The Industrial Giant Reborn

"Mr. Morita, do you want to enter the Japanese KTV market with "Snake"?" Chen Zhiwen asked after thinking for a while.

Since the development of arcade games, Chen Zhiwen has always followed the performance development law of the chip market. As the first game, "Snake" was not chosen randomly, but because this game is the simplest and requires the least computing power of the chip.

In the same way, "Magic Cube" requires more chip computing power than "Snake", and the current "Space Invaders" has the highest requirements.

Today, the chip used in "Snake" is already a non-mainstream computing power chip. The price has been cut in half, and the cost has indeed been reduced a lot. However, this game has been out for two years, and the European and American markets are basically saturated. The main production capacity in Hong Kong is "Space Invaders", which is climbing at a high speed in the United States, and "Magic Cube", which is still in high demand in Europe.

"Yes, since the environment is different, the business method must be different. The game "Snake" has no market in Europe and the United States, and the cost has also dropped. If the market in Japan or other non-European countries is not developed, then It means that it is useless. In this case, it is better to lower the price. As long as it is lowered to a level that Japanese KTV can accept, then this will be a very large market. It's impressive." Morita Shofu said with a smile.

"It makes sense." Chen Zhiwen had to admit that the old man in front of him was indeed right.

In fact, the game halls in Japan in the 1980s were actually the product of the sharp drop in the price of arcade machines. When the price of arcade machines dropped, the once impossible business model would become a reality. If he had asked Woz to be in charge of "Snake "The hardware is to reduce the number of chips, so that the first generation of arcade machines can make American bars profitable.

In the same way, Japan, which does not have a large number of bars, cannot launch arcade machines, because there is no place where these high-consumer groups can gather, but there is some hope for the KTV mentioned by Shoo Morita.

In terms of crowd density and mobility, KTV is not comparable to bars, but some people go to KTV, but they are willing to spend money. This is also a potential possibility, and it has not even appeared in the original history. .

In many KTVs in the 21st century, there are also many games, but they are modern games, which can be cast on the screen, which is completely different from the present. This proposal by Morita Shofu can only be said to be feasible in theory, but how about it in practice? , don't know yet.

"Actually, I have arranged for people to try it in some KTVs in Japan. There are still many people willing to play in some large private rooms, but it is not suitable for the coin-operated mode, but it is directly priced by time. Everyone can play, or directly Included in the price of the private room." Morita Shofu said with a smile: "As for the issue of consumption power, Mr. Chen doesn't have to worry. In many KTVs, the price of fruit is very expensive, but there are also many people who consume it. The price of your game for half a day may be more than half a day. Not as good as a fruit platter."

"That's true." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

In this era, Japan's economy is rapidly rising, at the level of developed countries and is still rising. Although it is not ten years later, Japan intends to buy the entire economic volume of the United States in that era, but the rising economy , It has given many people the motivation to consume, especially Japan's exports, which have ranked first in the world's trade surplus for several years in a row, and Japanese cars have begun to expand significantly in the US market.

"But in any case, KTV is still not as good as the number of people in bars. The difference is too much. The price of arcade machines needs to be greatly reduced, so that this business model can continue." Morita Shofu said again.

"What is Mr. Morita's psychological price?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"The cooperation model, I hope it will be the same as the model in the United States. Hong Kong will directly send the arcade machines to Japan. You will be responsible for the matters before entering the customs, and then I will be responsible. The price is 1,200 US dollars a piece." Shuo Morita Said.

"Impossible, this price is too cheap." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, his selling price reached 2,500 US dollars two years ago, and the cost on his side is almost half, which is 1,250 US dollars. Now even if the chip price has dropped by half, But the cost of a "Snake" arcade machine is seven or eight hundred dollars.

Being able to earn 400 US dollars is considered a very good business for many companies, but it is too little for Midea's long-term profits.

"If there is more, Japan's KTV is too much to bear. I have already calculated that a large KTV room has an average of two games a day, and one game can cost 2-3 dollars more. It takes about a year to pay back the cost. This is actually compared to the United States. The bar is a bit worse, but it is still acceptable." Morita Shofu said.

"Not every customer can accept paying for the game console, some people may not like it?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"It is possible, but unlike American bars, there are many rooms in KTV, and there will always be rooms that are willing, and it depends on the ability of the operator." Morita Shoff said.

Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, "I need to calculate the cost here, and the production capacity of the factory in Hong Kong is already at full capacity. If "Snake" is to be re-produced, it will take at least a month's preparation time."

"Actually, Mr. Chen can authorize Sony to produce in Japan. In this way, transportation costs and tariffs can be saved. There is no need to add factories in Hong Kong. Midea only needs to authorize us, and we will follow the authorization. Just use the quantity to pay the authorization fee." Morita Shofu said again.

