My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 576 Only a large enough open source can withstand the diversion of traffic.

It's somewhat alarmist that Wei Dong is saying so much.

Isn't it all for Apple to lead the way in setting up chip factories in mainland China?

Domestic companies claim they can make any kind of chips, but hand-crafting in a lab is completely different from mass production in a chip factory.

At least Wei Dong knew about the process of pulling the wafer into a column and then doing photolithography, but they all said they had never heard of it.

Therefore, the simplest and most direct approach is to follow the same approach as in the automotive industry: first, introduce the most complete and advanced technology.

While satisfying current needs and foreign trade business, we need to thoroughly understand how others have taken their routes before considering how to approach and catch up.

Therefore, they tried every means to establish a joint venture to take advantage of this relatively honeymoon period and quickly bring lithography machines and other previously embargoed equipment to the mainland.

Regardless of whether it can be reverse-engineered or not, at least we have something to use, something to see, and something to know what's going on.

It's much better than trying to reinvent the wheel.

So you have to buy what's already there!

But why wouldn't it be acceptable in the eyes of such a powerful figure?

This wave of sales of 1.5 million Macintosh computers (model 86) alone brought in more than $5 billion in revenue and boosted the company's market capitalization to $3 billion.

It's already ranked in the 70s or 80s in Citibank's market.

For a startup that has only been established for ten years and listed for about five years, this rate of growth has already caused an explosive stir throughout Citigroup.

Of course, this was before the later explosion of internet unicorns.

It will take a series of internet finance bubbles to bring about the kind of fluctuations of hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars.

Steve is the kind of guy who dares to think and act: "You have such a keen and forward-looking eye for products and software. I didn't expect you to have such a strong view on hardware as well. Let's go and make an acquisition together. I know that Motorola is raising money to expand their mobile communication base stations and hopes to take over the European market. They are short of money."

Wei Dong felt confident enough to ask the price: "Approximately how much?"

Steve estimated: "It won't exceed two billion dollars; we only need the computer processor part."

Wei Dong was immediately dumbfounded: "Two billion? I only have tens of millions right now!"

Qin Yuye was terrified as he flipped through the pages.

Steve scoffed: "I have a lot of friends on Wall Street who would be happy to lend us money. How about it, are you in?"

Borrow money?

The interest on billions of dollars is unimaginable. In his past life, Wei Dong had never even taken out a mortgage. In this life, he would rather do small things within his means than take out a bank loan. He would definitely shake his head now... but the muscles in his neck seemed to be stiff.

Chips, computer central processing units—this is an opportunity for me to participate. Am I just going to let it slip by?

He doesn't even feel this strong sense of loss towards women.

But I still tried to be rational: "This isn't about whether I participate or not. What's the point of acquiring Motorola's chip business? Do they have anything worthwhile to acquire? I've heard that Intel has the best chips. If you want to make the best computer, you have to use the best chips."

Steve paused for a moment: "My original idea was to acquire Motorola's research lab and develop processors according to my vision. But that seems to involve more uncertainty, Intel..."

Then came a statement that made Wei Dong's head spin: "They had actually already launched the 386 chip, but after testing it on a machine, they all felt that its performance was more than enough..."

It should be afternoon in Northern California, but here it's 10 a.m. in July. Although it hasn't reached the midday heat yet, the central air conditioning in the electronics building, which tries to provide a cool environment, is already running at around 20 degrees Celsius.

However, Wei Dong still felt a strong electric shock, as if he had suddenly encountered a temperature difference, and it really felt like it was crackling and exploding from his feet to his scalp.

Even as Xiaodie leaned against her father looking at picture books, she noticed and turned around in surprise.

Hearing that voice, he trembled: "Holy crap...you should have said so earlier, you should have installed this!"

He couldn't help but say, "If you had said this existed earlier, you should have released a 386 version with a hard drive. Isn't this the barrel theory? The lack of a hard drive is what's holding back the performance of the entire computer. Why don't you hurry up and release a new computer using the 386 chip? Once IBM realizes this and starts to exert its strength, we're finished!"

IBM uses a traditional sales model: subtle advertising on TV, magazines, and newspapers, and sales staff all over the world rushing to communicate with potential customers. Regional agents try their best to win over official clients and major purchasing agents, ensuring that IBM products dominate sales in certain regions.

Steve Jobs pioneered the influencer marketing strategy that would emerge 30 or 40 years later. He also established a sales system, but it wasn't as meticulous; the goal was simply to get the product in stock. The same television and newspaper advertising was used, but this approach was far more eye-catching and generated more buzz than IBM's. Then, he created hype through product launches. The goal was to make more ordinary consumers aware of the product, encourage them to buy it, or choose Apple when given a choice between the two.

