Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1374 The Era of the New and the Old (Second Update, Please Subscribe)

100mm wafer!

Its appearance was not even worthy of a business card-sized piece of text in a newspaper, and there was no corresponding report even in a physics magazine.

To the outside world, it is barely worth mentioning.

At this time, related companies in the United States had just produced 50 mm wafers, and the exposure resolution was only at the 50-micron level.

Therefore, from any perspective, BPC Electronic Materials' wafer technology is at an absolute leading level. Its emergence means that it is possible to produce processors with higher performance.

But…still not news worthy.

Sometimes, that's just the way it is.

When the Industrial Revolution occurred, people often knew nothing, such as when the steam engine was first invented.

In today's world, people's understanding of industry is still stuck in the traditional way. Although a 100mm wafer is not worthy of a small corner in a newspaper, the news of the completion of the No. blast furnace of Heli Steel Company located in the northwest of Yongning was reported in the newspaper.

Not only was it worthy of being in the news, it even attracted the arrival of officials. Ding Changjie, the mayor of Yongning, came to Heli Steel Company on the third day after the blast furnace was completed.

“This is the largest blast furnace in the world!”

Looking at the giant blast furnace, Ding Changjie said:

“It looks like a small hill.”

His words made everyone around him laugh.

“Mr. Mayor, Heli’s 5800m blast furnace has the largest effective volume in the world. Its designed annual output is 450 million tons. Modern technology is fully utilized in the design of the blast furnace…”

After the company manager Hans introduced the technical equipment level of the blast furnace, Ding Changjie said:
"It seems that we only need four or five such blast furnaces to achieve the goal of an annual output of 20 million tons!"

2000 million tons!

This is the planned production capacity of Heli Steel Company. As the third large steel company in NBC, Heli was built the latest - it was only two years ago that Heli Company invested in and started this project. As for the launch of the project, it is also directly related to Ding Changjie, as it was he who strongly advocated the promotion of this project back then.

"Mayor, 2000 million tons is just an early target. I think its scale should be twice that in the future, including the output of Donghai and Dongning Steel Companies..."

Hans' words made Ding Changjie a little confused:

"why is that?"

“Because of the market.”

Hans said directly:

"Our equipment is all state-of-the-art. The fuel used in our blast furnaces is 15% lower than that of European and American steel companies. In terms of steelmaking technology, 70% of American steel companies currently use open-hearth steel, and about 50% in Europe. Open-hearth steelmaking is not only time-consuming, but also requires a lot of fuel. Its production cost is much higher than that of converters. The direct smelting cost of crude steel alone is more than 30% higher than ours. In addition, we use continuous casting machines and other equipment. In terms of overall cost, our product cost is about 30% lower than that of European and American products. A 30% gap..."

Hans emphasized this number and then said:

"This gap is enough for our products to sweep the world. This is the cost advantage brought by technology! In just ten years, our steel products will occupy most of the European and American markets."

This is not bragging, but a fact. In another world, Xiaozi relied on the price advantage brought by modern metallurgical equipment to sweep the European and American markets, especially the American market, which was hit hard. During this process, the American steel industry once faced a serious recession, and many companies went bankrupt due to fierce international competition and low imported steel prices. This triggered the protracted Japan-US steel trade conflict.

Although Ding Yunjie was not clear about business matters, he was very clear that American companies were no match for NBC in this kind of competition. The simplest example was that in the past few years, several major radio manufacturers in the United States were almost forced to close down due to competition from NBC products. Under pressure from Washington, NBC companies automatically restricted the export of radios to the United States. But in fact, the era of radios is over, and portable players that can play tapes are the mainstream of the market. Restrictions are just restrictions in vain.

"So, by then our production will be almost 1.5 million tons!"

When talking about 1.5 million tons, Ding Changjie's face was full of anticipation. Having experienced war, he knew the importance of steel very well.

"The current output of the United States is not even 1 million tons!" "That's because of economic and political reasons, which have led to a decline in U.S. steel production. Their actual production capacity is far higher than million tons."

The "political reason" Hans mentioned was the fierce conflict between Kennedy and the tycoons of the American steel industry last year. In order to curb inflation, Kennedy did not allow the steel tycoons to raise product prices. However, the steel companies ignored the intervention of the White House and competed to limit production and raise prices.

