Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 127 Opportunities in Technological Change
"Tari-senpai, are you free today? Do you want to have dinner together?"

Although he gave the money, in view of his senior's busyness, Masato Takeshita naturally had to express his gratitude in other aspects.

And eating is usually the best way to deepen the relationship between two people.

"I get off work at 6pm."

"Okay, got it!"

At 6 o'clock in the afternoon, Masato Takeshita arrived at Yasuo Tarui's office on time.

"Please come in!"

"Sir Tarui, excuse me for disturbing you."

"The time is just right, let's go."

"Ok."

The private room that Masato Takeshita booked is in Ginza, Tokyo, a very famous Kaiseki restaurant.

He himself actually doesn't like Kaiseki cuisine very much, but this kind of stylish restaurant is very popular among successful elderly people, so naturally he has to cater to their tastes.

"Have a heart."

Yasuo Tarui knew the same thing and praised him with satisfaction.

"This is all as I should do. I really appreciate Tarui-senpai's help."

"No, I'm paid for my work, right?"

Yasuo Tarui patted his briefcase and signaled Masato Takeshita to be more casual.

"That's just a small amount of money. If Tarui-senpai is willing, he can easily make several times more money."

As the father of Japanese semiconductors, not to mention anything else, he could make countless money just by being an intermediary for semiconductors between Japan and the United States.

But he didn't, and still trained new people in the university.

The reason for agreeing to Masato Takeshita's request was more out of consideration for developing the country's semiconductor industry.

He hadn't even thought about taking the money at first, but it was Masato Takeshita who forced it on him.

"You're exaggerating. I'm just a teacher."

The two men were polite to each other for a long time, until the dishes were served, and then Takeshita Masato stopped his sincere flattery.

"Besides the orders from several shareholders, what else do you have in mind?"

"There are two main ones I can think of right now. One is small chip design companies in Japan and the United States."

"These companies do not have the ability to build their own factories and are very dependent on the wafer fabs of large companies."

“But the wafer fabs of large companies focus more on their own products and often delay orders from chip design companies.”

"The second is to wait for the flash memory chip business to gain momentum. My other company, Xinghai Semiconductor, is working hard on the research and development of flash memory technology and has already achieved some results."

"Once flash memory technology achieves a breakthrough, Xinghai Foundry will no longer be short of orders."

Fujio Masuoka is indeed a genius in the field of semiconductor research and development. With the support of Xinghai Semiconductor, his research and development progress can be said to be advancing by leaps and bounds.

If nothing goes wrong, all R&D work can be completed before mid-April.

"It's a good choice, but you have overlooked one point, which is the school level."

"School?"

Masato Takeshita scratched his arm in confusion.

"Yes, it's the school. The school often needs to do semiconductor experiments."

"If you can win orders from schools all over Japan, it will be easier for you to gain an unbeatable position in the OEM field."

The school's orders are very scattered and the quantities are usually small.

But as long as Xinghai OEM establishes a good relationship with the school, it will be able to absorb the most advanced technology and gain an advantage in technology.

"I understand. Thank you for the reminder, senior."

Masato Takeshita nodded in agreement, thinking that it made sense.

The school’s orders cannot directly increase Xinghai Semiconductor’s profitability, but they can increase the company’s sensitivity to new technologies, which cannot be achieved with more orders.

"Well, one more thing is that you should pay more attention to the development of minicomputers." "I don't know what impact minicomputers will have on semiconductor companies, but I know that the transfer of technology will definitely create new giant companies."

With every technological change, new giant companies will emerge.

This time, Yasuo Tarui hopes to have Xinghai do the manufacturing.

"Understood. I will pay attention to this aspect."

Masato Takeshita, the time traveler, knows best the impact of small machines.

It was the rapid development of small computers that completely ended Japan's monopoly on the semiconductor industry.

The memory business was directly defeated by the latecomer South Korea. Elpida, its last struggle, also went bankrupt after the financial crisis and was sold cheaply to an American company.

The flash memory industry also suffered heavy losses, with Toshiba being the only one left.

Of course, Toshiba's only product was eventually sold.

Because Toshiba is deeply involved in the nuclear power business, it can only survive by selling off its assets.

Only in the upstream materials industry does Japan still have a place.

However, this field is also facing the impact of a series of up-and-coming companies.

"Well, that's good if you know."

Tarui Yasuo nodded, and then said earnestly: "Also, you must pay attention to Samsung. This company must be the biggest threat to our Japanese semiconductors."

Although Samsung is still very weak now, rational Japanese people know that this company has terrible potential.

Japanese semiconductor companies once rose to prominence thanks to the unconditional support of the United States.

Now, this condition has shifted to South Korea.

With technical support from the United States and low labor costs in South Korea, it will sooner or later have a strong impact on Japan's memory industry.

"Well, I'll always pay attention."

Masato Takeshita knew that this was a giant company destined to rise.

He could use a variety of tactics to slow down the company, but he could never stop its rise.

The United States will not allow Japan to dominate the semiconductor industry, and South Korea will not allow its most important companies to go bankrupt.

"In addition, China also needs to pay attention. The technological strength there is very low now, but we in Japan were once like that. Sooner or later, Japan's low-end industries will be replaced by China."

“If you don’t want to fail, then strive to reach the top.”

Yasuo Tarui was very fond of traditional Chinese culture and after careful study he came to a conclusion.

The collectivist nature of Confucian culture will sooner or later boost China's rapid development.

"Well, I am ready to cooperate with China in the area of travel luggage."

Masato Takeshita admired the old man in front of him even more.

Our predecessors not only clearly recognized the changes in new technologies and the inevitable rise of South Korea's semiconductor industry, but also foresaw China's great development.

This is too difficult.

Many Japanese people today are still dreaming of the goose model.

Japan develops high-end industries, South Korea and Taiwan develop mid-end industries, Southeast Asia develops low-end industries, and China develops terminal industries.

Only a few smart people realize that this model is simply not feasible.

In fact, although Japan's flying geese model failed, it was later inherited by the United States.

The only difference is that the high-end has become the United States, while the mid-end is Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

As for the end, it is always China.

"It's a very good decision. China should never be underestimated."

Yasuo Tarui had a good relationship with Masayoshi Ohira, and Ohira, a politician nicknamed "Dull Bull", attached great importance to China's potential.

Like many prime ministers who want to make a difference, he hopes that China will become stronger and then unite with China to balance the United States.

(End of this chapter)