The Industrial Giant Reborn

"By the way, how are our chip factories and LCD factories doing now?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

Since the two factories hired a lot of engineers from Wanwan at the end of last year, the factories have started to work smoothly. After knowing that the samples were successfully put on the market, Chen Zhiwen was also very concerned, and the follow-up feedback was not bad, and nothing happened. The problem, but because the focus was on the acquisition of Wharf some time ago, I didn't take care of it.

Lei Shengli replied: "Our chips have already started to be supplied to several electronics factories in Hong Kong, because the price is less than half of the imported Japanese chips, and many manufacturers have already purchased a lot. After receiving some problematic feedback, the engineers have begun to adjust according to the problem, and now the Hong Kong workers are also getting familiar with it.

The same is true for liquid crystals. At present, our main production is liquid crystals for electronic watches. This market is very large. There is a lot of demand in Hong Kong, and the risk of liquid crystals is much lower than that of chips. Basically, there is no problem in leaving the factory. That's fine. "

"In terms of chips, in addition to some traditional electronic products, it can develop in the direction of remote controls. Our color display factory is about to start work, right? Color TV, wouldn't it be better if there were remote controls? In fact, many international Brands are already doing it, but the price of chips is not cheap now. Only high-end color TVs are equipped with remote controls. If we can reduce the cost of this piece, not only can chip factories get a lot of orders, but also increase our future. The advantage of color TV? Isn't it?" Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

"Yes, but it still needs to pass a lot of tests. I'm afraid it won't be able to catch up with the first batch of color TVs built." Lei Shengli said.

"It doesn't matter, it's okay to have more in the future." Chen Zhiwen said indifferently: "I'm just pointing a direction. If the cost in this field can be suppressed and the quality can be improved, then the chip factory can be completely satisfied with this business. The chip giants in China are desperately pursuing the production of high-performance chips. The profit of this kind of ordinary chips is far less than that of high-performance chips, but this may also be our opportunity. The technical content is not very high. If the quantity is large, the cost will come down, which is an advantage.”

"Understood." Lei Shengli nodded. The purpose of his own chip factory is to meet some of the needs of Hong Kong and to produce commonly used low-end chips. As for high-end chips, including the boss, he has never thought about it. The game engine is still unreliable. Although the low-end chips are low in profit, as long as they are bigger, there is still a market.

"In terms of liquid crystal, can we make one as big as a calculator display now?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.

"It can be done, but the yield rate needs to be controlled again." Lei Shengli said: "However, there are not many orders for calculators, and the demand in the global market is far less than that of electronic watches."

"It's not about the calculator, but I'm going to launch another product next, which requires a larger LCD." Chen Zhiwen said.

"New product? Bigger LCD? Is Chen Sheng talking about a handheld?" Lei Shengli asked.

"Yes, it's the handheld. You said that if our Snake is transferred to the handheld, will there be a big market?" Chen Zhiwen asked with a smile.

Handheld, in the impression of many people in later generations, Nintendo once launched the gamewatch in 1980, and it was also all the rage in the 1980s.

But gamewatch is not the world's first arcade machine, but a racing game handheld launched by Mattel in 1976, but it is very simple and uses the LCD screen of a calculator. Naturally, it was not recognized by the market until After the gamewatch appeared, the handheld became popular all over the world.

Although Mattel's finished product failed, the idea was very good, and many game companies were also researching it. However, due to the small space of the handheld device, it was difficult to develop a supporting game, and it was finally abandoned.

"The market is huge, but if you want to have a good experience, the screen must be bigger, and the chip requirements are not low, after all, the handheld is very small." Lei Shengli said after thinking about it.

"Yes, there is also the issue of cost, and it shouldn't be too expensive, otherwise no one will be willing to buy it." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

This seems to be back to 5 years ago, when he went to the United States to find Woz to build an arcade machine. The core problem is the cost. The chips back then are the worst level today, and no one may want to give it to a better electronics factory. , but at that time there can only be these.

Today, chip technology is advancing by leaps and bounds. In two years, complex games can also be played on arcade machines, but even the simplest games are difficult to play on handhelds.

If you want to do a good job in the handheld market, you can’t use the most expensive chips, because it will lead to high cost of user terminals, but you can’t use poor ones, because poor chips not only respond slowly, but also cause serious heat generation. It is a very troublesome problem to solve the problem of heat generation. Even in the 21st century, the heat generation of smartphones has been plagued by giants for a long time.

On the contrary, the liquid crystal is much simpler. If you can't make it yourself, you can buy it from others. With the current Japanese liquid crystal technology, you can still make the screen of the handheld.

"The difficulty is probably not lower than that of a home game console," Lei Shengli said.

"You guys should set up the project first, research and develop first, this project can't be successful in two or three months like the arcade machine, it may be fast in a year, and I have already thought about some practical patents, you arrange people to go to the world Register." After speaking, Chen Zhiwen took out some documents.

