"No time like the present, let's sign today!"
Fearing Wang Yi would change his mind, Director Qin immediately had someone prepare the agreement and pulled Wang Yi to sign.
Wang Yi was also pleased with this.
Director Qin was a great benefactor, giving away factories and land for free, and Wang Yi naturally wouldn't refuse.
The accompanying legal counsel reviewed the agreement, finding no issues, and Wang Yi signed directly.
For such important occasions, he always brought bodyguards and legal counsel.
After the signing was complete, Director Qin's smile grew wider, as if saying:
"Now it's done, Starry Sky Phone's large factory isn't going anywhere!"
To attract giants to build factories, local governments would offer various preferential policies through performance-based agreements, thus keeping the giants to build factories.
Even entities like Shanghai and Beijing had to do this.
In his previous life, Shanghai, to attract Tesla to build a factory, sold 9.8 billion yuan worth of land for 980 million yuan to Tesla; as long as Tesla fulfilled the performance-based agreement, it would effectively get 8.82 billion yuan for free!
Beijing's performance-based agreement with Wang Yi, involving land plus a factory worth 1 billion yuan, with a total value not exceeding 1.5 billion yuan, was even a minor affair.
Even if Wang Yi won, Beijing giving away the factory and land for free wouldn't be considered a loss of state assets, but rather a brilliant political achievement for the locality!
After all, once Starry Sky Phone truly became popular and grew large, fulfilling the 15 billion yuan revenue performance-based agreement, the taxes it contributed to Beijing alone would likely exceed 1.5 billion yuan.
Even with Wang Yi's university student entrepreneurship incentives, which could reduce some taxes and fees, as long as Starry Sky Phone grew big, Beijing could still easily earn 1.5 billion yuan in tax revenue!
What's more, Starry Sky Technology would also create a lot of GDP and drive local employment...
Beijing even wished Wang Yi would win and wished Starry Sky Technology would grow big!
By then, Beijing would not only gain a major taxpayer but also a mobile phone giant!
It could be said that, regardless of the outcome of the performance-based agreement, Beijing was winning big!
Moreover, according to Director Qin's estimation, Starry Sky Phone hadn't even been designed yet.
Mass production and market launch would likely be next year, making it impossible to achieve 15 billion yuan in revenue.
Director Qin thought this way, his smile deepening:
"This round, a guaranteed win!"
Unexpectedly, Wang Yi subtly took out a brand new mobile phone, which looked high-end and sophisticated at first glance, immediately stunning Director Qin!
Seeing Director Qin's staring eyes, Wang Yi pretended not to notice and calmly said:
"Director, there's one more thing I need your help with!"
"What is it?"
Director Qin asked subconsciously, then pointed to the phone in Wang Yi's hand and opened his mouth:
"Is this a Starry Sky Phone? It's already made!"
"Not really,"
Wang Yi smiled faintly,
"it's just a prototype. We need to test it first."
"That fast!"
Director Qin was startled, feeling he had completely underestimated Wang Yi's efficiency and the development speed of Starry Sky Technology.
"Can I try it out?"
Director Qin was full of curiosity.
"No problem!"
Wang Yi handed the Starry Sky Phone to Director Qin:
"There's a test SIM card inside, feel free to play with it, feel free to use it."
"Okay."
Director Qin took the phone and couldn't put it down.
First, he examined the device body and nodded:
"The design is beautiful and grand, better looking than iPhone and Samsung! The middle frame and back cover are both metal, very textured and drop-resistant, it immediately gives off a high-end feel!"
Director Qin swiped the screen, and the screen instantly lit up:
"Such a large screen must be great for watching videos and playing games!"
As he spoke, Director Qin opened a video app and randomly played a video.
He then took out his own iPhone 4, also opened a video app, and played a video for comparison.
"There's no harm without comparison. The large-screen experience on Starry Sky Phone is so good, it looks clearer. Is it because of the high resolution?"
Wang Yi nodded:
"That's right, Starry Sky Phone uses a Sharp 720P high-resolution flagship screen. Compared to other competitors' 480p low-resolution screens, it can deliver a 'dimensional-reduction attack'!"
