin shareholders and immediately flew to Luzhou.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Fang Zhuo arrived at the airport in a hurry.

Because there was a phone call before boarding, Luzhou still sent someone to pick up the plane.

"Secretary-General Luo, you are too polite, you are too polite."

Only when Fang Zhuo landed did he realize that it was this high-ranking butler in the city who was coming to pick him up.

To be honest, it has been a while since the project was confirmed to be settled, but the enthusiasm in Luzhou has not diminished at all. It has remained fresh for a long time, which is really flattering.

Fang Zhuo felt like he was some kind of big leader.

"You're welcome. I happened to be leaving here for something. I heard that Mr. Fang is coming, so let's come together." Luo Minghua said with a smile, "The province and the city attach great importance to the project. This is also to ensure timely communication. Fang Boss, as for you, don’t be afraid of trouble if anything happens, just come to me directly.”

Fang Zhuo nodded and thanked him repeatedly.

President Bingxin got into the secretary-general's car, while his assistant sat in the car behind.

Luo Minghua is a practical person. After exchanging pleasantries in the car, he started talking about the progress of the ice core.

The ice core itself is undergoing a pile foundation project in Luzhou. There is not much to say, but there is indeed a lot of local commitments surrounding this project that need to be implemented.

Talent policies, educational support, and transportation planning were all discussed by Luo Minghua in a meaningful and even report-like manner.

Fang Zhuo listened patiently and couldn't help but said: "Secretary-General, have you heard about SMIC?"

Luo Minghua nodded: "I heard about it."

Fang Zhuo waited for the secretary-general to continue.

Luo Minghua also waited for the president to continue.

They were silent and looked at each other for a few seconds.

Fang Zhuo said: "This matter does have a certain impact on our ice core, but I still have confidence in this project. I originally wanted to talk to you about this aspect through Director Wu Hongquan of Luzhou State Investment Corporation."

Before he flew in, he called Wu Hongquan to pick him up, and they had dinner and chatted together in the evening. Unexpectedly, his hometown was too welcoming.

Luo Minghua knew that SMIC had such a thing, so he was sued. What next?

What the hell is going on?

He was a little confused and couldn't clearly judge what the young president meant, but he didn't dare to be negligent and said without changing his expression: "Okay, Mr. Fang, I'll call Mr. Wu tomorrow and let's talk together. There's a meeting tonight." After the Jie Feng Banquet, you should have a good rest first."

Another feast?

Even though I know that the local government attaches great importance to it, some forms need to be adjusted.

Fang Zhuo estimated that if he continued to follow the trend so many times, he would have to continue to do so. By then, it would be difficult for Luzhou to deal with him. Don't make the other party think that if he doesn't follow the trend, he doesn't value him.

He thought for two seconds and flatly refused: "Secretary-General, I will not attend the reception banquet. I will go to HKUST to talk about their college in the evening. This is very important for Bingxin's talent reserve."

"I came to Luzhou wholeheartedly for construction and development. I believe our province and city think the same way, so I can say whatever I want. This form will no longer be needed in the future. I would rather go to the factory and ask more employees what they need. "

Luo Minghua was a little surprised, then smiled and said: "Okay, Mr. Fang, to be honest, we are just afraid that the reception will not be good, and there is no other intention."

"No." Fang Zhuo breathed a sigh of relief and said, "If the policy is implemented early and the work is completed early, we will be happy and so will the city."

Compared with Shencheng, which is the national economic and financial center, Luzhou, a provincial capital that is not ranked highly, does have a very different work style. Fang Zhuo does not want to spend energy to adapt to this, so he can only speak out.

Luo Minghua didn't mind, smiled and asked the driver to turn and drove to the University of Science and Technology of China.

In about half an hour, the special car arrived at the destination.

Fang Zhuo said goodbye to the Secretary-General happily, and made an appointment to meet at nine o'clock the next morning. Then he went straight to the leadership office of the University of Science and Technology with his assistant.

Then……

In the evening, we had a banquet hosted by the University of Science and Technology of China...

On the other side, Luo Minghua took the car back to the office. He didn't get off work and immediately called for a small meeting with experts to try to evaluate Mr. Fang's purpose of coming this time and what he said.

"Aren't SMIC and Bingxin in a competitive relationship? With SMIC being sued, will Bingxin develop better?"

"TSMC is suing SMIC in the United States. Will this be successful? Is it a scare?"

"Crying babies are fed by milk. Fang always has some new needs that are hard to tell, so he came here because of this."

Luo Minghua presided over the small meeting for more than an hour, and then summoned Wu Hongquan, who was the director of Bingxin, from Luzhou SDIC to discuss the situation with him.

In this way, the secretary-general's mood calmed down a little.

The next morning, Luo Minghua went to work early and quickly handled the work at hand.

