The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide.

Chapter 294 Test the bottom line
This is the best era. The period from 04 to 07 is an absolute golden period for China and even the global economic situation.

The capital market has just emerged from the depression. The economic growth of most countries and regions around the world has far exceeded expectations. There is no trace of the financial crisis. Major economies have entered a rapid growth track, and cross-border direct investment is becoming increasingly active.

Cross-border direct investment hit a historical record in 2000, reaching US$1.39 trillion. Then it fell all the way with the Internet bubble, falling to US$2003 billion in 5600. It then recovered in a straight line from 2004, with an increase of more than [-]%.

Zhou Xin is aware of the current macro environment. NewPay has expanded rapidly globally in the past year. The background shows that NewPay’s radiation coverage has covered more than three-quarters of the world’s countries and regions.

During this process, NewPay has also experienced several rounds of financing, absorbing capital from different countries, such as the European Union, Neon, Korea, etc. Zhou Xin’s shareholding ratio in NewPay has been reduced to less than 25% for the first time. This is also Zhou Xin’s shareholding ratio in NewPay. The company with the lowest shareholding ratio of its new subsidiaries.

Of course, thanks to the equity structure of A/B shares, the control of NewPay is still firmly in the hands of Zhou Xin.

Why there is no Huaguo here is because Huaguo and NewPay have completely different cooperation models. Huaguo's state-owned capital and NewPay jointly established NewPay Huaguo. NewPay Huaguo and NewPay are isolated in terms of equity and management.

Zhou Xin believes that during this period, thanks to the rapid growth of the global economy, America is mainly focusing on the Middle East and domestic elections, and has no energy to manage China, let alone him, so it can still be in America. Willing to stay for a year.

“Professor, is it possible for us to acquire Nippon International Electric.

I was thinking that our previous attempt to acquire Cyber ​​failed to obtain permission from the Ministry of Commerce. This time we have turned our target to Japan International Electric Company. Is there any chance? "

Kokusai Electric, whose English name is Kokusai Electric Corporation, has a very similar name to Nippon Electric, but it is actually two companies.

Nippon Electric's English abbreviation is NEC. It mainly produces memory chips in the semiconductor field. It established Huahong NEC in China with Hua Hong Semiconductor. It was beaten by Samsung in the field of memory chips. Later, NEC's storage department was spun off and Several other companies jointly established Elpida. Elpida was also beaten by Samsung and eventually declared bankruptcy.

Elpida founder Yukio Sakamoto later joined the Chinese conglomerate Ziguang Group at the age of 75. Elpida’s part of the legacy belonging to Qimonda was later eaten up by Yangtze River Storage.

Nippon Kokusai Electric manufactures semiconductor equipment, mainly thin film deposition equipment.

Hu Zhengming was on vacation in San Francisco at this time. During the vacation, Zhou Xin approached him to talk about work. Hu Zhengming didn't feel any rejection at all.Because for both him and Zhou Xin, no rest time is the norm, and they cannot separate work and life.

They were chatting at Hu Zhengming's house. There were only two people in the study, Zhou Xin and Hu Zhengming, so they weren't too worried about being heard by others.

Hu Zhengming shook his head, "It's difficult, Amerikan won't agree, and Neon may not agree either.

Xinxin puts great pressure on Neon in the field of semiconductor equipment. In the field of 130nm lithography machines, our market share has surpassed ASML. Neon's Semiconductor Industry Research Association published an article at the end of last year, with the general content It is necessary to pay attention to the threat from Xinxin.

The Ministry of Finance is somewhat behind Neon's Industrial Research Association, and their attitude is not very positive.

In addition, Nippon Kokusai Electric is a leader in thin film deposition equipment. To complete this transaction, we need to obtain the consent of the European Union, Neon, Amerikan, Huaguo, Korea and even Wanwan, which is very difficult. "

According to the international trade antitrust law, if New Core wants to acquire Nippon Electric, it needs to obtain approval from the countries involved in the company's business. When Americen's Applied Materials acquired Nippon Electric, Ireland, Israel, Neon, Korea and Wanwan all agreed, but Hua Guo did not.

As a result, even if the price was negotiated, the transaction was still suspended.

Americen Enterprises has not been able to successfully acquire Neon Enterprises, let alone Chinese enterprises acquiring Neon Enterprises.