"So smooth!"
Director Qin swiped through applications, full of praise, and then opened the camera to take a photo.
"The rear camera is very clear."
Director Qin wasn't surprised, then switched to the front camera:
"Oh, why is the front camera also so clear? It's almost catching up to the rear one!"
Wang Yi smiled:
"Competitors' front cameras are 2 megapixels; Starry Sky Phone's front camera is 5 megapixels."
"I see, another 'dimensional-reduction attack'!"
Director Qin looked at Wang Yi, greatly astonished:
'I thought Wang Yi was just messing around with making phones, and his first one would surely fail, but it turns out the screen and lens are better than iPhone and Samsung! This is not simple!'
Wang Yi, however, continued:
"Since we just made the prototype, the system is currently Android 2.3, but we will adapt it to the recently released Android 4.0 and deeply customize it based on Android 4.0 to make Starry Sky Phone more suitable for Chinese users' habits! Of course, the camera imaging algorithm is also being tuned, and future photos will be even more brilliant!"
"Amazing!"
Director Qin praised enthusiastically.
Starry Sky Phone 1 had given him too many surprises:
"How about the performance and communication?"
"Starry Sky Phone 1 uses the most advanced Qualcomm 8660 processor + Qualcomm baseband currently available. Its performance is top-tier right now, and it supports China Unicom, China Mobile, and China Telecom's 2G+3G. One phone, compatible with all networks!"
"Excellent!"
Director Qin exclaimed with emotion, and once again looked at the large X logo on the back of the phone, and quietly said:
"This phone will definitely sell well. What's its English name? You'll have to promote it abroad too, even if it's not officially for sale yet."
"Domestically, it's called Starry Sky Phone 1, and internationally, it's called 'Xphone 1'!"
Wang Yi said with a smile that the English name had been decided long ago; it would be Xphone!
Song Sining had already registered the trademark, and it was registered globally.
"Xphone 1? That's a good name. Are there any deeper implications?"
"iPhone represents 'my phone,' while Xphone represents 'the phone of the future'!"
Wang Yi smiled slightly:
"From now on, every generation of Xphone will lead the future, staying far ahead!"
"Good point,"
Director Qin said earnestly,
"saying 'leading the future' already sets a higher starting point than iPhone. I hope you can truly achieve that!"
Director Qin patted Wang Yi's shoulder earnestly and then subtly slipped the phone into his own pocket.
Wang Yi gave a wry smile: "..."
What a familiar scene.
He's met his match!
Fortunately, he had "borrowed" two from Zhu Changlin, otherwise he wouldn't have any left to use.
"Oh right, what was that other thing you said you needed?"
Director Qin changed the subject, only then remembering the important matter Wang Yi had mentioned.
"It's like this, Director Qin, my employees need some Beijing household registrations (hukou). Could you see if you can arrange some talent introduction quotas for them?"
"Beijing hukou? And 'some'?"
Director Qin's mouth twitched.
Operating on the principle that "one's hand is short when taking from others," he was indeed prepared to help Wang Yi.
But this guy, as soon as he opened his mouth, it was for Beijing hukou, and "some"!
His appetite is too big!
Even for talent introduction, the requirements are very high.
But Starry Sky Technology is developing so fast, and Xphone is doing so well, it really deserves some rewards.
If the Beijing hukou couldn't be secured and Starry Sky Technology later moved its headquarters to Shanghai or Shenzhen, he'd have nowhere to cry.
"How about this, Chairman Wang, Beijing hukou are very precious, and the talent introduction policy has extremely high requirements. This year, I can give you ten hukou quotas for Starry Sky Technology's senior management. For the others, we can discuss them later."
"Ten? That's not enough! We need at least a hundred!"
Wang Yi frowned slightly.
"A hundred!"
Director Qin was utterly speechless:
"Chairman Wang, you should know what a Beijing hukou means; it's not like Chinese cabbage. The standards for talent introduction are very high, and there are various restrictions. It's best for high-tech talents; not just anyone can meet the requirements."
"Then Director, if they meet the talent introduction standards, can Beijing hukou be arranged?"
