Chapter 233: Running Wildly
When Michiyoshi Mazuka hurried to the Fujitsu R&D building, Fujitsu's president Hiromasa Kiyomiya was personally leading Intel people on a tour.
"Mr. Last, please see that this is where Fujitsu develops DRAM chips."
Qing Gongbo pointed at the building in front of him and introduced it proudly.
Ben Last looked around the six-story building and asked in surprise, "What's in here?"
"Of course." Qing Gongbo couldn't hide the boastful look in his eyes.
“The technicians on the first level are developing 64KB DRAM, and the technicians on the second level are developing 256KB memory chips.
The third floor is 1M…” Qing Gong Bo didn’t say anything about what’s below.
But even so, Ben Last from Intel was still frightened by the scene before him.
He is Intel's production manager and his trip to Japan was mainly to visit the development of Neon Semiconductor.
In fact, the visit was fake, but the purpose was to spy on military intelligence.
Naturally, their American counterparts on the other side of the ocean have long heard about Japan's focus on chip research and development.
And I heard that the research results will be released soon, so during this period, American companies have been visiting related Japanese companies.
It didn't matter that he just watched it. After reading it, Rast kept shaking his head in disbelief.
Damn, too many resources are being invested in the development of these East Asian monkeys, and the pace of development is too fast.
64KB, 256KB, 1M...
Three arrows fired at once!
Laster bet that if Intel's president Andy Grove were here at this moment, he would also be scared.
You should know that the mainstream storage chip memory on the market is still in the 16KB era.
Although Intel is also developing 64KB chips, it currently does not even have a plan for 256KB and 1M chips!
But what he saw in front of him was that the Japanese were already investing manpower and starting to tackle the research and development of the next two generations of chips!
He saw that Japanese semiconductors would dominate the international market in the future!
He saw the semiconductor manufacturers in the United States wailing!
There is no doubt that the companies in Silicon Valley are still developing independently, and they are definitely no match for the Japanese in front of them.
Last and his colleagues looked at each other and saw the worry or fear in each other's eyes.
They have made up their minds to tell Andy what happened here when they return.
If Intel doesn't change, the future will definitely not be a happy ending.
There are only a few solutions to the current situation.
Either immediately catch up with Japan's R&D progress, or stop investing in memory chips and develop other businesses.
Or let Andy continue to lobby Congress and show these Japanese monkeys who is the real master of the world.
Rast's eyes flickered, and the look in his eyes was meaningful.
Even if this thing won't succeed at the moment, don't worry too much.
Intel now also has a processor chip business, an area that these Japanese seem to have completely ignored.
This is a blessing in disguise, Rast prayed silently in his heart.
…
After seeing off the Intel people, Kiyomiya Hiroshi returned to the office with Mazuka Michiyoshi in a proud mood.
The astonished expressions of those Americans just now are simply the highest level of praise for the Qing Palace Museum.
When will Americans also be amazed at Japan’s technological development?
Thirty years ago, no, more than twenty years ago, Japan didn’t even understand the most basic transistors.
They had no choice but to follow behind the American father and beg for mercy, and finally were granted transistor technology as if it were alms.
It has only been a short time now, and Neon is about to overtake.
It is really like a cycle of ups and downs.
Thinking about the shocked look in Rast's eyes just now, Qing Gongbo felt as if he had taken a panacea and felt extremely refreshed.
"Hmm~, how was the negotiation with the client introduced by Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank today?"
Qing Palace Museum, who was reminiscing about the past behind his desk, only remembered at this moment that there were other visitors today.
Michiyoshi Mazuka, who was standing in front of him, immediately lowered his head and responded, "It is a design company that makes processor-level chips.
We have reached a preliminary agreement and will conduct trial production here later.”
"Processor chip?" Qing Gong Bo asked in surprise.
"Hai" Mazuka Michiyoshi nodded in response.
"How strange!" Qing Gongbo was puzzled. This was an unpopular field. "How about chip evaluation?"
"It's surprisingly good, at least better than Intel's 8086 three years ago."
"Really?" Qing Gongbo nodded, "It's a good thing for Neon.
However, after later product verification, if the performance is acceptable, you can ask the other party whether they will accept financing.
The cost of tape-out must be a heavy burden for them, and Fujitsu can provide additional help.”
Michiyoshi Mazuka really wanted to say that the other party might not be short of money, but he saw that his own president was still in the mood to "promote the country's prestige."
He was wise not to spoil the fun, and he himself thought it was an "exciting event."
“By the way, 16KB DRAM will be launched on the market soon.
This time we are going to go big and aim for a 30% market share.”
"Hai!"
Michiyoshi Mazuka and Hiroshi Kiyomiya looked equally excited; they had been waiting for this day for too long.
Global memory chip market in 1978.
