With the Time Shop, I Too Am the Greatest Conglomerate of All Time

Episode 98. Super 301.

Sungwoon Logic President Lee Byung-hoon asked me.

“If it’s a hidden weapon, are you talking about Drill 2?”

“Hmm. How are you going to use it?”

“I’ll tell you when I’ve got my mind set on it. There are many ways, and I think we need to think more about which one is better.”

“Five! Isn’t there one way?”

“yes. That’s why it’s so important to be technologically superior. There are so many cards to choose from. It could be a good day. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to take this opportunity to correct the arrogance of Americans that they can do whatever they want. Mr. Lee, please focus on Drill 2 Core Custom until I contact you. If the performance can be improved, it will become a more powerful weapon.”

In the end, the US administration has notified that it has designated Korea as its preferred negotiator for trade.

The Korean government is in a state of emergency.

two days after that.

A special meeting led by the president was convened, and all the people related to the semiconductor industry gathered.

And I and President Lee Byung-hoon were also invited to the place.

The Blue House main building conference room.

Arrived 15 minutes before the meeting, most of the people were already seated except for the president and his aides.

I sat down at my name tag and looked around.

When he made eye contact with Vice Chairman Jin Seon-ho, he gave a light bow.

I heard a disgruntled voice from the other side of me.

“The culprit that caused this situation is very relaxed.”

I turned my head and looked ahead, and Hwansung Group Chairman Yang Ki-moon was staring at me.

The others nodded their heads.

Well. Everyone seems to have noticed that it’s been three months because of my drill.

I replied calmly to those words that were quite sharp.

“You can even call him the culprit. Is it a sin to make good things? The problem is that the US government has responded to it in such a mean way.”

“Now is not the time to talk about such a principled thing. How are you going to do this?”

“What does the president want me to do? Can we just withdraw the drill from the US market?”

“Of course it is. We can’t all drown and die together just to save Kang.”

It was nonsense.

If their position had changed, they would have decided to try to find a solution by any means.

The moment I’m about to say a word.

A member of the presidential bodyguard standing near the entrance shouted.

“The president enters. Everyone, please stand up.”

As soon as the people got up from their seats, President Ahn Il-jung and his aides including the chief of staff entered the conference room.

President Ahn Il-jung opened his mouth.

“Everyone worked hard to get here. Have a seat.”

After everyone was seated, the President’s Secretariat staff handed out papers to the attendees.

After a while the chief of staff to the president said:

“What you have just received are the conditions the American side has demanded of us. In a nutshell, it is a call to cut tariffs on U.S. semiconductors and to more than double the industrial electricity tariffs of semiconductor manufacturers, which are cheaper than household electricity. If the requirements are not met, we will impose a special tariff of 50% on domestic semiconductors.”

At those words, sighs escaped the people’s mouths.

“her. 50%… This is equivalent to an import ban.”

..Chairman Yang deserves to be displeased.

If tariffs are lowered, the price of US-made semiconductors will fall, weakening the price competitiveness of Korean memory semiconductor makers.

But the second requirement was a bigger problem than the first.

Because the semiconductor industry is basically driven by electricity with almost all processes being automated.

Electricity bills alone cost hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

If it more than doubles, it will cost hundreds of billions more.

The production cost will increase significantly.

It was a difficult condition to accept, but it was impossible to pay a 50% tariff.

It was obvious that the price would rise by 50% and the sales would drop sharply.

The president looked at me and said.

“Jaewoon Kang, CEO of TM Mirae Corporation. Do you know that it all started because of the drill CPU that CEO Kang made?”

I thought there was going to be a lot of blaming me.

The next moment, the president smiled favorably.

“I don’t think CEO Kang did anything wrong. No, I am rather proud.”

“yes. If the United States was surprised by President Kang, how would they have come out with Super 301? In the meantime, we, Korea, have been praised from all sides as a semiconductor powerhouse, but it literally meant something similar to an adult congratulating a small child that he has grown a little bit taller. If they thought they were the same adult, they would have sent a look of check rather than words of congratulations. I think this incident is nothing more than proving that Korea has finally stood on the same level as the United States. And that’s all thanks to CEO Kang.”

“..Thank you for saying that.”

“haha. no. CEO Kang feels responsible for this situation and I want to tell him not to do it if he decides to leave the business. CEO Kang, do what he has to do. There is no greater patriotism than that if he makes good CPUs and exports them all over the world. If difficulties arise in the process, I will actively help the Korean government. That’s why the people put us here.”

After the president’s words were finished, Chairman Yang Ki-moon opened his mouth with a trembling face.

“You are right, but this is the reality. If the U.S. triggers Super 301, the damage would be huge. However, if we listen to the other conditions, the damage will not be too great. Wouldn’t it be better to withdraw the drill from the US market? If that’s the result, they will be convinced and back off.”

The United States was the largest market in the world.

More than half of the drill’s sales are still coming from the United States, and asking them to take it out was like saying I had to give up half of my profits.

“Chairman Yang. That way, once we start to roll our tails, we can’t be a superpower forever. Although we cannot steal someone else’s rice bowl, we have to protect our rice bowl. And now, system semiconductors are the target, but we do not know when that will change to memory semiconductors. Will you tell me to give up like this too?”