Wang Yi asked with a smile.
"That's right, as long as they meet them, all will be arranged!"
Director Qin said generously.
"Then please arrange them. A hundred won't even be enough!"
Wang Yi smiled slightly, took out some documents, and handed them to Director Qin:
"Take a look at these people, do they all qualify?"
Director Qin took the documents and began to read them carefully:
"George, former Senior Chip Designer at Texas Instruments!"
"No problem with this one. Chip design talent is what our country lacks most and is also the most valuable talent, and an expert from a giant like Texas Instruments, absolutely no problem, grant hukou!"
Then, he turned to the second page:
"Dika, former Senior Chip Designer at Texas Instruments... No problem with this either!"
"Annie, former Senior Architect at Texas Instruments... Grant hukou!"
"Dai Andi, former Senior Architect at Texas Instruments... Grant hukou!"
"Mansi, former Senior Chip Designer at Texas Instruments, grant it!"
"Darter, Texas Instruments... Grant it!"
"Yuebani, Texas Instruments... Grant it!"
"White... Grant it!"
"All these Texas Instruments semiconductor elites, grant them! However many you've poached, I'll arrange that many! Absolutely no problem."
Director Qin smiled brightly:
"You should have said so earlier! For this kind of talent, let alone 100, even 200 hukou would be arranged. If I can't solve it, I'll find a higher leader to solve it!"
Wang Yi laughed:
"Two hundred? Are you asking me to empty out Texas Instruments' R&D department? They haven't gone bankrupt yet!"
"Hahaha."
Director Qin burst into laughter:
"Then wait until they abandon their R&D business, and you empty them out completely. Don't worry, any talent Starry Sky Technology can't utilize will be officially absorbed. You won't miss out on the benefits!"
With the words so clear, Wang Yi understood; the government intended to vigorously develop semiconductors.
What he mentioned last time had some effect.
Don't underestimate China's think tanks and academicians; their vision is very high.
Wang Yi's proposal to develop semiconductors served as a "throw a brick to attract jade," and naturally, more influential people followed up with proposals, jointly promoting the development of the domestic semiconductor industry.
Director Qin continued flipping:
"Williams, former Director of Chip R&D at Texas Instruments..."
"Chairman Wang, you... you... you even poached their R&D Director?"
"Hahaha, well done! Absolutely brilliant! You've accomplished something many people wanted to do but didn't dare to!"
Wang Yi waved his hand:
"It's just good luck. Currently, Texas Instruments has abandoned mobile chip R&D and might completely abandon its mobile chip business next year. Williams and his team were facing mass layoffs; I just seized this opportunity, and that's why..."
"Understood! Well done! Excellent!"
Director Qin's gaze towards Wang Yi changed, showing much more admiration and respect:
"Poaching Williams and these R&D elites from Texas Instruments must have cost a fortune, right?"
"Yes, Williams' annual salary is 5.5 million yuan! The others also require annual salaries of 1 to 1.5 million yuan."
Wang Yi sighed.
In 2011, these were huge sums.
After all, Song Sining, as CEO, only earned an annual salary of 500,000 yuan.
And the lowest salary for those poached from Texas Instruments started at 1 million yuan.
There was no other way; when they were doing R&D at Texas Instruments, their annual salary started at 120,000 US dollars.
When Wang Yi poached them, it was impossible to lower their salaries, only increase them!
"It seems you are truly planning to develop chips and not just talking about it."
Director Qin said with deep emotion.
"Not just chips, basebands also need to be done. I acquired VIA's baseband department and also had people poach some semiconductor elites from Taiwan. Please arrange hukou for these people too."
Wang Yi said with a smile.
"Basebands too!"
Director Qin quickly flipped through and saw the profiles of Wei Rui R&D elites:
"Pang Liguo, Director of Baseband R&D at Wei Rui!"
"Chen Chong, former Senior GPU Architect at MediaTek."
"Meng Xuda, former Senior GPU Designer at MediaTek."
"Zhao Xueming, Senior Baseband Development Engineer at Wei Rui."
...
"Good, very good. I will arrange hukou for all these people. And for those foreign semiconductor elites willing to join China, a warm welcome, all will be granted Beijing hukou!"
