Xiaomi's press conference in Europa, MIPad is full of innovation, and the Y series, which focuses on mid-range cost performance, is a big reading of parameters, we have more advanced chips, larger screens and narrower bezels.

This set may still be a little fresh for foreigners, but for Chinese audiences who have listened to Xiaomi's two press conferences every year in the past, this set is already rotten.

We know that Xiaomi is equipped with the same new core CPU, the most cost-effective mobile phone, Xiaomi's domestic propaganda in China is a bucket machine with no shortcomings, and they have indeed achieved this.

It has even established an image in the minds of consumers, if you don't know what mobile phone to buy, then you can't go wrong with choosing Xiaomi.

Xiaomi belongs to the smartphone brand that will not disappoint you and sometimes give you a little surprise.

But every year, there is a lot of hype about how advanced the chip is, how much nm technology is used, how much more running points than last year, and how much the power consumption has been reduced.

The indifference does not affect Xiaomi's leading sales in China and is the best-selling smartphone.

Therefore, in China, which is the most volatile in the field of smart phones, mobile phone manufacturers have a total of two routes, one is to learn from Mphone, polish a product to maturity, take it out, and lead all competing products, and proofing all smartphones until the launch of their new machines, for example, from Mphone2 to Mphone3, all smartphones are more or less imitating Mphone2.

The other is to learn from Xiaomi, create a series, and then launch new machines every year, and micro innovations in hardware and software can be taken out to hype.

Most domestic manufacturers are learning from Xiaomi, launching new machines every year, mainly not all mobile phone brands can be like Mphone, with such a strong brand appeal and technical research and development strength.

Of course, there are also a few people who are not afraid of death to learn Mphone, trying to benchmark against Matrix.

For example, Meizu, at the beginning of its business, Meizu relied on industrial design to launch two well-known models, and then relied on sales to successfully obtain financing before the financial crisis.

After getting the financing, Meizu and Huang Zhang launched their classic in 2007, similar to the later meizu3, including Meizu's most classic breathing lamp design, as well as the well-polished Flyme system for Android, this combination of Meizu has made Meizu a quasi-first-line brand in the industry.

Limited by sales channels and brand image, Meizu was not a first-line brand at this time, but Meizu, which had fully demonstrated its potential, still got financing even during the financial crisis, and it was a large amount of financing.

After getting this financing, Meizu and Huang Zhang, who were not short of money, began to be stunned, and did not launch a new machine in 08, and even did not plan to launch a new machine in 09.

Cao Yongluo, as an investor, can not understand Meizu's business strategy, after entering 09 years, the board of directors learned that Meizu still does not plan to launch a new machine this year, Cao Yongluo found Huang Zhang, planning to have a good chat with him.

"Mr. Huang, I disagree with the current business strategy of Meizu, if we don't launch a new machine this year, the Meizu brand will be forgotten by consumers.

Xiaomi, Bird, Sony, Samsung, and other brands are releasing new phones every year, and more than one new phone is trying to win the attention of consumers. I can understand that Meizu doesn't send it for a year, but if it doesn't send it this year, consumers won't have Meizu's brand image in their minds. ”

Cao Yongluo said it very bluntly, but it was enough to give Huang Zhang face, and he did not point out his dissatisfaction in person at the board of directors.

At the board meeting, when I heard Huang Zhang say that I would precipitate this year, polish Flyme and new mobile phones, and plan to come out again next year, the expressions of the board representatives representing investors were not good-looking.

Cao Yongluo observed a circle, and he felt that everyone's hearts were: Ah? Why? Why?

He came to talk to Huang Zhang, not only what he meant, but also the unanimous opinion of the investors behind him.

Huang Zhang said confidently: "Mr. Cao, some birds are already a blockbuster if they don't sing.

The brand image is only temporary, haven't you noticed? In the smartphone market, consumers follow the product, not the brand.

If consumers follow the brand, then HP, Dell, Microsoft and other well-known brands will not fail miserably in the field of smartphones, and brands such as Meizu, Xiaomi, Gionee and HTC will not have room to rise.

