America: My Time

Chapter 686 Intention to Cooperate
Chapter 676 Cooperation Intent

“We are delighted to have received Mr. John’s approval. We are willing to cooperate more if possible, especially in the area of ​​resources. We are also open to cooperation with Quantum Mining and Western Energy if they are willing, as well as in the area of ​​metallurgy!”

“Deepening cooperation is no problem, I have no problem with that either. It’s just that I can’t make decisions alone. Quantum Mining and Western Energy are both on the right track now, and we need to consider many aspects. The cooperation with the UK is not yet finalized, and that takes time! If possible, we can first further develop in the semiconductor field. ASUS will soon relocate some of its production and some electronics manufacturing. The semiconductor manufacturing originally planned for the UK will also be transferred. I think this is easier to cooperate on.”

Although John has invested heavily in China, its cooperation in mineral resources is limited. Its focus is more on manufacturing, food processing, and most importantly, its semiconductor industry. Originally, to appease Britain, it had plans to maintain production there, but John has now abandoned this idea. Some production has been shifted to Northern Europe, while the majority is being moved to China. Otherwise, John wouldn't have accelerated its expansion in China, investing heavily in lithography machines – all preparations for future development.

Upon hearing John's words, the Consul General was naturally very pleased and quickly replied, "That's no problem at all; we also look forward to investment in semiconductors. However, it's difficult for us to allocate more human resources at present, as this all takes time."

Currently, China's talent pool is not that strong. ASUS's previous investments in China have already allocated most of its suitable human resources, and further expansion would not allow for such a large investment of human resources.

“I understand. If possible, we can cooperate with universities to train our personnel. Initially, we can send professionals from Taiwan for training. However, this time we have more land resources and need more skilled electronics workers. Moreover, this time we have more production tasks to be carried out in China, including VCDs, other home appliances, many components for personal computers, and the production and manufacturing of mobile phones, etc.”

As ASUS undergoes a complete transformation, many production tasks will be moved out. After all, the production costs in Taiwan are not low, and there is still a greater gap compared to China. John naturally does not want to continue to expand in the electronics and semiconductor manufacturing industry in Taiwan. Instead, he will shift to his own production and hand over the manufacturing to China.

If the people who went to China during the summer were just the beginning, this time it will be a full-scale expansion. So many lithography machines are not just for show; they all need to be put into operation. The initial yield may be relatively low, but once the work is familiar, it will improve significantly, and it will also directly reduce the production costs of ASUS and Nvidia.

What is a surprise? This is a surprise. Before I could even ask, they offered such support. Although I understand that they are also concerned about China's low production costs, even with an absolute advantage in labor costs, it is not so easy to obtain overseas investment. Even with John's precedent, many Western companies still have concerns and are not investing heavily in China like John. Many people are waiting and watching, worried that unexpected situations might occur.

With even the British having such a poor reputation these days, naturally more people are worried. At this time, John's willingness to continue increasing his investment in China is an absolute endorsement of China; otherwise, he wouldn't have invested so much capital. Now, John's overseas investments in China have surpassed those in Japan, something many people don't understand.

It would be a lie to say that no one saw the allure of China's huge market. Their inaction stemmed from various concerns. With the British turning their backs on their promises, John decided to accelerate his investment in China, bringing more companies to the country. This was a good start.

"We will do our best to assist and will absolutely not let Mr. John down!" John currently holds an absolute advantage in negotiations with Britain, but he has still decided to increase his investment in China, an investment that will have a greater impact!
After receiving an offer of investment from John, the Consul General did not linger and chose to talk to other people at the party, while John returned to his previous calm.

"Don't overthink it. Just treat it as a regular dinner party. There won't be any of that. You won't encounter the same kind of probing and scheming that happens in Japan. Relax and don't push yourself too hard. It's not good for you. There's nothing wrong with liking music, but life is more than just music. There's so much more to it!"

John had witnessed far too much of the dark side of Japan. He could say that almost every aspect of Japanese society was firmly established, and that Japan had become even more insane. Just one meeting with that old man, Akio Morita, was enough for John to sense the man's inflated ego. John was utterly speechless about the Japanese. After receiving the investment intention from John, he encountered no further trouble and easily enjoyed the lavish dinner. Such exquisite cuisine wasn't easy to come by, after all, this was America. John was relaxed, but the old men were anything but, as things were increasingly developing in the direction they feared.

With the advent of the neon game console and the passing of Christmas, its momentum has not slowed down but has continued to expand, constantly eroding the market share of the gaming world. Even American game companies have begun to stir with interest and have ideas to join the neon platform.

John was right about everything. The emergence of neon game consoles disrupted the layout of the game world and seriously impacted its status. If the game world cannot keep up with the pace of the neon world, its position will be shaken.

"Gentlemen, let's discuss how we should deal with the crisis in the gaming world. We underestimated the impact of Japanese game consoles on the gaming world. If we let this situation continue, Japan will catch up with us, and the gaming world will no longer be dominated by one company. Many game companies are already tempted to break away from the gaming world and join the Japanese gaming platform. These guys are already eager to make their move, which is not a good thing. We need to stabilize the overall situation of the American gaming industry and at least prevent them from participating in the Japanese gaming platform."

"How can we stop it? Our current game consoles are far behind those of Japan, and even ordinary people can feel the difference. There's nothing we can do about it. We can only accelerate the development of the next generation of game consoles so that we can surpass Japan by the summer. But chips are a major problem. Intel can hardly achieve such a breakthrough; at best, it can only reach parity."

The current state of the gaming world is giving these veterans a major headache. The more they understand, the heavier their hearts become. They originally thought that giving up on Nvidia's chips would give Intel a chance to catch up and limit Nvidia's development. But now it seems they were overthinking it. The situation they hoped for did not materialize. On the contrary, their momentary carelessness has shaken the very foundation of the gaming world.

The gaming market is different from the markets they were familiar with. Without powerful game consoles and good enough games, there will be no user recognition and no sales. Just like in the entertainment industry, it's a winner-takes-all situation. Once they fail, all their previous investments will go down the drain, which is not the result they want to see. It is precisely because these old guys are unwilling to give up that this meeting took place.

"Time is running out. We don't have much time left, and it's unrealistic for Intel to surpass Nvidia's chips. We lack R&D personnel, and the R&D funding is vastly different. I think we should discuss this with John, that little fox, and ideally, get ASML's help. Their new generation of lithography machines is incredibly powerful and can reduce our production costs. Since we can't compete with Japan in terms of quality, we can compete on price. As long as our new generation of game consoles isn't inferior to Japan's by the summer, we can turn things around. After all, we still have the advantage. When John took the helm of the gaming world, he laid a solid foundation for us."

"We can talk to this little fox, but I'm worried it won't be very effective, since this little fox itself needs a considerable number of lithography machines!"

"So we need to sit down and talk with John. If we discuss things properly, there is still a chance. After all, ASML is not the only supplier of lithography machines. It can only be said that they took the lead and thus gained a market advantage. The Japanese guys will only choose their own lithography machines, not ASML, even if they know that the other party's technology is more advanced. That is our opportunity."

"I think it's worth a try. After all, we're a major customer, and ASML has no reason to refuse our request. Besides, if it drags on too long, those guys in Japan might advance further and complete their next-generation lithography machine. After all, those guys in Japan have a very ambitious and ambitious plan for the semiconductor industry, and we're not their only competitor; that little fox John is no exception."

(End of this chapter)