At nine o'clock in the morning, he and three experts and Bingxin Director Wu Hongquan welcomed Bingxin President Fang Zhuo and his legal affairs in the conference room.

"Secretary-General, I'm here this time. One is to sign a ratchet clause from PNB, and the other is to sign a VAM agreement to avoid any surprises."

Fang Zhuo didn't hesitate. After the opening ceremony, he planned to let the legal affairs department explain the terms and the meaning of the agreement.

"Mr. Fang, just ask if there are any needs for the project. Isn't SMIC's incident this time also beneficial to us?" At this time, an expert took advantage of Bingxin's legal affairs to get materials and said something.

Fang Zhuo:?

The expert felt that he had reached the president's heart, so he smiled and continued to talk about the great prospects of ice core.

Fang Zhuo was stunned.

He glanced blankly at the secretary-general who had a normal expression, blinked, and suddenly understood what the same expression as yesterday in the car meant. He didn't have the wisdom to write it, but he didn't understand it at all.

If you don’t understand, you might ask, what are all these things?

However, when I immediately thought about the other party's professional attributes, I could also understand the effort of keeping a straight face.

"cough."

Fang Zhuo wanted to talk to the expert and asked directly: "What do you call him?"

"I am Xu Zongyu from the Institute of Electrical Engineering." The expert announced his name.

Fang Zhuo nodded and said seriously: "Teacher Xu, you said it very well."

Xu Zongyu smiled.

"Don't tell others these words." Fang Zhuo gave advice, ignoring the expert's frozen expression and looking at Secretary-General Luo Minghua, "Secretary-General, you may have misunderstood me. Regarding SMIC, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, IDG, DCM and even I all have a unanimous assessment that it will have an impact on the domestic semiconductor industry."

Fang Zhuo already understood the problem, which was the difference in level.

Although Goldman Sachs and DCM were eventually tied to the ice core ship, they responded immediately and tried to exert pressure. They are all world-renowned investment institutions.

It's better here, but it gave me a completely opposite conclusion.

Others are fearful, but I am greedy.

If others suffer a small loss, I will go bankrupt.

But thinking about it again, Luzhou, an underdeveloped provincial capital in the mainland, can't force anything.

Fang Zhuo adjusted his plan and talked about all aspects affected by this matter as concisely as possible, and then asked the legal representative to continue to introduce the two terms and agreements that needed to be signed. At the end, he gave the summary of the two board meetings.

After chatting like this, the experts looked at each other, and Luo Minghua also failed.

What?

Why is it not like this or this, but like that?

He heard something strange from Mr. Fang's two straightforward descriptions of the board of directors.

"Mr. Fang, this project is not only for the development of our hometown, but also for the development of the domestic semiconductor industry. It is not easy." Luo Minghua sighed, "Goldman Sachs must have used a lot of tricks."

Fang Zhuo simply replied: "It's okay."

Luo Minghua turned to the three experts and said: "We have worked hard in the institute. This meeting will be like this for now. You can go back first."

The experts walked out of the conference room silently.

Luo Minghua did not avoid this matter after they left: "Mr. Fang, not only is your project short of talents, our province and city are also short of relevant experts and talents. I really thought the ice core encountered some difficulties this time. need help."

"There may be difficulties in the future, but such a project is bound to not be smooth sailing. I was prepared for this. I could have faxed or called you. The reason why I came here by myself was because I was afraid that the city would not be prepared for this." Fang Zhuo said calmly, "I want to make the stakes and project judgment clear in person. Don't have any bad feelings between us, otherwise the work will be more difficult."

Luo Minghua showed a sincere smile: "Mr. Fang is right."

He added: "It's also my fault. Yesterday I really thought this incident would have little impact."

Fang Zhuo took a sip of water and said strangely: "There has been a lot of analysis on the SMIC incident recently. There seems to have been some reports on this..."

Today's meeting was indeed a bit beyond his imagination. Even if he is not familiar with the details, the overall direction of judgment must be clear. TSMC's actions did not happen yesterday, it has been more than a week.

"We must strengthen our understanding and study." Luo Minghua said with a wry smile, "The usual government newspapers did not see this matter."

The parties involved in the incident, such as SMIC and Goldman Sachs, are the most sensitive, followed by the leaders of Bingxin and Shanghai City who were affected, and then the industry and some media. Luzhou is separated by several layers... and there is a lack of truly keen experts. expert.

Fang Zhuo speculated on Luzhou's slow response, briefly talked about the agreement reached with other directors, and finally recommended some domestic and foreign media that had practical analysis of this incident.

Speaking of which, official media such as the People's Daily, which often attracts administrative attention, have indeed not reported much on this matter. They may want to observe the situation before analyzing it.

