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Chapter 1179: Black Technology in the Electronic Age (Second update, please subscribe)

2500 yuan!
Looking at the report from Lange Company, Li Yian raised his eyebrows, and even he couldn't help but curse.

It’s so damn expensive!

But, that's electronics!
When it was first launched on the market, its price was shockingly high, but with the development of electronic technology, its price became cheaper and cheaper, and eventually it was even sold at a bargain price.

Historically, the watch manufacturing industry in Europe, especially Switzerland, was destroyed by quartz watches from Japan and the United States. As American and Japanese manufacturers rose to prominence with quartz watches, the Swiss watch industry lost a significant amount of market share, and its traditional status was seriously challenged, leading to the "quartz crisis". Many Swiss watch companies fell into deficit and went bankrupt due to the rampant quartz watches.

But American manufacturers soon suffered "karma". By the end of the 1970s, the popularity of quartz watches had surpassed that of mechanical watches. However, Hong Kong exported a large number of cheap quartz watches to the world, which seriously damaged the market more than American manufacturers, forcing American semiconductor companies to withdraw from the market. The traditional American watch industry also suffered. Hamilton, the most famous American watch, was forced to sell and became a Swiss brand. In this wave of cheap quartz watch destruction, almost all other American watch manufacturers, except Timex, closed down.

The American watch industry was almost wiped out, and the Swiss watch industry was also in turmoil under the destruction of quartz watches. Brands such as Rolex and Patek Philippe could only choose to hide in the high-priced boutique market to avoid the impact of the "quartz crisis."

Later, quartz watches became the mainstream of the watch market, and eventually became super cheap, with a price of just a few dozen yuan at night markets. Such cheap street stall watches are more accurate than expensive mechanical watches because of the technical principle of quartz oscillators. Moreover, because they do not have complex mechanical parts, the maintenance requirements of quartz watches are much lower than those of mechanical watches, which really makes mechanical watches feel embarrassed.

However, what Li Yian cared about was not this, but... the chip, the microprocessor.

Few people know that the semiconductor industry in the United States and Japan rose because of quartz watches. Before electronic computers entered thousands of households, quartz watches were the most popular and the earliest successful microelectronic products.

In the 1960s, the civilian application areas of microprocessors were very narrow, mainly concentrated in missiles, rockets and computers. The limited market led to insufficient competition and manufacturers had no motivation to reduce costs.

But the advent of quartz watches changed everything.

Just over a year after Seiko launched the world's first quartz watch, the Astron, Girard-Perregaux launched the 350 quartz watch in 5, which had a built-in Motorola integrated circuit microprocessor to control the stepping motor, which was equivalent to cramming 300 transistors into an area of ​​4 square millimeters, greatly improving power consumption to milliamperes and improving battery life.

The selling price at that time was over $1800!

Its price is not even inferior to that of famous Swiss watches. Quartz watches have become a popular "black technology" in the market because of their accurate timing and high-tech features. Anyone wearing a quartz watch is the coolest guy in the village. Its popularity is not even inferior to that of the fruit machines in the 21st century.

Faced with the high-end watch market where a watch is equivalent to a car, American semiconductor companies have entered the market. Based on the advanced position of the electronic semiconductor industry, Texas Instruments, Fairchild Semiconductor, and National Semiconductor have entered the market, which has also caused the price of quartz watches to fall from the status of the earliest high-end watches to the ordinary, and the watch industry has been reshuffled. This has directly led to the famous "Quartz Crisis".

Although American quartz watches later withdrew from the market due to the impact of Hong Kong-made quartz watches, Texas Instruments, Fairchild Semiconductor, and National Semiconductor successfully completed their original accumulation by relying on the opportunity in the 1970s.

Before quartz watches, the annual global demand for microprocessors, or chips, was only a few hundred thousand pieces, but quartz watches brought it to the level of millions or even tens of millions of pieces. It was precisely because of market demand that companies increased their investment. With a large amount of investment and fierce competition, chip production and manufacturing technology advanced by leaps and bounds, and successfully achieved large-scale production of microprocessors. In the end, those American semiconductor companies made expensive microprocessors very cheap.

It can be said that the chip manufacturing industry of later generations rose from quartz watches and eventually transformed itself into a key technology that influences the development of human science and technology.

The quartz watch may look inconspicuous, but it is it that laid the foundation for chip technology!

It is for this reason that Li Yian attaches great importance to all of this.

"This kind of quartz watch costs 2500 yuan each, which is really not cheap. Not many people can afford it."

Yu Xiangdong on the side said with a smile:

"It doesn't matter if it's a little expensive. Black technology is always going to be expensive. As long as the market positioning is right, it's fine."

People are always willing to pay for black technology, no matter what era. Li Yian also said:
“Let Lange produce a batch of quartz watches as souvenirs for athletes participating in the Olympics! These athletes are the natural spokespersons for our products!”

