Chapter 527: Advantages of Industry Pioneers (First update, please subscribe)
What!
Real integrated circuit, what does it mean?
Almost subconsciously, Li Yian first thought of the relatively primitive integrated circuit that was successfully developed by the Taiping University laboratory last year.
They built integrated circuits.
The real kind?
Could it be?
Li Yian looked at Hedrick in surprise, with surprise in his eyes, but more of surprise.
After proposing the idea of integrated circuits last year, Li Yian originally thought that "integrated circuits" would appear in universities or research institutes, but he never thought that they would be developed by manufacturing companies.
In the laboratory of Taiping University last year, the first integrated circuit was invented - the circuit is a single transistor oscillator with RC feedback. The entire circuit is glued to a glass slide and looks very crude. . The components of the circuit are connected with scattered thin wires.
At that time, under the witness of everyone, the experimenter connected ten volts to the input terminal, and then connected an oscilloscope to the output terminal. The moment it was turned on, an oscillation waveform with a frequency of 1.2 MHz and an amplitude of 0.2 volts appeared on the oscilloscope. The scene was silent for a while before warm applause and cheers erupted.
The Department of Physics at Taiping University has created the world’s first integrated circuit made of a single material.
But from a usage perspective, it is not a real integrated circuit - it is connected by flying wires, which cannot be mass-produced at all and lacks practical value.
Hedrick mentioned a real integrated circuit - is it the one he is familiar with?
"In September last year, after seeing your idea and paper on integrated circuits, the company's technical staff immediately began to try in this area. They used a planar process to make aluminum film connections on the oxide film. , integrating electronic components and wires, and thanks to the use of integrated circuits, the production cost of our TVs has dropped by more than 50%! ”
Hedrick said, looking at the president.
“We believe that the integrated circuit is definitely an epoch-making creation! Your invention will change the lives of millions of people.”
Not millions of people!
But the future of the whole world!
For a moment, he even wanted to correct Heydrich's words, but he did not correct him. Yes, this is not important. What is important is that the integrated circuit was invented by them. He personally came up with an idea, which was eventually realized by the company's engineers.
Soon, Li Yian met the technicians in the company, Ding Jingjie, Xiong Weiguo, and Zhang Leihuan. One of them graduated from Southwest Associated University, one graduated from Central University, and one graduated from Hujiang University, but they were all from Nanyang. Student - studying for graduate school in Nanyang.
“...We make all the circuits and components of electronic equipment into master plates, and then engrave them on a silicon chip. After the silicon is finished, all the circuits are ready, which can be directly used for assembly. products. In addition, the method of evaporating metal can replace thermal welding wires, completely replacing the flying wires in the integrated circuit invented by Taiping University."
When introducing the "integrated circuit", although Ding Jingjie's The words are simple, but the hard work and sweat behind it are unknown. After all, many innovations are the accumulation of sweat.
Looking at the young people in front of him, what Li Yian saw was the rise of local technicians in Nanyang. Then he turned his attention to this complex integrated circuit board. After carefully examining it for a moment, he The exchanges with these young people started on academic topics. At this time, he was not so much a president as a scholar.
In fact, in the past year, Li Yi'an's favorite thing was to communicate with scholars. In such exchanges, he could sneak some technologies to them, which actually gave them certain inspiration during the discussions. , the rest is up to them.
Just like last year at Fairchild Corporation, a company invested and founded by Borneo Company last year, in the company's research laboratory, Li Yian proposed a planar process, which is to add a layer of silicon oxide as an insulating layer on the silicon wafer. Then, holes are made in this layer of insulating silicon oxide, and aluminum films are used to connect the devices that have been made using silicon diffusion technology.
The birth of planar technology enabled Fairchild to manufacture extremely small-sized, high-performance silicon transistors, and also made it possible to connect devices in integrated circuits. This is a very important process.
Initially, Li Yian only proposed some ideas or provided a research direction. Some say that he acted as the 1% inspiration. And scientific researchers pay 99% of their sweat. In the end, Fairchild's researchers lived up to their expectations and quickly invented this process.
