Life 1984

Chapter 551 Ridicule

Li Yunhai stepped forward, faced the reporters who came to interview, and said loudly in fluent English: "Everyone, I am the BOSS of Sihai Group. I am Li Yunhai. Welcome to our booth. You can take photos as you like. If you have any questions or if you don’t understand anything, you can ask our staff.”

Immediately, a reporter asked: "I heard that your lithography machine is a copycat of others. Does this behavior constitute infringement?"

Li Yunhai chuckled and said: "Who did you hear this from? Reporters should present facts and reason, not hearsay, right? If you just heard about it, it should be classified as gossip news. Oh, you may not understand the word gossip. You should be able to understand the word gossip! If you are a gossip reporter, then I'm sorry, but we cannot receive you."

The reporter made a fool of himself and shrugged his shoulders.

Another reporter asked: "Is your X64 chip really developed by you Chinese? Or is it a research done by American scientists?"

Li Yunhai smiled slightly: "It is not only American scientists in the world who can develop chips. The X64 chip was definitely developed by our Chinese scientists."

The reporter asked: "Is your chip instruction set written in English?"

Li Yunhai laughed and said: "Then what are your Arabic numerals used to write? And what are your books used to print? I believe you should know who invented numbers and which country invented paper. Bar?"

The reporter was speechless.

Another reporter asked: "You published an article claiming that the X64 chip is more powerful than the X86 chip. What basis do you have? Is it just for publicity?"

The media asking questions are all raising various doubts, some of which are weird, and some of which are deliberately malicious.

Because the reporters were so enthusiastic, the original interview time of a quarter of an hour was delayed to half an hour.

"Sir, what type of chip do you want to customize?"

Sihai Group has a team and technology in this area. Research and development is easy and fast, and the cost is relatively low.

Ten thousand chips, each chip costs 20 US dollars, that’s a 20 billion order!

Shen Xiulan frowned slightly. She could tell that these Western reporters were not friendly to Sihai Group.

Li Yunhai helped someone order a chip last time and found that doing this kind of business was extremely profitable and worry-free. If he could receive such orders frequently, he would be far more profitable than ordinary orders.

"Chip design? We don't know how!"

Foreign businessmen showed great interest in the X64 chip and gathered around the chip booth to comment.

After answering the reporter's question, Li Yunhai glanced at everyone with a smile and asked: "Do you have anything else to ask? If not, we will talk about it today. Look, there are many buyers waiting to come in. Learn about our products!”

Li Yunhai heard that the other party said that he could not design the chip, so he smiled and said: "Sir, you can only ask us to develop the chip, or you can find other qualified companies to develop the chip. However, the cost is very high, and you have to prepare yourself mentally and financially. preparation."

"Of course." Li Yunhai said, "The chips, motherboards, and memory sticks we produce can all be sold individually."

Li Yunhai smiled calmly: "We have never published such an article. All reviews are done by third-party organizations, including Time, Science, Nature and other magazines. If you have any questions, you can question these magazines. In addition, if this is really a rumor and nonsense, then the owner of the X86 chip would have been more anxious than you, right? Since no one has any objections, I believe that the evaluation results of the third-party organization must be correct! "

Designing chips is a high-tech and rigorous job, and ordinary companies do not have this strength and ability.

"Can you sell these chips individually?" someone asked.

Chip research and development costs mainly include eight parts of costs: IP procurement, front-end design, verification, DFT design, back-end design, packaging design, rewind testing and tape-out.

The foreign businessman thought for a while and said, "Okay, leave me your business card and I will think about it when I go back and contact you again."

As soon as the booth space was vacated, buyers flocked in.

The reporter was speechless.

If the company does not have a team of chip designers and does not have relevant patent authorization, the cost will be even higher.

The spotlights were flashing, some were taking pictures of Li Yunhai, and some were taking pictures of the exhibits.

"Can it be customized?" someone asked again.

"More than 100,000 chips."

The foreign businessman leaned over and whispered a few words in Li Yunhai's ear.

Li Yunhai and others came forward to entertain them.

The design cost of a chip can be tens of millions at least, and this is based on the company's team of chip designers.

"Ah? Who needs such a large quantity of customized chips? Well, I want to customize 10,000 chips. Can you give me the best price?"

What follows is a normal media interview, and the subsequent reporters’ questions are also much more normal.

"How expensive is it?"

The designer's salary, commissions, and bonuses are another huge expense.

"You mean the chip, right? It can be customized, but it will be more expensive."

Li Yunhai raised his eyebrows and said in a deep voice: "Sir, our mass-produced chips cost US$1000 each, while customized chips like yours cost US$20 each."

“How much quantity is considered large?”

The licensing fee is a huge expense.

Li Yunhai left him his business card and his contact information.

The troublemaking media was the first to attack, but was quickly repelled by Li Yunhai.

"So expensive?"

When the reporters were interviewing, the outer circle was crowded with foreign businessmen. It was unclear whether they were here to watch the fun or if they wanted to come in to make purchases.

“Discounts are available for large quantities.”

"Ten thousand chips?" Li Yunhai made an estimate and then asked, "Excuse me, did you design this chip yourself?"

