America: My Time

Chapter 890 Each other’s calculations

Chapter 860 Mutual Schemes

"What a bunch of ignorant bastards! How could they even ask such a question? Don't they know who they are? How could they possibly sacrifice their own interests? Even the most foolish person wouldn't make such a decision." Toyota was extremely dissatisfied with these guys' behavior. What kind of nonsense was this? These bastards were just making things difficult for him. At this moment, Toyota felt like killing someone. In his eyes, these bastards were ruining his plans.

"Mr. John, I'm so sorry, but I didn't invite you here today for these trivial matters. It's about global navigation. Toyota wants to cooperate with a navigation company. I wonder if that's possible!"

John understood Toyota's intentions, and everyone knew that the global navigation company was related to him; refusing to do so would be disrespectful. Naturally, John wouldn't refuse such a collaboration, given that Toyota still lagged behind Europeans in the high-end car market.

At this point, John nodded and said, "No problem. As long as Toyota is interested, cooperation is not an issue. We will prioritize providing Toyota with car navigation systems, and there will be no additional conditions. I can promise that. I believe Mr. Toyota will not think that my credibility is questionable, will he?"

"Mr. John, you're joking. Your reputation is top-notch in Japan and globally. How could there be a problem? It's a deal we made. When can we receive the goods?"

"It shouldn't be long. You'll have to get the details from Global Navigation Company. I'm not entirely clear on their arrangements, but work in Taiwan is in full swing. Besides the arrangements for Bentley Motors, Toyota can be given priority. To be honest, I don't have a good impression of Europeans either. But GM will also be given priority, just like Toyota. After all, you know my relationship with Morgan. Since Morgan has spoken, I can't refuse. Just like you, after you spoke, I have no reason to refuse, since we have a good working relationship!"

In North America, Toyota is a major client of Legendary Entertainment and Phoenix Media, so John naturally wouldn't refuse their advertising investment. In contrast, the situation is completely different with European car brands; their cooperation isn't nearly as good.

John is so easy to talk to. I was originally planning to ask those guys from the Japanese government to step in, but now it seems there's no need for that at all. Asking those guys to step in would be a complete waste of my time and energy. Besides, those bastards haven't even gotten the job done. They only care about their own business and haven't considered our side at all. What a bunch of bastards.

"Thank you for your support, Mr. John. To be honest, our sales in North America have indeed been affected recently. The luxury car market that we had finally managed to open up has cooled down again, so we have no choice but to swallow our pride and ask for your help."

"It's nothing. Actually, given our relationship, this isn't a big deal. Besides, Global Navigation Company doesn't just serve the Bentley Motors Group; they have many other businesses. However, there's one thing I need to point out: if you get the product ahead of time, don't rush to launch it. It's best to wait for Global Navigation Company to announce the launch date. Otherwise, it will affect Global Navigation Company's reputation. If you can delay it for a few days, that would be even better, since there are many things I need to consider!"

Upon hearing John's words, Toyota and everyone present were taken aback. They hadn't expected such good news—being able to receive the product ahead of schedule was a great outcome. They had originally thought they would have to wait for the Bentley Motors Group to reach its market launch date, giving them a six-month window. However, things had turned out differently.

"Of course, we won't make things difficult for you, and we won't damage the reputation of Global Navigation Company. We can certainly agree." It would be foolish to refuse such a good deal, and the fact that this outcome clearly shows that John treats them well, at least without any ill intentions. This allows them to completely surpass the Europeans and seize more market share.

"Mr. John, could Global Navigation Company lower the cost of its navigation systems so that even our mid-range brands can be equipped with them?"

"It's not impossible, but reducing costs requires large-scale production. Although Taiwan is accelerating its efforts, it still needs time. If they can move faster, there might be an opportunity by the end of the year. Moreover, the global navigation company also has plans. Once the factories in Taiwan are fully operational, there will be tiered systems, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Furthermore, with continuous technological advancements, costs will continue to decrease. You know that chip and display costs are not so easy to reduce now." To reduce the cost of semiconductor chips, a massive quantity is required. Without sufficient quantity, you can forget about it. This is why John has been increasing his semiconductor production in Taiwan and investing in semiconductors in China, and why he acquired so many lithography machines in advance, all to gain a competitive advantage in the chip industry.