What Meizu wants to do is to make a splash if it doesn't, what we want is to polish a product that is good enough to impress consumers, rather than just promoting how much the chip has improved and how many more points have been scored every year.

This makes no sense, and it's not something Meizu wants to do. ”

Because Matrix is in front, there is no problem with such logic.

This is like after Tesla was launched, for a long time, there were only S, Y and 3 models, which led to many new energy brands learning from Tesla at the beginning of the same few models, two or three years before releasing a new car.

Later, everyone found out that Huaguo enterprise volume is the king, and it is better to release one model in a few years than to release several models in a year.

The most typical is the ideal, from only one, to the L series alone, there are three models.

Cars are more complex to develop than smartphones, but electric cars are not as difficult.

Cao Yongluo was amused after hearing this: "Two questions, no new machine was released last year, and the next time is next year, that is to say, what should I do if the new machine that took three years to build fails?"

What if it fails? Will it take another three years? ”

Cao Yongluo felt that Huang Zhang was too naïve and thought everything so simple.

"You just said that consumers recognize the product, not the brand.

If consumers don't recognize the brand, then why are so many people discussing and so many people buying when Microsoft launches a new phone? It's because they don't do well that they consume the brand.

So much so that Microsoft's smartphones are labeled as cost-effective in the minds of consumers, and if they are not Microsoft, then Microsoft's smartphones will not even have this label and will disappear into the world in obscurity.

As for Meizu, Meizu has succeeded before, so what? Does it mean that your next well-polished phone will also be successful? Not necessarily.

Even if it is Zhou Xin, he does not dare to guarantee that his products will be sought after by consumers.

Success before does not mean that it will succeed in the future, this is not a logical derivation, and consumers' preferences will not change because of your subjective will.

The second point is that Matrix will release a new phone next year, and Huaguo and Ameriken will be released at the same time, why will you compete with Mphone4 for consumers next year? ”

As the head of Yongxin Technology and the core supplier of Matrix, Cao Yongluo's news is at least 90% credible.

The release of Mphone4 next spring means that all the products of smartphones will revolve around Mphone4 throughout the year.

Every time a new generation of Mphone is released, it is a round of reshuffle for the entire industry, and the closer the design is to the new generation of Mphone, the better the smartphone can sell.

After listening to it, Huang Zhang was not as confident as before, he was crazy and not stupid, he didn't think that the current Meizu could be Mphone's opponent.

Benchmarking refers to the future, not the present.

"Mr. Cao, thank you for the information, I will discuss it with the management again." Huang Zhang said.

Cao Yongluo's personal information has long been ripped off by social media, he is Zhou Xin's roommate at Yanda, and he is also the head of the core enterprise of Matrix's supply chain.

Because the money came above board and he partnered with Zhou Xin to start a business, Cao Yongluo's personal information was not covered up on Sohu, and it could be found directly through the search engine.

For this kind of erdai from Yanjing, Huang Zhang is very polite.

Cao Yongluo obviously didn't want to be polite anymore, "It's not a discussion!" It can't be delayed any longer, a new machine must be launched this year, and it is even too late in the second half of this year!

Because in the second half of this year, all kinds of media will begin to break the news of Mphone4 and begin to warm up Mphone4.

In the first half of this year, Meizu 4 will come out! This is an order, not my idea alone, but the thoughts of all the investors on the board.

If you can't, wait for the management to reshuffle! ”

Cao Yongluo is particularly strong, his investment in this project has exceeded 200 million yuan, he doesn't want to see his 200 million yuan wasted is one thing, I hope to build a consumer electronics brand that can compete with Xiaomi is a more important reason.

Xiaomi is expanding its territory in the global consumer electronics market, and domestic consumer electronics manufacturers are gradually eating away at the market share of foreign giants.

In the field of consumer electronics, the new core enterprises resisted the negative brought by Ameriken, and in the semiconductor field, ASML's offensive made it difficult for the new core lithography machine to parry.

At this year's Western Semiconductor Show in San Francisco, ASML introduced a number of new lithography equipment in one go to help chipmakers continue to reduce the size of semiconductor components.

These include programmable lighting technology and a feedback control mechanism to achieve ASML's integrated lithography technology, which can help the chip manufacturing process be more stable and further improve the yield rate.

