[The previous chapter has been unblocked]
"How much money can Mr. Chen invest?" Zhang Zhongmou asked.
"You know my worth, and you should also have a general idea of Midea's current global scale. Funds are never a problem, as long as your investment plan is reasonable and your business plan has a future." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile, although Fortune had previously criticized him The evaluation of his net worth is somewhat low, but it is still an insurmountable figure for ordinary people.
"I have the investment plan at home. If Mr. Chen needs it, I can go back and get it, but I can only send it over tomorrow. Why not, I will briefly describe it. What do you think?" Zhang Zhongmou said.
"Okay, anyway, I generally don't read much about plans." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. Plans in the IT industry are really as thick as dictionaries, often hundreds of pages, involving investment projects, planning, personnel, and companies. Structure, market analysis, customer selection, financial plan, follow-up financing plan, etc. These are for professional investors. Chen Zhiwen is not. He only looks at people.
Zhang Zhongmou said: "Mr. Chen, I heard that your Midea company has found many electronics factories in Asia to manufacture its electronic products?"
"Yes." Chen Zhiwen nodded.
Zhang Zhongmou continued: "This has become the norm in the electronics industry, textile industry, and toy industry, but not in industries with high technical content. All industrial products with a certain technical content are basically made by a certain company. Yes, the same is true for chips. Currently, each company builds its own chip factory. But the problem is that chip factories are different from traditional manufacturing. Its starting point is very high. No matter what kind of chip, it costs hundreds of dollars. If you invest US$10,000 in a production line, even one that is not the latest technology will cost hundreds of thousands more. In addition, a large number of production quantities will be needed in the later period to reduce costs. However, in reality, most factories do not have orders of these quantities, which results in A very serious waste.
Although the global market is beginning to unify standards in the pure memory field and CPU chip field, so that many companies can use standard parts, but the requirements of all walks of life are different and always require a large number of different customized parts. These customizations Unless the demand for chips comes from the top companies in the industry, the volume will not be very large. This will either result in them having to invest huge amounts of money to build their own production lines and suffer long-term losses, or they will have no choice but to have no chips and find connections to entrust other wafers. factory.
So my idea is to build a factory that specializes in chip production for various companies, and focus on how to produce and how to improve the yield rate. In fact, this yield rate is one of the fundamental reasons why Japanese counterparts can beat American chips. "
"Aren't you going to engage in your own research and development?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
"My goal is to only engage in production. If I have capital in the future, I may try to develop memory chips, but other chips will not be developed. This is the customer's business. A qualified foundry should not produce the same products as customers. " Zhang Zhongmei replied.
"The idea is indeed good." Chen Zhiwen praised.
Naturally, he had known Zhang Zhongmou’s thoughts for a long time. TSMC in later generations was actually a pure OEM, while his strongest rival Samsung was an integrated electronics giant. Although Samsung’s profits may be very high, because it has mobile phones and other In the consumer electronics industry, this has caused other mobile phone giants such as Apple to try their best to give orders to TSMC, unless it is Samsung's unique technology, such as LCD screens.
This is also a normal phenomenon. For example, Foxconn specializes in assembling mobile phones and has become the world's largest assembly OEM giant. Although it launched its own mobile phones in 2000, it did not promote it very much because it did not dare to go big. Once it became big, All orders from various mobile phone customers were immediately sold out.
TSMC relied on the ability of its initial team, the timing of the United States' suppression of Japanese chips, and its professional-only production attitude to grow into a chip foundry giant in future generations.
"I have had this idea for a long time, but the investment is too high, and the most difficult thing is how to obtain various orders. Otherwise, the later losses will be much higher than the cost investment. In addition, the equipment needs to be iterated Yes, once you fail to do a good job in the first two years, you will never have another chance in the future." Zhang Zhongmou said.
"Don't worry about orders. Let's invest together. I will naturally arrange for Midea to give you some orders. At least you can easily survive in the first few years, but the premise is that the chips cannot have quality problems. As for the price, it is better to have discounts, otherwise it will be better." , and it cannot be lower than the current purchase price of Midea." Chen Zhiwen said.
