Countercurrent 1982

Chapter 1241 Technical Constraints

Entering the end of 11th, the equipment debugging and product finalization of the chip factory has reached the final stage, and the official production is getting closer and closer.

At the same time, Japan's Toshiba Corporation also sent a group of technicians to assist Duan Yun in the final stage of equipment debugging.

Toshiba spoke highly of the work progress of Tianyin Electronics Factory, and thought Duan Yun was a very good partner. Toshiba said that it would give Duan Yun comprehensive technical support.

The Japanese were very shrewd in their calculations. At the beginning, they just wanted to sell some relatively backward technologies to Duan Yun at a high price, and then use Duan Yun to test whether the Flash chip really has good commercial potential. However, with the Shenzhen Chip Factory After being established at an astonishing speed, Toshiba finally became more active.

According to the contract signed by the two parties, the Japanese side provides the technical drawings and production authorization of the flash chip, while Duan Yun is responsible for the development of the Chinese mainland market, and the Japanese side is 55% of the profit.

In fact, from the perspective of the cooperation agreement between the two parties, Duan Yun does not need to set up a chip research and development center by himself at all. In fact, many domestic joint ventures also provide technology with foreign parties, and the Chinese party is only responsible for production, and there is a clear division of labor.

Therefore, from the moment the on-site cooperation contract was signed, Duan Yun was already prepared for the possibility of being forced to separate in the future. He did not want to be a puppet of a Japanese company, so he must have the chip design capability in the upstream of the industry.

But at present, with the technical support from Japan, Duan Yun must make full use of it and obtain as much ready-made technology as possible from Toshiba.

On the first day of December, Fujio Masuoka, the founder of the Flash chip, and Kono Masaichi, the new director of Toshiba Microelectronics, arrived in Shenzhen by plane. Since it was getting late, Duan Yun first arranged for them to stay in a hotel in Shenzhen. .

At the same time, Duan Yun gave the technicians in his chip research and development center a day off, telling them not to come to work in the company on the second day, but to have a good rest. Only Wu Gang and other ordinary technicians who returned from training in Japan were left in the workshop. , responsible for the daily maintenance and debugging of the machine.

Duan Yun's decision made Huang Lingyi, Jiang Guowei and others very puzzled, because the chip factory is about to enter the production stage, which is the busiest time for the R&D center. It is obviously unreasonable for Duan Yun to let them take a vacation at this time.

But in fact, Duan Yun has his reasons for doing so.

Duan Yun knows what the Japanese are thinking. In a joint venture, only the party with the technology has the right to speak. They can stop the authorization of the Flash chip at any time, paralyzing the entire factory.

Therefore, Duan Yun has always adopted the strategy of repairing the plank road in the open and keeping the warehouse in the dark when facing Toshiba's personnel.

On the surface, Duan Yun is respectful to the Japanese staff and has shown great dependence on Toshiba's technology, but in fact, its chip design and software R&D teams have now been established, and the chip led by Huang Lingyi The team is developing an upgraded version of NAND flash memory chips for Flash flash memory chips, and at the same time is developing a domestic version of EDA software, which already has preliminary upstream development capabilities for chips.

On the morning of the second day, Duan Yun drove himself and took Fujio Masuoka and Kono Masaichi from the hotel to the chip factory in Bagualing Industrial Zone.

"Mr. Duan, you did a good job. I didn't expect that you built the factory in just one year. This is a remarkable thing. Originally, we expected that it would take at least two and a half years for the factory to be officially put into operation. After entering the workshop of the chip factory, Fujio Masuoka saw that all the equipment in the huge dust-free workshop had been installed in place, and several skilled workers were debugging the machines in dust-proof clothing. He couldn't help giving Duan Yun a thumbs up.

"There is a famous saying in Shenzhen, that is "time is money". Before this chip factory, I put all my coffins on it. The earlier I start work, the earlier I can make money." Duan Yun replied with a smile.

Duan Yun and Fujio Masuoka are also very familiar confidants, so from the moment they met, they seemed very affectionate and talked a lot.

Kono Masaichi, who was walking with him, looked more serious. He was a middle-aged man in his early 30s, wearing a gray suit and silver-rimmed glasses. His hair was combed meticulously, and his expression was calm and prestige.

On the way just now, Fujio Masuoka introduced this Kono Masaichi to Duan Yun, saying that he is the youngest department head of Toshiba Corporation, graduated from the public Tokyo University in Japan, and has outstanding abilities. He became the department head of Toshiba, which is very rare in the history of Toshiba.

And his first impression to Duan Yun was that this person was quick-witted, fast-talking, unsmiling, and somewhat rigid.

But in any case, the other party is a distinguished guest from afar, Duan Yun must do his best to be a landlord, and this person is higher than Fujio Masuoka, Duan Yun must take it seriously.

"When will your place be officially put into production?" Kono Masaichi asked Duan Yun after checking a few machines.

"At present, all the equipment in the production line has been installed and debugged. I plan to put the entire production line into operation at the end of this month and produce the first batch of flash memory chips." Duan Yun replied after hearing the words.

"Very good." Kono nodded in satisfaction, and then asked Duan Yun: "Then after the chip is produced, have you found a sales channel?"

Obviously, compared to the formal operation of the chip factory, what Kono really cares about is whether the flash chip has market potential, which is the most important purpose of his visit to China.

As a world-renowned large-scale multinational company, Toshiba has a luxurious R&D team and rich technical background. It applies for tens of thousands of patents at home and abroad every year. However, in fact, there are not many patented products with real market value. Some patents are only used as the technical reserves of enterprises and have been sealed up for a long time.

Moreover, Kono seems to be not optimistic about the establishment of joint venture chips in China. In his opinion, Flash chips are a cutting-edge new product that has just been developed. This product did not show any interest, and because of this, Toshiba executives once wanted to "seal" this product.

Kono can't think of how to sell such a product in China that European and American countries are not interested in, and in Kono's impression, China is a poor and backward country that has always been a dumping ground for international obsolete technologies. In China, the Flash memory chip is obviously a too avant-garde product...

(End of this chapter)