When it comes to doing business, no one is better than Li Yian, not because of the skills activated by the system, but because he stands on the shoulders of historical giants. Sponsoring the Olympics to promote the brand is just the simplest way. However, Nanyang has been operating this for many years.

"For the athletes? All of them?"

Yu Xiangdong said quickly,
"This is not a small expense. According to the report from the organizing committee, there are 87 athletes from 5936 countries and regions this year. A watch costs 2500 yuan, which is almost 1500 million yuan! This expense is too much..." After Yu Xiangdong reminded him, Li Yian realized that million yuan was indeed too much, even enough to build a warship. So he said:

"It was my oversight, but I think we can provide it to the winning athletes, so that the cost should be acceptable."

Nanyang’s money didn’t come from the wind, so of course it can’t be squandered. After thinking about it, Li Yian said with some regret.

"It's a pity. In fact, these Olympic athletes are very good product spokespersons. Their value has not been fully explored. As product spokespersons, apart from the simplest Olympic champions endorsing products, many people overlook one point - a considerable number of Olympic athletes, especially those in Europe and the United States, are born into wealthy families. Can the poor and ordinary people afford to play sports and hire coaches?"

Except for the Soviet Union, which regarded the sports field as a battlefield for national glory and used the national system to train athletes, European and American athletes either relied on market-oriented operations to earn money for training, or relied on personal financial resources. Therefore, for a long time, sports were the stuff of the nobility.

"These people, whether they are well-known athletes or self-funded athletes, are all members of the upper class in their country. Their clothing and use of things will be imitated by the outside world. If we provide them with quartz watches... it should be able to set off a trend!"

Will this trend drive the development of Nanyang's microelectronics processor industry?

If you calculate it this way, isn't it worth spending 1500 million?

Just as Li Yian was considering whether to spend 1500 million to promote a wave of quartz watches and then promote the development of the microelectronics processor industry, Yu Xiangdong said:
“I don’t think it’s necessary for us to provide them with quartz watches. Since we have provided quartz watches to the winners, it is equivalent to telling the world that a watch with the world’s most advanced technology has been launched, which will definitely arouse the curiosity of many people.”

Although he is not a businessman, Yu Xiangdong still has some understanding of doing business.

"We don't have to provide it to everyone, but we can provide them with a commodity. A souvenir, like what we provided during the Asian Games."

Nanyang made money at the Asian Games two years ago because it launched mascots and a wide variety of other souvenirs, all of which were popular in the market.

Therefore, the organizing committee of this Olympic Games has also prepared mascots and a wide variety of souvenirs. It is only natural to add quartz watches to them.

"When faced with a product that has high technological content and carries the five Olympic rings, wealthy athletes will certainly be eager to get such a product. After all, they themselves are not short of money. In this way, they will take the initiative to endorse us."

Yu Xiangdong laughed:
"Since we can get them to endorse our products, why should we provide them for free? After all, things... if they are too common, they will lose value. The same watch as the Olympic winners. Well... it must be more attractive than souvenirs."

Yu Xiangdong's suggestion made Li Yian stunned at first, and then he burst into laughter.

"Haha, you're right, and this is a very good suggestion. Well, let's do as you say. Also, tell Lange to only offer 6000 yuan! We need to artificially create scarcity so that we can sell it at a high price."

Of course, it is precisely because of artificial scarcity that semiconductor companies have joined the ranks of quartz watch production.

In fact, this thing is not really artificially created to be scarce... because its production was indeed not easy in the beginning.

Just like that, after a brief chat, Li Yian picked up another report transferred from the Secret Intelligence Service. Just after reading the content, Li Yian was immediately attracted by the content of the report.

The content of the report was very simple. It mentioned not only the "Congo crisis" that was overshadowed by the sudden changes in the South Asian subcontinent, but also the division of the Congolese state - the Katanga province in southern Congo, which was supported by the Belgian government, declared "independence" from the republic.

After putting down the report, Li Yian said:
“This seems to be an opportunity for us.”

The reason for saying this is that Katanga Province in southern Congo is a major mining area, and the most attractive mine for Nanyang is the New Kolobwe Mine, which once provided almost all the uranium needed for the Manhattan Project to develop atomic bombs in the United States!

Although Australia's uranium mines provide a stable source of uranium supply for Nanyang, Australia is not under the control of Nanyang, and Nanyang cannot control that country. After all, it, like Nanyang, is a key member of the Commonwealth. Unless Nanyang wants to become the target of public criticism and risk being besieged by the Western world to occupy Australia, otherwise, Australia is just Nanyang's "federal brother."

What Nanyang needs is a country under its control!
Katanga Province in Congo...seems like a good choice!

(End of this chapter)