In this way, after chatting for almost an hour or two, Li Yian talked from integrated circuits to televisions. In addition to some technical private goods, he also talked about color televisions.
“Black and white TV is just a transition. Although the current color TV has various shortcomings, it is the future of TV. Color TV is like color movies. The latter will eliminate black and white movies, and the former Black and white TVs will also be eliminated.”
Both TCL's managers and technical staff strongly agree with this judgment. This is also their judgment. However, although color TVs were invented as early as the 1930s, they still have many shortcomings. "Your Excellency, we are currently conducting research on color televisions. Based on past research in the United States, Britain and other countries, although we have made certain progress, there are still some technical problems that need to be overcome."
Heydrich briefly introduced the research on color TVs. This TV set is not new. It was invented more than ten years ago. However, due to reasons such as clarity and price, it is currently only in the laboratory.
But every company understands that color TV is the real future. After briefly chatting with the company's technical staff about the technical and theoretical direction of color TVs, Li Yian asked Heydrich about the company's production plan for this year.
Seeing that the president seemed to be in a very happy mood today, Hedrick said tentatively.
"Your Excellency, our plan this year is to export 350,000 TV sets to the United States, 100,000 sets to Europe, and 50,000 TV sets to the domestic market. Currently, the company is cooperating with several broadcasting companies to Build a TV broadcast station, and after the TV station is completed, the TV sets can be put into the market..."
According to the previous industrial planning, Nanyang's TV sets are for export. Of course, this is determined by the income level. It also earns foreign exchange for export. Moreover, the current TV market in the United States has developed extremely maturely. In this case, of course, the focus is on overseas markets.
So when it came to the introduction of TV sets into the domestic market, Hedrick looked at the president specifically, and then continued to explain.
“Your Excellency, although the current price of TVs is still very high, judging from the actual income level of the middle-level and managers of Nanyang enterprises, they can afford TVs. The company believes that it is time to put TVs into use this year. Put it into the market to cultivate people’s consumption habits.”
Listening to Heydrich’s explanation, Li Yi’an said.
"I think it is possible. After all, as people's incomes increase, TV sets will inevitably enter the homes of ordinary people. It is only appropriate to let TV sets enter the market now."
TV sets can also be used in large markets. To a certain extent, it improves people’s quality of life. In the past, the most fundamental reason why overseas markets were given priority was income--people's income could not support the TV market.
Now that the income of ordinary people has increased, they can afford TV sets. Moreover, when ordinary people have money, we must find a way for them to spend money.
TV, as well as future car travel and other consumption upgrades, are the basis for promoting domestic consumption. Ultimately, it promotes the transformation from a production-based society to a consumption-based society.
But despite this, the most important thing at present is the foreign market. Li Yian said again.
"However, the most important thing right now is the US market. Last year alone, 100,000 TV sets were sold in one week in the US. In 1948, there were only 1 million TV sets in the US, but last year it surged to 6 million sets. In terms of the market, it is extremely important for us to seize this blue ocean market,”
“There are so many TV brands in the United States now that it can even be said to be a mixed bag. This is also a favorable opportunity for us to enter this market. , establish our brand, and create our market.”
And this is why we are taking advantage of now to enter the US market, not only because of the demand of the US market, but more importantly, the opportunity. In the era when it first gained popularity, there were no famous brands and everyone was a novice. Under such circumstances, as long as the quality was a little better, it would be easy to create your own brand.
In sharp contrast, in another era, it took the Japanese 30 years to establish the brand effect of Japanese home appliances.
But it is different now. The current opportunity is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As long as we seize this opportunity, in just one or two years, TCL can be like other American TV brands and firmly establish itself in the American market. This is the advantage of being an industry innovator.
And now TCL is the pioneer in the industry - the use of transistors and integrated circuits has allowed TCL to leave other TVs far behind. From now on, among TV brands, the remaining TCL and other TV set.
As such an industry pioneer, TCL's profits will be extremely considerable within a certain period of time, and his success will definitely lead other companies in Nanyang to bravely try in other industries, and eventually Become a pioneer in some industries.
On the way out of TCL, looking at the sunset outside the window, Li Yian chuckled.
Actually, this is just right...
(End of this chapter)