Chapter 1034 Pigs on the Wind (Supplementary Chapter)
Countercyclical investment, anyone who pays attention to the chip industry twenty years later will know this development strategy that originated in South Korea.
But not much is really known now.
Zhang Rujing looked surprised.
But he soon understood.
Hanhua is now rich and powerful, so he is indeed qualified to say this.
Looking at the other party's confident look, Zhang Rujing seemed to have seen that after SMIC's production capacity increased, all major foundries around the world, except TSMC, went bankrupt.
"Mr. Xu is really generous!"
Zhang Rujing was convinced.
Having money can indeed solve most problems.
"Then there's litigation."
On January 30, 2005, SMIC and TSMC reached a settlement in their patent and trade secret litigation case.
The settlement agreement stipulates that SMIC will pay TSMC US$175 million in installments within six years;
TSMC will also cancel its lawsuits in the U.S. Federal Court, the U.S. District Court of California, and the U.S. International Trade Committee, and all ongoing litigation cases in the Hsinchu District Court;
However, TSMC still reserves the right to file further complaints.
This agreement also states that by the end of December 2010, both parties will conduct cross-licensing of relevant patents.
In this agreement, TSMC does not allow SMIC to use TSMC’s trade secrets, but agrees not to sue SMIC for certain specific TSMC’s trade secrets.
It was this settlement agreement that opened the back door that TSMC quickly came to the door and launched another lawsuit against SMIC.
“After Hanhua acquires SMIC, Hanhua’s legal team will take over the litigation between SMIC and TSMC.
Mr. Zhang only needs to be responsible for the research and development of the company’s advanced processes and company operations. This The problem is solved by me.”
Looking at Zhang Rujing's complicated expression, Xu Liang continued.
"Mr. Zhang, Zhang Zhongmou's strategy is actually very simple. He will take advantage of the opportunity to get sick and kill you.
He just plans to take advantage of the weak global chip demand and SMIC's failure to completely turn a profit. Opportunity, use litigation to drag you down
Even if it doesn't happen, it will disrupt SMIC's development rhythm, reduce your R&D and operating funds, and make it impossible for you to stand up.
So. , want to solve this problem.
Just respond proactively.
We will stay with you until the end of the lawsuit.
But apart from the lawsuit, SMIC not only cannot give up its own development, but also accelerates it further.
This will disrupt the development plans and strategies of Zhang Zhongmou and TSMC, allowing SMIC to reverse the current unfavorable situation. ”
Alas...
He sighed heavily.
"We are born from the same roots, so there is no need to rush into each other."
Xu Liangliang also sighed.
Zhang Zhongmou is indeed one of the top geniuses in the IC field!
In the 1980s, Japanese semiconductor and home appliance products impacted the U.S. market. Due to long-term debt and trade deficit, the United States began to force the surplus Japanese currency to appreciate, and signed the famous Plaza Accord with Japan.
Getting sick yourself and asking others to take medicine is how Americans always solve problems.
In addition to Japan, the Wanwan region with processing and export as its core is also the target of oppression by the Americans.
In less than two years, the exchange rate of the New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar has risen from 40 yuan to 25 yuan.
The export competitiveness of the Wanwan region has been greatly lost, and companies have left one after another to move to inland, Southeast Asia and other places.
At that time, the inland area was undergoing reform and opening up, and national policies favored foreign investment, especially Taiwanese investment. In addition, the labor cost in the inland area was very low.
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share the same culture and culture, so setting up factories in the mainland is the first choice for Taiwanese investors.
Taiwanese factories are also blooming everywhere.
At that time, for ordinary people in the inland, being able to enter a Taiwanese factory was a job with a good salary. That period of history also represented a period of twists and turns in the transfer of industries to the inland.
In order to avoid the hollowing out of the industry, insightful people in the Wanwan area at that time placed their hopes on using semiconductor technology to drive industrial upgrading.
At that time, Sun Yunxuan, the executive director of Wanwan, set his sights on the United States across the ocean, hoping to promote the upgrading of ordinary processing of supplied materials to high value-added industries by introducing leaders in semiconductor technology.
