industrial overlord

Chapter 678 The Same Boat
Japan, Tokyo, KHN company headquarters.

Seinosuke Uno, chairman of KHN, met an uninvited guest from Europe in the reception room. He was Khedira, the marketing director of ALK Group in Germany. KHN and ALK have been business partners for many years. Uno Seinosuke and Khedira have also had some contacts, and they are barely familiar with each other in terms of personal friendship.

When seeing Khedira, Uno Seinosuke had a smile on his face, but the smile seemed so blunt, it was not so much the joy of seeing an old friend, but a kind of helplessness.

"Mr. Khedira, I am very glad to meet you in Japan. We KHN and ALK have been partners for many years. What good news did you bring us this time when you came to Japan?" Uno Seinosuke hypocritically asked, and at the same time bowed slightly to Khedira.According to the Japanese etiquette, this is the expression of Uno Seinosuke's disinterest in Khedira.

Khedira has also been in the market for many years, and has experienced a lot in the world. How could he not see the meaning in Uno Seinosuke's expression?Uno Seinosuke's words were clearly implying to him: If there is a good thing, you should say it quickly, if it is troublesome, then don't talk about it.

"Mr. Uno, I'm very sorry, what I brought to you... I'm afraid it's not good news." Khedira said bravely, "I'm here to ask Mr. Uno for help on behalf of our company."

"Oh..." Uno Seinosuke responded coldly, "Since Mr. Khedira has come here regardless of the long distance, feel free to talk about anything, as long as it is something that our company can do, we will definitely help of."

"What we want KHN to do is actually very simple, and that is to stop providing industrial control chips that meet the third-generation standards to the Chinese market." Khedira said.

A gleam of anger flashed across Uno Seinosuke's face, but as a Japanese, he had some respect for Europeans in his heart, so although he was very upset in his heart, he could only speak politely. Cope with it: "Mr. Khedira, I don't understand your request. The exchanges between our KHN and the Chinese don't seem to affect ALK's business?"

Of course Khedira knew that his request was very unreasonable, but he really had no way out.He tried his best to tie up more than 20 large European companies to establish a European enterprise alliance to contain China. Unexpectedly, Giessen Company and Hanhua Heavy Industry Group in the alliance suddenly announced mutual equity participation and the establishment of a strategic partnership. The league fell apart overnight.

This is something that can’t be helped. After thousands of Giessen’s patents flowed to China, a gap was opened in the European patent barrier envisioned by Khedira.With Giessen's patent, Chinese companies can bypass other patented technologies. In this way, if other companies increase the patent licensing fee according to the original agreement, instead of being sanctioned to China, they will make themselves the target of Chinese companies. object.

Therefore, after the news of the cooperation between Giesen Company and Hanhua came out, those companies that had agreed to advance and retreat with ALK stopped making a sound.According to what Khedira learned, these companies have hastily sent their executives to China, intending to make amends with China.In order to make up for the previous criticisms against China, these companies have presented high gift bills to China, or are willing to transfer patented technology, or promise to establish joint laboratories, or sign long-term supply contracts for core components.When everyone was making a fuss, no one noticed that ALK was left aside.

What a bunch of unscrupulous guys!Khedira cursed viciously in her heart.He also knows that his peers are really hungry. Who can remain calm in the face of the large orders that China has placed in large-scale infrastructure construction over the years?Everyone knows that transferring technology to Chinese companies in order to get these orders is definitely an act of drinking poison to quench thirst, but knowing that it is poisonous wine, everyone has to drink it. Who made the European economy so depressed?

Allies in Europe could no longer be counted on, and Khedira thought of Japan.China's electronics industry started late. So far, the high-end industrial control chips used by Chinese companies still need to rely on imports, and Japan is the country that sells the most industrial control chips to China.Khedira thought that if Japanese electronics companies could be persuaded to reduce chip exports to China, they might be able to win the game, right?
With this in mind, Khedira came to KHN, intending to talk with Uno Seinosuke about jointly containing China.

In fact, as early as when the people below reported that Khedira asked to see him, Uno Seinosuke guessed the other party's intention.Uno Seinosuke has also heard about European companies joining forces to contain China, and has been paying attention to this matter, hoping to find some business opportunities for himself.When Giessen disarmed and surrendered, Uno Seinosuke knew that the European alliance was over, which echoed an old Chinese saying: In the face of disaster, each will fly separately.

