"Of course, of course, Your Excellency Evan, the scale of investment between the two parties, the management composition of the joint venture plant, etc., still need to be coordinated by the professional negotiation team organized by the two companies. I'm just here to express an intention on behalf of Toshiba, and we are very willing to cooperate with IBM to solve the challenges of Aikang!" Tanimura said into the microphone in a sincere tone in English with a strong Japanese accent. And when he hung up the phone, he couldn't hide the smile on his face.

Everything is as he expected, and the new NoteBook series of notebooks launched by Aikang Company has made IBM feel strong pressure. Although IBM has a strong technical background in the computer field that cannot be matched by ordinary companies, it also has the explanation of the bloated and inefficient organization of large companies, and fine cost control is by no means its strength.

In the case of unified standards, the personal computer industry is developing more and more in the direction of price war. With its special relationship with the Oriental Group, Aikang has always been able to become a leader in the upgrading of personal computer technology, so as to take the lead in the competition in the mid-to-high-end market and avoid the tragic price fight in the low-end field.

In the mid-to-high-end market, IBM has been suppressed by Aikang, and in the low-end market, it has been challenged by the low cost of Asian computer companies such as Acer and Lu's. So IBM has always wanted to find a new way, and laptops are the unique niche that IBM has found for itself.

The size limit of notebook computers has excluded most small and medium-sized computer manufacturers with insufficient industrial design capabilities. Without the price war disruption of these companies, the industry as a whole can be maintained at a good profit margin. This is particularly important for IBM, because the high labor costs in the United States have made the manufacturing enterprises here never rely on small profits and quick sales to survive.

In another time and space, IBM was the first to develop the PC. But its place in the desktop computer has been replaced by the newly emerging Compaq company in the 286 era. IBM's position in the PC industry from the 90s to the 21st century was due to its ThinkPad series of laptops.

ThinkPad has always occupied a large market share in the business notebook market, and later Lianxiang Company relied on the acquisition of IBM's ThinkPad to enter the global high-end personal computer market in one fell swoop, and finally successfully ascended to the throne of the PC market.

However, IBM has taken the lead in the laptop space. It entered this market as early as 1986, but Aikang was not idle. The launch of the NoteBook series this time can be described as a thick accumulation, and all the disadvantages are instantly wiped out with a superior product.

For IBM, the threat of Aikang is far greater than that of Toshiba, so when Aikang entered the notebook market with a very strong attitude, Toshiba, which had fought to the death with him, immediately became a partner to work with. And for Toshiba, its strength in the PC field is even more different from that of Aikang.

Fortunately, the display is also critical in notebook computers, and Japan has an absolute leader in the field of liquid crystal displays, so Toshiba chose a laptop that needs to rely on LCD screens to achieve true portability. As an entry point into the PC industry. But in the face of the monster of the Eastern Bloc, Toshiba does not even have any advantages in liquid crystal technology, which has nothing to be proud of.

On the contrary, it only took six or seven years for Aikang to succeed in catching up with the latecomers and taking the lead in making breakthroughs in TFT liquid crystal technology. Compared with the previous TN LCD, TFT LCD can control a pixel with a transistor, so that the color can be displayed in an extremely fine manner. This is something that a pseudo-color display like TN liquid crystal cannot do.

A 14-inch LCD screen with millions of pixels. In other words, there are literally millions of circuits working simultaneously on the LCD screen. Ensuring that every circuit is functioning properly requires a demanding manufacturing process.

According to Toshiba's own internal estimates, the construction of a first-generation TFT LCD panel factory will require an investment of at least $100 million. High investment naturally means huge risks, especially since TFT liquid crystal has just begun to be produced on a commercial scale, and the entire manufacturing process is still very immature.

The reason why the NoteBook series of Aikang did not use the first TFT liquid crystal was before. It is because this production line under the Oriental Research Institute is used to cut large-size panels, and the yield rate is not ideal, which greatly raises the factory cost.

In terms of Toshiba's size, it is actually fully capable of raising $100 million of its own factory construction costs. But just because a factory is built doesn't mean it's immediately profitable. The situation with TFT panels is very similar to that of fabs. Toshiba has the second largest wafer fab in the world in the semiconductor field, so it is natural that the characteristics of this industry are clear.

When Toshiba first entered the semiconductor field, it endured a long period of losses, and it was only through continuous investment that it slowly survived. Therefore, semiconductors are also called "semi-inverted", and many formulas go bankrupt before they can achieve profitability. When Li Xuan first founded Dongfang Electronics, the reason why he was able to persuade Japan's Seiko Epson Company to support him was because the operating rate of the other party's wafer factory was seriously insufficient, and he needed chip orders in Li Xuan's hands.

TFT liquid crystal is likely to be similar to the semiconductor industry, the initial investment in factory construction is only the beginning of the pit, and then it will continue to swallow up a lot of funds until it achieves breakeven. No one knows how long it will take to break even, so Toshiba prefers to bring in partners to co-invest in order to reduce business risks.

IBM is undoubtedly an excellent partner to work with, first of all, IBM does not have much accumulation in liquid crystal technology, and the labor cost in the United States is expensive, so the joint venture factory will definitely be built in Japan, and Toshiba can also fully establish the core technology and management team of the joint venture factory.

In addition, IBM does not produce and sell televisions, and Toshiba believes that the application prospects of liquid crystal technology in televisions are no worse than those in the computer field. Therefore, Toshiba has actually taken a greater advantage, once the yield and clarity of TFT LCD on the large-size screen meet the requirements, the LCD screen is bound to usher in a large number of orders.

In fact, this is already the consensus of many people in the industry, so even if the TFT panel production line is expensive, it cannot stop the enthusiasm of companies like Toshiba. Once they abandon tracking the latest technology, they are likely to miss out on the huge market of the future. Therefore, Toshiba would rather give up some of its interests to cooperate with IBM, and also firmly follow up the upgrading of technology...... (To be continued.) )