Director Qin smiled broadly:
"Not only that, besides them, I'll also give you an additional thirty hukou quotas for Starry Sky Technology's senior management; you can arrange them as you see fit."
Wang Yi understood; the previous ones were for talent introduction, strictly business.
But these thirty hukou quotas that followed were a reward, entirely for Wang Yi to arrange.
He just wondered if he could give them to his parents...
As if seeing through Wang Yi's thoughts, Director Qin smiled slightly:
"You'll be in Beijing for many years to come, and it's not good if you can't see your parents. Your parents, family, and even your partner, can use these quotas."
For talent introduction, some even arrange employment for spouses, precisely to prevent separation and the talent leaving in the end.
For top talents like Wang Yi, Beijing certainly wouldn't let him go; they must arrange Beijing hukou for his entire family and bring them to Beijing.
This way, Wang Yi could take root in Beijing and wouldn't be able to leave!
"Thank you, Director Qin."
"It's nothing, all minor matters. Compared to what you've done, a few hukou as a reward are just minor things."
Director Qin smiled.
The more than one hundred semiconductor elites Wang Yi introduced had a higher value than all the talents Beijing introduced in an entire year!
This round, Beijing gained a huge advantage.
"Chairman Wang, if you need anything, just say so! I, Qin Zheng, and the Management Committee, are your strong backing!"
From today onwards, Wang Yi and the Haicheng District Management Committee, and even Beijing, were strategically bound.
Starry Sky Technology also became a core enterprise in Beijing, and naturally needed more cultivation.
The value Wang Yi demonstrated was sufficient!
"Director Qin, to be honest, there is indeed something I need your help with."
"Hehe, just say it!"
"It's like this, I heard the central bank issued some payment licenses, and I'm wondering if Starry Sky Technology could apply for one? After all, Starry Sky Technology owns Meiyou Mall and Meiyou International Mall.
Although they are not comprehensive e-commerce platforms, their revenue is still astonishing. In the future, there will be more e-commerce layouts and developments, requiring a payment license."
"Payment license..."
Director Qin fell into thought, not expecting Wang Yi to ask for this.
Then he smiled:
"Hehe, you're quite well-informed. The payment license issue only came out a few months ago, and you've already sniffed out its underlying significance."
"Logically, Starry Sky Technology currently isn't qualified to apply. After all, not even Meituan is qualified. However, you are a practical person, investing 3.5 billion yuan in BYD, introducing semiconductor elites, aiming to develop chips and basebands. And you're making smartphones to drive the rise of domestic products..."
Director Qin slowly said:
"Alright, I'll risk my reputation and inquire on your behalf to see if we can ask the leaders to step in and help you apply for one!"
"Thank you, thank you, Director Qin!"
Wang Yi was overjoyed.
If Director Qin's superiors intervened in this matter, it wouldn't be a big problem.
The Haicheng District Committee, although just one district in Beijing, was also a very important one!
Their influence was exceptionally significant.
This matter was promising.
After all, if Wang Yi developed well, he could also create GDP and tax revenue for Haicheng District!
Win-win!
Director Qin changed the subject:
"I can handle this matter for you, but whether the application is approved ultimately depends on your performance."
The meaning was very clear: given Wang Yi's practical work and efforts in semiconductors, he could apply.
But whether the application would be approved still depended on whether Wang Yi could truly deliver results!
If he delivered results, then the payment license would be secured.
If he couldn't deliver results, then the payment license would be gone...
Wang Yi smiled slightly:
"Director Qin, Starry Sky Technology, Starry Sky Phone, and Starry Sky Semiconductor will not disappoint you!"
"Good, if Starry Sky Semiconductor truly achieves results, the payment license will be no problem at all!"
Wang Yi understood; what Director Qin valued most was still semiconductors.
Mobile phones, Huawei can make them, Meizu can make them, Xiaomi can make them; many domestic companies can make them, there's nothing irreplaceable about them.
But semiconductors, Huawei can make them, Spreadtrum can make them, but who else?
Meizu, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Coolpad, etc., none of them can!
