"I am very pleased to be able to acquire ASPLA this time, Xinxin Technology has been committed to the development of the chip manufacturing industry, and the successful acquisition of ASPLA will help Xinxin Technology to further improve its chip industry map."

When Zhou Xin went to Neon in 2007, Neon was obviously reluctant to sell ASPLA because the scope of the financial crisis was still limited to the real estate and financial sectors at that time, and the impact had not yet been fully fermented.

Neon is still trying to struggle to see if it is possible to bring ASPLA back to life.

The result is very cruel, the total chip revenue fell by 6.2% throughout 2007, which is still based on the fact that Mphone3 sold more than 50 million units, and the total revenue fell by 6.2%, which can be imagined how harsh the cold winter of the chip industry is.

Because Mphone3 uses the most advanced chip process and the highest cost, it occupies a large market share of the overall chip revenue.

After the 2007 data came out, and the financial crisis worsened, NEC even planned to completely withdraw from the chip manufacturing industry, which caused Neon Sangyo to abandon its illusions and say that it could sell ASPLA.

ASPLA was eventually sold to Xinxin Technology for 20 billion yen, or about $200 million.

Xinxin Technology's acquisition of ASPLA has been approved by the regulators of Neon and Huaguo, and this time Hu Zhengming came to Neon to sign a contract with NEC President Toshio Nakajima.

Due to the economic downturn, Neon's exports to both Ameriken and Europa have fallen sharply, with Ameriken down 19% and Europa down 17.2%.

Neon's exports are not only declining to developed regions, but also to Asia, which is the first time in more than six years that Neon's exports to the Asian region have decreased.

Neon is eager to cooperate with Neon to make a show, and they need such a show to attract foreign investment in Neon.

Xinxin Technology also wants to acquire more companies with technology content from Neon, so it doesn't mind acting with them.

ASPLA alone has received more than 20 billion yen in financial subsidies from the Ministry of Industry and Economic Affairs, not to mention the two 90nm wafer fabs, and the accumulated technology and engineers have made Xinxin Technology a lot of money.

So much so that Neon Media was mourned after the approval of this acquisition:

"Huaguo Semiconductor's Landmark Event for the Substantial Colonization of Neon"

"Poor Sankei officials sold the last hope of neon semiconductor manufacturing to Hwakook"

"Once again, Neon has chosen the wrong path in the field of key technologies"

Eh, why do you say again?

Neon has no choice, because they want to save Elpida, the financial crisis has hit the DRAM market hard, coupled with Samsung's expansion and price reduction, Elpida has been hovering on the verge of survival.

Compared to ASPLA, which does not have any advantages in the field of logic chip manufacturing, Elpida is more important to Neon Semiconductor.

Next year, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) will amend the Industrial Revitalization Act, authorizing the neon government to provide assistance to private companies that have world-leading technology but are facing operational difficulties. The first beneficiary of this amendment was Elpida, which took 30 billion yen from the neon government.

ASPLA is the former son, and Elpida is the current son, Neon knows that it can't be saved, so it's better to sell ASPLA to Xinxin.

After selling to Xinxin, employment and taxes stayed in Neon, so there was nothing left. It is impossible for Xinxin to pack up and move the fab.

At the signing of the cooperation agreement, reporters from Asahi Shimbun, Sankei Shimbun, Neon Economic News, NHK and other print media and TV stations had a lot of questions to ask Hu Zhengming.

Xinxin Technology, led by Hu Zhengming, still developed strongly during the financial crisis and expanded production aggressively, causing huge pressure on competitors.

With the technical advantages of Xinxin lithography machine and Huaguo's capital advantages, in the field of chip manufacturing, Xinxin's annual output value is twice that of TSMC, and Samsung can barely compete with Xinxin with memory chips.

The success of Xinxin is of great interest to Neon, which has collapsed in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, and Neon is flooded with a lot of discussions about Xinxin from academia to industry.

There have always been voices in the neon industry that Sony, as a giant in the field of neon consumer electronics, should invest more in the field of chip manufacturing.

Through the success of the new chip IDM model, Neon believes that the separation of chip design and chip manufacturing is only a model for the development of the industry, and the success of this model does not mean that the IDM model is not feasible.

(IDM model refers to the integration of chip design and manufacturing)

"Mr. Hu, the neon economy has resumed growth since 2002, mainly driven by exports. In the past, exports accounted for more than 60% of Japan's economic growth.