The development of the semiconductor industry has been driven by the trend towards miniaturization, which can both reduce production costs and improve component performance.

For example, the lithography factory that Huaguo will build in the future, Lida Brick Fei belongs to the technical route chosen by Maozi, not that this technology is not good, but this technology is not suitable for the trend of economic globalization and high division of labor in the semiconductor industry in the past 20 years.

When the trend ends, the miniaturization of lithography machines becomes less important, and the most important thing is to make things.

At present, it is still in the golden age of economic globalization, and the integration of ASML's lithography machine has made the semiconductor companies participating in the exhibition shine.

It is believed that this is ASML's response to the new chip lithography machine at the Tokyo Semiconductor Equipment Show after a lapse of five years.

Responses spanning five years.

As the size of semiconductor devices shrinks, the process window (the allowable deviation of the process to produce a good chip) will also decrease, making parameters such as overlay accuracy and device size uniformity more stringent.

ASML can do lithography machine integration because of the technical advantages accumulated in Europe and the United States in the past decades, which can meet the requirements of lithography machine integration in terms of accuracy, and if Xinxin can obtain the support of the upstream and downstream of the supply chain, they can also do it.

The problem is that many of these companies are restricted by the Wassenaar Agreement, which leads to Xinxin's lagging behind in the process again.

Burt, senior vice president of ASML's Applied Products Division, said: "Historically, chip manufacturers have optimized each manufacturing process step independently, but when it comes to 32nm.

This stand-alone optimization model is no longer applicable. We effectively combine computational lithography, wafer lithography and process control to provide a comprehensive approach to optimize process windows and lithography system settings for high-volume requirements, ultimately achieving smaller device sizes.

Yes, this is the first time that we have surpassed Xinxin lithography machine and Nikon, becoming the No. 1 lithography machine in the world. ”

Bert is very proud, and the support of European and American capital for ASML can be described as sparing no effort.

Even during the financial crisis, the Netherlands gave ASML an interest-free loan of $1 billion, and then Intel and TSMC participated in ASML's refinancing.

You must know that TSMC has laid off 10,000 employees.

Instead of laying off employees, ASML expanded its R&D department.

Xinxin is not idle, and has also expanded its support for Xinxin lithography machine and upstream and downstream domestic suppliers, and at the same time, in order to suppress the ASML market, Xinxin lithography machine has also reduced its price.

As a direct consequence of the competition between Xinxin and AMSL in the field of lithography machines, Nikon and Canon are dying, and most of the employees of ASML and Xinxin lithography are from Nikon and Canon.

Not to mention expansion and R&D, Nikon can't even maintain their previous production capacity.

If it weren't for Washington's streak, Nikon would even want to spin off the lithography machine business and sell it to Xinxin. If you don't let me play, I just don't play.

"During the chip design phase, ASML's all-in-one lithography technology uses actual lithography machine configuration and tuning capabilities to create designs that target specific process generations and applications with the goal of maximizing the process window.

They have adopted a new light source mask optimization technology that brings flexibility to pupil shape and provides additional design freedom. ASML's launch event in San Francisco has made a number of big moves, and the combination of these technologies has enabled unparalleled co-optimization of the light source mask and illumination source, helping them to achieve the largest process window. Lin Benjian's expression was solemn.

Because ASML released the news in advance, saying that they will have a lot of new technologies this time. So Lin Benjian went to attend the San Francisco Electronics Fair, and he felt pressure after returning to Zhangjiang after attending.

"During the manufacturing process, ASML's all-in-one lithography technology leverages unique measurement technology and feedback loops to monitor etch accuracy and CPU performance in real-time, keeping the system centered on process specifications." Lin Benjian continued.

The technical experts of the new chip lithography machine gathered together, and everyone was discussing the impact that ASML's big move may have on the new chip lithography machine, and how they should catch up.

"To be honest, we can do this, but the problem is that we need to know what patent walls ASML has set up in this technical route, and if there are too many patent walls, we may have to think of ways to bypass them." A technical expert of the new chip lithography machine said.

(End of chapter)