Volume 2 Set Sail Chapter 578 Who is the opponent

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Coming out of Li Xuan's house, Lin Jieping felt that he was suddenly much more relaxed, and the bottom line of the acquisition given by him was impossible to be rejected by the shareholders of Applied Materials (AMAT) in the United States. Therefore, in Lin Jieping's view, the merger of AMAT into Lam Research is already a sure thing.

After the completion of the acquisition of AMAT, Lam Research has completed the layout of lithography machines, etching equipment, and CVD equipment, which are the three most critical areas of the entire semiconductor equipment market, so as to seize the opportunity in the future competition.

The rise of personal computers has driven the entire semiconductor industry, which has entered a period of rapid expansion since the eighties, and has also greatly promoted the development of the upstream equipment industry. With the continuous improvement of chip performance requirements, the semiconductor manufacturing process has been continuously innovated, and the difficulty of research and development of related production equipment has begun to increase exponentially.

As a result, R&D costs have skyrocketed, making the semiconductor equipment sector a high-risk, zero-sum market with a winner-takes-all approach, although very lucrative. Before Li Xuan's rebirth, like the only three remaining companies in the lithography machine market, Canon had begun to admit defeat and withdraw, and Nikon was still struggling to support, but it was also losing money year after year.

The only winner was the Dutch company ASLM, which alone dominated 105% of the lithography machine sector (because Nikon's profits were negative). It launched a new generation of EUV lithography machine system, with a single price of more than $100 million.

As time goes on, the threshold for investment in semiconductor equipment will only get higher. Now can be said to be the last opportunity for Li Xuan's comprehensive layout, taking advantage of the fact that the technical barriers are not very high, he still has the opportunity to use a small capital investment to go hand in hand in the three major fields of lithography machine, etching equipment and CVD equipment, so as to form the advantage of group operations.

For example, after Lam Research acquired GCA, its technical background in the field of lithography machines has been greatly improved, but in fact, there is still a certain gap with the current Nikon lithography machine. Nikon, on the other hand, is not involved in etching equipment and CVD equipment. Lam's ability to provide the three most critical equipment for building a fab at the same time is still attractive to investors.

Semiconductor equipment is not like fast consumer electronics such as televisions and computers, and thousands of products roll off the production line in factories every day. It's more like Boeing's aircraft production. From the receipt of the order to the official delivery of the aircraft to the customer, there is often a considerable waiting time.

The semiconductor industry is also a very fast replacement industry, every minute of depreciation is worth a lot, and one day earlier put into production means one day earlier to create profits. That's when Lam Research can rely on its rich product line. Gain no small advantage in negotiations with users.

After receiving Li Xuan's carte blanche to acquire AMAT (Applied Materials), Lin Jieping was finally able to go back to the hotel to catch up on a good night's sleep, but many others were still busy with it.

Chunjiang Plumbing Duck Prophet, Aikang's newly launched Note Wave OK laptop may just be a new consumption choice for ordinary consumers. But for some discerning industry people. However, we can see the new changes that the PC market may usher in in the future.

Business office is now the largest segment of the entire PC market, and laptops cater to the portable needs of business travelers. The sales volume of 20,000 units in the first week of the global launch released by Aikang also shows the huge market potential of notebook computers.

Therefore, IBM began to sit still and was ready to cooperate with Dongzhi Toshiba to enter the field of TFT LCD displays, laying a good foundation for the next development of the latest notebook computer in advance. Toshiba's CEO Atsuichi Tanimura also took advantage of IBM's positive attitude and quickly persuaded his board of directors to agree to the construction plan of the TFT LCD production line, which involves hundreds of millions of dollars.

For example, Sharp is very eager to seek cooperation with Lam, seeking to solve the problem of low product yield of its newly built TFT production line. Affected by the good news of the gratifying sales volume in the first week of the listing of Note Wave OK, it did not choose to be listed on the Taipei Stock Exchange, but deliberately came to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to list the only LCD display manufacturer in Taiwan, Xincai Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. Today's opening also caused a sharp rise in stock prices.

Aikang announced the news at 9 a.m. London time yesterday, but it was already 4 p.m. Hong Kong time by then, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had just closed. As the main supplier of notebook computer LCD screens, the stock price of Xincai Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. after the opening of the market today, the stock price soared by 20% within half an hour.

