The turning point in TSMC's history lies in the breakthrough of its copper manufacturing process.
Before the copper process, TSMC relied on IBM for most of its technologies, all the way to the copper process technology.
IBM wanted to sell their newly developed copper process technology to TSMC, but TSMC chose to refuse and hoped to go it alone.
Originally, Lin Benjian was a key figure in TSMC's efforts to conquer the copper manufacturing process. Now that Lin is missing, the progress is not as fast as before.
If Lin joins, TSMC will only need less than two years to conquer the copper process. However, IBM's technology is not mature enough and has obvious flaws. This will also lead to TSMC occupying more than half of the chip foundry market share after conquering the copper process.
Lin Benjian's idea is to cooperate with TSMC around lithography machines. Although TSMC does not have as strong a monopoly in the future, it is still the leading echelon of chip foundry.
When Xinxin Technology's own chip foundry is still in its infancy, it is necessary to choose to cooperate with TSMC and find a chip foundry to jointly promote the research and development of a new generation of lithography machines.
“I think under the current circumstances, we can cooperate with TSMC on chip technology.
After the launch of mobile phone integrated chips this year, even if we complete the establishment of a joint venture with Huahong, an 8-inch production line alone will not be able to meet production capacity needs.
Secondly, TSMC has a need for technological breakthroughs, and we also have a need for technological breakthroughs. We can communicate with TSMC that the technology patents in the process of conquering the 130nm process need to be mutually authorized.
For this reason, we can provide part of the A1E chip orders to TSMC. Whether we are cooperating with TSMC or cooperating with other manufacturers in the chip field, we must give full play to our diversified advantages.
Xinxin Technology not only has photolithography machines, we also have chip design and chip foundry.
These can all become bargaining chips. "
After Zhou Xin finished speaking, Guan Jianying added: "Yes, this is also Samsung's way of playing. Samsung likes to buy and sell.
For example, ask Samsung to find Texas Instruments chips for mobile phones, and then ask Texas Instruments to hand over the chip manufacturing to Samsung. When cooperating with other manufacturers, Samsung will launch a bundled sales strategy that combines memory chips, panels and chip foundry.
Our previous utilization around this area was not enough. Bundling is a very common strategy, and AMD also likes to sell CPUs and GPUs together.
Previously, Xinxin Technology did not consider our advantages in this area. When it handed over the foundry of A1E chips to Samsung, AMD and Texas Instruments, it did not force Xinxin lithography machines to be sold in bundles. "
Samsung used its advantages in memory chips and panels to obtain Apple's foundry orders. After becoming Apple's chip foundry partner, Samsung's profits from chip foundry tripled in just four years.
Profit from manufacturing A-series chips for Apple accounts for 85%.
Mobile phone chip foundry is a big piece of the pie. Cooperation in the semiconductor field is not just about profits, but technology is equally important. In more than a year, the number of activated Mphone units worldwide exceeded 5 million, including unsold inventory and The dealers have no starting inventory, so Matrix has ordered a total of about 7 million A1E chips, which is an order of nearly 1 billion US dollars.
Even if this US$1 billion order is split into three pieces, it is still a large amount. In the process, some requirements are put forward, such as the purchase of new core lithography machines and the opening of some technology licenses. They will definitely agree to it. down. This is not a harsh requirement.
We haven’t done this before, mainly because Guan Jianying has insufficient experience in this area. Before, she was mainly engaged in the field of chip design. The form of Xinxin Technology is very similar to Samsung. If she enters the field of panels and memory chips, then Just like Samsung.
This kind of comprehensive semiconductor company needs to make full use of its strengths to make up for its shortcomings. Guan Jianying lacks awareness in this regard.
And Lin Benjian did not work for TSMC like the original time and space. He came to Xinxin directly after working at IBM. With IBM's strong position, there are no shortcomings in technology at all. Once they fall behind in technology, they will give up the entire business. .
Hu Zhengming said: "I took a look and found that our chip OEM orders for Samsung have exceeded three-quarters of their annual revenue. We have a sufficient basis for negotiation.
We can cooperate with both TSMC and Samsung at the same time. To a certain extent, Samsung also hopes to have more choices, instead of only choosing neon manufacturers for equipment and raw materials.