The later TSMC was established in 1987 with the efforts of many parties, but there were no orders at the beginning. The Taiwanese government came forward and found many electronics companies in the Gulf and asked for some orders. Otherwise, TSMC might have been stillborn.
The most difficult thing about starting a business is actually not the cost, but the orders.
"We will definitely have advantages in terms of price and quality. I wonder how we will divide the shares if we cooperate?" Zhang Zhongmou asked. If there is a large electronics company like Midea as a customer, then as long as the quality and price can be controlled, at least the first few No need to worry for years.
"How about 64% for me and 40% for you? We will calculate the financial investment later. I can invest any amount of money as long as it makes sense." Chen Zhiwen said.
"This ratio is too high. The Bayan government has actually had the idea of building a chip factory for a long time. They will definitely need to take a stake in it. This ratio may not be low." Zhang Zhongmou said.
"I know this, so this ratio is only the ratio between the two of us now. If the Taiwanese government or other consortiums join in the future, it will be calculated separately." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. It is wishful thinking to always want 60% of TSMC's shares. Even if it really succeeds, it is impossible for a company that he owns shares to fail to develop. If he really wants to succeed like this, why would he look for Zhang Zhongmou? I went directly to Wanwan to invest on my own.
Negotiations, of course, require the lion to open his mouth. Anyway, Zhang Zhongmou does not know how big the future scale of the company he created will be, and Midea can currently provide huge help. Another reason is that in the future, TSMC will inevitably need to introduce a large number of Investment is an inevitable condition for developing into a giant. Even if you have six layers of shares now, in the future, it will be good to have two layers left.
"Actually, this investment plan is not for me alone, but for several Chinese engineers currently in the United States. They also need a certain amount of original shares." Zhang Zhongmou said.
"That's no problem. People who are capable should have stocks. You can also give me their information tomorrow. My people will evaluate their abilities and what is due will be given to them." Chen Zhiwen added: "Today is just us. For the first meeting, Mr. Zhang should go back and consider the matter carefully and the shareholding ratio. This is my business card. If you are sure, then you can contact me, or come to Hong Kong to find me and contact my secretary in advance. Just tell me that all air tickets, receptions, and hotels can be reimbursed."
"Okay, thank you very much, Mr. Chen. I will seriously consider this matter." Zhang Zhongmou also felt that Chen Zhiwen was very sincere, but he wanted a lot of stocks. This was different from American venture capital, but it made sense. The investment habits in Asia are different from those in Silicon Valley in the United States. Most people who invest large amounts of money need a controlling stake, and even American venture capital investors are not fools. Regardless of the implementation of the project, at least it must have already started and has something in place. Only after certain progress has been made will people enter the angel round investment plan. As far as my current situation is concerned, the ideas are still in my mind. Who will invest?
"Okay, let's do this. We'll wait until our previous cooperation is settled, and then we can work together to discuss it with the Bayan government." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, "But there is one more thing. Midea will give you some orders in the early stage, but you still I need to find other customers in the shortest possible time, otherwise what use would I have to this company?”
"Understood. Mr. Chen." Zhang Zhongmou nodded and said. This is a normal request. Moreover, the current situation is much more convenient than they previously predicted.
Without Midea's investment, new customers would have to find and convince themselves, which is very difficult. But with Midea's massive orders, not only can they directly skip the most difficult stage of starting a business, but they can also use Midea's reputation to Go directly to find new customers. With the experience of working with large companies, it will be much easier for other small customers to accept.
In its original history, TSMC was established in 1987, but Zhang Zhongmou had this idea a long time ago and discussed it with the electronics-related administrative departments of Taiwan for several years. Therefore, it was the best time to come to our door this year. The timing is too early, and people may not have this idea yet. If it is later, the Bayan government may come to the door, and if you want to intervene again, even if you can succeed, it will not be as convenient as early intervention.