You must know that Xincai Optoelectronics is not the kind of small-cap stock with a market value of only 1, 200 million or even tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars, and its total market value was as high as 1.22 billion Hong Kong dollars at the close of trading yesterday. That is to say, in just half an hour, the wealth of the shareholders of Xincai Optoelectronics has increased by nearly 250 million Hong Kong dollars.

Note Wave OK does not use the latest TFT liquid crystal developed by the Oriental Research Institute, but still uses the more mature STN liquid crystal. In the eyes of Li Xuan and the Oriental Research Institute, STN LCD is already a backward technology on the verge of obsolescence, but for the Taiwan-Bay LCD industry, Xincai Optoelectronics, located in Hsinchu Science Industrial Park, is the only high-tech company in Taiwan that can produce LCD screens.

The largest shareholder of Xincai Optoelectronics is not the Oriental Research Institute. Rather, it is the Chung Hwa Picture Tube Company in Taiwan-Gulf. Founded in 1971, Chunghwa Picture Tube is one of the earliest factories in Taiwan to start producing color picture tubes, and has a close cooperative relationship with RCA company, which has invested in Taiwan and the Bay very early.

And after the acquisition of RCA by the Oriental Group, it was logical for China Picture Tube to become. An important partner in the industrial chain of the Oriental Group. With the selection of the deep-sea special zone on the other side of the strait as the TV manufacturing base by the Eastern Bloc, and after the RCA pollution incident was exposed in Taiwan, the Eastern Bloc began to rapidly shrink its television and radio business in Taiwan.

It is not an easy task for China Picture Tube to break through the current political barriers between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and follow the industrial transfer of the Eastern Bloc to invest in the deep-sea special zone in the mainland. Therefore, with the support of the Eastern Bloc, it began to gradually start industrial upgrading and transformation.

Li Xuan's plan for the LCD industry. From the very beginning, it aimed at TFT LCD, so although the Oriental Research Institute realized the technology accumulation on STN LCD earlier, it did not invest in building a factory. So this happened to be cheaper than the China Picture Tube Company, and the Oriental Research Institute established a joint venture with it in the form of technology shares.

After Lin Jieping slept in the hotel, he felt much better. After he washed his face. Grabbed the phone in the room and started asking someone to dinner. However, Lin Jieping's face quickly frowned, and the person he was going to make an appointment with had already made other arrangements.

knew that he should have made an appointment in advance by calling before going to bed, and Lin Jieping was a little unswerving. He is in a hurry to return to the United States to deal with the acquisition of AMAT, and has already booked a direct flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco tomorrow morning. And before that. He hopes to take the opportunity of this visit to Hong Kong to communicate with the CEO of Jiachuang Technology.

Jiachuang Technology is a wholly-owned subsidiary established by Oriental Research Institute after the spin-off of the LCD business department. Taking advantage of the hot sales of this note, the first round of $200 million fundraising plan planned by Jiachuang Technology will surely be enthusiastically sought after by venture capital soon.

The reason why Jiachuang Technology launched such a large-scale fundraising action. It is precisely to start the construction of a new generation of TFT LCD production line. One of the reasons why Lin Jieping is in a hurry to let Lam Research annex AMAT is to obtain the latter's deep technical accumulation in the field of CVD equipment, so as to better complete the research and development of CVD equipment required for the next generation of LCD production lines.

Naturally, these plans must not be known to the management and shareholders of AMAT in advance, otherwise the other party is likely to sit on the ground and raise the price. Therefore, Lin Jieping felt that it was necessary for him to communicate with the senior management of Jiachuang Technology in advance and reach a tacit understanding on some information disclosure.

"Lin Sheng, the one I have an appointment with tonight is Mr. Lin Tingshen, the chairman of Xincai Optoelectronics. If you don't mind, you can come over for dinner, and I'll introduce you to this family of yours!" Wei Chuankai, CEO of Jiachuang Technology, warmly invited.

Lin Jieping hesitated for a few seconds and quickly agreed. Although he felt that he was a little presumptuous to suddenly insert himself into someone else's dinner like this, his trip to Hong Kong this time was indeed too rushed, and he had no other time to meet Wei Chuankai when he was leaving tomorrow morning.