For 4KB memory chips, the United States accounts for 87% and Japan accounts for 13%.
The rest, such as the European Community and other Asian, African and Latin American countries, have basically no .
Starting this year, scientific research results brought about by national power have exploded.
In the 16KB memory chip business, VLSI Research Institute's initial estimate is that it will capture 30% of the global market.
Several companies involved in chip research and development have no doubt about this.
They know very well the advantages of their own chips, and the quality of American products is simply not up to par.
Even before Hiroshi Kiyomiya told Michiyoshi Mazuka, the VLSI Research Institute's internal market target for 64K memory chips was to exceed 50%.
That’s right, Japan owns more than 50%, and the rest belongs to the United States.
As for the future..., Qing Gongbo smiled even more proudly.
…
Not to mention that Japanese semiconductors are rushing towards occupying the world, or are frantically testing the edge of the abyss.
February passed quickly and March came quietly.
Baichuan Feng frowned as he studied the financial report in his hand. He didn't expect that the effect of the competitors' entry would be so immediate.
Just in February, the profit of Shirakawa Electric's Walkman business was compared with the monthly average in the second half of last year.
Not only did it not grow, but its share actually dropped by 8%.
This is just Panasonic. In March, my senior also launched Aiwa's low-end model.
Later in April and May or even earlier, there are Hitachi, NEC, etc.
Once everyone gathers together, Shirakawa Electric's share will be even less optimistic.
No matter how good Shirakawa Electric's Walkman is, it is impossible for it to maintain its previous market share.
This is the law of the market and he cannot change it.
And as far as he knows, Sony's market share is also declining.
Alas, it’s not fun when there are too many people.
In January, because it was the New Year, the profit was relatively higher, about 2.5 billion yen. By February, it was only a little more than 1.6 billion.
Compared with the monthly average of 1.8 billion in the second half of last year, there has been a significant decline.
Most of the profits from the crucial two months will have to be retained to fill the hole from the previous acquisition of Kitato Bank.
It will take at least half a year to offset the shortfall on the accounts.
The handheld game console business also made a profit of about 2 billion in two months due to the New Year bonus.
Most of them will be reserved for SIC for trial production of chips.
After the chip design is completed, tape-out is really a money-burning job.
It is no laughing matter if a tape-out fails and a small company goes bankrupt.
I’m short of money, Baichuan Feng sighed.
The total investment in my hometown will be around 1.5 billion yen, although it will be completed over several years.
However, the initial start-up capital also requires at least 30%, which is another burden.
Looking around, Baichuan Feng suddenly felt that money was needed everywhere.
The speed of making money is not slow, but the speed of spending money is also extremely fast.
Fortunately, the North American market is quite competitive, with revenue more than three times that of the domestic market.
However, due to the cross-border financial situation, the payment is slow.
Moreover, plans to build factories overseas also need to be put on the agenda, and all of these require money.
Oh yes, maybe it’s time to consider expanding into the European market.
All in all, the revenue from the North American market may account for most of the expenses.
Sure enough, this year is also a year of spending a lot of money.
Baichuan Feng put down the financial statements in his hand and began to think about where he could get more money.
But after thinking for a while, he gave up. Since he chose to do industry, he should not think about those crooked ways.
If you want to make money, you should start from industry. Thinking of this, Baichuan Feng decided to go to HAL to take a look.
The handheld game console business has been under development for more than half a year. Except for the early stage when I kept a close eye on it, I basically left it alone afterwards.
I wonder if Satoru Iwata and his team have come up with any interesting games.
They left as soon as they said they would. Soon, Shirakawa Kaede took a bus from Ota Ward straight to Akihabara.
Accompanying him was Akagi, who was in charge of the development of handheld hardware.
After almost two years of training, Akagi has shed the immaturity he had when he first joined Shirakawa Electric.
Along the way, he tactfully reported to Shirakawa Kaede various information about the handheld game console business.
Because there has been no breakthrough in technology, the sales volume of each handheld game console is now very mysterious.
How should I put it? The sales of each handheld game console is completely driven by the games.
If the game is popular, then this handheld console will sell well.
If the game is not attractive, then even if it is a newly released new product, it will still fail.
This is true .
The fundamental reason is that the current handheld game consoles have a "one hard and one soft" configuration.
The so-called one hard and one soft means a handheld game console and one game.
It's a pure disposable gaming machine, and honestly speaking, this design is a bit redundant.
As for whether there are plans to change this design method, it depends on the market and the cost.
At present, handheld game consoles are still new things, and they should be able to sell for a few more years if they maintain the current design.
Wait until the day when the sales volume of handheld game consoles drops significantly, or the cost of improving the design decreases.
Only then will Shirakawa Kaede consider the design of a completely new model.
As a capitalist, he has become increasingly qualified.
As Akagi finished his report, the office building where HAL was located came into view.
