"You've been able to produce 64K memory chips?" asked Xu Zhi quietly.

Since his crossing, it has changed the development of many electronic industries, but the main impact is in the market terminal field, that is, a variety of new concept products, games, computer software and some creative hardware such as modern mice, keyboard settings, computer form factors, etc.

But there has been little change in the field of semiconductors, which is not controlled by commerce, but by countless laboratories and researchers, and the development of semiconductors is still in accordance with Moore's Law, doubling at a rate of 18 months.

64K DRAM is currently the most popular advanced chip in the entire world, and although 128K DRAM already exists, the cost is too high to be popularized on a large scale.

In the current market, only the United States and Japan can manufacture 64K DRAM, and now it seems that Samsung has successfully caught this train, although the technology is purchased, but the chip industry, the yield rate can not be obtained by casual purchase, which can only rely on excellent management to control the quality.

Xu Zhi couldn't help but glance at Li Jianxi, this person's ability is indeed too strong, no wonder his father Li Bingzhe broke the family inheritance rule of the Korean chaebol and handed over the throne of Samsung to him.

Samsung Group has entered the field of electronic products since the 60s, from the beginning of OEM for Japanese brands to the follow-up of self-built brands and continuously entered the washing machine, refrigerator, microwave oven, color TV and other markets, it took less than ten years to achieve great success.

But these are traditional home appliances in the field, although Samsung also has a certain amount of technology accumulation, but mainly rely on the low production cost of South Korea and profit, if only this development, Samsung Electronics in the future is at most the achievements of Haier in the future, although the scale is not small, but far from the monopoly of the semiconductor field in later generations.

When Samsung entered the semiconductor field, in fact, Li Bingzhe and many veterans were very hesitant, because the semiconductor thing is not a household appliance product, once invested, it is a huge gold-swallowing beast, either able to make huge profits from it, or it will be bankrupt at a loss, and finally under the strong insistence of Li Jianxi, Samsung decided to enter the semiconductor field and began to develop desperately.

In 1974, Samsung acquired the Korean semiconductor company, and after three years of hard work, in 1977, the company finally began to produce transistors through reverse research and development, but the quality was so poor that even other electronics companies under the Samsung group were reluctant to use such products.

However, Lee Kun-hee did not give up, he personally went to Japan, led the team to visit several semiconductor manufacturing plants, and when they could not take pictures, everyone memorized many important quality control points by memory.

In order to recruit some engineers from the Japanese factory to assist in the production of Samsung's semiconductor factory in South Korea, Lee Kun-hee personally visited the door and impressed dozens of engineers and technicians with absolute sincerity.

In order to make it more convenient for Japanese engineers to go home on weekends, Lee Kun-hee persuaded his father to borrow the only business jet of the Samsung Group to transport these employees back and forth between Japan and South Korea every weekend.

With an attitude of excellence and a management strategy that attaches importance to talents, Samsung has successfully developed a 64K DRAM chip, breaking the monopoly of Japan and the United States.

Of course, this is only 64K, in fact, Japan and the United States are currently producing 128k in small batches, and are also tackling 256k.

In terms of technology, there is still a gap of almost 5 years between Samsung and these top companies.

Lee Kun-hee smiled with some pride: "Yes, our company's semiconductor factory in Daegu City has been able to mass-produce 64KDRAM, which is definitely cheaper than its Japanese and American counterparts in terms of cost, so if Midea cooperates with us, it will definitely be able to reduce operating costs to a greater extent." ”

Xu Zhi said with a smile: "Mr. Li, our Midea company also has its own chip factory in Hsinchu Industrial Park, Taipei City, Wanwan, and it just so happens that we have just had the ability to produce 64K DRAM. ”

In 1982, because of the strength of Japanese semiconductors, the United States Micron Semiconductor Company fell into the brink of bankruptcy, Samsung seized this opportunity to introduce its 64M DRAM technology, but it was not a buyout of the patent, Zhang Zhongmou also went to Micron Group to negotiate after learning of this, not only bought the same technology, but also brought most of its technical personnel back to Wanwan, and at the same time, like Samsung, a large number of engineers in the same industry were poached from Japan.

With the efforts of many parties and the opening of the way with money, Midea Semiconductor Company has also successfully possessed the ability to produce 64K DRAM chips, but the chips have just been produced, and the production capacity is not very large, and it is currently only consumed by Midea internally, so people from the outside world do not know about it.

Although Li Jianxi was a little surprised after hearing this, his face did not change at all, and he still asked with a smile: "Mr. Xu, I have also heard of your company's factory in Wanwan, but as far as I know, the scale is not very large, and your company's various electronic products sell well all over the world, and the demand for memory is very large. ”

"Not bad. Xu Zhi smiled and nodded, Li Jianxi was indeed right in his analysis.

Lee Kun-hee continued: "During this period of time, I think Samsung can still have a very pleasant cooperation with Midea, Mr. Xu, what do you think?"

