Chapter 1179 Black Technology in the Electronic Age (Second update, please subscribe)
2500 yuan!
Looking at the report from Lange Company, Li Yian raised his eyebrows. Even he couldn't help but curse.
It’s so damn expensive!
But, this is electronic products!
When it first came on the market, the price was astonishingly expensive, but with the development of electronic technology, its price will become cheaper and cheaper, and eventually it will even be sold at a bargain price.
Historically, the watch manufacturing industry in Europe, especially Switzerland, was destroyed by quartz watches from Japan and the United States. The rise of American and Japanese manufacturers with quartz watches led to a significant loss of market share in the Swiss watch industry. , the traditional status was seriously challenged and fell into the "quartz crisis". Many Swiss watch industries fell into deficit and closed down due to the proliferation of quartz watches.
But U.S. manufacturers were quickly hit by "real world news." By the end of the 1970s, the popularity of quartz watches had surpassed that of mechanical watches. However, Hong Kong Island exported a large number of cheap quartz watches to the world, which damaged the market more seriously than American manufacturers. U.S. semiconductor companies had to completely withdraw from the market, and the traditional U.S. watch industry also followed suit. Disaster. Hamilton, the most famous American watch, was forced to sell and became a Swiss brand instead. While other American watch industries were devastated by this wave of cheap quartz watches, almost all manufacturers except Timex closed their doors.
The American watch industry was almost wiped out, and the Swiss watch industry was also in dire straits under the destruction of quartz watches. Brands such as Rolex and Patek Philippe can only choose to hide in the high-priced boutique market to avoid the impact of the "quartz crisis".
Later, quartz watches became the mainstream of the watch market, and eventually became super cheap, with one available in the night market for only a few dozen yuan. And such a cheap roadside watch, because of the technical principle of quartz oscillator, is more accurate than a noble mechanical watch, and because there are no complex mechanical parts, the maintenance requirements of quartz watches are much lower than that of mechanical watches. It is really embarrassing for mechanical watches.
However, what Li Yian cares about is not this, but... the chip, which is a microprocessor.
Few people know that the semiconductor industry in the United States and Japan rose because of quartz watches. Before electronic computers entered thousands of households, quartz watches were the most popular and the earliest microelectronic product to achieve success. .
In the 1960s, the civilian application field of microprocessors was very narrow, mainly concentrated in missiles, rockets and computers. The limited market led to insufficient competition, and manufacturers had no motivation to reduce costs.
But the emergence of quartz watches changed everything.
Just over a year after Japan's Seiko launched the Astron, the world's first quartz watch. Girard-Perregaux launched the 350 quartz watch in 1971. It has a built-in Motorola integrated circuit microprocessor to control the stepper motor, which is equivalent to cramming 300 transistors into an area of 5 square millimeters. The power consumption has been greatly improved, reduced to 4 milliamps. Improved battery life.
The selling price at the time was over $1,800!
The price is not even inferior to that of Swiss luxury watches. Due to its accurate timekeeping and high-tech bonus, quartz watches have become a "black technology" that is deeply sought after in the market. Whenever you wear a quartz watch, it is the most popular in the village. The handsome boy is as popular as the fruit machines of the 21st century.
Faced with the high-end watch market where a watch is equal to a car, American semiconductor companies have stepped into it. Based on the advanced status of the electronic semiconductor industry, Texas Instruments, Express Semiconductor, and National Semiconductor have entered the market one after another, which has also caused the price of quartz watches to fall from the earliest status of high-quality watches to the mortal world, and the watch industry has been reshuffled. This directly led to the famous "Quartz Crisis".
Although later, American quartz watches gradually withdrew from the market under the impact of Hong Kong-made quartz watches. However, Texas Instruments, Express Semiconductor, and National Semiconductor relied on the wave of opportunities in the 1970s to successfully complete primitive accumulation.
Before quartz watches, the world’s annual demand for microprocessors, that is, chips, was only a few hundred thousand pieces, but quartz watches brought it to the level of millions or even tens of millions of pieces. It is because of market demand that companies have increased their investment. With a large amount of investment and fierce competition, chip production and manufacturing technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, and the large-scale production of microprocessors has been successfully achieved. In the end, those American semiconductor companies made expensive microprocessors cheap.
It can be said that the chip manufacturing industry in later generations emerged from the quartz watch and eventually transformed into a key technology that affects the development of human science and technology.
A quartz watch may look inconspicuous, but it is it that laid the foundation of chip technology!
It is precisely because of this that Li Yian attaches great importance to all this.
“This kind of quartz watch costs 2,500 yuan each, which is really not cheap. Not many people can afford it.”
Yu Xiangdong on the side said with a smile:
"It doesn't matter if it's more expensive. Black technology always has to be expensive, as long as the market positioning is right."
People are always willing to pay for black technology, no matter in any era, Li Yian said:
“Let A. Lange & Söhne produce a batch of quartz watches and give them as souvenirs to athletes participating in the Olympic Games! These athletes are the spokespersons of natural products!”
