The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide

A year ago, Wu Shiqiang lived a day-to-day life at 700 Wilshire Avenue in the center of San Francisco, California. It is hard to imagine that he would give up his job at the San Francisco Branch of Hua Guo Bank and return to Hua Guo after a year.

You must know that his family took a lot of effort to help him manage the work of the San Francisco branch.

It takes a lot of determination to give up this opportunity. Although it sounds attractive to lead an investment institution from scratch, the uncertainties are too high.

It is mainly reflected in the fact that he has no right to make investment decisions, and Zhou Xin only puts a small amount of money on the company's books as operating funds.

Once his performance fails to satisfy Zhou Xin and Zhou Xin does not continue to provide funds for the company's operations, the company will soon be unable to survive.

In other words, this company, and even his career, are completely dependent on Zhou Xin's financial support, and this dependence on individuals is the biggest uncertainty.

But he was tired of the ordinary life in San Francisco, and the life he encountered in just over a month was completely different from the life he encountered around Zhou Xin.

From Google, which uses Lego blocks to build a chassis, to the ambitious Chinese engineer Robin, to the products launched by NewPay, which quickly swept across the entire American, the booming development of the Internet made him very excited.

Wu Shiqiang has been working in San Francisco, which is the core area of ​​the entire Bay Area, where you can hear entrepreneurial myths from Silicon Valley all the time, let alone witness Zhou Xin's entrepreneurial myths.

This is faster than any previous startup myth in Silicon Valley.

At the same time, from his own experience, Wu Shiqiang can also deeply feel the changes that the Internet has brought to the world.

Therefore, Wu Shiqiang decided to return to China without too much hesitation, invest in Huaguo's Internet companies, and help Huaguo's Internet companies develop, which is also meaningful.

On the eve of returning to China, Zhou Xin said when sending him to San Francisco International Airport: "When you go back this time, you should not only pay attention to the Internet industry in Huaguo, but also need to pay attention to the integrated circuit companies in Huaguo.

They may be crude, but you need to discover their sparkle.

And we need to form a mechanism on how to invest in integrated circuit companies and ensure that they will use the funds for R\u0026D and products themselves, rather than being spent by the founders of the companies in inexplicable places.

The Internet industry is an investment made in the early stage to generate income. This is the means, and investing in companies in the integrated circuit industry is the purpose.

Compared with foreign countries, there is actually not much difference in the field of Internet. Our gap is mostly concentrated in the field of basic computer technology, such as pure technical fields such as databases and operating systems.

We need to think about investing in these more fundamental technologies.

But not now, the current period of time is still dominated by income. "

Originally, when Zhou Xin only mentioned integrated circuits, Wu Shiqiang thought that because the other party’s major was integrated circuits, he hoped to invest in some domestic integrated circuit companies.

Later, when he heard about the operating system and even the database, Wu Shiqiang realized that the other party wanted to narrow the gap with foreign countries in the entire field of computer software and hardware technology.

Because Microsoft in the operating system field and Oracle in the database field are like two insurmountable mountains, this is not a gap that Huaguo can bridge.

To invest in Huaguo's operating system or database companies, in 1999, wouldn't that mean wasting money for nothing?

Through this period of getting along with Zhou Xin, Wu Shiqiang knew that the other party had a straight-talking style and would not be angry because of his doubts, so he asked: "Investing in operating system or database companies, it is difficult for us to make a profit. .”

Zhou Xin nodded and said: "I know, don't even think about making profits when you invest in this kind of company, at least for now, it's impossible for these companies to beat Microsoft or Oracle.

Even the market that occupies a small segment of the field cannot do it.

Even Apple has been losing money in the past few years. You must know that the Mac system has a history of more than ten years, but what is the market share of the operating system? "

"Mac OS has less than 2 percent of the market. I've been following Apple. They've been in trouble lately."

"Yes, so the operating system developed by Huaguo can't even survive.

Well, we are partners, we need full mutual trust, and I can tell you more facts.

That is, we are an investment institution. Emerging Investment is not an investment institution that belongs to me alone, and will not invest only with my money.

You screen suitable companies in China, and I will help you raise funds in American. We need a good report card, and then I can raise enough funds in Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

When we use these funds to invest in Huaguo Internet companies, we will invest part of them in less profitable fields.

Although Huaguo's integrated circuit companies have a weak foundation, they still have the possibility of making money.

Investments in operating systems, databases, and some industrial software fields are purely money-losing, but we can have a foundation and cultivate talents in these underlying computer technology fields.

Using money from Silicon Valley and Wall Street to cultivate Huaguo's Internet talents and talents in the integrated circuit field is an overall strategic plan for emerging investments. "

Zhou Xin never thought that he could break through the entire semiconductor industry by himself.

The people he built in American, as well as the emerging investments, are all aimed at raising funds in Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

Originally, overseas capital would also invest in Huaguo's Internet companies on a large scale. These investment institutions have enjoyed a lot of money during the two decades of Huaguo's Internet booming.

Now the emerging capital is dividing part of this cake, and at the same time dividing some of it into the field of integrated circuits and basic computer technology, which lowers the rate of return of the entire fund.

For example, all the money from Silicon Valley and Wall Street was invested in Internet companies in Huaguo. Calculate the rate of return of all the money, and the average rate of return can be 20%.

With the addition of emerging capital, the overall rate of return on this money is only 10%, and the other 10% is invested in the field of integrated circuits and basic computer technology to cultivate talents for Huaguo and accumulate energy.

As for key technology nodes, such as lithography machines, EDA design software, semiconductor materials, etc.

Wu Shiqiang was even more excited after hearing this. Coming to American is forced by life, and everyone hopes that they can have a better life.

This doesn't mean that he doesn't want Huaguo to become better. Wu Shiqiang doesn't know how much Zhou Xin's design can bring to Huaguo's integrated circuit and computer technology fields.

One thing is for sure, it will definitely be a positive change.