America: My Time

Chapter 458 Crisis and Opportunity

Chapter 458 Crisis and Opportunity
The new year quickly came to an end and 1986 arrived. At this time, due to John's arrival, the problems in the US semiconductor industry were still very serious. Even the devaluation of the dollar did not change the US economy, which greatly annoyed the guys at the White House. This was completely different from what they had imagined.

The data doesn't lie. The US economy has indeed shown no signs of improvement, and the US semiconductor industry remains in danger, especially Intel. They are under the most pressure right now, being crushed by Nvidia in chips and by Neon in storage, and are almost entirely in the red, leaving no hope in sight.

In contrast, AMD is much better than Intel because they have licensed from Nvidia. They can crush Intel in the low-end chip market, seize Intel's market share, and firmly control the mid-to-low-end chip market, thus achieving complete control of the chip market together with Nvidia.

Although many people deeply resent AMD's betrayal and Nvidia's dominance, they cannot change anything. They cannot even stop Nvidia's development because the so-called monopoly does not exist. Nvidia has licensed its patents to AMD and joined forces with AMD to launch a fierce attack on other chip companies. Under their attack, Intel is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Not only Nvidia made changes, but Dreamworld also made changes. In order to prevent itself from falling into the crisis of monopoly, Dreamworld directly licensed its graphics and image patents to Bell Labs. Bell Labs is developing a free operating software. The function is still unknown, but the existence of Bell Labs allows Dreamworld to avoid the big stick of monopoly and no longer worry about the anti-monopoly stick falling at any time.

Everyone was stunned by the crazy actions of Dream World and Nvidia. It was impossible to suppress these two companies now. They had licensed their patents to other companies. Even if everyone understood the intention behind it, they were powerless to change it. It was impossible to use the same methods used against the game world against John's other companies.

Intel's situation greatly annoyed IBM, as they are one of Intel's major shareholders. If Intel were to go bankrupt, it would also have a huge impact on them. However, Intel is currently in trouble on every front, so changes must be made, otherwise it will soon go bankrupt and be liquidated.

Intel now faces only two paths: one is to compete with Japan for the memory chip market and focus its efforts on memory chip research and development; the other is to compete with Nvidia for this market. However, competing with Nvidia means they will face greater pressure, as Intel currently has very few chip researchers.

"Give up. Stop doing R&D on chips. Put all your energy into R&D on memory chips and fight against those guys in Japan. Before long, Japan's semiconductor industry will be suppressed. That will be Intel's opportunity. As long as we can take back the market that belongs to us from those guys in Japan, everything will change."

"But what do we have to compete with Japan in the market? Our storage technology is far behind theirs, and it's very likely that we'll invest a lot of money and get no results!"

"We have no choice. You don't think we can compete with Nvidia and AMD, do you? Their collaboration is a joint attack on the entire market. With our current R&D capabilities, we simply can't compete with them. Nvidia is too vicious. They only target Intel to poach talent, without doing anything to suppress AMD, and even giving them strong support. This is a joint effort with AMD to reshape the chip industry. If we insist on fighting against them, we will only be dragged down and killed in the end. In comparison, there is still a glimmer of hope in competing with Japan for the market. After all, the United States will soon launch a full-scale crackdown on Japan's semiconductor industry. This is our opportunity!"

"Okay, I accept, but we need to contact companies like Apple and IBM and get them to accept our memory chips. Otherwise, we will still struggle to survive. At the same time, we should get official help, at least enough loans to give us the ability to compete with Japan in the market!"

"It's difficult, very difficult. Look at Apple and IBM, these guys keep saying they're against Japan, but getting them to accept our memory chips isn't an easy thing. We need to have memory chips that are at least on par with Japan's for that to be possible, but that's something we can't do. There's a huge gap between us and Japan, just like with Nvidia, we've created a generational gap. That's the most troublesome thing, and the biggest pressure."

