Reinventing the Millennium.

Chapter 925 May You Pick More (4K)

The situation for Texas Instruments has been lower since the second quarter of this year.

The main factor here is not the impact of subprime debt, but that distributors have reduced their inventory levels, continuing the weak trend looming in the first quarter.

Among them, the decline in the wireless sector is the most obvious.

Simply put, Texas Instruments has encountered challenges on the mobile side.

As Yike is equipped with Qualcomm chips and Apple is equipped with Samsung chips, TI's competitive pressure in the high-end market is gradually increasing, while the low-end market is also squeezed by emerging Asian powers MediaTek and Spreadtrum.

The low-end market is a red sea with low gross profit. The high-end market has long been cut off from the baseband chip product line, and it is difficult to produce synergies with mobile chips, showing insufficient competitiveness.

In the third quarter now, such performance is even more fatal.

It is said that some major customers have turned to a multi-supplier strategy, and Nokia, the largest customer, is also considering cooperation with Broadcom and STMicroelectronics.

This is likely to create a vicious circle.

The economic crisis brought about by the collapse of Lehman in September undoubtedly greatly increased the possibility of the situation getting worse.

After Fang Zhuo arrived in New York, he rested for half a day, adjusted his schedule and state, and waited to confirm whether the U.S. Congress would reject the bailout bill as rumored.

On the evening of the 26th, Yike Company deployed an eight-person evaluation team to deal with the external needs that may arise during this period.

At nine o'clock, Fang Zhuo met Yu Hong, who had just returned from Silicon Valley, and treated her to a sumptuous supper.

"It's so late, you big fish and big meat..." Yu Hong was surprised, "You lost billions in Xiangjiang, and you can't eat there, are you hungry?"

"Isn't it because Mr. Yu is tired from the boat and car, and I'm afraid you are tired?" Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "Hong Kong stocks are all falling by numbers, and they may rise back in a year."

Yu Hong adjusted the dinner plate, only wanting to eat something vegetarian, and asked casually: "Morningstar is very unlucky, but Yongke Real Estate seems to be even more unlucky. I still want to buy some shares of Yongke Real Estate. Is it going to be listed?"

"Go ahead, go public as soon as possible and sell for money." Fang Zhuo replied, "I'm going to go public this year. The basic real estate market is placed here. Next year and the next year, it should be able to sell for a lot of money. It just so happens that the ice core needs to be invested in both 28nm and FinFET processes." It’s worth a lot of money.”

Yu Hong: "..."

She said dumbfoundedly: "Have you even figured out the time?"

"It's not too bad. Funds need to be invested in advance. Just buying a lithography machine from ASML requires an early order. It will take a year and a half to prepare materials in advance." Fang Zhuo said, "FinFET The craftsmanship is a major upgrade, if possible, I hope our mobile phones will be able to use this, a key upgrade."

"It depends on the digestion and absorption of the hummingbird chip?" Yu Hong knew what Mr. Fang was referring to.

Fang Zhuo nodded slightly. Yike acquired the Hummingbird team and is still co-developing chips with Samsung. This is an important achievement worth looking forward to in the next two or three years, and it is likely to have a relationship with Qualcomm because of this decision.

One of the focuses of this visit to the United States is to enhance the strength of Yike in IC design.

Counting the time, the 28nm chip with independent chip design + FinFET process will be a sublimation of Yike mobile phone.

Completing either of these two items is very satisfying.

Yu Hong came back from Silicon Valley this trip, so she took advantage of the opportunity to chat about the R&D center there. She also experienced the extremely immature fingerprint technology identification yesterday.

In order to highlight the technical direction, the R&D center sincerely invited the co-founders of Yike to try the early adopter function of mobile phone fingerprint + laboratory access control. Then, several people were trapped for half an hour... It can only be said that there is still a long way to go.

Fang Zhuo listened to Zhile, and planned to experience the laboratory technology after meeting the people from Texas Instruments.

"Deyi's profit fell by nearly 30% this quarter, and you have contributed a lot to it." Yu Hongren is in the United States, and she is very clear about the situation of a supplier like Texas Instruments, which plays an important role in the industry.

Fang Zhuo was surprised: "How?"

"Nokia is very confident in its touch-screen phones, but you held a press conference and the sales were blown away. It is a shame to buy its touch-screen phones on the Internet." Yu Hong talked about her observations, "I heard that it will be sold at the end of the year. If you want to get a new machine, you may have to switch to a capacitive screen.”