“Like the president of a large corporation, please look at it from afar and think in a grand way.”

Despite the president’s words, Chairman Yang did not give up his stubbornness.

“…I’m sorry, President. If the target is changed to memory semiconductors and other companies are harmed because of me, I am willing to withdraw from the business in the United States. And I think CEO Kang should do the same.”

It’s like a raccoon inspiration.

It must have come out knowing that the US would never do that against memory semiconductors.

At those words, Vice Chairman Jin Seon-ho stepped forward.

“Chairman Yang. Aren’t you a bit harsh?”

“I?”

“yes. CEO Kang did nothing wrong, so why should he leave the business?”

Chairman Yang snorted.

“Vice President Jin. If you are running a business, you can inflict damage even if it is not your fault. Vice-President Jin is the one who judges well. If you try to revive the foundry business that Kowon Electronics is taking side by side, your main business, the memory business, may be ruined.”

There seemed to be many people thinking like Chairman Yang, and he nodded his head here and there.

‘This, I can’t stand still.’

I raised my hand before the atmosphere completely tilted towards withdrawing the drill.

The president saw it and asked.

“Chief Kang? Do you have anything to say?”

“I am the cause of this situation, so I will solve it once.”

“Are you representative of Kang?”

“Well. Since it is related to our company’s confidential information, we cannot provide details. But within six months, we’ll get the US back on our request.”

“CEO Kang alone?”

“yes. I have a method I have come up with, and it will probably work.”

The President asked with a worried face, fiddling with his chin.

“Well. CEO Kang is a talented person, so there may be a secret plan like that. But our government doesn’t want to let go and just watch, is there anything I can do to help?”

“If yes, there is one thing you can do for me.”

“You will be negotiating with the USTR soon, so I hope you will give me a little time so that a conclusion cannot be reached within six months.”

Super Section 301 comes into effect immediately after negotiations with the USTR are over.

It meant that the invocation of Super Article 301 could be prevented by withdrawing the USTR’s designation as a preferred negotiator before the end of the negotiations.

The longer the negotiation period, the more time I had to prepare, which was advantageous to me.

“..Is that okay?”

“Yeah, that’s enough to help.”

“Hmm..”

At that time, Chairman Yang Ki-moon interrupted and continued.

“Then what if things don’t go as well as CEO Kang thinks? What will you do then?”

“If the U.S. does not withdraw its request after six months, then we will withdraw the drill from the U.S. market.”

Hwansung Group’s core affiliate was Hwansung Electronics.

Memory semiconductors were one of Hwansung Electronics’ important businesses.

I don’t know what Chairman Yang will do to protect his business.

It was necessary to put a condition on him to reassure him.

The president stopped me with a surprised face.

“Chairman Kang. Are you withdrawing from the US market? It cannot be.”

“President. That’s when my plans failed. If it succeeds, of course, I have no intention of withdrawing.”

“I think I have to show this level of determination so that other people will wait until then. If this escalates into an internal fight, aren’t we the only ones hurting?”

When he looked at Chairman Yang at the end of those words, he said with a reluctant face.

“..I wish I could withdraw right away, but I can wait for about six months.”

asked the president.

“Are you really okay?”

“yes. Please believe me. I will make sure to withdraw the request from the U.S. side within six months.”

The meeting ended like that.

President Lee Byung-hoon asked as he left the main building of the Blue House.

“Chairman Kang. Will Drill 2 really work?”

“Sure. America will really realize just how powerful advanced technology is this time.”

“..okay. CEO Kang will do very well, but this time I am a little worried because he is my opponent.”

“haha. Please believe me. It will be fine.”

#end of December.

The meeting room of T-Project at the head office.

“Daewon hyung. Are you ready for the D-Tab release?”

My brother replied with a strange expression on his face.

“under. It’s a bit vague whether this should be called a problem…”

“I didn’t do any advertisements, but there were 200,000 pre-orders from overseas, including the bestsellers in the US.”

“okay? That’s good. After reading the IFA article, you must have liked D-Tab. But why?”

“Quantity is an issue. The yield of the production line is not coming out well yet. Considering that it will be sold in Korea, I think at least 300,000 units should be in stock before release, but now only 150,000 units have been picked up.”

“When did overseas pre-orders come in?”

“At the beginning of this month.”

“Then it’s been almost three weeks, hasn’t it? But only 150,000 have been released yet? I think I heard that Kowon Electronics can pull out 500,000 units a month.”

“If the yield is over 90%, that’s the case. However, there are many defects in the process of bonding the touch screen and LCD panel. There are many cases where they stick to each other crookedly, and there are cases where air bubbles get in between them in the process of attaching them. I kept asking Go Won Electronics to increase the yield, but it must not be easy for that side as well.”

Since there are very few PC products that use touch screens, problems may arise in the early stages of production.

But in a situation where the damage was expected, I couldn’t just sit around and watch.

I looked at Daewon hyung and continued talking.

“Tell it to Kowon Electronics. If we don’t meet 300,000 units by two weeks after the release date, we will bring in another company and divide it into two.”