The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide.

Chapter 274 What kind of chips can impress Zhou Xin
Zhou Xin didn't want to sell Matrix to Microsoft, because the revenue was lower than expected, which would disrupt his original plan.

Although it is also a way to sell Matrix to Microsoft, and then acquire Apple, and turn Apple into a trillion-dollar empire later, this road is not easy.

Matrix has completely established a brand image in the minds of consumers and created a high-end brand in the field of smart phones. This positioning has been formed after the release of the second-generation Mphone. Follow-up only needs to continue to deepen consumers through a series of technological innovations. Just the impression in your mind.

Using Apple's shell to start a new stove, with a future perspective, you will think this is a good choice. Apple's ecology has a lot of advantages. Such an idea is completely a desperate plan.

Apple's advantage is based on the fact that they have been in a leading position since the beginning of the mobile Internet, and the snowball effect has been formed after continuous commercial success and a large number of fans.

Apple's ecological advantages are the result of Apple's success rather than the reason for Apple's success.

After Microsoft acquired Matrix, it is too difficult for Apple to defeat Microsoft, even with the blessing of Zhou Xin's future vision.

In terms of developer ecology, Apple is far behind Microsoft. The number of developers based on the Windows operating system is far greater than the number of developers based on MacOS. It is an underestimation to describe it by ten times.

More importantly, the agreement on paper can be overturned. There is no need for Microsoft to be the villain, and American will naturally play this role.

Even if it is agreed that the merged Matrix will still purchase mobile phone chips designed by the new core, this black and white letter written in the contract can also be overturned by American on the usual grounds.

This is like Microsoft occupying the position of Apple in later generations, even stronger than Apple in later generations. More than a quarter of the production capacity of the world's most advanced manufacturing process depends on Matrix's most advanced smartphones, and the new core is equivalent to half of TSMC in later generations. status.

Suddenly cutting off all the orders is a devastating blow to the chip foundry.

What's different about Matrix's acquisition of Apple?The biggest difference is that the federal government attaches far less importance to Apple than Microsoft, and Zhou Xin's putting some R&D departments and R&D functions in Huaguo will not attract too much attention.

When decoupling occurs in the future, Zhou Xin can learn from ByteDance, split Douyin and Tik Tok into two, use Apple in markets outside China, and use Matrix in China markets.

Anyway, I can keep a small half of the results.

A merger of Microsoft and Matrix would not do that at all.

After Jobs heard it, he subconsciously rejected Zhou Xin's proposal. In his opinion, Apple was his apple.

After Apple is acquired by Matrix, even if the name is still Apple, Apple will change from his Apple to Zhou Xin's Apple.

He now has far less influence on Apple than Bill Gates did on Microsoft.

Jobs asked, "Newman, if you buy Apple, I'd like to know how the responsibilities will be divided between us.

Between me and you, or between Apple's original management and Matrix's management. "

If Jobs made up his mind to promote the merger of Matrix and Apple, he would absolutely not be able to stop him.

It is true that Apple is the company he founded, but in the ten years since he left Apple, he has sold almost all of Apple's stock, and his share of mobile phone stock is not even [-]%.

As for the large and small shareholders who wooed Apple to reject Zhou Xin's proposal, let's not say that Zhou Xin is Apple's largest individual shareholder. Even if institutional shareholders are included, Zhou Xin's share is also ranked first.

These big and small shareholders who only have money in their minds can't say no to Newman.

Jobs could say no, shareholders big and small would only say yes, even Zhou Xin didn’t need to say it himself, as long as he expressed his thoughts, Apple’s shareholders and the board of directors would come together to facilitate the deal.

The merger of Apple and Matrix is ​​also a big deal, and it can also be regarded as the biggest deal in Silicon Valley since the 21st century.

After listening, Zhou Xin said: "We need to integrate some resources. First, let's clarify a principle that Matrix, Mac, Apple, and ipods are all Apple's brands.

Then after the merger, some resources can be shared, such as supply chain, sales channels, software ecology, etc., which can be merged.

The research and development of some specific products can be distinguished. For example, the original person in charge of Apple’s original product line is still in charge, and the person in charge of Matrix’s product line is still in charge of Matrix.

To put it simply, it is to concentrate all kinds of resources and make fine-tuning in management.

