Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 128 NAND Flash Memory
On April 1987, 4, when Masato Takeshita heard the good news from the chip department, he immediately walked excitedly to Yuriko Kagawa and asked her three questions in a row.

"really?"

"Success?"

"What about the patent?"

If this is true, Xinghai Semiconductor finally has its own trump card.

"It's true, President. Vice President Masuoka invented NAND flash memory technology and is preparing to apply for related patents."

Yuriko Kagawa was equally excited because she would soon be transferred to the flash memory business department as the marketing director.

"Good good!"

"Let's go, let's go there quickly."

Without waiting for his assistant to reply, Masato Takeshita excitedly pushed open the office door and strode towards the laboratory.

He couldn't wait to see the data related to NAND flash memory technology and wanted to fly over there immediately.

"Masuoka-san, is everything true?"

"Yes, President, I have done my job well!"

Fujio Masuoka was also very excited. He felt that he was finally worthy of the president's respect.

You should know that since Fujio Masuoka joined Star Ocean Semiconductor, Masato Takeshita immediately raised his salary to the same level as his own.

At the same time, there are cars to pick up and drop off every day, and security personnel are also arranged.

If Fujio Masuoka had not sternly refused the nanny, housekeeper, chef and villa, Xinghai Semiconductor would have provided all these things.

"Very good. I will immediately arrange for a lawyer to register the patent. We can't let other companies get there first."

"Yes, President!"

After arranging the assistant to carry out the registration work, Takeshita Masato turned around and happily said to Masuoka Fujio and others: "The company's principle is to reward those who have made contributions and punish those who have made mistakes."

"The flash memory R&D team has done a great job today."

"I hereby announce that Vice President Masuoka will receive a bonus of 8 million yen, and the entire team will receive a bonus of 20 billion yen. At the same time, the salaries of all team members will be increased by 20%."

The main contributor to the development of NAND flash memory technology was Fujio Masuoka.

But even so, Masato Takeshita could only give him 40% of the reward.

If one person sends too many, it will be detrimental to the overall balance of the laboratory.

The remaining 200-odd people, even if they have not made any contributions, have worked hard and should be rewarded.

"Great!"

"The president is wise."

"Great."

Before Fujio Masuoka responded, the entire flash memory R&D department immediately cheered.

They know that their contribution is not great, and they are already satisfied with the 60% bonus they get.

Besides, didn’t the salary increase by 20%?

For most people, this is even more important.

Bonuses are temporary, but wages last forever.

"Boss, this is a bit too much."

Fujio Masuoka believed that his research and development had great potential, but at present flash memory technology was still just a laboratory toy and was not worth that much money.

"Not much. Flash memory chips have the same huge prospects as memory chips, and this is what everyone should do."

NAND flash memory technology cannot compete with NOR flash memory technology in the short term, but as flash memory storage capacity increases, NAND's advantage of low production cost will become more and more obvious.

The two major flash memory technology application scenarios in the past are the most typical examples.

Below 16MB, NOR flash memory technology is the dominant technology.

Above 16MB, basic NAND flash technology dominates.

"This is the president!"

Fujio Masuoka saw the determination in Takeshita Masato's eyes and couldn't help but burst into tears. This is normal, if it was Takeshita Masato, he would do the same.

A reward of several hundred dollars for inventing NOR flash memory technology.

The contrast is too stark compared to the current 20 billion yen reward for the entire team and 8 million yen for Fujio Masuoka alone.

"This is just a small thing. When flash memory technology is commercialized on a large scale, everyone will get more dividends."

Masato Takeshita wants to make Fujio Masuoka a role model so as to attract more talents from the semiconductor industry.

……

Still the same recipe, still the same method.

Masato Takeshita once again signaled the company's publicist to tacitly leak the news that Xinghai Semiconductor's scientific research talents had received hundreds of millions of bonuses to newspapers such as Asahi Shimbun.

The effect was particularly good with Morita Masanagi.

The huge bonus event played an important role in the growth of the Flash Memory Chip team to more than 200 people.

Xinghai Semiconductor still has too few scientific researchers, with less than 300 people in the entire company, which is even smaller than the number of people in Intel's newly established flash memory R&D department.

Of course, this is without counting Xinghai Semiconductor's subsidiary Xinghai OEM.

If wafer foundry is included, it can already be considered a medium-to-large semiconductor company.

Manjo Toda, a 35-year-old man from Fujitsu's R&D department, whispered to his friend, "Have you heard? Xinghai Semiconductor is giving out huge bonuses again."

Yamamoto Kazuo, a friend of mine who was not much older than me, asked casually, "Oh, the prize money, how much is it?"

"The newspaper said that the total bonus was 20 billion yen. All new employees who joined the company in April received a million-yuan bonus, and the one who received the most, Fujio Masuoka, the head of R&D, received 4 million yen alone."

Hearing the two chatting, Asakura Ming, a programmer in his 30s with a lot of hair, couldn't believe it and lowered his voice to ask, "So many, is it true?"

"Of course!"

After saying that, Toda Manjo took out the newspaper and showed it to the two friends.

Asakura Mei looked at the exaggerated numbers in the newspaper and immediately looked envious.

"Oh, that's great. I wish our company could be so generous."

Toda Manjo said mysteriously: "Hehe, it's not like there isn't such an opportunity."

Yamamoto Kazuo frowned and said in a low voice, not quite sure: "Hey, what do you mean?"

"Yes, it's just as you think. I plan to go there secretly for the interview."

"Ah, then our seniority is wasted, isn't it?"

"No, Xinghai Semiconductor recognizes the seniority of the old company, so all this is not a problem."

In fact, Masato Takeshita did not want to follow the seniority-based system because this path hinders the flow of talent and is not conducive to the growth of geniuses.

He would rather the company pay employees according to their technical abilities, with length of service being just a small supplement.

Unfortunately, it is impossible for Japan to do this now. And at least within the next 6 years, it is out of the question.

Although Japan's bubble burst began in 1989 and completely broke in 1991.

But it took until after 1993, or even longer, for the whole society to accept this fact.

Even if Masato Takeshita wanted to reform Japan's backward production system, he had to wait until after 1995.

At that time, the Japanese will accept that Japan is in decline and that Japan's system is outdated, and it will not cause much backlash in the company.

Of course, Masato Takeshita does not mean to abandon all the systems of Japanese companies.

He thinks the lifetime employment system is a good idea.

This system is beneficial to ensuring the stability of the company's personnel and is also more conducive to the company's development.

Only the seniority-based system is a cancer and is not suitable for the development of modern companies.

Older employees can have higher salaries than newer employees, but under the same conditions, it cannot be too obvious.

The situation where old employees earn tens of millions of yuan a year while new employees only earn two or three million yuan is not acceptable at all.

(End of this chapter)