Chapter 408: Accumulation of Wealth
After several years of development, SIC is no longer an unknown company in Neon.
Especially in the industry, SIC has attracted a lot of attention as Japan 's first company to develop its own products.
In terms of technology research and development, SIC basically retains about 10% of its profits each year and invests them in the research and development of the next generation of chips.
After the last update and iteration, SIC's 8-bit chips currently have two families: 8089A and 80289M.
Under them are detailed branches developed for various application scenarios, totaling dozens of them .
This year's 8-bit chip shipments have increased to around 5 million compared to 3 million last year.
Although shipments increased 1.67 times, profits did not grow by the same multiple.
Compared with last year's profit of 11.25 billion yen, this year's profit is 13.75 billion yen, which is still some distance away from 18.8 billion, which is 1.67 times.
The reason is that with the large-scale application of 1.5-micron manufacturing process, the manufacturing cost of chips has also dropped significantly.
Since the cost has dropped, the price will naturally drop as well.
After all, there is more than one company manufacturing chips around the world, and where there is competition there is room for price reduction.
A year or two ago, the price of an 8-bit chip was in the range of US$20 to US$25. Today, the price of an 8-bit chip has dropped to around US$13 to US$15.
The price of SIC's 8-bit chips is also within this range and cannot be reduced any further. If it is reduced further, SIC's profit will even be lower than last year.
Nowadays, it is quite good to maintain a profit of 10 to 11 US dollars per chip. At least there is still profit.
In the future, with the continuous advancement of technology, Moore's Law will become more and more prominent in the chip industry.
By that time, the cost of developing a chip will increase significantly because the number of transistors integrated inside the chip will increase exponentially.
The costs required for masking, etching, and testing may be many times higher than they are now, so the sooner you enter the chip industry, the sooner you can make money.
When the process evolves to the nanometer level, the number of transistors inside the chip will increase to tens of millions or even hundreds of millions.
Imagine how huge a project it would be to arrange so many transistors into an ideal circuit.
Without the original underlying architecture as a reference, it is simply a fantasy to expect to achieve everything in one step.
This is also the reason why several major semiconductor manufacturers in Japan want SIC architecture technology.
After several years of iteration, SIC's technology has become quite mature.
NEC is not saying that they don't have relevant technical talent, but even if they did, it would take several years to reach the current level by starting from scratch.
But after a few years, will the chip technology level remain stagnant and wait for NEC and others to catch up? The answer is obvious.
Therefore, the fastest way to enter the industry is to obtain other people's technology and start your own research and development based on this technology.
Of course, the dealings with NEC are a matter of later times. Now SIC is still making a lot of money in the neon market.
Compared with the 8-bit chip with a shipment volume of more than 5 million, its enhanced versions 8089 and 80289 had a total shipment volume of more than 2.5 million.
Compared with last year's 1.4 million, it has increased significantly. Although its profit has also shrunk, it still remains at around US$30.
2.5 million pieces means a profit of 18.75 billion yuan, which is about 1.5 times higher than last year's 12.25 billion yuan.
It can also be seen here that the more internal transistors there are, the more complex the process is. Although its profits are also affected by the new process, the decline is limited.
This is most evident in 16-bit chips, where SIC made $180 per chip last year.
Although the price has dropped to around US$200 to US$250 this year, the cost has also dropped significantly compared to before.
Last year, the cost of 300,000 pieces was close to $100 per piece, but this year it is only around $60.
And because Fujitsu used 8081 in large quantities in high-end computers , annual shipments once reached 500,000 units.
Together with the 300,000 pieces shipped in other fields, a total of 800,000 16-bit chips were shipped.
They brought SIC a profit of US$120 million, or 30 billion yen.
As for the 20,000 to 30,000 latest 80281 units shipped to Apple, the company suffered a loss of $20 per unit.
SIC spent about $500,000 on this batch of goods. The shipment volume was too small and the cost could not be reduced.
Of course, as a ticket it is still cost-effective. As long as Apple's evaluation of SIC remains unchanged, there is no need to worry about not making money in the future.
The total profit of all SIC's family chips has reached 62.5 billion yen, or 250 million US dollars.
Tsk, it has increased less than twice compared to last year.
However, this profit figure is almost catching up with Toshiba's entire semiconductor business unit.
No wonder they couldn't wait and wanted to take action against SIC. The processor chip market is indeed growing at an impressive rate.
However, I don’t know whether SIC can maintain this growth rate in a few years.
After all, Japan has Fujitsu, Hitachi and Toshiba that have obtained authorization from SIC.
A few years is enough for them to develop corresponding chips and apply them to their own products.
But after thinking about it carefully, Baichuan Feng put aside his worries.
Because the most affected are only the products of these few companies, they are not yet able to compete with SIC in the external market.
At the development speed of Moore's Law, by the time they develop their own chips a few years later, SIC's 32-bit chip will have already been released.
There is no doubt that in the cutting-edge market, SIC is still unique in Japan.
Moreover, with the development of overseas markets, SIC's territory will become larger and larger.