Because the merger of Apple and Matrix involves too much integration of interests, Apple is a company with a very long history, so I should personally serve as CEO in the early stage.

Then you and the original CEO of Matrix will serve as vice presidents in charge of their respective business lines.

My initial thoughts are roughly like this. Apple needs Matrix’s technology, capital and ecology, and Matrix also needs Apple’s technology and ecology. The relationship between the two parties will be one plus one greater than two. "

After Zhou Xin chatted with Jobs, he didn't make any publicity. He just talked to Paulson, a Goldman Sachs executive, about his thoughts.

Then ask Paulson to help run this matter, the condition is that Paulson needs to make this matter under extreme confidentiality.

After listening to Zhou Xin's thoughts, Paulson almost immediately thought of a trick in Huaguo's Art of War, Mingxiu plank road and dark Chencang.

Now the media who are hyping the merger of Microsoft and Matrix are acting like clowns. In fact, Zhou Xin’s idea is not to be acquired by Microsoft at all, but to take full control of himself to acquire Apple.

"Paulson, I am completely willing to hand over this business to Goldman Sachs, but I have a few requirements. One is that the merger of Microsoft and Matrix can only be said to be supervised whether it is publicly or secretly. The department could not accept Microsoft's acquisition of Matrix.

The second is that Newman bought Apple as a second best option. "

Zhou Xin’s request is to not affect his relationship with Bill Gates. There are still many opportunities for cooperation with Microsoft in the future, especially if Microsoft plans to make mobile phones in person in the future.

For Xinxin, the more customer resources, the better. Microsoft's Windowsphone sales have exceeded [-] million.

As a result, before Goldman Sachs was the insider and convinced American's Ministry of Commerce, the European Union's business-related departments stood up and said that they could not accept the merger of Microsoft and Matrix.

It's just like the reason why Microsoft's acquisition of Blizzard in later generations requires the consent of multiple countries. The markets of Microsoft and Matrix involve most of the mainstream countries in the world.

At the same time because it involves issues of antitrust law and competition policy.Different countries have established their own antitrust agencies and laws to protect market competition and consumer rights.

If the acquisition is opposed by antitrust authorities, the acquisition will be prohibited.

For the European Union, which has two giants in the communications industry, Nokia and Ericsson, it is obviously unacceptable for the emergence of a behemoth after the merger of Microsoft and Matrix, which will cause a fatal blow to the European Union's mobile phone industry chain.

With the clear opposition of the European Union, the merger ended without a problem before American's business department spoke.

Microsoft also took the second best thing and bought Palm, intending to go all out in the smartphone field.

"You're right, I have a good relationship with Newman, I met him when he first came to Microsoft as an intern, and he was a good representative of that batch of interns.

At that time, I could feel the difference between Newman and other young people. He had his own ideas, and Riot Games was also the investment with the highest return rate that my foundation had ever made. "

"Yes, I naturally hope to cooperate with Newman and hope to see the merger of Microsoft and Matrix. I also told Newman that if the merger of Microsoft and Matrix is ​​successful, the position of Microsoft CEO will be left to him.

Going from being an intern to becoming CEO of Microsoft in just five years is an achievement.Of course, if he is willing, he will have the opportunity to be the CEO of Microsoft in 99. "

"Yes, smartphones are very important. The mobile Internet has completely shown the booming development trend of the personal PC market in the past. Microsoft attaches great importance to this emerging market, which is also one of the most important development directions of Microsoft in the future.

Microsoft is now lagging behind in this field. Originally, we wanted to catch up through the acquisition of Matrix, but now it seems that this path will not work.

It can only rely on Microsoft's own ability to catch up in this field. "

"I still have great confidence in Ballmer. With the advantage of Microsoft, he can surpass Matrix in the near future."

Bill Gates answered some recent rumors head-on when he was interviewed by a certain TV show in Seattle.

His answer also lends credence to Microsoft's attempt to acquire Matrix.

Of course, the most indignant ones are the investors of Nasdaq, why the European Union should intervene in what is clearly a certainty.

The stock price, which was about to take off, plummeted in a straight line, and the arc of this decline was much steeper than the big A.

Before the market's enthusiasm for Microsoft's acquisition of Matrix subsides, and Microsoft's rising market value has not yet fully recovered, Zhou Xin posted a Weibo:
"Matrix plans to merge with Apple."

