Chapter 463: Fabless Semiconductors
Why did the United States pursue Japan's semiconductors? This question seemed familiar to Uno Sosuke.
"Is it because the United States must maintain its leading position and dominance in the field of cutting-edge technology?"
Shirakawa Kaede had analyzed this issue with him before, and Uno Sosuke himself also agreed with this statement.
“This is one of the factors, but even the United States cannot dominate the global semiconductor market.
That is to say, apart from the United States, the global semiconductor market has room for a second or third player.
But the premise is that everyone can make money, or the United States can take the biggest piece of the pie."
After Baichuan Feng said this, the thoughts of the people in the Ministry of International Trade and Industry became clearer.
“So it’s because Japan took too much and the United States got too little.
It doesn't mean that the United States is going to wipe out Japan?" Uno Sosuke muttered to himself.
The recent series of actions by the United States have left the Japanese government a little confused.
Not to mention the various agreements, the combination of price limits, sanctions, tariffs, import and export controls, etc., many people in the government still thought that the United States wanted to kill Japan's entire semiconductor industry with one blow.
Not to mention the fighting between the various factions within the group over this matter, some of the weak-kneed ones were ready to hand over Neon Semiconductor with both hands and kneel down to surrender.
Of course, this is just the wishful thinking of some people. Now the power of several major Japanese chaebols is enough to compete with the government.
Especially with the existence of Keidanren, the Ministry of Finance has suffered losses at its hands more than once.
As a coalition of chaebols, Keidanren can even invite anyone who wants to disturb its foundation to visit the bottom of Tokyo Bay.
Even when he was really preparing to do so, Baichuan Feng might secretly lend a hand.
Blocking someone's money is like killing their parents. What's wrong with government officials? Aren't there enough people who commit suicide for unknown reasons?
This is not Shirakawa Kaede's recklessness, but a tacit choice made by the chaebol group.
Before the bubble burst, Japan's chaebols were incredibly powerful. Their real decline came after the bubble and when Koizumi came to power.
But that’s a story for later. In today’s era, not many people dare to touch the chaebols.
So when Japan was asked to give up the semiconductor industry, the major chaebols were the first to disagree, which was also the reason why Uno Sosuke and others were so cautious.
As for their idea that the United States wanted to completely destroy Neon Semiconductor, Baichuan Feng was a little amused.
"Business competition is a process of give and take. It does not mean that the United States will not tolerate others getting ahead of it in all industries.
The key is that Japan is now too far ahead, and the United States cannot see the possibility of surpassing it in the short term. In fact, as time goes by, this gap will become wider and wider.
As the United States is increasingly being dragged down in cutting-edge fields, will it sit idly by and wait for its fate to be thwarted? "
It was obvious that the United States had already given its answer, and Uno Sosuke and the others' expressions became even more serious.
"In addition, the industrial model of Neon Semiconductor is also a huge pressure for the United States."
"What do you mean, Shirakawa-san?" This angle made Tamura Moto and the others stunned again.
What is the industrial model of Neon Semiconductor? Is there any problem with it?
"Tamura-san, I don't know if you've noticed, but Japan's semiconductor industry is very complete.
It is so complete that we can solve all problems in the entire chip industry chain in Japan.”
"This is a normal behavior in business development, and the purpose is to reduce costs as much as possible and make Neon's chips more competitive internationally.
Is there anything wrong with this? Can't the United States tolerate this? "Tamura Yuan was very puzzled by this, this is the most normal thing in Japan.
Many large companies complete everything from raw materials to finished products themselves, and semiconductors are just a microcosm of this.
"If it's in Japan, this is of course nothing. But for international trade, this is actually an obstacle.
Especially for high-tech industries such as chips, the IDM model, that is, the vertically integrated manufacturing model.
In fact, it may not be a good thing for Neon because it takes away too much.”
How complete is Japan's semiconductor industry?
From raw materials to silicon wafers, from photolithography machines to etching machines, from the chemical materials used in the process to the process itself.
All of these Japanese semiconductor companies are able to achieve self-sufficiency, which means that Japan has opened up the entire chip industry chain.
This is the so-called IDM - vertically integrated manufacturing model. With 70 to 80 percent of the global market share, Japan does not leave any share for others.
This directly led to the closure of a large number of wafer fabs in the United States. Last year, Intel closed seven of its own wafer fabs and laid off nearly 8,000 employees.
Adding up all these losses , Intel lost at least $500 million to $600 million, and this is just for Intel alone.
Think about Micron, Texas Instruments, and Motorola; the situation is not much better.
Faced with this situation, it would be strange if the US government did not take drastic measures.
Then again, is it true that the United States cannot accommodate the development of Japanese semiconductors? Baichuan Feng doesn't think so.
If the United States really had this idea, it would not have opened its semiconductor technology to Japan.
Even now, there is no obstacle to mutual communication in the academic field.
The real key is that Japan’s semiconductors do not threaten the United States’ industrial layout.
But when he thought about how Fujitsu and the others always clamored to defeat their American counterparts and turn the top ten semiconductor companies in the world into companies from Japan, Shirakawa Feng couldn't help but sigh.
Weakness is not an obstacle to survival, arrogance is.