We can use photolithography machines as an opportunity to cooperate with Samsung and TSMC.
After TSMC conquers the 130nm process, it can give TSMC some orders for A1E chips. "
Hu Zhengming continued: "In addition, we don't have to just focus on Huahong. According to my understanding, Motorola has an 8-inch chip production plant in Tianjin that is planning to be transferred. We can consider bringing in external capital and jointly acquire it."
In the first decade of the 21st century, China's semiconductor industry has shown a very strange trend. China's share of the global integrated circuit market is increasing. According to statistics compiled by IDC in 2005, For example, the total revenue of global integrated circuits is US$192 billion, and the total revenue of the Chinese market is US$40.3 billion, which is about 20% of the global market.
However, the annual revenue of China's semiconductor manufacturers is only US$2.56 billion, and more than 90% of the chips produced by China are from overseas orders. China's domestic demand is strong, but China's local chip foundries need to produce the chips and sell them to foreign investors, then resell them to Chinese consumers.
The weakness of China's local consumer electronics brands has led to a very low profit share of Chinese companies in the entire upstream and downstream sectors, and the jobs driven and provided by technology are also limited.
Zhou Xin's concern is that he has not accumulated enough technology during the bonus period and will be very passive when the bonus period passes.
In particular, the development of chip technology is almost every three years. If it falls behind, it will take ten times the effort to make up for it.
Now it can catch up with the last afterglow of advanced manufacturing processes. TSMC can break through IBM's blockade through self-research, and ASML can unseat Nikon by cooperating with TSMC.
Twenty years later, even if chip manufacturers join forces, it will be almost impossible to create another ASML and achieve a technological breakthrough.
Of course, that’s not to say it’s never possible, but it’s just that we can’t surpass ASML if we follow the existing technology route. If there is a revolutionary breakthrough in basic materials, such as changing from silicon-based chips to carbon-based chips in the future, and the chip raw materials will change from single crystal silicon to graphene. .
"In the past few years, Xinxin Technology will not pay dividends, and I will not use Xinxin Technology's book funds to do other things. All of them will be used to invest in research and development and pay salaries to front-line engineers and R&D personnel.
Our welfare system favors frontline engineers and R&D personnel. Zhou Xin said.
"In addition, cooperation with Chinese universities can not be limited to undergraduate students. Chinese graduate students will have more independent time. We can increase our attraction to them and sign agreements in advance for qualified talents."
At this meeting of Xinxin Technology, everyone reached a consensus around the future development direction of Xinxin Technology. To be precise, Zhou Xin agreed with their ideas and put forward his own ideas.
"Robin, congratulations. Baidu's successful listing is also a milestone in life." Zhou Xin, as Baidu's shareholder representative, was invited to attend the bell-ringing ceremony for Baidu's listing on Nasdaq.
After the merger of Baidu and Google, the websites of both parties were retained, with Robin serving as chairman of the board and CEO, and then Google's founders served as chief technology officer and vice president respectively.
Robin was in high spirits at the listing bell-ringing ceremony. Today was his home court. Executives from financial institutions involved in Baidu's listing all gathered around Robin, praising and flattering him.
Even Zhou Xin, who used to be the center of attention when attending any event in New York, pales in comparison.
But as the host, Robin obviously will not ignore Zhou Xin. Zhou Xin, who holds 30% of the newly established Baidu, is the key figure for him to secure his current position.
Zhou Xin has always been on his side, so he can naturally sit back and relax. Although his and Zhou Xin's combined equity ratio does not exceed 50%, he also has some die-hard supporters among other small and medium-sized shareholders, and their equity ratio increases. It seems to be over 50%.
It’s just that compared with white supporters, no matter how hardcore they are, there are still differences in culture and nationality. Zhou Xin is different. He is also a Chinese-American and an alumnus of Yan University. He has proven his support in the past when Google annexed Baidu. With Zhou Xin's own identity and resources, Robin can be said to regard Zhou Xin as his most important asset.
Zhou Xin looked at the high-spirited Robin in front of him and recalled that when Riot Games was listed, he also rang the bell on the Nasdaq as a company representative, but he was not excited at all at that time.