But as the international financial crisis intensified, the economies of Neon's main trading partners, Ameriken and Europa, took a heavy hit.

These two places have reduced imports of neon cars, televisions and mechanical products, leading to a sluggish Japanese economy, which is highly dependent on exports. Weakening external demand has led to a decline in Japanese corporate profits, bankruptcies of many small businesses, and a decline in workers' wages and an increase in unemployment.

Does the acquisition of ASPLA by Xinxin Technology mean that Xinxin Technology is optimistic about the scientific and technological strength of Neon Enterprises and is optimistic that Neon's economy can improve in the future? ”

Hu Zhengming knows that he is here to perform, which does not mean that he can talk nonsense:

"I'm in the semiconductor industry, and I don't know much about the economy, let alone the neon economy. But I've worked with a lot of neon engineers, including Xinxin Technology, and there are also a lot of engineers and R&D personnel from Neon.

I am deeply impressed by the professional attitude and professionalism of Neon people, the manufacturing and service industries of Neon are very developed, and I believe that Neon can get out of the financial crisis as soon as possible. ”

This answer is standard diplomatic rhetoric, saying everything and saying nothing, anyway, what you ask, I don't answer directly, you can interpret it however you want.

"Mr. Hu, after the acquisition of ASPLA by Xinxin Technology, is there any preparation for listing ASPLA on the neon securities market?"

After NewPay went public last year, it bucked the trend and skyrocketed, and its market value has surpassed Microsoft to become the number one technology stock.

Catching up with the east wind of NewPay's listing, Big A's Newman concept stocks also followed the hype, but the most fierce rise of Big A is not the new core lithography machine, because the market value of the new core lithography machine is too high, and the hype is too difficult.

The most fierce is a company called Zhonghuan Co., Ltd., which was listed in April last year, formerly known as Jinmen No. 3 Semiconductor Component Factory, and its performance has improved by leaps and bounds after entering the supplier system of Xinxin.

Last year, the total operating income was 690 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23%; The net profit was 100 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38%, breaking through the 100 million yuan mark for the first time, which is very eye-catching in the current environment. There is a concept of performance, and Zhonghuan shares are about to be fried to the sky.

"The first thing Xinxin did after acquiring ASPLA should be to get ASPLA back on track.

ASPLA has many valuable technologies that can help us further optimize the manufacturing process of Xinxin at 90nm and 130nm, which can help us further improve the yield rate.

I don't care much about the operation of capital, because even in the financial crisis, Xinxin Technology still has a very stable cash flow, especially in our chip manufacturing sector. ”

Hu Zhengming's subtext is that Xinxin is not bad for money and does not need to go to the capital market for financing.

Mphone3 sold 50 million in half a year, creating the largest revenue of smartphones, and 50 million is still limited by production capacity.

It is with the help of a large number of shipments of Mphone3 that Xinxin Technology has surpassed TSMC so much in terms of chip manufacturing revenue.

The advanced process is always the most profitable place in the chip industry, and if you eat this piece, the profits of other companies will be seriously affected.

If the general environment is good, then the cake is enough, and everyone is doing well, such as the memory chip market in the eighties of the last century, because it is growing rapidly every year, this cake is more than enough for Toshiba, Fujitsu, NEC, Hitachi, these manufacturers to eat together.

And when the Nasdaq bubble burst and the rise of Samsung, Hynix and Micron, none of the neon manufacturers survived.

Now for TSMC, it is impossible to talk about life and death, their deep binding with Intel and a large amount of Ameriken capital behind them can at least ensure their survival.

Originally, TSMC hugged the thighs of Intel and Apple one after another, so that they gradually moved towards the throne of chip foundry.

Now Intel's market share is eaten up by Xinxin Technology, and high-end smartphones will not be shared with TSMC at all.

Combined with the background of this year's global chip production cut, TSMC has announced a layoff plan of up to 2,000 people after entering 2008.

Layoff planning is a self-initiated behavior, which can reduce the burden on the enterprise and reduce the loss of cash flow, which is a thrifty behavior.

But at the same time, it will also cause turmoil within the enterprise, at first Xinxin poached people from TSMC to open two or even three times the salary, and later 1.5 times.

After the breakthrough of the Xinxin lithography machine, after the Xinxin occupies the leading position in the manufacturing process, it only takes 1.2 times the annual salary to dig people from TSMC.