Semiconductors are truly high-tech enterprises!
If Starry Sky Semiconductor succeeded, then everything else wouldn't be a big problem.
The government still valued semiconductors!
This was even better.
"Director, rest assured, Starry Sky Semiconductor will have output soon."
Wang Yi smiled slightly.
"Then I'll look forward to your good news. As for the hukou issue, leave the documents; I'll submit them for you, just follow the process."
"Thank you, Director."
"Here you go!"
As he spoke, Director Qin took out a document bag:
"Inside are the factory's property deeds and all keys. There are employees inside currently producing custom smartphones for China Mobile, breaking in the production line. If you need to produce Starry Sky Phones, you can have them stop at any time.
If you're not producing yet, then continue making mobile phones; there's no need to waste resources by keeping it idle. Of course, starting tomorrow, we'll settle the OEM fees with you based on production volume!"
"Okay! No problem. I'll test it first."
Currently, Starry Sky Phone still needed testing before engineering samples could be mass-produced.
Once engineering samples were fine, then official mass production could begin, so there was no rush.
"This kid finally left!"
After seeing Wang Yi off, Director Qin hurriedly returned to the room, took out the Starry Sky Phone, opened "Defend the Pomelo," and played with it, unable to put it down:
"This phone is really good, smooth, silky, and grand!"
Wang Yi didn't know this; instead, he had been thinking about semiconductors:
Since the Management Committee valued semiconductors, whether he could get a mobile payment license entirely depended on semiconductors!
Then Starry Sky Semiconductor couldn't wait a year for output; instead, within half a year, it needed to design and mass-produce its first chip.
But a 28nm quad-core flagship chip was not that easy; it couldn't be done in half a year at all.
Even a 45nm dual-core chip wasn't that easy.
After all, the flagship chips of 2011, the Qualcomm 8x60 series, were only 45nm.
That's right, the chips used in Starry Sky Phone 1st generation and Xiaomi 1 were 45nm.
Next year's NVIDIA Tegra 3 and Qualcomm's new quad-core flagship APQ8064 would be 28nm process.
It could be said that 45nm chips were the most advanced mobile phone chips at the time.
However, if they were to make 65nm low-end chips, that would be very simple.
This kind of low-level chip, for the semiconductor elites poached from Texas Instruments, would be a breeze.
And very useful.
These "junk" chips couldn't be used in phones, but they could be used in smart homes!
MCU chips, low-end SoC smart chips, communication chips, and sensors are the core components of smart home products.
MCU chips, or Microcontroller Units, also known as microcontrollers, are mainly used for the execution control of small home appliances, such as motor drives.
Simple smart home activities like controlling a robotic vacuum cleaner to move forward, a drying rack to rise, or a water heater's temperature control can all use MCU chips.
The cost of these chips is very low; a few yuan per chip when purchased in bulk.
Currently, there's no need for R&D; direct procurement is sufficient.
For more complex smart home devices, such as voice recognition, it would require SoC chips with stronger computing power, capable of supporting multi-task computing.
For example, smart speakers, smart TVs, smart door locks, etc., would require this kind of SoC chip.
These SoC chips don't need powerful performance; just stability, durability, and low cost are enough.
They don't even need to be 28nm; the current 65nm low-end chips are completely sufficient.
Even ten years later, most would still be 65nm or 55nm.
Stability, durability, and low cost are paramount.
The price is a bit higher than MCU chips, from 10 to 100 yuan.
Communication chips, on the other hand, are WIFI chips, Bluetooth chips, and so on.
Since smart home products will be launched next year, they could first develop a 65nm low-end smart SoC chip and have SMIC manufacture it.
SMIC had already mass-produced 65nm chips in 2009, so there was no pressure at all.
By then, they could directly mass-produce, and besides using them themselves, they could also sell them to traditional home appliance brands.
The current smart home ecosystem was just starting, mostly still at the MCU chip stage.
For more advanced SoC chips, domestic ones were very few, and foreign giants sold them expensively.
This was exactly Wang Yi's opportunity!