The other side. Lin Tingshen received a call from Wei Chuankai, and he was not unhappy about the sudden addition of one person at the dinner. Datong Company, founded by Lin Tingshen's father, Lin Shanzhi, is a pioneer in Taiwan's home appliance manufacturing industry. In the latest import and export trade figures released by the Taiwan-Gulf authorities, the Lin family's Datong Group ranks second only to Wang Yongqing's Nanya Plastics, ranking second in Taiwan as the second largest import and export manufacturer in Taiwan.

In 1971, the Lin family established the Chunghwa Picture Tube Company, and although it lost money for 12 consecutive years, it was determined to make a profit, and finally began to make a profit in 1983. Now Chunghwa Picture Tube has become the most profitable company among dozens of subsidiaries of the entire Cosmos Group.

And the Lin family is naturally very aware that the entire CRT TV industry has begun to slowly enter the sunset period. The Lin family's Datong company naturally does not have the strength to lead the trend of technological development. So their best bet is to cooperate with other strong players.

The Eastern Group is obviously optimistic about liquid crystal technology, which can replace the existing CRT picture tube and become the mainstream of future display technology. To this end, the Oriental Research Institute made a big bet on the LCD project, and invested heavily in research and development as early as the beginning of the group's establishment.

And Lin Tingshen, the helmsman of the new generation of the Lin family. Without hesitation, I chose to believe in the vision of the Oriental Group and decided to accompany the Oriental Group to gamble on the future of LCD technology. And Lin Tingshen's choice has obviously begun to reap rich returns, the increase in the share price of Xincai Optoelectronics was finally fixed at 31% at today's close, and Lin Tingshen's net worth increased by 100 million Hong Kong dollars in one day.

It's just that these gains can only be regarded as floating profits, and a large part of them stem from the irrational impulse of the market to chase up. If Lin Tingshen really wants to stabilize these inflated market capitalizations. It is necessary for the new color optoelectronics to bring greater fantasy space to investors.

After the advent of TFT liquid crystal, STN liquid crystal is technically destined to be outdated. Therefore, the choice of Xincai Optoelectronics that best meets the expectations of the market is undoubtedly to enter the field of TFT liquid crystal. However, although the Zhonghua Picture Tube, a subsidiary of the Lin family, is the controlling shareholder of Xincai Optoelectronics, in fact, all the technology of the joint venture company comes from Jiachuang Technology Company, a subsidiary of the Oriental Research Institute.

With the full support of Jiachuang Technology, Xincai Optoelectronics has also begun to understand the related technology of STN liquid crystal little by little, and now it is undoubtedly impossible to develop TFT liquid crystal that is several orders of magnitude more difficult to develop alone.

Therefore, Lin Tingshen knows very well that the only opportunity for Xincai Optoelectronics to enter the new TFT liquid crystal field is to obtain the support of Jiachuang Technology. And Lin Tingshen specially flew from Taipei to Hong Kong today to have dinner with Mr. Wei Chuankai, CEO of Jiachuang Technology, in order to explore the other party's tone.

And Lin Jieping, who coincided with his meeting, had to sigh that sometimes good luck really can't be stopped. He originally didn't have any expectations for tonight's dinner, after all, in front of outsiders, it was impossible for him to directly discuss any private issues with Wei Chuankai.

But as soon as the meal began, he was pleasantly surprised. The new color optoelectronics company from Taiwan intends to invest in the construction of a new TFT liquid crystal production line. And Wei Chuankai, CEO of Jiachuang Technology, didn't seem to object, but smiled at Lin Jieping.

Even if Xincai Optoelectronics wants to build a TFT LCD production line, it is impossible to build a new second-generation TFT production line like Jiachuang Technology, and Jiachuang naturally cannot give away its core technology. However, if it is to adopt the relevant technology of the pilot production line that Jiachuang Technology has built, it is not negotiable.

You must know that when Jiachuang Technology built the first test production line, it was completely crossing the river by feeling the stones, and invested a lot of money in trial and error. Now, on the basis of the original technology accumulation, Jiachuang has begun the construction of a larger-scale second-generation TFT production line, and many of the original technologies are no longer necessary to continue to hold in their hands.

If it can quickly recover the R&D cost in the early stage with the follow-up investment of other companies, it is undoubtedly a good choice for Jiachuang Technology. Because the first generation TFT LCD production line cannot be regarded as the originality of Jiachuang Technology. At least Japan's Sharp has built a production line of the same level of technology. (To be continued.) )