Reinventing the Millennium

On February 3, 2009, Taiji, the world's leading foundry company, released an industry white paper.

As it was optimistic about the recovery of the semiconductor industry, Zhang Zhongtang, who announced his retirement in 2006, returned to the industry, replaced Cai Lixing, who had been CEO for more than three years, and once again became the head of Taiwan Journal.

Cai Lixing, known as "Little Zhang Zhongyi", has always been groomed to be a successor. This time, he went from being the head of a Taiwanese reporter who managed 20,000 employees to being the general manager of a new business unit with less than ten employees. It was definitely a Waterloo. .

It is reported that it only took Zhang Zhongtou ten minutes to make this decision. At the subsequent press conference, he announced that his appointment as CEO was not a transitional choice. He wanted to help Taiwan journalists cope with the global economic crisis and the rapidly growing market. competitors.

The industry white paper praised mainland companies' ice cores, and the press conference mentioned ice cores again.

Bing Xin, who had a considerable presence in the first show of the return of the founder Zhang Zhongyi, almost appeared in more media pages along with the major changes in Taiwanese reporters.

Taiwanese media exclaimed "the rise of mainland semiconductors." US media, which also paid attention to the situation of Taiwanese reporters, couldn't help but review Bingxin's development history and believed that this was almost another rapidly developing SMIC.

Bingxin remained silent and did not respond.

There was also no movement from the mainland media, and they did not increase the popularity of the ice core as usual. Even the penguin portal, which was not easy to deal with, did not reprint foreign news, but silently published the financial report of smartphone manufacturer Apple.

However, Fang Zhuo has slightly adjusted his schedule and plans to fly to the United States a week in advance to communicate with Geithner and others in person about the issue of participation in the disposal of toxic assets.

The day after the Taiwanese reporter and Apple news came out, he chaired a high-level meeting of Yike and talked about the situation of YMS and its competitors.

Apple's total revenue in 2008 was US$37.4 billion, 2.5 times that of Yike.

Here, the iPhone series mobile phones only contribute 30% of Apple's revenue. It seems to be more dominated by the Mac computer business, which has created the best annual sales in history. In addition, the iPod still maintains its growth momentum.

Unlike Yike's choice to actively reduce sales of music players, Apple took advantage of the situation and eroded part of the player market share.

In addition, Apple’s iTunes software ecosystem has also opened up new growth points.

“Apple’s R\u0026D rate last year was 2.96%. Although this is lower than ours of 4.8%, its revenue is large and its R\u0026D investment is much higher in absolute terms. Our US$700 million is far away from its US$1.1 billion. The difference is a full 400 million."

"We cannot relax in research and development, as our opponents may break out at any time."

"You think, if Apple alone is like this, what about Nokia, which has been pestering us? Maybe as soon as it shows its strength, we will become a thing of the past."

Fang Zhuo gave a reminder and a slight intimidation.

"Mr. Fang, what about computers? This seems to be linked to our mobile phones." European President Pan Ben asked a question about the direction.

Fang Zhuo said without hesitation: "No, we are able to achieve our current results precisely because we focus our energy on mobile phones. Our competitors are not far away. We cannot be paralyzed, relaxed, or complacent and distracted."

This is not a difficult thing to judge.

The rapid growth period of mobile phones is still there, let’s make this area bigger and stronger first.

"Apple's revenue and market value are both here. I want to remind everyone that Apple will definitely enter the Chinese market this year. Our lead in the local market does not necessarily mean final victory."

"This financial crisis will have a profound impact, but in the second half of the year, at least on the surface, there will be an obvious multi-faceted recovery. Yike must be prepared to face market conditions and more intense competition."

Fang Zhuo gave a very serious concluding speech.

2009 will be a year that will lay the foundation for the future mobile phone market structure to a certain extent. The old hegemon will soon come to an end, and a new king will emerge.

The high-level meeting was not long. Yike still wanted to pool resources, focus on research and development, and develop in multiple markets.

On February 4, the U.S. stock market of Apple rebounded sharply, stimulated by its financial report, with its stock price rising from US$83 to US$97.

Due to the impact of the financial crisis, Apple's stock price exceeded US$200 at the beginning of 2008, but it had fallen to US$80 by the end of the year, and its market value had halved from US$170 billion to US$68 billion. This was only a microcosm of the impact of the crisis.

As another microcosm, Yike's stock price is also affected by the overall market. In the second quarter of last year, it started a rising and rising pattern due to the hot sales of Mars. The stock price exceeded 140 US dollars. It also fell below 50 US dollars at the end of the year, and its market value fell from more than 40 billion US dollars to less than 130 US dollars. One hundred million U.S. dollars.

Since the release of YIKE's financial report on January 30, YIKE's stock price has rebounded, rising to US$70 after a slight shock, and its market value has returned to the US$20 billion mark.

Although some media and institutions are pessimistic about the patent dispute between Yike and Nokia, Yike's stock price is still rising honestly.

According to Fang Zhuo's estimation, the short-selling public opinion will last for some time, and they will not end immediately. They will really take action after Yike's stock price is stimulated by the continued positive terminal news and more specific patent competition news.

What we need to do now is to continue to push up the company's stock price and create more space for profit-seekers.

Just as Fang Zhuo was flying to Luzhou Ice Core, news came from Nokia that was good for Yike. The Finnish overlord will release a capacitive touch screen smart flagship phone this month, which means that Yike may be able to update it with Nokia. Communication of multiple patent authorizations.

Fang Zhuo has not forgotten his original intention.

Fang Zhuo was not crazy.

He still remembers that the MIGA fund was arranged to protect Yike's US market.

Therefore, Nokia's news still serves as an opportunity for communication. It just so happens that co-founder Yu Hong is also in acquisition negotiations with Infineon in Germany, Europe. Therefore, she also communicates with the Finnish overlord under the instruction of her boss.

——Yike: Let’s talk about it?

——Nokia: No!

——Yike: How to solve your capacitive screen patent?

——Nokia: I have my own way.

Soon, Nokia rejected contact from Yike.

I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but Nokia executives stated that they “have their own way” and didn’t even try to talk about patent licensing fees.

After receiving Mr. Yu's feedback, Fang Zhuo could only let it go and wait to see whether Nokia could circumvent the patent, or Nokia just wanted to use the ITC's ruling to bring down Yike first.

Once Yike has a blank period of several months and six months, even if it can come up with new models, the competitive situation may be very different by then.

On February 6, Fang Zhuo held a small-scale high-level meeting on ice core in Luzhou.

"Crazy, crazy, Taiwanese reporter Zhang Zhongmo is targeting us this time."

"Bingxin is not afraid of market competition, but we must also be wary of what SMIC has experienced."

"Zhang Zhongqian from Taiwan Journal is not a good person!"

Fang Zhuo felt strong malice coming from the south, and was deeply vigilant about this.