As long as Starry Sky Semiconductor produced them, if foreign companies sold for 100 and Starry Sky Semiconductor sold for 50, they could capture a market worth tens of millions!
In his previous life, giants like Gree and Midea only established semiconductor divisions between 2017-2018 and only then launched smart home chips.
Wang Yi launching them in 2012 could completely capture the smart home market, almost monopolizing the future.
The market size of smart home chips was even larger than that of mobile phone chips.
In the future, annual sales for a single category of smart home appliances would be in the tens of millions, and with so many categories combined, hundreds of millions would be easily achievable.
Relying solely on these smart home chips, Starry Sky Semiconductor could survive, achieve profitability, make a huge profit, and thus have more funds to develop mobile phone chips.
The money earned from smart home chips would be used to nurture mobile phone chips!
In the future, developing automotive chips, PC chips, and even server chips would be no problem.
In this way, Starry Sky Semiconductor would no longer be a money-burning department, but rather a cash cow.
A chip department that loses billions of yuan annually suddenly becoming a highly profitable department—the key was whether it could capture the smart home chip market!
Wang Yi had a plan in mind and had completely found a broad and smooth path.
The smart home industry was just starting, and the smart home chip market was almost blank.
If Wang Yi didn't seize this opportune moment and take advantage to capture 80% of the market, it would be inexcusable!
As soon as he returned to Starry Sky Technology, Wang Yi directly sought out Williams:
"William, if I need a 65nm low-end smart home chip, is it easy to develop?"
"A 65nm smart home chip?"
Williams instantly understood Wang Yi's meaning:
"Very easy to develop. We've done these low-end chips at Texas Instruments; there's no difficulty at all. I don't even need to personally get involved."
"Here's the plan: I'll have George lead, add three R&D elites from Texas Instruments, and then bring a team of engineers recruited domestically. It can be done in two to three months at most! It also won't affect the R&D progress of my 28nm flagship chip!"
"Very good, arrange it like that. The 28nm flagship chip is the core task!"
Wang Yi was overjoyed; this way, both objectives could be achieved, perfect!
Develop low-end smart home chips in two to three months, then mass-produce them.
Next March or April, they can be released together with the quad-core Starry Sky Phone 1 Pro, officially announcing smart home products!
If progress went smoothly, the money earned from subsequent smart home chips would be enough for Starry Sky Semiconductor to develop high-end mobile phone chips, and the semiconductor division would then be self-sufficient.
By then, Wang Yi wouldn't need to put billions of yuan into the semiconductor department every year.
Williams called George over:
"Boss, George has previously worked on smart home chips and is very experienced!"
"That's even better."
Wang Yi was overjoyed and communicated with George.
"Boss, no problem. I'm familiar with all of this. Low cost, high stability, durability, absolutely no problem."
George said confidently.
"Very good, today you select your people, establish the smart home chip business group, and start developing smart home chips!"
"Yes!"
Williams didn't care for these low-end chips, but George was proficient in them, which was excellent.
As for mass production, it would naturally be entrusted to SMIC, also as a way to support domestic foundries.
Wang Yi even planned to invest in SMIC.
After all, this was the industry of "Semiconductor God of War" Elder Zhang, so Wang Yi had to support it no matter what.
Elder Zhang, the Semiconductor God of War, was also the founder of China's semiconductor industry!
In the 1970s, after Elder Zhang graduated from National Taiwan University, he went to an imperial power for his Ph.D.
After graduating, he joined Texas Instruments, a semiconductor giant in that imperial power, and quickly stood out in the company with his exceptional abilities.
He then led a team, built and managed factories, with business operations spreading to Taiwan, Italy, Singapore, and Japan.
He was truly the brightest rising star in the semiconductor industry!
In 1997, Elder Zhang became the third-in-command at Texas Instruments, a top global semiconductor expert!
Later, in that imperial power, he hosted a delegation from China and heard his compatriots lament,
"Our country's semiconductor industry is not optimistic."
That night, Elder Zhang suffered from insomnia, tossing and turning.
Soon, Elder Zhang gave up his position as third-in-command at Texas Instruments, abandoned everything in that imperial power, and returned to his homeland.