"This won't work. The production of arcade machines must be in Hong Kong." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, after the authorization, the devil will know how much the other party has produced. Even if it is "Snake" after the price reduction, an arcade machine can cost hundreds of dollars. Run, who wouldn't be jealous?

"That's fine. You can wait a month. These are small things. I also hope to talk about further cooperation with Mr. Chen. We Sony can also make chips. At present, we can also make Midea's latest arcade chips. Color The same is true for monitors, my quotation can be 10% lower than that of the American chip and RCA factories in Wanwan, what does Mr. Chen think?" Shoff Morita said again.

"Do you want Midea to purchase Sony's chips and monitors?" Chen Zhiwen suddenly understood, this may be one of the important reasons why Morita Shofu came to Hong Kong.

At present, Midea’s arcade machines only sell close to 100,000 units a year in the U.S. market, and 50,000 to 60,000 units a year in Europe, and 200,000 units a year in other places is not a problem.

200,000 sets of color monitors, moreover high-end ones, are priced at 20 million US dollars, and the value of the entire chip is even higher. Such a large order is enough for the founder of Sony to come to Hong Kong to negotiate in person.

As for the exclusive agency, it is estimated that Shoffo Morita wanted to use this opportunity to negotiate with himself when he saw the potential in this market. After all, if any company has the opportunity, no one will give up having 100 million people. developed countries.

"Yes, this is one of the main purposes of my coming to Hong Kong. Midea is already a very influential electronics company in Asia. Sony is willing to cooperate with Midea in this regard. In terms of price, Mr. Chen will definitely be satisfied." Morita Shao The husband said confidently that in terms of cost control, Japanese companies far surpassed the United States. Even if RCA went to Wanwan to build a factory, it only reduced labor costs, but its technology and efficiency were still inferior to Sony.

"If it can be cheaper, I can consider it. The color monitor is fine, but the chip is not good. The risk of replacing the chip halfway is too great." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

The color display is just a display, but the chip is the heart of the entire game. It has been selected and tested, and it is confirmed that there is no problem, so it is impossible to replace it casually. Otherwise, if something goes wrong during the replacement process, no one will I can't afford it, and if I test it slowly, I can't keep up with the market demand at all.

"Our Japanese chips are definitely not inferior to American ones. Mr. Chen can think about it again." Morita Shofu said again.

Japan's chip technology basically has no problems in the general market, such as home appliances, but not in the high-end field, because many companies simply don't give Japanese chips the opportunity to try, which requires a breakthrough slowly. There are a few, but there is no quality problem, and the price is cheap, so it will be much easier to break through other companies.

"Well, after "Space Invaders", Midea will launch the next generation of new games. It is still in the hardware design stage. We still use American chips, but this time we can adopt your chips and test them together. , in this case, as long as they are qualified, both chips can be used in the future." Chen Zhiwen said after thinking for a while.

Japanese chips, currently under the joint control of the Japanese government and several major electronics giants, have made rapid progress, but what they lack is actually the opportunity to play in actual combat. Midea has actually been completely dependent on Intel chips, although the probability is very low. But if you suddenly can't buy chips, it will be troublesome.

With another choice, there is always a lot of peace of mind. Large companies generally have backup suppliers. As for whether they will help the development of Japanese chips, Chen Zhiwen is not worried at all, because even without him, Japanese chips will do what they want. Like this, the most fundamental reason is that Japan's ability to control costs and the degree of involution far exceed that of the United States. When the technology gap was large in the early stage, American semiconductors could still do well. Once Japan catches up, it will be useless. In later generations In the mid-1980s, if it weren't for the White House's move, then Intel would have been bankrupted by Japanese semiconductors.

In the early 1990s, Samsung Electronics, which was promoted by the United States, would also beat Japanese semiconductors.

As for his own chip industry, Chen Zhiwen is not arrogant enough to think that he can fight against Japan in the 1980s or South Korea backed by the United States in the 1990s. Self-sufficiency is fine.

Or wait for the opportunity to invest in companies such as Samsung and TSMC early. Although these two companies are completely controlled by US capital, as long as you can hold a small amount of shares, you can at least get a small share of this feast.

As for LCD, this field is not strictly controlled, so I have the opportunity to play at home. Again, the same is true for BOE, which supports the future of China.

"Midea is already developing the next new game? This is really admirable. It seems that Midea is the only one in the world that can grasp what kind of games users need to play. Mr. Chen doesn't know how to do it?" Shocko Morita couldn't help but feel jealous of the new game. The game is so profitable. Sony has been developing color picture tubes for more than ten years and invested hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the latest generation of technology. Although it is also a best-selling game all over the world, in terms of profit, it is not as good as an arcade game with almost no technical content.