The reporters looked back and saw so many people surrounding them, so they slowly dispersed.

Sihai Group's booth was crowded with exhibitors. After Li Yunhai received this foreign businessman, he went to receive other foreign businessmen.

Chips and lithography machines attracted a lot of attention. Many exhibitors had familiarity with lithography machines and chips before. This time they saw that the lithography machines and chips produced by the Chinese were even better than foreign products, and they were all excited. had a strong interest.

In particular, the X64 chip showed strong performance during demonstrations and evaluations and was well received by exhibitors.

The application fields of chips are very wide, not only in the computer field.

Therefore, there are many companies that have demand for lithography machines and chips, and exhibitors are constantly placing orders for lithography machines and customized chips.

There are many types of chips, involving various fields such as electronics, communications, medical care, aviation, and automobiles.

Some custom chips are very expensive, but some are also very cheap, depending on the application field and the ease of design.

In one morning, Sihai Group received orders for five lithography machines, and also received an order for chips worth US$1.25 million!

The price of a lithography machine is US$3500 million, and five units are US$1.75 million.

This price was considered normal in the lithography machine market in 1992.

The price of lithography machines was really driven up, with prices reaching over 1 million or even 4 million US dollars. That was all later.

In half a day, Sihai Group received an order of US$3 million for its lithography machine and chip business, which was considered a first victory.

Orders have also been placed for other computers, copiers, printers and other products.

At noon, the number of exhibitors dropped sharply.

Li Yunhai and others took the time to rest and eat.

In foreign countries, and in the exhibition hall, it is not convenient to eat, so they always buy hamburgers to satisfy their hunger.

While I was eating, a few people came to the entrance of the exhibition hall.

These people stood in front of the chip booth at the door, discussing something in low voices.

Abt bit his hamburger and said to Li Yunhai: "Mr. Li, they are from Intel."

Li Yunhai has also dealt with Intel Corporation, but the number of people he knows is limited. Abbot used to be a vice president at Philips and had close contacts with Intel and knew many people.

Li Yunhai pondered: "People from Intel? It seems they are here for our chips."

Abt said: "It must be. Such a magical chip, the X64 chip, broke Intel's monopoly as soon as it came out. They must be particularly unconvinced. I heard that they had negotiated with the company before?"

Li Yunhai said: "We talked several times. They originally wanted to acquire our chip technology, but I didn't agree. Finally, I reached a licensing agreement with them."

Abt said: "I can understand, boss, you are a person who insists on the bottom line. Our negotiations with you have failed, let alone them? You can authorize production to them, which is already the biggest concession to them."

Li Yunhai didn't care about the Intel people and let them visit.

After Sihai Group authorized Intel and AMD to produce X64 chips, these two chip giants did not bring much sales.

Li Yunhai had contacted them before and asked why sales were so low?

The other party replied that he didn't know. Maybe it's because your chip is not very good, right? Therefore, the market is not optimistic and the order volume is too sluggish.

Li Yunhai was very depressed about this, but he couldn't think of a better way.

He clearly knew that the other party was deliberately suppressing the X64 chip and promoting the X86 chip, but he couldn't get the evidence.

Moreover, his cooperation with Intel and AMD is only a licensing relationship. He charges their licensing fees every year, regardless of how many chips they sell.

Intel and AMD seemed to have reached an agreement. After obtaining the authorization for the X64 chip, they did not try their best to promote it, but continued to sell their X86 chips.

This operation is a bit mysterious, but not difficult to understand.

There is a behavior in the entertainment industry called snow hiding.

It's just an artist, if he disobeys or offends the big boss. No matter how good and capable you are, you will be signed by a big boss and then hid in the dark, giving you a sum of money, but not giving you a chance to become famous!

The word "snow hiding" is also applicable to commercial wars.

If a business tycoon wants to enter an emerging market, he will first acquire all similar brands in the market. After the acquisition, the brand will not be used, but will be shelved and not used. After a period of time, the brand will naturally be If consumers forget about it and then launch their own brand, they can quickly occupy the market.

This operation is also called snow hiding.

It is obvious that Intel and AMD also adopted the strategy of snow hiding to deal with Sihai Group’s X64 chips.

Although Li Yunhai can get 2 million in licensing fees from them every year, this amount of money is not much to him. You must know that the investment in chip research and development is huge.

The reason why he agreed to the authorization in the first place was simply because he hoped to use the power of Intel and AMD to help him promote the X64 chip.

What Li Yunhai wants is market share!

Unfortunately, he bet on the wrong thing.

He was deeply disappointed by the actions of Intel and AMD.

In fact, if you think about it from another perspective, it is not difficult to understand why they want to hide the X64 chip.

Because after all, the X64 chip is just someone else’s child.

How can Intel and AMD spend money to promote other people's children?

You know, although Sihai Group is their partner, it is also a competitor.

They have also seen through Li Yunhai's purpose long ago. Once X64 occupies a certain market share, Li Yunhai will ignore their existence, withdraw the authorization, divide the world, and even dominate the chip market!

It is impossible for Intel to give Li Yunhai this opportunity!