Here are some operation information of handheld and home game consoles, the most important of which is naturally the cross key of the handheld. In addition, in order to prevent future competitors from bypassing him, he registered all the similar shapes of the cross key , in short, even if you don't use it, you have to make it difficult for others to get around.

"Okay, next, Midea's resources will be concentrated on home game consoles and handheld projects." Lei Shengli took the file, glanced at it, and suddenly thought of a question, and asked: "Chen Sheng, what should we do?" If my handheld and home game consoles are both greedy snakes, will they affect each other?"

"Don't worry, although the game is the same, the scene is completely different, and it satisfies the needs of the same customer in different environments, and the fun of playing on a handheld is definitely far less than that of a home game console. The handheld is for outdoor use." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said, "However, if the cost cannot be reduced, it may have an impact."

"Okay." Lei Shengli nodded and said.

"Besides, even if there is an impact, as long as it is not a serious conflict, it must be done, otherwise, it will only benefit others." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

In fact, the R\u0026D difficulty of these two products is not low, and the research at the same time consumes the company's energy and resources.

But in the electronic age, time is very urgent. If the development is a bit late, the opportunity may be completely lost. Atari has successfully developed the home game console, but because there are no related supporting games, the market in the past one or two years has been normal. It's just that once the number of games is enough, the market will explode immediately.

After Atari launched its products, Midea's R\u0026D team had a reference, plus they could poach people with high salaries to develop their own home game consoles. Even if you can’t beat Atari, you should be able to snatch a part of the market through your own high-quality games. After the market returns a lot of money, you can start research and development of the next generation of home game consoles. Just in time for the Atari collapse in history, provided that history hasn't changed much.

The handheld was launched by Nintendo in April 1980. Considering that this kind of research and development generally takes about a year, if Midea does it later, once Nintendo releases it, the price of the handheld is not expensive. On the contrary, it may quickly occupy the market. Once the handheld is late, it may really miss the opportunity.

Therefore, these two directions need to be carried out in 1978 or 1979. If it is too early, it will not work because the cost is too high or the semiconductor industry cannot meet the product requirements. If it is too late, there will be no market.

However, with the current scale of Midea, it is normal to research two products at the same time, or even less. Many Japanese electronics companies are estimated to be able to surpass Midea in terms of profits, but any one of them develops new products at the same time. It is estimated that there are dozens if not one hundred. Countless departments are researching different products in different directions and technologies. Midea currently only has two main ones, and it still knows the future potential.

Lei Shengli nodded and said: "At present, these two projects still mainly rely on the teams from the United States, but this time I want to send all the Hong Kong teams there. Our Hong Kong team can still do some of the most basic work, and the second is to let our team learn more technology."

"That's no problem. You can send people out at will in the United States. If the cost of living there is too high, you can buy a hotel." Chen Zhiwen said. Although his plan in the future is that the factory will not be located in Hong Kong, but since the headquarters is here, there must always be a technical team here, preferably with a level similar to overseas.

"I think that our engineers who are capable of going overseas to participate in research and development may not have that many engineers." Lei Shengli said helplessly shaking his head.

"If there are not enough people, just like the chip and liquid crystal factory last time, we can poach people directly from Wanwan. Talents who understand electronic design, electronic technology, and electronic industry manufacturing can be poached here. It won't be a problem to give away a house for a few years." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.

Whether it is wages or housing prices, Hong Kong is higher than Wanwan. Working in Hong Kong, the income is definitely higher than in Wanwan. As for housing, Chen Zhiwen will not be stingy if he has the ability and contribution.

"Okay, but in addition to recruiting engineers, it is also possible to recruit some graduates from Wanwan. There are so many graduates from the electronics industry in Wanwan every year, and there are always many who are willing to come to Hong Kong." Lei Shengli said.

"Yes." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said that many large companies like to recruit graduates, because they can carry out directional training according to their own ideas, and in the case of large companies with high-quality training plans, they can acquire talents with the required ability. It may be more efficient than social recruitment.

Midea's main income is basically in overseas offshore accounts, mainly for legal tax avoidance, and the funds in the Hong Kong headquarters can only maintain its normal operation.

The two projects launched at the same time now have relatively high research and development costs. Therefore, Chen Zhiwen deliberately transferred back 20 million US dollars from overseas. These funds are not the entire budget for this family game console and handheld. Arcade machines can still bring tens of millions of dollars in net profit to the company, and the profit may increase further when "Pac-Man" is released in the future.

Midea does not lack R\u0026D funds. Just taking advantage of this R\u0026D opportunity, it can greatly increase the R\u0026D experience of its own team and recruit more suitable people. By the 1980s, the demand for this aspect will also increase several times. Improvement, after all, personal computers, various computer software, various complex games, and some electronic products, etc., even if Chen Zhiwen knows the direction, a lot of talents are needed to help him turn his ideas into reality.

The time soon came to June, and there was a sudden news in the Hong Kong market that the Hongkong Land Group sold the shares of the Prince's Building in Central, the Windsor Building in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, and Wharf to Ship King Bao at a suitable price. Yugang.