In terms of business, there is no People are better at it than Li Yi'an, not because they have systematically activated skills, but because they stand on the shoulders of historical giants. Sponsoring the Olympic Games to promote your brand is just the simplest way. However, Nanyang has been doing this for many years.
“To athletes? All of them?”
Yu Xiangdong said quickly,
"This is not a small expense. According to the report from the organizing committee, there are a total of 87 countries and regions this year, a total of 5936 athletes, and a watch costs 2500, which is almost Fifteen million! This expenditure is too big..." After Yu Xiangdong reminded him, Li Yian realized - indeed, fifteen million is indeed too much, even enough to build a warship. So he said:
"I was negligent, but I think it can be provided to the winning athletes. In this way, the cost should be acceptable."
Nanyang’s money is not brought by strong winds, so of course it cannot be squandered casually. After thinking about it for a while, Li Yian said with some pity.
"What a pity. In fact, these Olympic athletes are very good product spokespersons, and their value has not been fully explored. As product spokespersons, apart from the simplest products endorsed by Olympic champions, many people have overlooked one point - A large number of Olympic athletes, especially those in Europe and the United States, come from either rich or poor backgrounds. Ordinary people can afford to play sports and hire coaches."
Except for the Sudong Group, which regards the sports field as On the battlefield related to national glory, in addition to using the national system to train athletes, European and American athletes either rely on market-oriented operations and make money in the market for training, or rely on personal financial resources. Therefore, for a long time, sports were a thing for the aristocracy.
“These people, whether they are well-known athletes or self-funded athletes, are members of the upper class of their country, and their clothing and use will be imitated by the outside world. If we provide them with quartz watches... it should be It can drive a wave of trends!”
How can we rely on this trend to drive the development of Nanyang’s microelectronic processor industry?
If you calculate it this way, wouldn’t the 15 million be worth it?
Just when Li Yian was thinking about whether to spend 15 million to promote a wave of quartz watches and promote the development of the microelectronic processor industry, Yu Xiangdong said from the side:
“I don’t think we need to provide them with quartz at all. Watches. Now that we have provided quartz watches to those winning contestants, it is equivalent to telling the world that a watch containing the world's most cutting-edge technology has been released, which will definitely arouse the curiosity of many people."
< br>Although he is not a businessman, Yu Xiangdong still has a certain understanding of business.
“We don’t have to provide it to everyone, but we can provide them with a product. A souvenir, just like the souvenir we provided at the Asian Games.”
Two years In the previous Asian Games, Nanyang made money. Because they launched mascots and a wide variety of other souvenirs, they were all sought after by the market.
Therefore, the organizing committee of this Olympic Games has also prepared mascots and a wide variety of souvenirs. Now it is natural to add quartz watches to the mix.
“Facing this kind of product with extremely high technological content and the five Olympic rings, some wealthy athletes will definitely be eager to get such a product. After all, they themselves are not that bad. Money, then they will take the initiative to endorse our products.”
Yu Xiangdong smiled:
“If we can let them take the initiative to endorse our products, why bother with it for free. Did you provide them with it? After all, the same watch as the Olympic winner is worthless after all."
Yu Xiangdong's suggestion made Li Yian. He was stunned for a moment, then laughed.
"Haha, you are right, and this suggestion is very good. Well, just do what you said, and tell Lange that they only offer 6,000 yuan! You have to create artificial scarcity so that you can sell it at a higher price. . ”
Of course, it is precisely because of artificial manufacturing scarcity that prompts semiconductor companies to join the production of quartz watches.
Actually, this thing is really not about artificially creating scarcity... because it was really not easy to produce at the beginning.
In this way, after a brief chat, Li Yian picked up another report transferred from the Secret Intelligence Service. Just after reading the content, Li Yian was immediately informed that the content of the report was Attracted.
The content of the report group is very simple. It not only mentioned the "Congo Crisis" that was covered up by the sudden changes in the South Asian subcontinent, but also mentioned the split of the Congolese country - Katanga, which is supported by the Belgian government in southern Congo. Province declares 'independence' from the Republic.
After putting down the report, Li Yian said:
“This seems to be an opportunity for us.”
The reason why he said this is because Katanga Province in southern Congo is a mining industry. Important land, among which the most attractive to Nanyang is the New Kolobwe Mine, which once provided almost all the uranium needed for the Manhattan Project of the United States to develop the atomic bomb!
Although Australia's uranium mines provide a stable source of uranium supply to Nanyang, Australia is not under Nanyang's control, and Nanyang cannot control that country. After all, he, like Nanyang, is a British As a key member of the Federation, unless Nanyang wants to be the target of public criticism and risk being attacked by the Western world to occupy Australia, Australia is just Nanyang's "federal brother".
What Nanyang needs is a country under its own control!
Congo’s Katanga province… seems like a good choice!
(End of this chapter)