“SIC’s main target for next year is overseas, especially the computer market.
In terms of external licensing, it can be opened to chip companies in non-computer fields, such as instrument and equipment manufacturers like Analog Devices.
But in the field of CPU processors..." Baichuan Feng paused, "This is the jewel in the crown of SIC's technology, and it must never be given to others!"
"Yes!" Nakajima Heitaro agreed with a serious expression.
He also understood that computer processors would be SIC's exclusive domain, at least in Neon.
Speaking of computers, Shirakawa Kaede turned his attention to Kimura Eiji.
"Kimura-san, how about the computer that Anko is working on with Softbank this year?"
When his name was called, Eiji Kimura stood up quickly, his expression showing excitement.
“UW (Union world) computer sales were pretty good, with 130,000 sold in the first year.
Mr. Sun has already raised his sales forecast for next year, and Anke has received more orders than in previous periods.”
As a brand new computer brand, selling over 100,000 units in the first year can be considered a huge success.
The sales of Sharp's X series computers are only about 200,000 units if they are doing well.
In contrast, SoftBank's development in the computer field can be considered to have got off to a good start.
This also proves that the computer market has indeed become increasingly hot in the past two years.
SIC's profits and Anko's data both tell Shirakawa Feng one thing.
That is computer fever, which may gradually rise in the next few years and eventually trigger an information revolution that will affect the global economy.
Tsk, the wind and waves are getting stronger.
All these signs made Baichuan Feng a little envious of the computer market.
But after thinking about it, I decided to forget it and focus on my own notebook first.
It will be the sail of Shirakawa Electric's future in the information field, and SIC's chips and HAL's software will protect it.
And because Anke proved for the first time its ability in product design.
Although Eiji Kimura's hair is getting grayer now, he is more energetic than before.
It’s better to make money by making your own products.
Last year, the profit from OEM was only 1 billion yen, but this year, new products such as computer motherboards and power supplies were launched.
As well as the business of assembling computers for SoftBank, Anko's operating profit has reached 6 billion yen.
Although the total amount is not large, it has increased sixfold compared to last year.
The growth is very gratifying, and Eiji Kimura is already very satisfied in his heart.
When he was working alone, Kimura Manufacturing's profit was only 200 to 300 million yen in its best years.
Although Eiji Kimura only owns 30% of the shares of Anko Electric now.
But out of the 6 billion in profits, at least 1.5 billion should be distributed among them.
Look, what is this?
This is a blessing in disguise.
When Kimura Manufacturing was acquired by Mr. Shirakawa, it might have been his luck.
The smug Eiji Kimura had no idea how he had knelt on the ground and begged Shirakawa Kaede to show mercy.
Of course, Baichuan Feng doesn't care about his thoughts now. After learning about Anke's business situation, he finally has a clearer understanding of the manufacturing industry under Baichuan Holdings.
The battery factory made 4 billion yen, the LCD factory made 15 billion yen, and the optical disc factory made 3.5 billion yen. These peripheral non-core businesses made a total profit of 22.5 billion yen.
Shirakawa Electric, a leader in the manufacturing industry, made $1.908 billion in profit from all its products. But if you add the $275 million from optical drives, the total becomes $2.183 billion.
If the final choice is to split the profits, after deducting next year's R&D expenses and other project budgets, Shirakawa Holdings will be able to get approximately US$1.041 billion.
Of course, this is pre-tax income. Neon's dividend tax rate is about 20%, which is also a considerable expense.
In addition, with SIC's $250 million and Anko's 4 billion yen, the total revenue of all manufacturing companies under Shirakawa Holdings is $1.397 billion.
After deducting taxes, the final amount may be more than 1.1 billion US dollars.
The $1.1 billion from manufacturing, plus the $700 million after-tax from Shirakawa Interactive Entertainment, totals $1.8 billion.
These are the bulk of Shirakawa Holdings’ revenue for the whole year, but of course this is not all.
Don’t forget the financial industry’s Kitato Bank, but this year it didn’t have a good opportunity like the listing of Shirakawa Electric.
Hokuto Bank's profit was down from last year, but still brought in 35 billion yen.
Other companies like Bic Camera, Hudson Software, and Capcom, which have revenues of more than one billion yen, are not worth serious discussion.
Excluding necessary R&D expenses and project funds for next year, Shirakawa Holdings' total profit this year is US$1.95 billion.
1.95 billion US dollars , which is more than the total assets of 1.7 billion US dollars accumulated by Baichuan Feng in previous years.
What does this mean? This means that the money earned this year is more than the total of the previous years.
Sure enough, as long as the original accumulation of capital is completed, wealth will increase at a speed beyond your imagination.
Baichuan Feng is not planning to touch this wealth of more than 3 billion US dollars, and now is far from the time to enjoy it.
He plans to spend this money next year...oh no, it's still a few days before 1984.
In short, he planned to use this money to make a big move in 1985, and at the same time help Kitato Bank complete its transition from a medium-sized bank to a large bank.