"What about Game World? Can we cooperate with Game World? They need a lot of storage chips." "That's even more impossible. Game World has already become a customer of Japan. We've already lost a lot of the initial advantage. If we had made changes in the beginning, we might have been able to compete with Japan. Now we've lost too much time. It's impossible to catch up with Japan in a short period of time unless we can obtain a patent license from Japan!"

"Impossible! The Japanese aren't stupid. They won't accept our request. Those guys don't care if we live or die. If we fall, it will be more beneficial for them. Now we should contact ASUS and try to secure their order!"

No matter what choices Intel and its ilk make, they can't avoid John. John's company is currently the largest customer for memory chips. However, Intel is powerless to do anything about it. Even if they seek help from the government, there will be no result. At most, they can only receive financial support, but they won't gain any market share.

Before they knew it, the Spring Festival was almost here again. Just as John's family was preparing for the Spring Festival and many beautiful women came to John's side, a huge accident occurred: the US space shuttle disintegrated in mid-air. This shocked the entire United States and had a huge impact on the aviation industry. This was a space shuttle disaster.

John meticulously inspected his own manufacturing facilities. At this point, he even had to send his personal aircraft for repairs. Hughes Aerospace Communications' decision to grant a holiday to alleviate the pressure on its workers also received support from all sides. Whether it was Japan or Middle Eastern tycoons, they all highly approved of John's decision.

Pan Am ordered a comprehensive overhaul of all its aircraft, even if it might affect the company's profits. No one was allowed to be careless or negligent.

Many people felt that Pan Am's actions were a bit crazy and foolish, but this did not change John's decision, nor did it change Pan Am's decision. Their slogan was very loud: to be responsible for the safety of customers, even if it meant sacrificing some profits. And such actions were recognized by customers.

Soon, more high-end customers were willing to recognize Pan Am's value, leading to increased revenue for the airline. After Pan Am completed its maintenance, EasyJet also began a comprehensive overhaul of its own aircraft, and even all airlines under the Pan Am umbrella began maintenance to ensure that their aircraft were free of any potential problems.

Which is more important, profit or reputation and safety? Pan Am chose the latter; reputation and safety are more important. Some people agree with this action, while others ridicule it, but neither of this can change Pan Am's decision or its commitment. Because the United States has now deregulated the aviation industry, the industry is highly competitive, with too much capital flowing in and too many small airlines emerging. Therefore, not all airlines are willing to accept such security checks, as their profits are limited, and such security checks could easily wipe out their profits.

Why did Pan Am make this decision? The answer is simple: to crush its competitors. By re-inspecting its aircraft for safety, Pan Am gained customer approval and satisfaction. If other airlines didn't, customers would feel uneasy, leading to customer churn. Crisis can also be an opportunity. Clearly, Pan Am seized the opportunity, expanded its influence, and gained greater recognition among high-end customers.

After completing its maintenance, Pan Am Airlines raised prices, albeit by a small amount. This was a counter-trend move, as others were lowering ticket prices. Everyone thought Pan Am had gone mad, making a foolish decision to shift its losses onto customers. They thought it was a mistake, but they were wrong. Pan Am's high-end customer base not only didn't shrink but actually grew rapidly, a situation many couldn't understand.

Do high-end customers care about a slight price increase? No, they care about safety and service. For these high-end customers, Pan Am's price increase is acceptable because a higher price means safer aircraft—that's the key point. Of course, this is also related to Pan Am's rapid response. The aircraft completed maintenance in just a few days, a speed that most airlines cannot achieve, demonstrating their exceptional professional capabilities.

Only strong professional capabilities can easily gain customer recognition. Nobody is a fool. Look at Pan Am's speed and the responses of other airlines. Without comparison, there is no harm. Under the same circumstances, they will naturally choose Pan Am. Even if Pan Am's price is slightly higher, they are still willing to choose Pan Am because of safety!
(End of this chapter)