Leveraging his prestige and connections, he soon founded Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation, filling a semiconductor void in Taiwan.
However, a tall tree catches the wind.
Vanguard was soon targeted by TSMC, which was supported by that imperial power, and subjected to various suppressions and strangulations...
Ultimately, in 2000, TSMC acquired Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation.
Subsequently, TSMC's Elder Zhang used some tactics, seized Elder Zhang's shares, and expelled him from Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation.
Then TSMC's Elder Zhang deceived Elder Zhang with the lie,
"As long as you stay and develop performance, we promise to build a factory in mainland China!"
Elder Zhang, for the sake of building a factory in mainland China, gladly agreed and continuously developed business for TSMC.
Watching TSMC flourish, but the mainland factory remained nowhere in sight.
Finally, Elder Zhang saw through TSMC's Elder Zhang's true colors and became utterly desperate.
He resolutely took all his funds and came to mainland China to build a factory.
In 2000, Elder Zhang mobilized all his resources, leading a talent team of over 300 from Taiwan and over 100 from countries like the US, Europe, Japan, and Korea, all the way north, and founded SMIC in Shanghai!
He also leveraged his resource advantages, purchased a large quantity of inexpensive second-hand equipment, and set up 3 8-inch production lines!
Heaven helps those who help themselves.
SMIC grew rapidly from nothing.
However, seeing SMIC grow stronger and stronger, TSMC felt a crisis, and TSMC's Elder Zhang made his move again.
In 2003, at a critical time when SMIC was going public in the US, TSMC, using 300 experts found in Taiwan, sued SMIC for alleged data leakage and patent disputes...
To proceed with the listing smoothly, SMIC had no choice but to seek a settlement.
After a year of negotiations, it paid 175 million US dollars in 2005 to reach an out-of-court settlement.
However, TSMC's Elder Zhang acted unethically, and in 2006, sued SMIC again, alleging the use of TSMC technology in its 0.13 micron process.
It wasn't until 2009 that this three-year lawsuit finally ended, with Elder Zhang losing the case.
Not only did he have to pay TSMC 375 million US dollars in compensation, but also hand over 10% of SMIC's shares to TSMC.
Elder Zhang understood that as long as he remained at SMIC, he would be continuously sued by TSMC's Elder Zhang.
Left with no choice, in 2009, Elder Zhang, who single-handedly founded SMIC, had to leave SMIC.
It was truly sad and lamentable.
In 2009, when Elder Zhang was still there, SMIC mass-produced 65nm chips, TSMC mass-produced 45nm chips, with only one generation's difference between them.
But ever since Elder Zhang left for the development of SMIC, SMIC plunged into disorder, chaos, and power struggles, and a large number of talents were lost.
It wasn't until 2013 that SMIC mass-produced 40nm chips, while TSMC in 2014 had already reached 20nm!
When SMIC broke through 28nm in 2015, TSMC had already mass-produced 16nm!
The gap between them widened.
It wasn't until 2017, with the introduction of Elder Liang, that SMIC ended its decade of turmoil and embraced new development.
Two years later, in 2019, under the leadership of Elder Liang, SMIC directly bypassed 20nm and mass-produced 14nm!
SMIC recaptured its long-lost moment of glory.
However, by then, TSMC had already broken through 5nm and mass-produced 5nm in 2020.
Although the gap had narrowed significantly, it was still considerable.
One could only say that SMIC's decade of turmoil from 2009-2018 severely held it back.
If Wang Yi wanted to change the status quo, he must aggressively invest in SMIC and bring in Elder Liang as early as possible!
After Elder Zhang left, only Elder Liang could lead SMIC to grow bigger and stronger!
As a re-born individual, Wang Yi knew Elder Liang's strengths best; he was absolutely the godfather of semiconductors!
In '92, Elder Liang joined TSMC, leading TSMC from the 180nm process to the 130nm process.
He single-handedly overthrew the then-chip hegemon IBM, elevating TSMC to a first-class manufacturer; his contributions were immeasurable.
Subsequently, he mastered 40nm and 45nm, but his achievements were too great, threatening his superiors, so he was sidelined by TSMC—a nominal promotion but an actual demotion.