Zhou Xin said: "It would be almost impossible to acquire Xinxin, but what if we jointly acquire it with Applied Materials?"

To be honest, Zhou Xin never thought that he could acquire Nippon Kokusai Electric on his own, because it was unrealistic and this was unprecedented resistance.

But it is possible for Applied Materials. In the future, they will acquire Nippon Kokusai Electric and obtain the consent of all countries except China. And with the participation of Xinxin, it will not be a problem to obtain the consent of China.

Hu Zhengming is thinking, "There is a slight possibility that if materials are used, the resistance will not be so great.

At least Gao Li and Neon did not dare to openly vote against it.

But if it is led by Xinxin, it will still be difficult. "

Zhou Xin said: “The dominance can be given to Applied Materials, or even if we only need a part of the shares, Applied Materials can gain access to this market, but the equipment manufacturing production lines of Japan International Electric will be gradually relocated to China and to Zhangjiang.

We are catching up in many chip fields, but we are not very impressive in the field of semiconductor equipment, except for new core lithography machines. "

In later generations, China was mainly stuck with lithography machines, so lithography machines are relatively well-known. In fact, China is almost behind in the field of semiconductor equipment, and semiconductor manufacturing is far more than just lithography machines.

Semiconductor manufacturing equipment is roughly divided into seven categories: diffusion furnaces, photolithography machines, etching machines, ion implanters, thin film deposition equipment, polishing machines and cleaning machines.

These foreign manufacturers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment will not place their production in China. Their production is all in their own countries. The branches in China are mainly responsible for sales and after-sales service.

Therefore, what Zhou Xin wants to do is to start this process and let semiconductor equipment manufacturers put this part of their production in China.

"Professor, I know this is also difficult, but I think it is possible.

If it is a field that Applied Materials is originally involved in, such as chemical vapor deposition equipment, they will definitely not be willing to do so because it involves too many aspects.

The acquisition of Nippon Kokusai Electric is different. Applied Materials' acquisition of Nippon Kokusai Electric focuses most on economic benefits. It wants to make their financial statements look good and consolidate its position in the field of semiconductor equipment.

Therefore, they have no psychological burden to move their production lines to China, and they do not need any other reason to move. The best reasons are to reduce costs and expand the Chinese market. "

Hu Zhengming's eyes lit up after hearing this, because what Zhou Xin said was indeed possible.

Zhou Xin said: "And with the beginning, it is very likely that all the production lines of Japan International Electric will be moved to China in the future, and other semiconductor manufacturers will also gradually set up production bases in China. In this case, some semiconductors in China will Material manufacturers will have a larger market.

The entire upstream and downstream will be more prosperous. "

After hearing this, Hu Zhengming nodded frequently: "Logically speaking, there is no problem. According to my information, Applied Materials has indeed always had the idea of ​​​​acquiring Japan International Electric. But this round of acquisition of Xinxin cannot be made. We are private capital and have no For any reason, let China take action.

Either Huahong or Huajing can ask them to negotiate with Applied Materials to transfer part of the production line to China. This request is reasonable for them, but inappropriate for us.

The previous acquisition of Cymer was just a purely commercial acquisition. There was no agreement to interfere with Cymer's operations. The Ministry of Commerce did not agree. It would be very dangerous if we made such a request again.

On the contrary, it is more reasonable for China's state-owned enterprises to move only part of their production lines. From the perspective of attracting investment and enriching Zhangjiang's industrial ecology, it is reasonable.

We cannot do what Shen Hai or even Hua Guo should do.

We can remind China what to do appropriately, but we should not do it on his behalf.

Just like when you publicly executed Chen Jin before, I honestly feel very relieved about Chen Jin's actions. The young man is high-spirited and full of energy. I envy you very much.

But from my point of view, this kind of behavior is actually inappropriate. You have obtained permissions that you should not have. But if you do it in China, you will do it. They are asking for you and will not do anything to you. .

It's different in Amerikan. Don't show any flaws. This is a flaw if you do it with a new core. It may not be a big deal now, but it may be fatal in the future.

It would be better to let Huahong go, or even let Shenhai's science and technology investment company go, and package it as a local government investment promotion activity.

As for how to package it, I have an idea. "

After listening to this, Zhou Xin lamented that Jiang is still hotter, and that his acuity in this regard is indeed not as good as Hu Zhengming's.

After the strategy is decided, it only needs to be implemented, which will be of great benefit to China without any harm.