"It's just luck. Compared with Sony's technology, Midea is still far behind." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"Then Mr. Chen thinks there is no problem with our cooperation?" Morita Shofu said again, and he didn't ask any more questions about the arcade. This is the core secret of the other company. How could it be possible to tell him, and it is useless to ask.

"As long as your color tubes have better performance and cheaper prices, that's no problem. I can buy 10,000 yuan from you at one time. For chips, you can arrange for someone to send the samples over. We need to do a test, and then we will use it after you confirm that it is qualified. chips to develop game programs, but you have to sign a supply agreement and a quality agreement to ensure a stable supply of quantity and quality." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

"No problem." Morita Shofu nodded and said, he is naturally very confident in his own chips, not to mention the production capacity, Japanese chips are ready to go global, how can they not have production capacity.

"Okay, but I have one more request." Chen Zhiwen paused and said, "I need to buy some patented technology of color picture tubes from Sony, as well as a color tube production line."

"Color tube production line?" Morita Shofu frowned slightly, and said, "Midea also wants to enter the color TV field?"

"Yes, but I don't need Sony's latest technology and production line, just the previous generation of technology." Chen Zhiwen added that Sony's latest technology and production line can't be bought even if you have money, and it's impossible for others to sell them.

"Old production line?" Upon hearing that it wasn't a new production line, Morita Shofu immediately returned to normal. Sony did have a second-hand production line to deal with. Originally, it was planning to sell it to Southeast Asian countries. It would be no problem to sell it to Hong Kong. .

It's just that if Midea can produce color tubes by itself, won't the procurement of color tubes just talked about die soon?

However, with Midea's capital, it is not a problem at all to enter the industry of producing color picture tubes. Sony will not provide help. Midea can find other brands or directly purchase production lines if it has money.

Moreover, as one of the top companies in the color tube industry, Morita Shofu also knows that the technology of color tubes is very complicated. It may take half a year from the installation of the production line to the subsequent production, and a new company does not have skilled personnel in this area. Manpower, it will take at least two years to stabilize production. In this way, at least for now, the cooperation is still affected.

"Yes, Midea's main home appliances are fans, air conditioners and refrigerators, and there is a lack of a color TV set. There are also some color TV factories in Hong Kong, but they are all assembled, so I want to buy a color tube production line. Second-hand ones are fine, but if If not, then I can only go to Europe or the United States to place an order." Chen Zhiwen said.

In the past few years, Midea has not entered the field of color TV, because among home appliances, color picture tube has the highest technical content and a large investment, far exceeding the core condenser of refrigeration equipment, and the barriers to technical patents are very strong.

In addition, color TV is a visual product, and users are very picky. It is difficult to achieve results when the layout of the terminal sales market is not large.

However, this year, Costco is preparing to enter a stage of rapid expansion in the United States, Wal-Mart is also developing rapidly as in history, and its own funds are still sufficient. The Trinity has come to invest in color tube production lines. More importantly, the mainland The change is coming soon, this is a golden opportunity, you can't wait until the change is opened, and then slowly enter the field to study, right?

As for why you buy second-hand ones, one is that it is cheap, and the other is that without a cooperative relationship with Sony, it is very likely that even if you buy equipment, you will not be able to produce good-quality color tubes. Do you know how many developing countries have been played like this.

"Don't worry, Mr. Chen. Sony has a factory in Hokkaido with an annual production capacity of one million color tubes, which is 80% new. It can fully meet Midea's requirements, but I need to spend some time to confirm the price." Morita Schoff said immediately.

"Okay, as long as the price is right, I can consider buying it. I need Sony engineers to guide me throughout the process and train my workers. As for the cost, I can pay extra according to Japanese wages until we can produce color tubes of acceptable quality. .” Chen Zhiwen said again.

"No problem, our cooperation is far more than this transaction, Mr. Chen can rest assured." Morita Shofu said with a smile. A production line costs only 20 to 30 million U.S. dollars, which is nothing compared to Midea's potential future orders.

"Okay, then I'll wait for the good news from Mr. Morita." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. Mutual benefit is the basis of cooperation with this group of wild wolf companies.

If Midea makes hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign purchases every year, as long as it distributes a little to Sony, at least during the cooperation period, Sony will not really cheat itself, because in this regard, Sony is not its only choice.

Similarly, cooperation with Sony can also reduce Midea's procurement costs and avoid the risk of supply cuts in the United States, while also obtaining some technologies from the traditional home appliance industry.

As for his own chip, it is still many generations away from Japan's, and it has not yet been manufactured. Chen Zhiwen didn't think about getting this patent from Sony, and it is unlikely that Sony will give it to him.

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