Kennedy was enraged and publicly criticized that a small group of steel executives' desire for power and money swallowed up their sense of social responsibility. He immediately launched an offensive. The Department of Justice investigated the above price increase and sent FBI agents to interview the executives of the steel mills that raised the price. The Pentagon transferred some submarine contracts to small steel mills that refused to raise prices.

The dispute ultimately ended with the steel industry's compromise, but the cost was that the Wall Street stock market was hit and the steel industry was affected.

"After all, they are an old industrial country!"

Smiling, Ding Changjie asked some more questions such as types of steel. Coming from the secretary's office of the official residence, he was in charge of news affairs when he was in the official residence. Although he didn't know much about steel production, he knew that there were many types of steel, and that high-quality steel not only had high prices and high profit margins, but was also indispensable in industrial production such as automobiles, shipbuilding, and national defense.

During the period of NBC's steel industry construction, although it was able to produce most types of steel with the help of European engineers, in fact, it benefited more from the United States. In the past decade or so, NBC has introduced a large amount of steel technology from the United States.

What is "raising a tiger to bring disaster upon oneself"? The Americans who consider themselves "number one on the blue planet" at this time obviously have not yet realized this problem. They are not even aware that the steel industry they are proud of has fallen behind the times and will be eliminated by the cruel market in at most ten years.

However, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. American steel companies still have a large amount of high-quality steel smelting technology in their hands, which is the most valuable treasure for American steel entrepreneurs, including US Steel.

But it doesn’t matter. In the days to come, they will transfer technology little by little to overcome the business crisis... Because of the impact of imported steel, their operations are difficult, and in order to alleviate the difficulties, they have transferred a large amount of steel technology to foreign companies.

The result is that foreign steel companies have become stronger and stronger in this process. These people don't know this. When Ding Changjie visited the steel company, he felt more of the overwhelming power of heavy industry. So when he left the steel company and came to Silicon Valley, the industry he had been promoting with all his strength after seeing a document in the official residence, he had no interest in it at all.

After leaving Silicon Valley, seeing his boss’s lack of interest, Miles said:

"Boss, it seems that Silicon Valley is nothing compared to the steel company. The scale is not even worth mentioning!"

“It really doesn’t look like Silicon Valley is that promising.”

Ding Changjie agreed:

"But no matter what, we have to push it forward. This is an industry that you value. You are very insightful in your investment vision. When transistors first came out, there were all kinds of problems. But who would have thought that within a few years, they would replace electron tubes so quickly?"

Glancing outside the car, Ding Changjie continued:

"Besides, if it weren't for transistors and the integrated circuits that came after, how could our NBC's electronics industry have grown and prospered? How could it have defeated radio and television equipment in other countries around the world? In the final analysis, it was your insistence on developing transistors and integrated circuits that made it possible. So, although Silicon Valley may not look promising, it is very important. However..."

After a brief pause, Ding Changjie said in an affirmative tone:
"Your Excellency is optimistic about this industry, so we must fully support it. Only in this way can you look at Yongning differently!"

It is indeed a different view. Every year when you come to Yongning, you must visit Silicon Valley. Even the name Silicon Valley was given by you.

Ding Changjie, an official from the old official residence, was very familiar with the four words "to cater to the interests of the people". However, he did not know that it was because of this that he stopped at the deputy director of the office. Although he became the mayor, Li Yian's impression of him was that of a typical official.

Ding Changjie, whose fate was already decided, was not aware of this at all and still said proudly:
"As long as you are happy, that's all."

As long as the Excellency is happy, how far is it for me to be happy? As for the future, Ding Changjie has his own plans. Returning to the center of Chang'an and becoming the director of a department is the ultimate dream of all civil servants!
Seeing that the boss was in a good mood, Miles said:

"Boss, Rasmussen has been wanting to meet you. Do you want to meet him?"

Rasmussen is the president of DKW Industries. Unlike many local "OEM" companies, this is a German company with authentic blood.

"Oh, it's Rasmussen. He must still want to build cars."

Ding Changjie already knew what Rasmussen was thinking, and naturally knew why he wanted to ask him out.

After thinking for a while, Ding Changjie said:
"Then let's meet! Let's go to Yunjian Mountain tonight!"

After saying that, Ding Changjie leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. The car drove all the way to the highway...

(End of this chapter)