Zhou Xin wants to take advantage of the fact that he is still in Silicon Valley to further test where the bottom line is. If I can't acquire Cymer, then can I jointly acquire Nippon Kokusai Electric with Applied Materials?

After Hu Zhengming gave a better solution, Zhou Xin raised a new question: "Professor, where do you think the current bottleneck of Xinxin is?
We haven't talked about Xinxin's strategic planning together for a long time. Maybe it's because we have been so successful relying on technology monopoly in the past two years and I am too far apart. It is a rare opportunity for us to exchange our views and opinions face to face. "

Hu Zhengming said: “The biggest bottleneck is still restrictions on advanced technology. In many areas, the restrictions of the Wassenaar Agreement are too serious.

Xinxin (Temasek) put into production in March this year two of the most advanced process production lines of the 3nm process.If China can introduce 90nm production lines, we will start at least half a year earlier. Time is money.

Chip production, semiconductor equipment, chip raw materials, almost all fields have natural barriers.

This is the biggest bottleneck. In addition, internal staff have no fighting spirit due to things going too smoothly, and everyone is treated too well, resulting in no passion and no sense of crisis. To be honest, these are all imaginary reasons.

I know that maybe when you return to China, there are a lot of similar opinions in China, saying that our treatment is too good and our employees have no fighting spirit and lack the spirit of struggle.

The semiconductor field is always a long-distance race, and experience is more important than anything else. Engineers who have worked in a company for 20 years are valuable assets. Passion, fighting spirit, and fighting spirit are not important to Xinxin. We have reached a ceiling. This The upper limit cannot be broken by relying on these subjective things.

In more straightforward terms, the technical barriers established by the Wassenaar Agreement cannot be broken through manpower. What we need to do is to use existing technology to achieve better yield rates, design chips with better performance, and increase profits. and efficiency, these only require 20 years of persistence.

How to achieve this kind of persistence requires employees to take care of their families first, so that they can persist. "

As someone who traveled to many places in China, later founded Xinxin in China and researched a large number of companies in the same industry, Hu Zhengming knew the labor environment in China very well. He was worried that Zhou Xin had a similar idea: employees should not be made to live too comfortably.

Once this idea is put into practice, it will ruin Xinxin's good situation.

Xinxin is an out-and-out leader in China, so Xinxin’s employees are targeted by many domestic and foreign companies. Once Xinxin lowers their salary, it is easy for them to be poached and then re-train talents, which will seriously affect stability. Sex and company development, the semiconductor industry is different from the Internet industry. There is no 35-year-old barrier, and anyone can do it.

For the same equipment, experienced engineers will have a higher yield rate. For the same R&D, experienced R&D personnel will be able to avoid many minefields based on experience.

Zhou Xin nodded after listening: "Professor, don't worry, as we have said before, I will not interfere in the specific operations of Xinxin Technology, I will only give strategic ideas.

And as the manager of Xinxin, if you judge that Xinxin’s salary system is healthy enough, then I think there is no problem.

Within our tolerance, we can also create sufficient benefits for shareholders. If they are dissatisfied, you can refuse if you should.

I know that Huahong has mentioned many times that it hopes to reduce employee benefits, reduce R&D investment, and increase dividend ratios. If you think it is not possible, you can just reject it without even explaining to them.

The control is in our hands, they only have the power to pay dividends and supervise. "

Huahong is also quite strange. It relies on policies to reap a lot of national dividends and a large amount of financial allocations. Its development is not as good as New Core Technology. When it was first established, it always wanted to rely on NEC.

As a result, NEC was unable to protect itself. They were not satisfied with being on the new chip list and wanted more.

Later, Huahong raised 220 billion in cash from the Big A listing. It is not surprising at all to use this cash for financial management.

Hu Zhengming said: "I understand, and I explained to Hua Hong that I didn't want to get too tense with Shen Hai. After all, Hua Hong is Shen Hai's biological son.

But their life is not easy now. SMIC is developing faster than Huahong. It feels like their own son is about to become SMIC.

By the way, Huahong now wants to hand over all their production lines to us.

Previously, we only managed Huahong's two most advanced production lines, but now their other production lines also want to be packaged and managed by us in the form of assets. "

　When Huahong was listed, Crow acquired Huaqin Technology. As a result, it plummeted by more than ten points on the opening day, causing Crow to lose money.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)