Chapter 298: Money-Making Plan
In Tokyo, Shirakawa Kaede, who has returned to Shirakawa Electric, is busy dealing with the matters that have accumulated during this period.
In fact, there are not many things that need him to deal with. After all, he is not idle in his hometown in Akita.
The office is still the chairman's office left over from the old Watanabe Electric office building.
Although most of Shirakawa Electric's employees moved to Kanagawa, Shirakawa Kaede stayed.
Although the place is a bit old and the facilities are not very complete.
But after all, it is located in Tokyo, so it is much more convenient for conducting business and other activities.
As for the headquarters on Shibuya Center Street, the roof has now been completed.
It will take another half a year to complete the decoration and layout, and we expect to be able to move in in the second half of this year.
So, Baichuan Feng looked at the somewhat old office and sighed with relief.
Just be patient for now and climb to the top in half a year to see the most prosperous street scene in Tokyo.
Knock, knock. There was a knock on the door.
Shirakawa Feng raised his head and saw it was Assistant Komatsu.
"Mr. President, we have already found two candidates for the new HR director position. When would you like to arrange the interview?"
HR director? After a brief moment of confusion, Bai Chuanfeng came to his senses and said, "Next Tuesday."
"Hai" Assistant Komatsu quietly left the room.
Ever since the president came back, I have been in a daze these past two days.
What's strange is that Kobayashi-san, who was always inseparable from him, hasn't appeared since the year, and now he is preparing to recruit a new human resources director.
Assistant Kosong didn't know what was going on, and she didn't dare to ask. At this moment, she could only pretend to be a transparent person and reduce her presence.
"By the way, I'll call SIC later and I'll go over there later."
"Hai!" Assistant Komatsu, who had just retreated to the door, suddenly responded with a sharp voice, subconsciously raising his head and chest.
With a wave of his hand, the office returned to silence again.
Baichuan Feng looked at the empty desk, a hint of memory flashing in his eyes.
Ever since Asuka Kobayashi left, he always felt like something was missing around him.
There are still some things he hasn't figured out, such as why Asuka Kobayashi is hiding from him and how she avoids her family's request to find a son-in-law.
You can't just bring an heir back out of thin air, that's too ridiculous.
Wait! A flash of light flashed through Baichuan Feng's mind. Could it be such a coincidence?
Thinking back to the days when I was with Xiaolin, it seemed that I didn't take any safety measures.
There was also the discomfort I felt every time I faced sashimi during my trip to Hokkaido, and the sight of me jogging to the bathroom.
Baichuan Feng seemed to understand something. He grabbed the phone on the table and wanted to dial it.
However, just as he put the phone to his ear, he suddenly remembered that he didn't even know the phone number of Asuka Kobayashi's home.
A bitter smile appeared on his face, which really caught me off guard.
Forget it. I guess she won’t see me now. I’ll ask her when I go to Fukuoka on a business trip.
Putting aside his worries, Shirakawa Kaede prepared to go to SIC in Shibuya. He could already start planning for many things.
…
"Is this SIC's new generation 8-bit processor chip?" Bai Chuanfeng looked at the small thin piece in his hand with a focused expression.
"That's right," Shima Masayoshi seemed to be in a good mood. "SIC808A has been successfully taped out. After testing, it basically meets the design requirements and no additional changes are needed."
Compared with the previous two chips, the design requirements of the 8-bit processor are much lower, and the difficulty is also reduced sharply.
Therefore, Masayoshi Shima completed the chip finalization and trial production without spending much effort.
"What is our production cost?" In addition to performance, the issue that Shirakawa Feng is most concerned about is cost.
This is related to the core competitiveness of the product and is also one of the key factors in whether the market can be opened up.
“Based on the calculation of 100,000 pieces, the cost per piece is about US$8. If the shipment volume reaches 1 million pieces, the cost will be reduced to US$5.
If the number continues to increase to 10 million, the unit cost of our chips may even drop to less than $3."
Heitaro Nakajima also has a very detailed understanding of this issue.
Since taking over as president of SIC, the chip business has been his top priority.
And when talking about the shipment volume of 10 million, his eyes were even brighter than Shirakawa Kaede's.
Apparently the profits from chips stimulated him. If he didn't understand, he wouldn't know. He was shocked when he saw it.
Currently, the 8-bit chips from the United States on the market generally sell for around US$25 to US$30.
Today, SIC's 8-bit chip costs around $8, so will the cost of chip manufacturers such as Zilog and MOS be higher than $8?
Of course not, they will only be lower. But z80 and mos6502 can be sold for 30 dollars, which shows how high the profit is.
And that's not even counting the chip aristocrats Intel and Motorola, whose 8-bit chips are sold at higher prices and command higher profits.
"President Shirakawa, how much is our 8-bit chip priced at?"
As he spoke, Nakajima Heitaro was already rubbing his hands in anticipation, he couldn't wait to enter the scene and grab the food.
The Americans’ pricing was too unfair. Only after he got involved in this industry personally did he realize how much he had been cheated.
Now that he has become the master of the serf class, he really wants to teach those Americans how to wage a price war.