After TSMC laid off employees, a large number of TSMC engineers have begun to say that I would like to join Xinxin without raising salaries.

Chunjiang Plumbing Duck Prophet, as industry insiders, is well aware that Matrix's position in the smartphone field is too strong, resulting in TSMC almost no possibility of defeating the more advanced IDM model of Xinxin Technology.

It is said that the more advanced IDM is because the actual controllers are Zhouxin Xinxin and Matrix, who not only single-handedly cover chip design and chip manufacturing, but also cover consumer electronics integration and sales.

It's more difficult to do that, and once successful, the corporate moat is the hardest to breach

Recently, the development of Xinxin Technology has been too smooth, so that Hu Zhengming never dreamed that Xinxin Technology could develop to this point in just ten years.

Back at the press conference, there were basically reporters who ran economic news, and everyone knew that Hu Zhengming was perfunctory, and after listening to his answer, he was a little disappointed.

Because since the outbreak of the subprime mortgage crisis in Ameriken last summer, the neon financial market, like the major financial markets in Europe and the United States, has experienced continuous turmoil.

This year alone, the Nikkei 225 stock average price index in the Tokyo stock market has fallen by about 44% from the beginning of this year, and the decline is no different from that of the big A.

The Nasdaq has NewPay listed to boost the stock market, and the Tokyo stock market also needs Newman concept stocks, according to the reporters present.

"Mr. Hu, what efforts do you think Neon needs to make if it wants to regain its foothold in the semiconductor field and compete with Huaguo, Gaoli and Wanwan?"

Hu Zhengming first said another thing: "This Mr. Okada, I want to correct it first, Wanwan is just a region, please don't put it on a par with Huaguo and Goryeo." ”

The reporters from Huaguo began to applaud after hearing this, and everyone was not so happy when they heard Neon Semiconductor complain that Neon Semiconductor's hope of being acquired by Huaguo.

"In addition, I can answer the question of the semiconductor industry, which has been dominated by neon, Europe and America since the beginning of the 21st century, but after entering the 21st century, the structure of the semiconductor industry has changed, and the presence of neon in the semiconductor field has been weakening.

I think there are many reasons, the most important of which is American's trade regulation, which makes Neon face a big disadvantage in semiconductor exports, and this disadvantage is especially obvious when competing with Korean companies.

The cost of Goryeo itself is lower than that of neon, coupled with Ameriken's trade regulations.

Because Xinxin Technology has Xiaomi Electronics, Xiaomi found that when it was managing suppliers, the same chip, Gaoli's quotation can be 70% lower than Neon, and the quality of Neon can be 70% better than Gaoli's?

I'm afraid not.

As a result, Neon companies are not competitive on the export side, which I think Neon needs to re-sign a trade agreement with Ameriken. ”

Ameriken's trade regulation is almost fatal, allowing Samsung and Hynix to gradually encroach on Neon Semiconductor's traditional areas of strength.

"The second is that the international trend is that chip manufacturing and chip design are separated, and neon is relatively weak in the field of chip manufacturing.

There are UMC for chip design and TSMC for chip manufacturing in the bend area, and Hsinchu Science and Technology Park is also very close to Shenhai, so two hours is enough if you talk about airplanes alone.

The chip manufacturing in the bend area is very closely related to Huaguo. Ameriken and Goryeo are both self-contained, and Silicon Valley itself has chip manufacturing companies and chip design companies.

The cooperation between Neon and Huaguo in the field of semiconductors is very shallow, almost from the perspective of upstream raw materials and equipment suppliers, and Neon's chip design would rather find Silicon Valley than consider cooperating with Huaguo's chip manufacturing companies, which leads to higher costs.

Of course, according to some of the situations I know, because everyone has no money in the past two years, the number of chip manufacturing companies that have come to Zhangjiang to talk about cooperation is slowly increasing.

Finally, the digital industry of neon is backward, which is also a very fatal factor, in the era of smartphones, I don't seem to hear much of the voice of neon companies. ”

Hu Zhengming said very frankly, they are all problems in the reality of neon semiconductors.

A thought flashed in the hearts of the reporters present, worthy of being the president of Xinxin Group, and summing up the current situation of Neon Semiconductor so well.

As far as Hu Zhengming is concerned, I'm planning to buy from Neon, can I not investigate you clearly?

ASPLA: Your last hope of neon chip manufacturing can be sold, and the rest must be sold.

(End of chapter)