Because just before Riot went public, Time Warner completed Quora’s deal of the century. After that deal was completed, the money was just a number to him, and Riot’s listing did not stimulate his nerves at all.
Obviously, it was Robin's first time that Baidu went public. After Zhou Xin congratulated him, Robin gave him a hug: "Newman, thank you for your continued support.
Without you, Baidu would not be what it is today. "
Robin looked around and looked at the surrounding Baidu employee representatives and representatives of financial institutions one by one and said: "Newman has participated in almost the entire process of Baidu from its establishment to profitability, and has always been Baidu's staunchest supporter.
Baidu looks forward to maintaining a good cooperative relationship with Newman in the future. Together we have entered the 21st century from the 20th century, and hope to spend more time together in the future. "
Robin is a very controlling person, otherwise Yuanshikong would not have forced Baidu co-founder Xu Yong to resign on the eve of its listing.
However, the situations are different and the approaches are different. Neither Baidu nor Google adopts an A/B share structure because neither Baidu nor Google monopolize the search engine market. Instead, their market share is very close. No one has an absolute advantage. Word.
Therefore, neither Baidu nor Google can become strong on financial institutions, and there is no way to talk about the A/B share structure.
If it were NewPay, the A/B share structure has become the default condition, and there is no need to mention this at all when financing.
Robin said this to win over Zhou Xin and hope that Zhou Xin would stand with him, and to push up Baidu's stock price.
Most of the people here are executives from financial institutions. Zhou Xin's vision in the Internet field has been verified by enough cases. Zhou Xin is optimistic that Baidu can bring several points of increase on the day Baidu goes public.
"No, no, no, I'm just an investor. I've always said that the idea itself is not valuable, only the ability to put the idea into practice is valuable.
I've been lucky enough to have people help me turn my ideas into reality. "Zhou Xin didn't accept the call. He didn't mention his support for Baidu, and he didn't want to be the strongest supporter.
Baidu and Google merged, and then Robin became CEO, which was a good thing for Zhou Xin. Robin's appointment as CEO determined that the newly established Baidu would not invest as much in research and development as Google.
Robin will be a qualified manager, but he will not be an excellent technology leader. Zhou Xin believes that Baidu led by Robin cannot lead and guide the development of technology like the original Google.
At least without Google, there would be no Android. Once Android becomes available, someone will naturally fill the gap.
Zhou Xin has always planned to build Matrix into a high-end consumer electronics brand. Whether it is A-series mobile phone chips or MOS, he does not plan to open it to the outside world.
But he also doesn’t want to give up the market of open mobile operating systems and Qualcomm’s cake in mobile chips. Zhou Xin also hopes to get involved.
Therefore, he plans to take the upcoming mobile phone integrated chip launched by Xinxin Technology as an opportunity to open up two fronts in the field of mobile phone chips in the future.
One is A-series high-end chips, and the other is low-, medium-, and high-end mobile phone chips for external sale.
In terms of operating systems, it is entirely possible to set up a separate company in China that focuses on smartphone operating systems, and then acquire Android as a foreign aid. The two will jointly create a mobile operating system that is open to the outside world.
When Zhou Xin was thinking in the audience about how to seize the opportunity in the mobile Internet era and advance the path of others, Robin, as a representative of Baidu, spoke on the stage:
"In the past year, Baidu successfully merged with Google in order to create a consumer brand with greater recognition in the world. The merger of Baidu and Google is not as easy as the outside world understands.
Because both Baidu and Google are successful companies and have achieved sufficient success in the field of search engines, the merger of the two also faces regulatory issues. The regulators will think that we have the risk of monopoly. How to avoid this risk, let the regulators I believe that the merger of Baidu and Google is to create better choices, not to monopolize the market to obtain excess profits.
We put in a lot of hard work and finally received regulatory consent last November to finally achieve the merger. "
The merger between Baidu and Google is really a result of Wall Street's incredible power, and this pure monopoly can be approved. Because it had not been approved before, Zhou Xin thought that Amerikan still had rules. In the end, the merger was successful, and Zhou Xin realized that it was just that the operation was not in place.
(End of chapter)