"About 18 to 20 dollars." Shirakawa Kaede gave an answer that surprised both Nakajima Heitaro and Shima Masayoshi.
"Eh?" Nakajima Heitaro looked at him strangely. When did his junior brother become so kind ?
Logically speaking, since there is such a huge room for price reduction, shouldn’t the price be set at a super low level to severely dampen the prestige of American chips?
Just like Japan’s current DRAM chips, both price and quality are far superior to products from well-known manufacturers such as Intel.
According to information obtained by Heitaro Nakajima from Fujitsu, Japan's share of the DRAM chip market this year is likely to exceed the expected 30%.
This is 30% of the global market. Five years ago, this figure was less than 10%.
The market share has more than tripled in just a few years. What is the reason? Isn’t it ultra-low prices and reliable quality?
Now Nakajima Heitaro is trying to copy this model, but Shirakawa Kaede's pricing strategy seems to have no such intention at all.
Seeing that he was still surprised, Baichuan Feng patiently explained to him the reason for doing so.
“Brother Nakajima, the price of our enhanced 8-bit chip is already far lower than the market price.
The reason for doing so before was to open up the market. Now, after half a year of development, SIC8089 has begun to gain a reputation.
In addition to Namco, Taito and Sega are also asking us for prices, and their purchasing intention is very strong.
It can be said that SIC8089 has initially gained a foothold and the goal of low price has been achieved.
Therefore, for the latest generation of 8-bit chips, we will return to normal market prices.
After all, low price is only a means, not an end. Market share and profit are our ultimate goals.
Besides, with a cost of $8, the range for price to drop is very small.
A price that is too low will affect our profit margins and will also be a hindrance to the release of subsequent products.”
Baichuan Feng’s meaning is very clear, that is, SIC8089 has completed its low-price mission.
As long as we have stable customers, we can return to normal prices for new products.
After all, he is not doing charity. With a cost of $8, it is normal for me to make a profit of $10 to $12.
At least it is much more conscientious than Zilog's profit of more than 20 US dollars.
Besides, Baichuan Feng didn't want to take too big a step, as that would easily lead to trouble.
For example, in the current DRAM business, Japanese manufacturers are selling their products at such low prices that they will sooner or later attract the iron fist of capitalism.
In fact, it doesn’t matter if the price is low, but it’s too greedy to live a cheap life.
The VLSI Research Institute formed by Fujitsu and NEC companies wants to monopolize the profits of the entire chip industry chain.
Yes, the entire industry chain.
From chip raw materials, intermediate materials, manufacturing equipment to chip products, the entire industry chain is moving forward in tandem, leaving no room for others.
If we allow it to continue, not only the United States, but the whole world will be in trouble.
Anyone would be anxious, but that's not how business is done.
If Japan has its own sovereignty, that's fine, but don't you know what your status is?
After all, they are still inflated and want to overthrow the Americans to have a taste of being the boss.
Although he is the boss financially, Baichuan Feng still wants to say: Gouzi, it is better for you to be honest until the chain around your neck is untied.
At least Baichuan Feng is working on chips with the mentality of developing slowly at this time. He can do whatever he wants in Japan, but he has always been very cautious about the foreign market.
He didn't want to alert a giant like Intel too early, so he took steady steps in his home country and consolidated his base first.
In fact, even if it is Neon, when SIC occupies a large enough market share, it will sooner or later alarm Intel.
Fortunately, processor chips were not taken seriously at that time, so Baichuan Feng still had a few years to develop slowly.
After listening to Shirakawa Kaede's explanation, Nakajima Heitaro and Shima Masayoshi both nodded slightly.
Although as the president, Heitaro Nakajima still wants to occupy as much market as possible, he also knows that a company exists to make profits.
Too low a profit margin will indeed affect the research and development of the next generation of products. As long as the price is always slightly higher than the market price, there will be no worries about SIC's orders.
Just after the New Year, Namco placed another order for 100,000 chips.
At $60 per set, each set makes a profit of $15, which is nearly 400 million yen in profit.
It’s really great. The design of SIC8089 has been completed long ago. Now I can just do nothing and make money.
As for Taito and Sega, it was impossible for them not to have some thoughts when they saw the popularity of Namco's new arcade machines.
If you ask around a bit, you will learn about the existence of SIC chips. They were not used before because they were too expensive.
It's rare to find low-priced products from Japan for sale nowadays, so why wouldn't you want to give it a try?
According to Heitaro Nakajima's prediction, the two companies currently in talks will most likely place an order later.
In this way, SIC's reputation will spread further and further, and there will be more and more orders.
He has even begun to consider the latest 8-bit chips and should continue to recommend them to those companies.
"The distribution channels for chips should not be limited to arcade machines. Any consumer electronics manufacturer is one of our potential customers.
In addition, some industrial equipment manufacturers also need a large number of processor chips, and the market in this area must also be developed simultaneously."
"Hayi"
The arcade market only occupies a small share of chip applications, which Shirakawa Feng thinks is just a small test.
The subsequent promotion on multiple platforms is when SIC really makes money.