So who was the ceiling for Chinese jobs in the U.S. semiconductor industry at that time?
If there is only one answer, that person is Zhang Zhongmou.
Lao Zhang was born in Ningbo in 1931.
The Zhang family comes from a scholarly family. The third uncle, Zhang Sihou, studied for a master's degree in telecommunications at Harvard and later received a doctorate in applied physics.
Later taught at Northeastern University in the United States.
Before the age of 18, Zhang Zhongmou followed his parents to escape the war. He traveled to six cities under Japanese artillery fire, and changed ten schools under the turbulent situation.
In 1949, he was brought to the United States by his third uncle Zhang Sihou and entered Harvard to study.
It needs to be emphasized that although Lao Zhang founded TSMC in Wanwan, he is not an ‘honored citizen’.
It became American directly.
Lao Zhang stayed at Harvard University for one year and then transferred to MIT.
In 1955, after completing the master's degree program at MIT, he failed to apply for the doctoral program at MIT twice.
This is the biggest blow in Lao Zhang’s life, and also the greatest luck in his life.
It was precisely because he couldn't get into the doctoral class that he accidentally broke into the semiconductor industry.
At that time, the U.S. economy was booming after World War II, and job opportunities were everywhere. After graduating, Lao Zhang received several offers, including well-known large manufacturers such as Ford, and an unknown small company "Xifan" Nia".
At that time, Ford’s salary was US$479 per month, while Shivania’s salary was US$480 per month.
With the difference of one yuan, Zhang Zhongmou chose "Sylvania" instead of Ford.
This choice gave birth to the most important figure in the current semiconductor industry.
Zhang Zhongmou completed the transformation from an industry novice to a semiconductor engineer in "Sylvania".
At that time, the U.S. semiconductor industry was experiencing a boom, and the shortage of people in the semiconductor industry was very serious.
So you can get a job even if you don’t have the right major.
Became the 'pig' at the center of the storm.
After entering the semiconductor industry, he was favored by Texas Instruments with three years of work experience. It was at Texas Instruments that Zhang Zhongmou met a very thoughtful engineer named Jack Kibby.
The two often drink coffee and chat together.
One day, Jack told Lao Zhang that he was planning to put transistors, bipolars, and resistors to form a circuit on the same silicon wafer.
Prior to this, all circuits were separate transistors connected by external wiring.
And Jack Kibby's idea is to integrate these together on the same silicon wafer.
He named this circuit "Integrated Circuit", or IC for short.
Later, Jack Kibbe won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
A revolution is coming!
Integrated circuits can make chips very small, but their functions can be very complex.
Small chips have brought about the revolution in computer technology and the rapid development of information technology.
Since then, Lao Zhang has had an indissoluble bond with integrated circuits.
His specialty at Texas Instruments was chip manufacturing.
His work was quickly recognized by the company.
In September 1961, he was admitted as a doctoral candidate in the Department of Electrical Engineering of Stanford University on the job.
The shadow of failing to get a PhD from MIT is gone.
At this time, he had already spent time in three prestigious schools (one year at Harvard University, a bachelor's and master's degree from MIT, and a PhD from Stanford University), and he was surrounded by aura.
In today’s terms, he is an ‘industry giant’.
In 1964, the 33-year-old Zhang Zhongmou, who received his Ph.D., returned to Texas Instruments. There will be a bigger stage waiting for him here.
In 1965, he was promoted to general manager of the integrated circuit department.
In 1972, Zhang Zhongmou successively served as the vice president and senior vice president of Texas Instruments. He was the third-ranking figure in Texas Instruments, second only to the chairman and president.
At this time, Texas Instruments had already become the number one in the world, with 60,000 employees worldwide, half of whom were managed by Zhang Zhongmou.
He was the first Chinese to enter the top management of a large American company.
In 1982, as the second-in-command in the Wanwan region, Executive Director Sun Yunxuan sent an English version of an offerletter to Zhang Zhongmou.