Regarding the issue of containing China, Uno Seinosuke is very conflicted.Back then, Hiko Osawa, the chairman of Xihu Company, once made the same request to him, and Uno Seinosuke did make an attempt, sending a notice to Chinese companies to reduce supply.The target of this attempt is Chinese machine tool companies, but it is China's home appliance companies that stand up to put pressure on KHN.Under the threat of the home appliance company threatening to abandon KHN's control chip, Uno Seinosuke had to give in and raised the white flag to express his surrender.

After that, Xihu Company was crushed by Chinese companies because of its isolation and helplessness. Before Osawahiko committed suicide by jumping off the building, he asked someone to give Uno Seinosuke a word: You will regret it.

Uno Seinosuke remembered this sentence. In the past few years, he often reflected on the events of the year, and imagined that if he was not intimidated by the Chinese, but stood with Xihu Company to resist the competition of Chinese companies, So now the situation will be different.

Reflection is reflection, after all, there is no regret medicine to buy in this world.In the past few years, China's home appliance industry and machine tool industry have developed very well, and the demand for industrial control chips is also increasing day by day. KHN has also earned huge profits in the Chinese market.For the sake of these profits, Uno Seinosuke stopped thinking about containing China. After all, it was only the Xihu Company that collapsed, not his KHN.

Uno Seinosuke hopes that he will never have another trade war with the Chinese, and it is best to maintain the status quo.He also knew that Hanhua had established its own microelectronics company and began to gradually replace imported chips with its own chips.Uno Seinosuke took an evasive attitude towards this matter. Like an ostrich, he buried his head in the sand, hoping to drag it on for a while.Khedira came to KHN at this time and proposed to him to jointly suppress China, which was no less than pulling his head out of the sand, which made Uno Seinosuke quite annoyed.

Facing Uno Seinosuke's dissatisfied attitude, Khedira said: "Mr. Uno, I know our request is very abrupt. As far as we know, your company's current business situation in the Chinese market is very good. It is a good idea to give up the Chinese market." An impossible thing. But what I want to say is that both Europe and Japan should be highly vigilant against the rise of China.

If we don't take effective measures to slow down China's rise at this time, perhaps within ten years, there will be no room for European and Japanese companies to survive on earth.Mr. Uno, I hope you can understand that we are in the same boat. "

Uno Seinosuke fell silent, Khedira's words were somewhat similar to what Osawahiko said to him many years ago.Maybe, with companies like ALK holding Hanhua back, life for KHN will be easier, right?If ALK collapses, how do you know whether Hanhua will turn all its energy to microelectronics to pry KHN's wall?

However, it is very difficult to agree to Khedira's proposal. It is not that KHN has done this before, and the result was defeated by Han Hua's combination of punches.Now again, how sure is KHN of victory?
"Mr. Khedira, as far as I know, your European equipment companies once agreed to jointly curb China's technological development. Since you already have such a strong alliance, what role can our KHN power play? What?" Uno Seinosuke said.

"Mr. Uno, you should know that our alliance is dead in name only. If it weren't for this, I wouldn't have come to trouble you." Khedira said without any concealment.He knew that Uno Seinosuke's purpose in saying this was to find an excuse, and he didn't need to deny his failure in order to save face.

"Really? This is really a pity." Uno Seinosuke said lightly, "Since your own alliance can't be maintained, why do you think KHN can turn things around? You should know that KHN's main profit They all come from the Chinese market, and it is impossible for us to give up this market.”

"Everyone only sees immediate benefits." Khedira said with a long sigh, "Mr. Uno, how long do you think KHN will last in the Chinese market? Hanhua has purchased a complete set of Integrated chip equipment has also purchased a large number of other equipment in the European market. Obviously, they intend to develop their own chip industry.

If you can restrict the export of the latest chips to China, and we restrict the export of equipment for chip processing to China in the European market, the development of Hanhua will be hindered, so that both of us can avoid the threat of Hanhua.On the contrary, if we all only care about the immediate interests, we will definitely sink together in the end. "

"There is some truth to what you said." Uno Seinosuke said, "However, this matter is of great importance. I hope to discuss it with my colleagues."

(End of this chapter)