After the news came out, it quickly detonated public opinion on the Internet. Apple is an Internet company with a large number of fans, although throughout the 90s, they did poorly.

Handing over the entire personal PC market doesn't mean their former fans have disappeared.

This is like the declaration of some singer fans: We are old and not dead.

The same is true for Apple's supporters, not to mention Apple's return to the public eye with ipods zero.

Unlike Microsoft's merger with Matrix, there was a lot of scolding on Weibo. After the news of Matrix's merger with Apple came out, Weibo can be described as Xi Da Pu Ben.

If there are user portraits now, it can be found that there is a huge overlap between the user portraits of iPods users and Mphone users.

"WOW! This is the best news I have heard this year. If Matrix and Apple merge, I will never have to think about other companies' electronic products."

"The merger of Matrix and Apple will be a win-win situation, and the design advantages of MOS can be synchronized to the operating system of Apple computers."

"Does this mean that Apple will launch a music player that supports touchscreen functionality?"

"It's great to see the cooperation between Jobs and Newman, two top talents in the technology industry will bring us more and better products."

Zhou Xin didn't think there would be any sparks between him and Jobs. He was very curious about what sparks could be sparked between Lei Jun and Jobs.

After all, Lei Jun wants to take over the mantle of Jobs after his death, and has always had the nickname Rebus in the outside world.

There is a wrong name but no wrong nickname. Lei Jun can be named after Rebs, which obviously shows that he has similarities with Jobs.

Zhou Xin thought that after the deal was completed, Lei Jun would be in charge of supply chain management and would have a lot of time to deal with Jobs.

At that time, you can ask Lei Jun and Jobs what they think of each other.

Matrix's acquisition of Apple is also a long-distance race. It cannot be done in a short time, and it will take at least a year.

Because it is equivalent to the listing of Matrix through Apple's shell, it must first pass the decision of Apple's internal shareholders' meeting, then Nasdaq's approval, and then American's regulatory authorities.

In the end, the regulatory authorities of major countries around the world agree, and the deal will be considered final after the approval.

Zhou Xin's announcement is equivalent to that he and the shareholders behind Apple have reached an agreement, and everyone will bring this matter to the shareholders' meeting for decision-making.

Matrix's acquisition of Apple was handed over to Goldman Sachs, which once again proved the powerful energy of Goldman Sachs, which belongs to the covetousness of its colleagues on Wall Street.

Why are you all the good things?
"Didn't you tell me before that as long as Microsoft offered enough chips, you would consider selling Matrix to Microsoft.

Now it seems that Microsoft's chips are not as good as Apple's? " Li Jingyi asked.

When Li Jingyi and Zhou Xin were vacationing together in Bill Gates' villa before, they talked about this issue.

At that time, Zhou Xin said that if the price is right, there is nothing that cannot be sold.

Li Jingyi thought that Matrix was really going to be sold to Microsoft, and she secretly looked forward to it.

Because according to her understanding of Zhou Xin, after selling Matrix, it is obvious that she will start a new business. She is very curious about Zhou Xinxin's entrepreneurial direction.

It turned out that Zhou Xin bought Apple backhand.

Zhou Xin said: "Pure money is meaningless to me, if Microsoft can operate in the middle and sell Applied Materials to me.

I will sell Matrix to him without hesitation. "

After Matrix was sold to Microsoft, Zhou Xin could completely recreate it with Zhou Xin's capabilities. Even if it couldn't achieve the same scale, at least it would be no problem to achieve the scale of Xiaomi and OV in later generations.

Applied Materials is different, this giant in the upper reaches of semiconductors.

Applied Materials is a giant in the semiconductor field, with around 17300 patents worldwide.

The most well-known semiconductor equipment in China is the lithography machine, but the equipment used to produce chips is far more than a lithography machine.

Also includes Atomic Layer Deposition, Chemical Vapor Deposition, Physical Vapor Deposition, Rapid Thermal Treatment, Chemical Mechanical Polishing, Etching, Ion Implantation, Wafer Inspection Vehicle, etc.

These steps all use semiconductor equipment, and Applied Materials has a market share of at least 70% in these equipment, making it an out-and-out giant in the semiconductor equipment industry.

(End of this chapter)