Neon has always existed as a vassal. Can it turn the tables and let Lao Mi drink soup with it?
Fantastic and arrogant!
This is Shirakawa Feng’s current view of the Japanese semiconductor industry.
After listening to his explanation, Uno Sosuke and others realized the problem.
Being the top in an industry is not a good thing, at least not for Neon.
"This... Does it mean Japan will have to give up all its investment in the semiconductor field?"
Shanshan Kazuo couldn't help but ask back, after all, this sounded hard to accept.
"That's not necessary, but you may need to decide what to choose or what to give up."
In fact, Shirakawa Kaede also hinted at this sentence at the internal meeting of Keidanren. If you want to change the situation of being subjected to a big stick, you must give up something in order to gain something.
After all, Neon is America's loyal dog. After confirming that there is no threat, America doesn't mind giving it some sweet treats.
This is different from the confrontation between different camps. There is no need to fight to the death.
Even when necessary, Neon can become a model of the shining American beacon in East Asia.
Although it's not very embarrassing, at least I got something good out of it.
Besides, Mu Qiang lives a simple life, so this is nothing to him.
"But the above are just my personal opinions, you just listen to them, don't take them seriously."
At the very end, Baichuan Feng did not forget to give himself a buff.
They are all jokes. I won’t admit my guilt once we leave this door.
However, even though he said this, the people on the opposite side were thinking seriously.
"So this time, SIC contacted North American capital for this reason?" Suddenly, Uno Sosuke turned to another question.
"Ahem~" Baichuan Feng coughed lightly, "SIC's foundation is too weak to adopt the IDM model, so it can only adopt the vertical division of labor model."
A semiconductor company that takes care of everything from design to manufacturing, packaging and testing, and sales of its own brand ICs mainly uses .
Typical representatives are Japan's six major semiconductor companies, NEC, Hitachi, Toshiba, Fujitsu, etc., and the same is true for early Intel.
They have strong capital and can directly launch numerous heavy asset projects.
But SIC can't do that. A production line for mainstream processes would cost at least several hundred million dollars.
Where did SIC, which was just established in 1980, get the capital to do all these things?
Therefore, the vertical division of labor model is the only choice for SIC, which only does chip design and does not have a chip processing plant.
This will invisibly reduce SIC's operating risks, and the only possible loss is the failure of wafer production.
However, compared with the loss of hundreds of millions of yen and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars, there is no doubt that the former is more in line with SIC's situation at the time.
Even though SIC has now become the world's third largest processor design company, Baichuan Feng still has no plans to adopt the IDM model.
In the entire chip industry chain, SIC only took away the front-end design profits and patent licensing fees.
As for the profits from the back-end processing, packaging, testing and other links, SIC leaves them to other supporting cooperating companies.
Some of these companies are in Japan, some in North America, and there are even companies in Ouzhou.
For example, for the chips supplied by SIC in North America, most of the production processes are entrusted to local companies.
Upon closer inspection, this is very close to the model of many fabless semiconductor companies in later generations.
The entire production process is divided into several parts and dispersed all over the world, which is a truly global business model.
SIC's approach has won great praise from North America. Otherwise, how do you think SIC can sell chips in North America safely?
When Intel wanted to sanction SIC, many North American companies began lobbying Congress without Shirakawa Feng saying anything.
SIC has created numerous jobs in North America and brought profits to many companies in the chip industry.
If the SIC is lost, a large number of workers will be unemployed and many businesses will go bankrupt.
Look, although SIC lost some profits by not choosing the IDM model, it also gained more room for maneuver.
Don't underestimate SIC at this time, as it is the world's third largest processor design company.
Millions of chips are supplied to North America every year, and the industrial profits surrounding these chips are not a small number.
Apparently, several people from the MITI also understood the profound meaning of SIC's vertical division of labor model, which is to deeply bind the North American rice market.
For the United States, one is a company that is closely related to itself and can create value, and the other is a company that eats all the meat and leaves no soup for itself.
It’s so easy to choose between these two.
Even until this moment, Baichuan Feng still felt uneasy and was ready to introduce American capital as an insurance policy for himself.
Uno Sosuke and his friends thought they had seen through Shirakawa Kaede's ultimate goal and approved of this approach.
However, some people from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry found it difficult to deal with Japan itself.
It is difficult to turn a big ship around, and it is too late to persuade the major giants to transform.
Besides, as chaebols, they may not be willing to give up the profits that are already in their hands.
“No matter what the future holds, Mr. Shirakawa, if SIC has any needs, please don’t hesitate to ask.
When necessary, Neon can be SIC’s strong backing.”
Tamura Moto's meaningful eyes also made Shirakawa Kaede quite emotional.
"Shirakawa will take note of Tamura-san's kindness."
The meaning of the other party's words was actually to hint at Baichuan Feng.
If SIC encounters a hostile takeover by American capital in the future, the Japanese government will step in to protect it.
After all, it is Japan's only seedling in the processor field, and SIC is also registered with the government.
Besides, looking at the current situation, the future prospects of Japan's semiconductor companies are indeed unclear.
If the worst happens, at least SIC can be preserved.
From this point of view, MITI has indeed treated SIC well.