The model that makes Wei Dong's approach actually leans more towards him. However, the media in mainland China is still very concentrated, with few newspaper ads and only one television channel. Wei Dong is unwilling to appear in public and become a prominent figure, so he skips the press conference and goes straight for advertising on the local television station.

Therefore, he could clearly sense IBM's slow response to the market. However, if such a behemoth is on the right track, this slowness can actually be an unstoppable force, allowing them to strike later and gain the upper hand, because their strength is so profound.

It turns out Steve wasn't a researcher at all; his thinking was still: "Let's acquire Intel, or at least get a stake!"

Having had his scalp tingled twice in a row, Wei Dong was much more adaptable: "I can participate in this... Is it possible?"

Steve knew it all: "Currently, IBM's market capitalization is $580 billion, Motorola's is $85 billion, and Intel's is about $40 billion, but they mainly have a very strong alliance with IBM..."

At this point, Wei Dong was also given a piece of gossip that only people in their industry knew: the Motorola chips currently used in Apple computers are actually imitations of the Intel 8086 chip from ten years ago. The two companies tacitly maintained a high price of over three hundred US dollars per chip for seven or eight years, making a fortune.

Then someone couldn't stand it anymore and developed a cheaper version of the 6502, which took away their business.

However, during these years of enjoying their success, Motorola used the money to develop mobile phones, while Intel focused on investing in processor development and launched the 286 and 386.

Motorola is now lagging behind Intel in the research and development and manufacturing of CPU central processing unit chips.

This was also the key reason why Steve felt confident in acquiring Motorola's processor chips to invest in his own research and development.

This caused Wei Dong to start to struggle again. Should he stick with Motorola? Intel seemed difficult to acquire, and it was unlikely that they would transfer production lines to the mainland. What was the point of participating if they couldn't come to the mainland?

At this stage, even the benefits of Tianyan (a Chinese telescope) are of no help, and Wei Dong's lack of expertise in electronics and computers is so great that he has to suppress his shortcomings: "I can't offer any advice on this. In short, I'm just reminding you to seize the time to start working on central processing unit chips, so you don't get completely left behind."

It's rare for Steve to be able to discuss things with Wei Dong. It's said that he and the co-founder of Apple Computer and the super-founding father of the Apple system are both autocratic, and whatever Steve says goes. People who have different ideas are squeezed out.

It's possible that the two new product launches from last year to this year both received assistance and special trust from Wei Dong.

"I'll discuss it with you after I've spoken to them. Thank you for your opinion; we will win this war!"

Wei Dong was already quite adept at it: "We will be your best comrades-in-arms, and we await your good news."

Steve then ended the call with satisfaction.

Two hours later, Qin Yuye quietly called again to ask, "I was all set to go back to Hong Kong, what should I do now?"

Wei Dong scratched his head: "We can only wait and see. This future choice regarding the central processing unit is very important. You need to ensure that we can participate in it. How are the jeans selling?"

What I was trying to say was that you should just sell jeans at Citibank while you're at it, instead of spending all your time buying things.

Unexpectedly, Qin Yuye said that she hadn't been idle these days either, and had actually sent the O'Nia sunscreen, freckle cream, moisturizer, and foundation cream that she brought with her to the FDA (Citibank Food and Drug Administration) for testing and registration.

“Hehe, with the help of Apple’s big lawyers and big firms, things aren’t that complicated…” Qin Yuye said proudly, “Luckily, I took a whole book of photos of various workshops like you did. They tested the SOD content and approved our product. It’s going through the process now. I’ll wait until the FDA certification is issued before I start the process.”

Wei Dong was pleasantly surprised: "Does that mean we can export to North America?"

Qin Yuye had more practical experience than him: "It's usually difficult to get FDA certification, so we'll definitely sell it in Hong Kong and the surrounding Southeast Asian regions first. Sunscreen and moisturizer are products with high demand in these areas. With the repair function of SOD, we can outperform other products. Once we've established a stable reputation, we'll sell it to North America. They don't value white skin; they even want to get a tan."

Wei Dong naturally found it hard to understand the white-skinned person's mentality that being too white was unhealthy, and secretly cursed him as a lunatic.

Qin Yuye seized the opportunity: "Then we should also buy some properties in Hong Kong to expand our cosmetics company to that scale."

Wei Dong probably just felt that Hong Kong property prices were too high: "Compare more options, and buy some if you feel it's appropriate..."

Qin Yuye happily nodded.

I guess she still has the idea of ​​returning home in glory.

We were able to generate foreign exchange income entirely by using her and her older brother's overseas channels, so Wei Dong, with a sense of compensation, told me to leave him enough foreign exchange and let him do whatever he wanted.

Moreover, it would be better to keep the extra dollars earned in North America or Hong Kong quietly.

Now, just by making money through known computer export channels, people from all directions are already asking for handouts.

(End of this chapter)