Xu Zhidao: "Although the current 64k DRAM on the market is not cheap, our Midea company will not change the supplier of this core product casually, and if Samsung's products want to enter Midea's supply chain, they must have a full set of third-party qualification tests and at least one year of market certification." ”

"A year?" Li Jianxi paused.

"Not bad. Xu Zhi nodded.

Li Jianxi said euphemistically: "Mr. Xu, there is no problem with the third-party test, but the waiting time of this year is a bit too long?"

Samsung Semiconductor has a small reputation in the current global market, and its ability to start mass production of 64K DRAM has indeed attracted the attention of many people, and it is inevitable to pass the third-party qualification verification in order to enter the procurement and supply system of international electronics giant companies.

But this year's waiting time is the most troublesome thing, many electronics giants are also the same as Midea, reluctant to use Samsung's chips, even if the price is cheap, what about it, it can be mixed well in the electronics industry, in the 80s, which profit margin is high and scary, and those companies that mix poorly, their products may not use 64K This most advanced memory, and even if used, the purchase volume is limited.

In the 80s, there were hundreds of factories producing chips in the entire international market, and in this era, the entry requirements for chips are not high, as long as you invest millions of dollars, you can build a wafer factory, unlike the 21st century, the most advanced wafer production line is often billions of dollars.

But as in later generations, the subsequent non-stop production of wafer factories is the bulk of the cash eater, and the only way to solve the problem is to get enough orders, the more orders, the lower the cost of monolithic memory chips, the greater competitiveness in the market, and the ability to obtain funds to enter the research and development of next-generation technologies and the purchase of new production lines.

Samsung's semiconductor factory is now in a state of low production capacity, and a large number of orders are urgently needed, if you wait for a year, how much the loss will not be talked about, what worries Li Kunxi the most is that the semiconductor industry is changing very quickly, and after a year, 128KDRAM may become the mainstream of the market, and the most advanced technology that he has bought with great difficulty will be eliminated.

Xu Zhi said: "Without market certification, it is impossible for anyone to use your company's chips on a large scale. However, I can speed up this process, buy in less bulk first, as long as there are no problems, then I think in half a year, your chips can enter the scope of large-scale procurement, but there is one condition. ”

"Is Mr. Xu trying to take a stake in Samsung Electronics?" asked Lee Kun-hee.

Xu Zhi smiled: "Yes, I don't want many shares, 20% is enough, as for the price, I can buy shares at 1.2 times the current market price, and pay directly in cash." ”

"20% is too much. Li Bingzhe on the side suddenly spoke.

"Then how much does Mr. Li think is appropriate?" asked Xu Zhi.

Lee Kun-hee said: "5%, as for the price, the original price is fine." ”

Xu Zhi shook his head and said: "At present, the main product suppliers of Midea Company, we have adopted a partial holding model, and 20% is already the lowest ratio. ”

Li Jianxi said: "Mr. Xu, Samsung is not an ordinary supplier. ”

"Perhaps, but 5% is too low. Xu Zhi shook his head and vetoed.

Li Kunxi thought for a moment and said: "Mr. Xu, this time you come to South Korea rarely, please let our Samsung do the friendship of the landlord and take you to visit some scenic spots in South Korea. ”

"Yes," Xu Zhi nodded in agreement.

......

At this moment, Samsung Electronics, although it is still a novice in the semiconductor field, can be regarded as a large-scale company in the field of traditional household appliances, even if it is a 1 point of shares, it is worth tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars.

Midea quickly dispatched a professional acquisition and legal team in charge of international mergers and acquisitions to South Korea and officially began negotiations with Samsung.

Xu Zhi fought with Lee Kun-hee a few more times, and finally decided on the proportion of shares: 12%.

One more point, Samsung's board of directors did not agree, although it did not get the expected shares, but for the time being, Xu Zhi was still satisfied with this result, because in the near future, there is a better opportunity.

By next year, the global semiconductor industry will fall into a trough, and memory prices will plummet by more than 90%, with 64K DRAM plummeting from $4 per piece to $0.3 per piece.

This is the darkest era since the birth of semiconductors, Intel has also withdrawn from the field of memory production, and many Japanese electronics giants such as NEC and Hitachi have massively reduced investment and reduced R&D.

But this is Samsung's craziest moment, the word "counter-cyclical price war" is used by Samsung to the fullest, others are afraid that I am crazy, Samsung desperately expands production capacity and accelerates the research and development of the next generation of large-capacity DRAM, in the end, in three years, Samsung Electronics lost 300 million US dollars, and also successfully occupied the market, and so on 88 years, the demand for semiconductors skyrocketed, and the professional companies that can produce are far less than a few years ago.

Samsung's production capacity and quality have been recognized by most of the world's electronics companies, and in the end, in just one year, Samsung earned back all the investment in the previous three years, which is also the beginning of Samsung's semiconductor business development.

From a long-term point of view, the countercyclical price war is naturally very beneficial, but in the past few years, the entire Samsung Group's business and funds have been consumed by the semiconductor business, causing the stock price of Samsung Group to plummet.

In a few years, it will be the best time to take a stake in Samsung again.