Therefore, what seems to be a cooperation between the three of them is actually a war without smoke.

This is also the reason why Li Yunhai no longer trusts foreign-funded enterprises.

When Philips wanted to cooperate with Li Yunhai, he flatly refused.

No one is willing to make wedding clothes for others!

Intel's executives came to Sihai Group's booth simply to see the market situation of X64 chips.

Li Yunhai didn't bother to pay attention to them.

Intel is unreliable.

AMD is also unreliable.

To promote X64 chips, you can only rely on yourself.

"Mr. Abbot?" An Intel executive saw Abbot eating a hamburger and asked in surprise, "Why are you here? Isn't your Philips booth over there? We just I also met with Mr. Coren.”

Philips also came to CES, which Abbot certainly knew.

But Abt has not been to Philips' booth.

There was no longer any meaning to him there, and he would only be ridiculed by his former colleagues.

"Hello, Mr. Jim." Abbot smiled slightly, stood up and said hello, "I no longer work for Philips."

"No? Have you resigned from Philips? Where did you find a job? Did you find a better company? A higher position?" Jim asked in surprise.

"Well, I work here." Abbot nodded and pointed to his booth, "This is my new employer."

"Sihai Group? A Chinese company?"

"Yes."

"Oh my God, it's unbelievable! Mr. Abbot, it's hard for me to imagine that you actually gave up your privileged executive position at Philips? You actually went to a Chinese company? This is incredible!"

"What's wrong with this? There is a Chinese saying that water flows to lower places and people go to higher places."

"High places? Mr. Abbot, you don't think that Chinese companies are more advanced than Dutch companies, do you? I know Sihai Group. This company looks good, but in fact it doesn't have much development prospects. They"

"Mr. Jim, why do you say that? I think Sihai Group is very good! This is a very creative and imaginative company! The products they produce are among the most advanced in the world."

"Haha! This is their superficial appearance, which confuses you! They seem to have developed many amazing scientific research products, but if you think about it carefully, these products of theirs are actually picking up the leftovers of Westerners. Photolithography Westerners have already had machines, and ASML, a subsidiary of Philips, makes lithography machines. Chips? Not to mention, our Intel chips are number one in the world!"

"Oh! Mr. Jim, what you said seems to be right, but it is also wrong. Sihai Group's products have many innovative functions and are even more advanced than those of Philips and Intel."

"This is just their own bragging! Look at how much of the market their products occupy? I am certain that these products of theirs will eventually die! They cannot become the mainstream of the market. ASML's lithography machines sell It’s been almost ten years, right? It still only accounts for more than ten percent of the market. How much do you think Sihai Lithography Machine can do?”

"This? It's hard to say. Let's not talk about the lithography machine. Sihai's X64 chip is indeed very good! It can be regarded as the most advanced chip in the world!"

"Hahaha!" Jim couldn't help laughing wildly. "Mr. Abt, you are so naive! You don't really think that X64, a later-released chip, is more advanced than the X86 chip that we have been operating for decades. All right?"

Abbot smiled and said: "Isn't it? This is a professional evaluation result!"

"Evaluation?" Jim said with disdain, "You don't think we really can't develop the X64 chip, do you? It's not that we can't develop it, but we think it's unnecessary. Because the X64 chip has no market basis at all. That means it can't be sold. Get out! No matter how good a product is, it is useless if it cannot be sold. We are capitalists, and what we pursue is sales and profits."

"This? Mr. Jim, I have different views from you." Abbot said, "I think the X64 chip is very good and will definitely become the most mainstream chip in the future. Times are developing and technology is progressing. X64 will definitely be Replace X86!"

"Well said!" Li Yunhai stood up, applauded, and walked over.

Intel's Jim and others were talking shamelessly and arrogantly at Sihai Group's booth, endlessly belittling Sihai's products, and treating Li Yunhai and others as if they were nothing!

This made Li Yunhai and the others extremely angry!

But because the two companies are now in a cooperative relationship, it is difficult for everyone to break up.

Shen Xiulan had long wanted to come out and taunt her, but Li Yunhai suppressed her.

But the more Jim said, the more outrageous and bottomless he became, which also angered Li Yunhai.

Li Yunhai finally couldn't bear it anymore, walked up to them with a proud smile, and said loudly: "Is this Vice President Jim from Intel? I am Li Yunhai from Sihai Group. Nice to meet you!"

Jim looked slightly surprised. He originally thought that the people at the Sihai booth were ordinary employees, with at most a vice president watching the show. Unexpectedly, the boss, Li Yunhai, was also there!

They had only heard of each other's name. Today was the first time they met. They didn't expect it to be so awkward!

However, Jim was not afraid of Li Yunhai, and immediately smiled arrogantly: "Hello, Mr. Li! I am discussing things with my old friend Aibte. Are you also interested in joining?"

Li Yunhai raised his handsome eyebrows and said calmly: "Okay, let's talk about it then!"

Abbot said: "Mr. Li, what Jim said only represents him personally and does not represent Intel."

Li Yunhai waved his hand and said, "I understand! The three of us, let's discuss semiconductors!"

(End of this chapter)