John's investments in China are not as simple as they seem. During this trip to China, John increased his investment in semiconductor chips and even electronic products in order to seize the initiative. He has also set his sights on a range of electronic products such as learning machines and VCD players, aiming to accelerate development in China, increase market share, and at the same time, begin to reduce costs.

Chips are of paramount importance. With Taiwan's R&D capabilities, manufacturing a cheap chip is not difficult. So, taking the lead is not a big problem. John is very clear about the importance of the Chinese market, which is why he made early investments in semiconductor chips and electronics. Most importantly, memory development has reached an awkward stage. There are many reasons for this, including Japan's economic crisis. After all, at that time, Japan was the dominant force in the memory chip field. Although South Korea was close behind, its R&D capabilities were far behind Japan's.

This is why John set his sights on Japan. Although Bell Labs has strong R&D capabilities, it still lags behind Japan in memory technology. Otherwise, John wouldn't have kept putting memory chips into production. He understands that he can't compete with Japan.

The opportunity has finally arrived. Japan's research and development will soon come to a standstill, giving Taiwan a chance to overtake the competition. As long as Taiwan seizes this opportunity and collaborates with Nvidia and ASUS on their research and development, it can take the memory chip market from Japan and gain an absolute advantage in the chip market. Taiwan has already begun to lay the groundwork.

If the chip issue isn't resolved, many developments will be affected, including those of global navigation companies and other products. It's important to understand that the consolidation in Taiwan, while seemingly chaotic, is actually preparing for future development. Once expansion is complete there, everything will fall into place, and the market will gradually be under our control.

"Time is not a problem, we can wait!" After hearing John's words, Toyota naturally understood the opportunity. As long as Toyota could seize the initiative, everything would be fine. However, there was one thing he seemed to have forgotten: even if the chip was developed and the product could be transferred to mid-range cars, it would still take time. Toyota could not get these products immediately. Bentley Motors would be the first to acquire them. The first-mover advantage was still very important.

In fact, it's not just ordinary cars that are affected now; trucks are even more impacted. With the emergence of global navigation companies, trucks in Europe and America have been hit the hardest, and the same is true in Japan. After all, trucks are much more expensive than cars, so they can afford to install navigation systems, and Bentley Motors has been frantically seizing market share.

Initially, even if factories in Taiwan were to reach full production capacity, it wouldn't be able to meet all customer demand, naturally impacting many car companies. This was already part of John's plan, and this was precisely the outcome he wanted. Six months may not seem like a long time, but the more serious issues lay ahead. Whether you could obtain enough navigation devices was also a problem, and Toyota clearly anticipated this issue, hence their proactive approach.

"This isn't a question of whether we can afford to wait, but rather whether production can keep up. It involves many aspects, including chips, electronics, and LCD displays, etc. It's difficult to guarantee the quantity. Moreover, the production capacity is severely insufficient for luxury cars and trucks alone. So, it will take even longer to truly enter the mid-range car market!"

Faced with John's words, Toyota and everyone else present sighed inwardly. This was the truth. For a new product to grow rapidly, it wasn't just a matter of market demand, but more importantly, production capacity. Most importantly, Hughes Aerospace couldn't hand over this crucial component to others, so Global Navigation Company couldn't cooperate with anyone else unless the GPS navigation system was completed, which was impossible. Therefore, a monopoly was Global Navigation Company's true position. Under these circumstances, only a fool would lower their profits to satisfy the low-to-mid-end market. High-end products naturally had corresponding prices, so no matter how good Toyota's idea was, it was impossible to realize.

In this situation, Toyota could only sigh. It was obviously unrealistic to expect to get a sufficient number of products from the other party. However, Toyota was much stronger than the Europeans. At least they could enter the market earlier, while the Europeans had no chance at all. So they had already seized the initiative!

(End of this chapter)