But now that I am one step ahead, with my own funds and resources, it is unlikely that Zhang Zhongmou will disagree. The only thing left is the equity ratio. There may be a period of wrangling later. After it is almost settled, I still need to negotiate with Wanwan. There was formal negotiation over there, and this aspect was naturally left to Zhang Zhongmou.
All he needs to do is to wait until "TSMC" is established and continue to give chip orders in the early stages to help TSMC grow. In the future, he will have to rely on Zhang Zhongmou's ability.
Another advantage of this is that it can avoid over-reliance on Japanese and Korean semiconductor companies around the 1990s, especially Samsung. In its original history, it was a dominant player in several fields in the 1990s. As a Hong Kong electronics company, Beautiful, there will be a lot of risks.
This is also the reason why Chen Zhiming knows that Samsung's stock price will plummet after 1997, but he is still arranging to absorb Samsung stocks. The first is that he can make a lot of money if he sells it in 1997, and the second is not to talk too much. Be friends with Samsung Electronics, but at least don’t be enemies with it.
The purpose of supporting TSMC in the early years was also for this purpose. If Zhang Zhongmou had started his business five years earlier, then by the 1990s, even if TSMC's performance in the chip field was not as good as Samsung's, it would at least have some restraint, right? As for the counter-cyclical price war that Samsung is best at, as long as it has its own financial support, TSMC does not have to worry. In this way, the existence of two high-end chip electronics manufacturing giants at the same time is more in line with Midea's interests and values.
In fact, many consumer electronics giants are unwilling to let Samsung dominate the rise of TSMC and even MediaTek in later generations. However, the excellent capabilities of these two companies are the bigger reason.
The next day, Zhang Zhongmou sent the plan he had prepared before, as well as a list of five other Chinese with cutting-edge technology, and a list of dozens of second-level figures. These are the current leaders in chip manufacturing in the entire United States. Among the best Chinese talents in the field, only Zhang Zhongmou, a Chinese who relied on his own ability to become the vice president of Texas Instruments, can have such appeal and attract so many talents to start a business together.
These materials are relatively professional. Chen Zhiwen only took a brief look at some of them, and then planned to hand them over to Midea's professional investment team for analysis later in Hong Kong. Although TSMC's future value is very high, it is now, and everyone's Cooperation must still follow market rules, such as Midea's long-term order support, which can be exchanged for more shares.
Anyway, the shares will definitely be diluted many times in the future, so it doesn't matter if you want more now.
Several things in the United States have also taken shape, and these investments will not be finalized in a few days. After the arrangements were made, Chen Zhiwen returned to Hong Kong.
It has been half a month since Thatcher's fall. Although the Iron Lady has lost some face, she is the British Prime Minister after all and cannot stay in Asia for a long time.
Both the UK and the Mainland have issued statements that they will definitely maintain Hong Kong's economic prosperity, which has eased the previous panic. But the economy has already fallen. Now it has temporarily stabilized the downward trend and wants to rise again. Going back would be difficult.
In half a month, the Hang Seng Index halved to 690 points, and then continued to slide to 660 points, reaching a stable platform. Compared with the peak in 1981, it is only one-third lower. This is just an average. In the stock market, the decline There are many companies that only have 10% of their peak value, and countless shareholders have been left bankrupt.
The same goes for real estate. Except for Central, house prices in other places have fallen by more than half. Not only have countless owners lost more than half of their value, but most real estate companies have also fallen into an unprecedented crisis. When products fall, serious problems will arise in the entire company's capital chain.
However, most companies can still sustain themselves for a period of time. After all, banks generally do not go too far at this time.
But there is one exception.
"Sheng Chen, this is a letter of visit from Chen Songqing, CEO of Jianing Group. He contacted me a few days ago and wanted to borrow HK$500 million from Hisense. I didn't agree. I guess it was because I saw you coming back. I came to you directly." Huo Jianning handed over a letter and said.
PS: I’m asking for a monthly pass at the end of the month.
(End of chapter)