She continued: "Samsung's Android phones launched this month are also equipped with Qualcomm chips. Texas Instruments lacks a complete mobile phone chip solution. This is a problem. Qualcomm's competitiveness is getting stronger and stronger."

"Samsung actually used a Qualcomm chip?" Fang Zhuo was surprised.

These days, he is preoccupied with the financial market, and indeed neglects to observe mobile phone competitors, and Samsung has just launched a touch-screen smart phone two days ago.

Yu Hong greeted the secretary, took out Samsung's latest product from her bag, and handed it to Mr. Fang: "It's just equipped with Qualcomm chips in the United States, and its own chips are used in Asia, and they haven't been released in Europe yet. I heard that they haven't negotiated with operators yet. "

Fang Zhuo played with Samsung's latest i7500 mobile phone, and he clearly saw the shadow of himself and Apple.

This is the first product from Samsung to run on Android.

He thought for a moment and asked, "How did Samsung do it? How did it talk to Qualcomm?"

Yu Hong said without raising her head, "Then you have to ask your close partner, but there must be an important reason, because Samsung is the second largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world."

Such a position in the mobile phone market will undoubtedly increase the influence of Qualcomm chips in the industry and improve its competitiveness in the field of high-end mobile phone chips.

"Will Samsung also adopt Qualcomm chips in Europe?" Fang Zhuo asked.

"I don't know, I suspect not, we will know soon." Yu Hong replied.

Fang Zhuo turned his thoughts to himself: "Tell me, if our hummingbird chip is digested, can we also use our own chip in China and use Qualcomm's chip abroad?"

"The potential of the domestic market and South Korea are two different things. Can Qualcomm agree? Leaving aside the performance of its own chips and Qualcomm chips, there is indeed a recognition of this brand power. It is hard to say whether consumers can accept it." It’s a good thing for Yi Ke, I think it can be done without one time.”

She thought about it again: "Hummingbird Chip can produce a sub-flagship specifically, and the price will be compromised, so that consumers have nothing to say, and Qualcomm should be able to barely talk about it."

If Yike has a high-end flagship chip, it will undoubtedly compete with Qualcomm. Whether the other party is willing to cultivate the opponent will be a trade-off of pros and cons.

Yu Hong also put the future in reality, and said with a smile: "But if you can really make money in the chip department now, and come up with chips that are not inferior to Qualcomm in a few years, at worst, we will have a lawsuit with Qualcomm again."

Fang Zhuo sighed, "The bigger the company, the more lawsuits it will file."

"Who says it's not? Nokia's application for a sales ban at the ITC has also been filed." Yu Hong frowned. "If it releases a capacitive screen phone at the end of the year, we can have another round of talks with Nokia."

Although the U.S. ITC's injustice has hindered Nokia, it has no way to dispel the idea of ​​the other party's appeal, and finally opened the case.

Fang Zhuo took a sip of tea excitedly, and said seriously, "Well, let's talk again."

Yu Hong knew Mr. Fang's counterattack plan in the capital market, so she remained silent. She also felt the signs of Xiao Ao's counterattack at the end of this month, and it seemed that there was a real hope of laying the groundwork for a mass murder.

"By the way, HTC went to Shanghai before and wanted to talk to me about patent fees." Fang Zhuo suddenly remembered a small achievement in the lawsuit.

"How?" Yu Hong really didn't know about it.

"I haven't seen her." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "Didn't HTC counterclaim? You can wait for the process, or wait for the ITC's judgment on LG Electronics. Google told me that HTC started to contact Android, probably Want to reach a settlement through the PRO alliance."

Yu Hong asked, "Then what do you mean?"

"LG Electronics will definitely not let it go. This also comes from Google's meaning to kill chickens and monkeys." Fang Zhuo said slowly, "Well, if HTC is equipped with Android, then I will take its money. If you don't give up Microsoft's WM system, then Don't want the money."

That's what coercion is all about.

Yu Hong said euphemistically: "This is also for the good of HTC, and the Android system is better than Microsoft WM."

"Indeed, I hope that next year will be a year in which the Android system will flourish." Fang Zhuo considered, "The development based on mobile devices will bring many opportunities."

Yu Hong said "hmm". She and Mr. Fang went to meet Schmidt at the beginning, and the Android system also has a built-in software location according to the agreement.

She ate [-]% full, thinking about the itinerary that Mr. Fang said, and said sincerely: "A year ago, I never thought that I would say such a thing. Texas Instruments' absolute dominant position in mobile phone chips has been shaken."

A year ago, Texas Instruments was undoubtedly the largest player in the high-end mobile phone chip market, but in the past December, demand from manufacturers has been weakening every month.