Elder Liang resigned in anger, left TSMC, and originally intended to teach and nurture talent.
He was then personally invited by Samsung's chairman to join Samsung Semiconductor.
After joining Samsung, Elder Liang led Samsung Semiconductor to cross 20nm, breaking through from 28nm to 14nm in one fell swoop, allowing Samsung Semiconductor to overtake TSMC Semiconductor!
Seeing Samsung Semiconductor rapidly grow and overtake itself under Elder Liang's leadership, TSMC became jealous and decisively sued Elder Liang, citing the leakage of company secrets.
Ultimately, Elder Liang lost the lawsuit, left Samsung, and was prohibited from taking up any position or continuing to provide any services to Samsung in any other way before December 31, 2015.
In 2017, Elder Liang was invited by Chairman Zhou to join SMIC, which then enabled the stagnant SMIC to develop rapidly.
In the first year, Elder Liang increased SMIC's 28nm process yield from 60% to over 85%, stabilizing the foundational operations.
Within two years of joining, Elder Liang led SMIC to mass-produce the 14nm process, with the yield rate dramatically increasing from 3% to over 95%, and SMIC experienced its long-awaited moment of glory!
Subsequently, technologies such as 12nm, 7nm, and N+1 all entered mass production.
The R&D of 5nm and 3nm technologies was also progressing in an orderly manner.
SMIC, from a third-rate factory, completely achieved a comeback, covering TSMC's 10-year journey in just 3 years!
If it weren't for the inability to obtain EUV lithography machines, Elder Liang would have dared to challenge TSMC, Samsung, and Intel, and would have reached the 3nm process long ago!
Even without EUV lithography machines, Elder Liang still achieved 7nm with N+1 technology.
One can only say his contributions were immeasurable!
Wang Yi made up his mind: as long as he invested in SMIC and gained sufficient say, he would immediately set out to invite Elder Liang!
No matter the cost, Elder Liang must be brought in.
As long as Elder Liang joined SMIC early, then SMIC overtaking TSMC, Samsung, and Intel would be no problem at all.
As for the timing, Wang Yi planned to negotiate the investment in SMIC next month, then sign the agreement, with funds in place by December.
Why not now?
Firstly, SMIC's annual report would be released in December, with declining revenue and a sluggish market, and many senior executives and core talents leaving.
When SMIC was in its most difficult situation, it was the perfect time for Wang Yi to buy at the bottom.
Secondly, Wang Yi had just invested 3.5 billion Hong Kong dollars in BYD, acquiring LTE patents also required significant capital, and subsequent mobile phone components would also cost money.
Wang Yi genuinely didn't have much spare capital.
It would be better to wait until Starry Sky Phone went on sale in December for funds to flow back, then aggressively invest.
This way, negotiating and signing in November, with phone sales revenue flowing back and payment in December, would be perfectly fine!
Furthermore, by the end of December, Elder Liang would lose his lawsuit and leave Samsung, and would be unable to work for Samsung for three years.
Wang Yi inviting Elder Liang to join SMIC would naturally be the most suitable.
As for whether TSMC would object?
This was not a big problem.
Firstly, SMIC was far behind TSMC, so TSMC might not care.
Secondly, TSMC also had to consider the Chinese government's attitude.
If it truly courted disaster, with a sanction and ban, Samsung and Intel would seize the opportunity to rise, and TSMC would be finished.
In his previous life, after losing Huawei's orders, TSMC's market share and stock price fell catastrophically.
Thirdly, TSMC also held 10% of the shares and was one of SMIC's major shareholders.
As long as Elder Liang was there, SMIC breaking through the 45nm process next year would be under no pressure.
Breaking through 28nm the year after next was also very promising.
In this way, it could catch up with TSMC, Samsung, and Intel.
Subsequent chips from Starry Sky Semiconductor could be directly manufactured by SMIC.
Compared to TSMC's Elder Zhang's enterprise, Wang Yi still preferred Elder Zhang's enterprise.
But the most crucial thing was how to acquire enough shares in SMIC, join the board of directors, and possess enough say!
(End of chapter)