My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 439 I can't keep breaking out in a cold sweat!
A 14-inch black and white TV would cost around 500 to 700 yuan at this time.

The main cost is the picture tube.

The very few Famicom game consoles that can be brought into China cost around three or four hundred yuan.

In fact, if Wei Dong and his team had worked on it, the design of the Famicom's chips, memory, and motherboard would have been cheaper and more sophisticated than Apple's.

Therefore, the circuit design of the X-series computer host is essentially a memory-enhanced version of the Famicom.

Apple still has a long way to go in controlling product manufacturing costs.

The 6502, procured by Steve, was cheaper per unit than the price Nintendo paid to buy it from the Americans.

The cost of other circuits and casings is even less comparable to that of third-tier factories in Southwest China.

Under the dual-track system, any component that can be sourced domestically will have a significantly lower cost compared to foreign suppliers.

At 599 yuan, compared to the $99 computer that Wei Dong had touted to Steve, it was already quite expensive.

The current exchange rate is only around 1:3, but the black market rate is indeed around 1:6.

Wei Dong's pricing was based on this.

But his price is so low it's practically as bad as a cheap camera!
Currently, there are already clear computer prices in Beijing and Shanghai.

Computers with 12-inch monitors start at 20,000 yuan, and slightly better models can easily cost 30,000 to 50,000 yuan.

Dot matrix printers start at 8,000 yuan, but consumables are where the real profit comes from.

Just ask yourself how much these importers make.

If you think that computers are a one-off business and you can't make money from them afterward, then make huge profits from various computer peripherals.

For example, the complete server room plan that is essential for building a new computer room at this time is meticulously designed, with each part equipped with tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, and even the anti-static flooring and shoe covers are imported.

In short, everyone's stereotype about computers is that they must be incredibly expensive!

You're selling it for six hundred yuan?!

Even without the monitor, this price is ridiculously cheap.

The elderly man with the Mediterranean nose didn't hesitate and just pulled out his money to buy one!
He said he wanted to study this domestically produced computer carefully and see how it differed from other imported computers he could find.

Wei Dong quickly emphasized, "My price doesn't include a monitor, but of course I can throw one in for free if you want it..."

He didn't even mention that the console was included as a gift.

They also explained carefully that the keyboard and mouse were designed and manufactured by themselves and were intended for sale overseas, but the current problem is that the keyboard has a limited lifespan due to the number of keystrokes, and the mouse needs to be cleaned every half month.

Of course, with this person taking the lead, the other ministries were too embarrassed to ask Wei Dong to give it to them for free.

They sent someone to buy two computer hosts without monitors for testing and inspection.

Here comes the important part: one of the ministries casually asked Wei Dong how much foreign exchange remittance he had received.

The experience of being blocked from approval last time immediately triggered a sense of vigilance: "It's not much. The hard-earned processing fees from our textile exports are all saved to buy chips, so there's still a long way to go for domestically produced chips."

Unexpectedly, the other party seized on the two pieces of data that Wei Dong had just mentioned: "You just said that you have stockpiled 100,000 chips at $20 each. Your foreign exchange reserves overseas are quite large."

Holy crap, Wei Dong must have inflated the purchase price of the 6502 to make it seem like our computer's "cost" was still quite high. After all, the market price is $25, and that's the price our distributors in Japan are charging.

Nintendo never goes below $16, and Citibank is always generous with its gold coins.

If Steve hadn't had a business dealing with two or three million 6502 chips, he definitely wouldn't have been able to get this price.

In order to emphasize that the stockpile was sufficient to cope with large-scale sales, Wei Dong casually mentioned that they could import and stockpile 100,000 tablets every quarter.

It was easily figured out by someone with a keen eye.

Forcing himself not to panic, he said, "Exporting foreign exchange is also a contribution to the country. It's just that computer chips are very important right now, so we are squeezing export trade without considering the consequences. Basically, we spend as much of our dollar reserves on chip purchases. Otherwise, who knows when a chip embargo might be imposed? Wouldn't that disrupt the entire computer development process?"

The other person gave him a deep look and said nothing more.

It's that kind of clear-sightedness that sees through his tricks.

The white sweat on Wei Dong's back was truly stinging!

That's why he doesn't like coming to Pyeongsang; the pressure is too great.

But isn't this something you brought upon yourselves?
I didn't care about handing over foreign exchange to the state at all, but some people insist on intimidating, manipulating, and making things difficult for me, so it's no wonder I have to be careful.

Anyway, in this export denim business, we export under the guise of only charging processing fees. I can ship to distributors at the high price of branded products, that's my skill.

This export quota is "sent" to the HK company, and then sold to Japan and North America.

It's none of my business how much I sell it for.

Fortunately, when Lao Cheng came to meet with the leaders of the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry, he made sure to keep Wei Dong backed by the leaders of the ministry.

Immediately bring your secretary over to help Wei Dong switch.

In short, Wei Dong, feeling unsettled, only took a computer back to the sanitary napkin factory and immediately wanted to return to Jiangzhou.

The computer engineers thought it was going on sale and were so happy that they were overjoyed when they returned to the factory.

He proudly showed off to both the college students and the construction soldiers.

That's when Wei Dong found out who the big shot was who paid for the first X computer!

But then I heard that this big shot, who's amazing in every field, has recently been studying life sciences, which is basically Qigong. I immediately grinned in astonishment, and started to recall that saying online: "The end of science is theology?"

It has to be Shen Laosan who knows how to read people's expressions.