Now, it has begun to lay off employees and adjust the mobile phone chip business, and it seems to be struggling.

Technology and market changes are really fast.

……

On the 29th, at four o'clock in the afternoon.

Accompanied by the Yike team, Fang Zhuo flew to Dallas where Texas Instruments headquarters is located.

Today, as the rumors spread, Congress rejected the $7000 billion bailout bill from Xiaobu.

What followed was an immediate impact on financial markets.

The stock market plummeted wildly, and everyone panicked.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 777.68, or 6.98%, to close at 10.

The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index fell 106.59, or 8.79%, to close at 1106.42.

The Nasdaq Composite Index, which is dominated by high-tech companies, plunged 199.61, or 9.14%, to close at 1983.73.

It was the largest drop in U.S. stock market history.

Fang Zhuo was paralyzed.

The most direct connection with him is that Morningstar Semiconductor has fallen by another 10 billion, while Qimonda has lost 95% of its value on the New York Stock Exchange, and its stock price is less than 1 US dollar.

In 05, Qimonda was listed at an issue price of US$18. No one could have imagined that it would become like this three years later.

Fang Zhuo felt very sorry for Qimonda's performance. Today he received another call from Mr. Luo. He hung up the phone after only talking for 30 seconds. He couldn't bear to hear the call for help.

Judging from the current situation, with the outbreak of the global financial crisis, Qimonda has been unable to obtain financial assistance from Infineon and the German government, and bankruptcy is inevitable.

Fang Zhuo does not intend to acquire Qimonda, which means that he may have to bear debts and other issues, which is undoubtedly a big pit.

Now he just waits for Qimonda to come to an end, and then takes the arrears of foundry fees + cash to pick some practical DRAM patents and reactivate Icecore's Lin'an Second Factory.

In fact, Fang Zhuo is also considering whether to take advantage of this opportunity to spin off the second factory in Lin'an and operate it independently, which will not only facilitate receiving capital injection from international funds, but also be relatively more focused.

For him, this is a system that can be controlled. The ice core can travel lightly, and the Lin'an factory can be regarded as a tricky rabbit. However, it seems that it will damage the interests of shareholders.

Fang Zhuo has not made a final decision yet, and plans to discuss it with Qiu Ciyun and others. Anyway, the current shareholders are definitely happy to lose the loss-making Lin'an factory.

In the evening, Yike team arrived in Dallas.

When Fang Zhuo was able to see the Texas Instruments signboard, he suddenly asked the secretary: "Deyi layoffs, UMC layoffs, Qimonda layoffs, is there any news about Qualcomm's layoffs?"

Liu Zonghong reconfirmed it first, and then replied: "I haven't received any news from any channel."

Fang Zhuo nodded regretfully.

Under the crisis, there are also manufacturers that develop against the trend. Qualcomm is indeed the fourth of the iron triangle, and it is good that Qualcomm is fine.

At eight o'clock in the evening, Fang Zhuo, who was playing the autumn wind, met Richard Templeton, the head of Deyi.

Originally, Fang Zhuo only wanted to meet a vice president or something, but Richard immediately expressed that he wanted to meet in person after hearing the news.

In fact, he made it very clear on the phone that this time it was not for the Mars series of chips, but just to help Texas Instruments optimize its business, but Richard still couldn't hide his enthusiasm.

Meet on both sides.

As expected, Richard still talked about TI's mobile phone chip.

"Eco has no plan to change suppliers." Fang Zhuo was a little helpless, "In the first half of last year, we had frequent contacts with Texas Instruments, hoping to get more support for solution optimization, but Texas Instruments is really slow. There is room for collaboration, but definitely not now."

Last year, Texas Instruments did not help Yike optimize, this year, Yike will help Texas Instruments optimize.

Richard is really sorry.

However, who would have thought of the outbreak of Yike mobile phone and Android system?
The largest customer, Nokia, did not hesitate to add STMicroelectronics and Broadcom to its suppliers, which made Texas Instruments very passive.

"TI will catch up. We plan to produce a high-end chip for the Android system next year, and we hope to cooperate by then." Richard said.

Afterwards, he called Deyi's menu for today.

The heads of five project teams walked into the conference room.

Because of Mr. Fang's sincerity, Texas Instruments provided a two-way option for packaging.

Seeing the unconscious smile on Mr. Fang's face, Richard could only comfort himself in his heart. Instead of letting the layoffs go, it's better to send them to a place that will treat them well.

Fang is always a good person, at least, there will be no problem with his treatment.

(End of this chapter)