As noon approached, Fang Zhuo still declined lunch and drove to HKUST.

Things at HKUST are actually more important.

I originally wanted to meet Hu Zhengming himself when I came here. However, this authoritative expert was temporarily unavailable in the United States and postponed his arrival in China. Therefore, Fang Zhuo's focus at HKUST became the cultivation of talents for his own projects.

It takes a lot of time to develop a qualified talent from basic training to being ready for use at HKUST.

Fang Zhuo has not pinned his hopes on this aspect for the time being. Of course, this must be done, but what he wants more is to be trained like Hu Zhengming on stage and Ice Core Engineer off stage. He must also pay attention to avoiding the legal risks involved in this approach. .

To be clear, this training method definitely violates the non-competition agreement signed by Hu Zhengming. Especially when SMIC is sued by TSMC, arrangements must be made in advance.

Hu Zhengming taught Bingxin employees that they were not good enough.

The former is that the subject of the contract cannot be changed, but what about the latter?

If such a group of employees do not join Bingxin for the time being, but first study as social workers at the University of Science and Technology of China, and then re-employ the laid-off employees to join Bingxin after reaching a certain stage, would this still violate the non-competition agreement signed by Hu Zhengming?

Fang Zhuo proposed ideas and legal research provisions, and the school helped implement them. In short, if there are difficulties, find solutions. Use SMIC's lawsuit as a lesson, try to solve the problem from the process, and at least reduce some risks.

On December 3, Luzhou SDIC and Bingxin completed the re-signing of the terms and became the last directors to do so. The other companies had already confirmed the signing after Fang Zhuo proposed it.

The University of Science and Technology of China will set up an adult education training class to open its arms to people who are interested in integrated circuits.

That evening, Fang Zhuo takes a flight back to Shanghai and will fly directly from the airport to Xiangjiang without stopping to conduct the first road show of Yike's IPO.

According to Goldman Sachs' arrangements, the road show took place from Hong Kong to Singapore and then to several major cities in the United States.

Fang Zhuo waited at the airport for his own team and the Goldman Sachs team led by Xu Kaiwei.

"Mr. Xu is also coming to Xiangjiang this time?" Fang Zhuo was a little surprised by Xu Kaiwei's appearance, "Is there a project over there to invest in?"

"That's right. The main thing is to listen to Mr. Fang's road show in Xiangjiang." Xu Kaiwei said with a smile.

Fang Zhuo has always been modest about things he doesn't understand: "Then I have to ask Mr. Xu for advice. I have never done a road show before. Although I am also the chairman of a listed company, it is my first time to take a company public."

Xu Kaiwei said: "Road show, road show, all the way through, Mr. Fang will bring out the promotion to us at the last board meeting, and it will be the same."

Fang Zhuo laughed and joked: "Is it that simple?"

"Compared to starting a business, it is indeed not difficult. Some presidents may not be good at words, but I believe Mr. Fang will not have such concerns. Therefore, I am more confident in Yike's road show." Xu Kaiwei said seriously said.

He really wasn't kidding.

Because of Yike's listing plan, and because Xu Kaiwei saw with his own eyes the intentions of Deutsche Bank and DCM, Goldman Sachs put forward a suggestion after comprehensive consideration.

Not to Yike, but to Ctrip, which also has plans to go public and may even be ahead of the curve.

The chairman of Ctrip is Shen Nanpeng. According to the plan, Ctrip is likely to complete the listing bell in December, and the entire company is actively preparing for this matter.

However, Shen Nanpeng suddenly received a postponement suggestion from Goldman Sachs.

"We recommend that Ctrip postpone its listing time, preferably at the end of January or February next year."

Shen Nanpeng: "Ah? Why?"

"Because Yike is going to be listed."

Shen Nanpeng: "???"

Ctrip and Yike have no business relationships and are not competitors. They will go public as soon as they go public. How can they let their own companies be postponed?

"Mr. Shen, considering Nasdaq's impression of Chinese concept stocks and the good prospects of Yike's listing, we believe that its listing may boost some market confidence, which is conducive to the issuance of Ctrip shares."

Goldman Sachs' answer made Shen Nanpeng hesitate.

This hesitation did not last long, and Ctrip soon made the decision to postpone the listing from December 2003 to January or February 2004.

At the same time, they are also closely concerned about Yike's road to listing.

Fang Zhuo was completely unaware of this, so he arrived in Xiangjiang with a little bit of nervousness and a lot of excitement.

small theater:

Fang Zhuo left Luzhou and flew to Xiangjiang.

Luo Minghua specially asked various media outlets recommended by Mr. Fang to analyze the previous SMIC incident.

When he saw the China Securities Journal and saw the mention of Mr. Fang crying for China Semiconductor, he couldn't help but praise:

It is really for the country and the people.