Neither she nor the girl from Hong Kong went to her workplace to report the good news, since they weren't government employees.

So, led by Yu Xiaoqiu, a local, and with the help of a militia platoon leader and bodyguards, the four of them traveled to the Great Wall and returned.

He could tell at a glance that Wei Dong looked surprised: "What's wrong?"

Wei Dong didn't hide anything from her and described the process: "We're not getting involved in Lao Jin's building anymore, let's get ready to go back."

Shen Cuiyue looked at him intently: "You don't want to go back now that Sister Dong isn't here, do you?"

Wei Dong's unease was dispelled by the woman's peculiar way of thinking: "Get lost! What does it have to do with her?"

Just then, the secretary came over to announce that someone had come to visit.

When Wei Dong sat in the sanitary napkin factory office, he recognized the person who had met him at the meeting that morning as a member of some ministry.

My heart immediately jumped into my throat, and I was on high alert.

But when the other party came over and introduced their companion, it turned out to be the research and development unit of the learning machine, and they immediately surrendered!
Because no matter how much they compress their production costs, they are still over 700 yuan, and they plan to price it at over 900 yuan. Moreover, if you add the cathode tube display and floppy drive, the total price will exceed 2,000 yuan!

They certainly belonged to the Fourth Ministry of Machine Building.

Jin Zhuoqun explained to Wei Dong that the Ministry of Electronics Industry was renamed last year, and the State Administration of Optoelectronics, which was under the jurisdiction of the TV station, is now under its control.

This learning machine has been under development since last year, with more than a dozen manufacturers involved. Tsinghua and Peking Universities provided technical support and developed more than forty software programs!

Production is underway and the product is scheduled to launch next year.

I rushed over at noon and saw the X-computer host that the Fourth Ministry of Machinery Industry had "purchased".

Suddenly my heart felt like death.

The internal structure is almost identical, but there is no plagiarism, because they are both copied from Apple computers.

Moreover, their thinking is more radical than theirs.

With the adoption of a graphical operating system, the floppy drive interface was completely eliminated.

It's obvious they want to start from scratch and create their own domestic standard.

It directly surpasses and revolutionizes the appearance of international computer brands.

Given the choice between a poorly designed learning machine and a high-end-looking personal computer with a mouse and keyboard, which would a consumer choose?
Not to mention the huge price difference; just buying an extra floppy drive for software expansion and file storage more than doubles the price.

How can you compare these?

This company never considered using administrative means to turn things around, after all, the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry was also a powerful entity.

His attitude was very sincere: "We have brought our prototype here. Please give us your valuable opinions. If possible, we can join forces, with you taking the lead, as long as we can bring computers to the masses and make them a high-tech product that more people can afford."

For such researchers, Wei Dong immediately offered them a position: "Cooperation is a must. Our goal was to popularize computers, not to make money. But as long as we can mass-produce them, we should try to sell them all over the world. The foreign exchange we earn can then be used to further support our research funding."

The other person's tense nerves relaxed instantly, and they were so grateful they almost cried.

They started working on this last year, and without Wei Dong's keen insight, they managed to reduce the price of an Apple computer from $1,200 to below $1,000. They've been working on it for ages.

It can be described as painstaking effort.

This inadvertently reminded Wei Dong of a joke from later years about military engineers who received the wrong intelligence, thinking that Western weapons could be reduced in weight by a certain amount, and desperately trying to meet the targets, only to find that the targets were exaggerated, while they were the ones doing things honestly.

So he disassembled the prototype he brought and immediately understood the reason: "This mechanical keyboard alone is worth several hundred yuan, especially since you made it into an integrated keyboard and host, with shielding steel plates and such. How could the cost not be high? This is just a popular home computer. The main functions are programming, typing, spreadsheets, reading novels, and playing games. Why use so many materials? It will definitely need to be upgraded in five or ten years."

The two sides immediately began negotiations, surrounded by engineers, R&D leaders, and leaders from the Fourth Ministry of Machinery Industry.

Wei Dong originally proposed a 50/50 split, absorbing the other party's production support capabilities. More than a dozen electronics factories were basically able to be allocated to the production of various components, but the product solutions were based on their own.

The other party even came up with a keyboard and arrow key combination that is unique to China, which is completely out of touch with the times.

Storage can be developed into domestic standards from scratch, and the system can be self-developed and upgraded in sync with Apple computers. These unique features are fine and can even serve as a competitive advantage.

However, it is best to use keyboard layouts in accordance with international standards.

It not only facilitates future foreign trade sales, but also makes it easy for domestic computer users to switch between domestic and international markets.

By sorting out these details one by one, Weidong's core competitiveness began to completely overwhelm the opponent.

These dozen or so state-owned electronics factories still operate under the standard state-owned mindset: research and development are funded by the state, and sales are handled by waiting for state procurement and distribution to primary and secondary schools.

I've heard that Wei Dong's side is completely self-sufficient, and he can popularize and sell computers without the government spending a single penny.

The Fourth Ministry of Machine Building was unwilling to spend any money.

So, this originally 50/50 product development situation, plus the sales system, ultimately led Weidong to acquire 70% ownership!

Just as both parties finally began typing the contract agreement into the computer and were about to print it out.

Wu Xi led the group of people who had made Wei Dong break out in a cold sweat that morning into the room.

He sat down silently against the wall, and Wei Dong noticed that his back was covered in white sweat again.

What is this going to do?
(End of this chapter)