December 1, 1980. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

The handheld version of "Chinese Cubes" landed in Tokyo, Japan.

Due to the limited number of handhelds available for sale each day, they are sold only at the newly operated stores of the start-up electronics company in Tokyo. In the Japanese market, sales are limited to 5,000 units per day.

Early in the morning, the brand's self-operated store has not yet opened, and there are already tens of thousands of Japanese fans, braving the bitter cold, waiting outside.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, the shop had just opened, and there was a commotion......

……

The next day, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported: "The Handheld Game Console of 'China Cube' is sweeping Asia with lightning speed. On November 11, 1980, "Chinese Cube" was sold out in Hong Kong in a limited edition of 10,000 units per day, and it was sold out for 20 consecutive days. On December 1, the handheld was officially sold in the Japanese market at a price of only 5,000 yen, and was only sold at Shinsho Electronics' only brand-owned store in Tokyo. On that day, more than 20,000 players poured outside the store to compete for the only 5,000 handhelds, and the scene was chaotic and even caused traffic jams...... The Japanese, who used to follow the rules, are crazy because of this game!"

"Sankei Shimbun" elaborated from another angle: "...... the fire of "China Cube" does not seem to have surprised Ricoh.

Before the mass production of this handheld computer, Mr. Lin Qi, the founder of Hong Kong's new venture electronics company, came to Japan thousands of miles away to persuade Ricoh to supply 6502 chips at an unprecedented low price.

At that time, President Kentaro Ichimura was in a crisis, and a few years ago, he proposed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to introduce advanced equipment and technology from Europe and the United States, and the 6502 chip produced was not recognized by the market. Because of the lack of orders, it causes tens of millions of dollars in losses every year. At this time, Lin Qi, from Hong Kong, held the order high, forcing Ricoh to agree to its harsh terms.

'Seven dollars can't be!' I replied at first. Kentaro Ichimura recalled, "But Lin Sang gave another astronomical order that could not be refused, 10 million chips! Finally, we were forced to say yes, because it would ensure that our production line would turn around. If you don't agree, you will continue to lose money. ’

Less than two months after the deal was reached, the handheld "China Cube" was mass-produced and listed, and Lin Qi's career took off again. Ricoh, a chip supplier, has not been able to make a profit from it, even though the production line operating rate has increased to full capacity.

We produce 10 million chips, and after being recognized by the market and customers, customers all over the world will begin to consider and purchase our products in the future. Kentaro Ichimura said helplessly, "In addition, through this transaction, I deeply feel that creativity is far more important than technology." It is conservatively estimated that the "China Cube" product will be able to sell more than 10 million units worldwide in the future, even if it is $20 a unit, it is 200 million US dollars, and even if the most conservative estimate is that it only earns $2 per unit, it is also a profit of 20 million US dollars!', not to mention, it may be far more than so many sales!"

There is no malicious attack in the whole article, but it has made many right-wing conservatives in Japan start to attack "China Cube" one after another.

Subsequently, the president of Ricoh explained in the media: "The order of "China Cube" has turned our original loss-making production line around and provided us with thousands of jobs. At the same time, the vast majority of the "China Cube" handheld computers produced by the new venture electronics company are sold in the global market, and only a small part is sold in Japan. Therefore, there is no need for narrow resistance...... After all, it brought benefits to Japan that outweighed the losses. In addition, Japan is the biggest beneficiary of free trade, and we should not be conservative, but should insist on free trade and division of labor and cooperation!"

Japan in the 80s was not at all as conservative as it was later, but a believer in globalization and free trade.

After all, the lifeblood of Japan's economy depends on the global division of labor and cooperation, and the sale of products around the world to make money.

Boycotting foreign goods is cool for a while, but when boycotting each other, it is definitely the countries that suffer from the economic pillars of import and export trade.

……

On December 12, 1980, Lin Qi came to Yu Youcheng's training school again.

"You're here?"

"I'm coming!"

"You shouldn't have come!"

"But I'm here after all!"

"Bastard, I thought you weren't coming, and you were all ready to pack up and go back to the United States. After the launch of "Chinese Cube", I already believed your previous words, but you never came. Yu Youcheng said a little resentfully.

"Lao Yu, I originally thought you would come to our company to find me. Lin Qi said.

"Anyway, you invited me to go, I want to be reserved, if I want to apply for a job so easily, won't my value depreciate?" Yu Youcheng said with a smile.

"Then, Lao Yu, I solemnly invite you once again to help me develop a chip - a chip with a reduced instruction set. Lin Qi said.

"No problem!" Yu Youcheng said, "But I have spoken, you can't give up halfway in the process of investing." The cycle of developing chips is very long, and there will only be input in the process, not profit output. Even if the results come out, it's hard to say whether it has market prospects!"

"Of course!" Lin Qi nodded and said, "I'm fully mentally prepared!"

"After the design is completed, we need to think about mass production. Have you thought about it, the current level of China's semiconductor industry, even if the 8080 chip, can be mass-produced and processed, it is not easy to say. Yu Youcheng said, "This is Intel's 72-year process level, which means that it is 8 years behind." And after the completion of our chip design, even if China is developing according to Moore's Law, it may not be able to help us produce. At that time, the chip factory needs us to find our own way to invest technology and capital. Even though...... After we built the first chip factory, this is not the end, the semiconductor industry is like a marathon, 18 months to upgrade the technology, we must invest more money again!

"I know!" Lin Qi said with a firm gaze, "It is precisely because of the backwardness of our domestic semiconductor industry that we need to build an advanced semiconductor factory independently." Not only for ourselves, but also for China's semiconductor industry!"

In fact, in the 50s ~ 60s, printed circuit board technology has just come out, and the gap between China and the international technical level is not very large.

However, between the 70s ~ 90s, the world's semiconductor industry is progressing according to Moore's Law, the number of transistors is increasing, and the cost of investment is becoming more and more expensive.

It is the most critical time for the development of the semiconductor industry, but because there is too little investment in R&D in China, the technology gap has widened to more than 15 years!

By the end of the 90s, the country began to pay attention to catching up, but it was too late. The barriers to patents for various technologies have been thickened, and in addition, even if there is an international blockade of China, the most advanced equipment and technology cannot be bought with money.

Because of the backwardness of technology, the domestic demand for chips is rising, so that 200 billion US dollars of chips are imported every year.

Over the years, the total value of imported foreign semiconductor chips may exceed 10 trillion yuan.

If so much money had been spent on R&D earlier, there would be no need to pay such a big price in the future!

Nominally, Lin Qi developed his own CPU chip for the game console of a new start-up electronics company, but it was not a pure heart, which shortened the gap between the domestic semiconductor industry and the world. In the future, it will be easier to catch up......