In the letter, Sun Yunxuan sincerely hoped that Zhang Zhongmou would serve as the president of the Industrial Research Institute.
Lao Sun is from Qilu and is a few years younger than Zhang Zhongmou.
He is also a very capable character.
In 1973, he defied public opinion and established the Industrial Technology Research Institute, a semi-official organization mainly funded by government funds, following the example of South Korea's Science and Technology Research Institute. This is the famous Wanwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute.
Since its establishment, ITRI has chosen the direction of integrated circuits as its breakthrough point.
In 1975, Wanwan Industrial Research Institute used CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) technology as the introduction target and issued cooperation invitations to 14 well-known American semiconductor manufacturers.
After screening and negotiation, the American RCA Company agreed to transfer the technology to the Industrial Research Institute at a relatively low price of US$3.5 million, which covers training circuit design, mask manufacturing, wafer manufacturing, packaging testing and production Management talents.
This is where the development of the semiconductor industry began. Assimilating RCA's technology, ITRI gradually incubated well-known semiconductor companies such as UMC, TSMC, World Advanced Micro Devices, and Winbond over the next ten to twenty years.
Famous.
In terms of talent training, ITRI is also the "Huangpu" military academy for the development of Wanwan's electronic industry.
Many celebrities in the technology industry today, such as Cao Xingcheng, chairman of UMC, and Cai Mingjie, chairman of MediaTek, all came from ITRI.
The Industrial Research Institute was created by Sun Yunxuan and was regarded as his "son."
This position is very important and sincere.
But Zhang Zhongmou, who was the vice president and third-in-command of Texas Instruments at the time, rejected Sun Yunxuan.
Lao Zhang is very honest.
"After talking with them, I found that they didn't know much about the treatment of American corporate executives."
The meaning is obvious, they didn't give enough money.
In 1984, Sun Yunxuan suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died immediately.
Although he was gone, his successor still did not give up the idea of recruiting Zhang Zhongmou.
One year later, in 1985, the successors Yu Guohua, Li Guoding and Xu Xianxiu issued another invitation to Zhang Zhongmou.
Looking at the thatched cottage again, this time the lineup is stronger.
Yu Guohua, Feng #hua people, can be seen from his place of origin. He is a bald fellow and a direct descendant.
It is natural to be in a high position.
Xu Xianxiu, most people don’t know it, but this person is very powerful.
Under his leadership, Wanwan built the Hsinchu Industrial Park, turning it into the Silicon Valley of the East, and was known as the 'Father of Hsinchu'.
Li Guoding, president of the Industrial Research Institute, recruited many overseas Chinese to start businesses in Wanwan during the period when Wanwan's high-tech industry took off.
Lao Li has strong ability and long-term vision.
He believes that a simple free trade zone is not suitable for Wanwan because the added value is not high.
High technology is the future.
Industrial Research Institute, Hsinchu Industrial Park, Export Processing Zone, it was the highlight moment of Wanwan’s high-tech industry.
A group of Sun Yunxuan, Li Guoding, Xu Xiuxian, etc., officials from other provinces who went to Wanwan from the inland and high-tech talents from the inland to the United States played a decisive role.
In fact, companies including TSMC, Hon Hai, Acer, Delta, ASE, Largan, etc. were all established in the 1970s and 1980s.
With the efforts of these people, whether it is introducing talents, attracting investment, or establishing industrial parks, Wanwan has finally become an indispensable link in the global electronics industry chain.
With invitations from three heavyweights, Zhang Zhongmou's status has also changed, although he has switched to General Equipment and served as president for a year and a half.
However, he is no longer the influential figure that he was at Texas Instruments.
Zhang Zhongmou, who is 53 years old, has already achieved financial freedom. This time he no longer cares about the salary he can get from his work, so he took over the position of president of the Industrial Research Institute.
These leaders in the Wanwan area visited the thatched cottage, invited Zhang Zhongmou, and also brought a "sacred mountain" to the Wanwan semiconductor industry.
(End of this chapter)