Reborn Tokyo Golden Age

The pricing of chips mostly follows the rule of 8:20 in later generations, the former is the hardware cost, and the latter is the pricing.

In other words, the price of a general chip is about 2.5 times the hardware cost.

Of course, the cost of chips not only includes hardware, but also design costs, operating costs, etc., and the real profit will not more than double.

After deducting all costs, the net profit can reach 40%, which is already considered a first-class echelon of profitability.

But today, in the early 1980s, this rule does not apply.

Today's chip industry can be regarded as a real profiteering industry.

The first integrated chip, the Intel 4004, came out in 1971 and sold for $200.

At that time, the main product used for this chip was a calculator, and because of the high price of the chip.

At that time, calculators from Sharp and Hewlett-Packard sold for more than 100,000 yen.

Yes, it is the calculator used for calculation in ordinary life, not the computer.

Such an expensive price, except for commercial companies who can afford it, is simply out of reach of ordinary people.

Although it is the first-generation chip, the price of 4004 is as high as 200 US dollars, so it must be a huge profit without asking.

In that era, all industries related to chips were huge profits. A calculator is just a microcosm of it.

Later in 1974, Intel and Motorola introduced the next generation of 8-bit chips, Intel8080 and MC6800, respectively.

Their price remained at around $375, and only two years later Zilog and MOS introduced their own 8-bit chips, the Z80 and MOS6502.

The price of Z80 and MOS6502 is about 25~30 US dollars. Compared with Intel and Motorola, the price of the former two is about one-fifteenth of the latter two.

The same 8-bit chip, the price dropped fifteen times after two years.

And will the Z80 and MOS6502 sold at twenty or thirty dollars lose money?

Of course not, the price of $25 is still profitable, otherwise how will Zilog and MOS operate.

It is conceivable from this that the previous $375 for Intel and Motorola included how many times the profit.

So in these years when the chip was just developed, there is no doubt that the profit was at least one or two times.

Thanks to the disruption of Zilog and MOS, the calculator industry has also started a price war.

Its price has dropped from the initial 100,000 yen to around 5,000 yen by Casio today.

In this way, the calculator has entered the homes of ordinary people from a commercial tool.

But today's 16-bit chip prices remain high, with Intel's 8086 priced at $360 and the shrunken version of the 8088 priced at $125.

The spoilers Zilog and MOS also have their own 16-bit chips, but because of process costs and audience issues, they cannot pose a threat to Intel.

Two years later, the 8088 has only come down a bit, and is now around $100.

SIC's 8089 is the benchmark Intel 8088, and Bai Chuanfeng priced it at $40.

In fact, SIC is still profitable at this price, but the profit is not as scary as Intel.

The production cost of SIC8089 is about 30 US dollars, and at the current price, the profit per chip is about 10 US dollars.

In the chip industry at this time, this profit margin is basically definitely the last echelon.

It's not that Bai Chuanfeng doesn't want to earn more money, but because SIC has just entered the game, in order to open up the market, he can only lower the price.

The price is more than half cheaper than other manufacturers, and the theoretical performance is even better. Bai Chuanfeng does not believe that no one will care about the SIC8089.

He is very clear about the positioning of SIC's first chip, which is to open up the market.

As long as the market can be opened up, even if SIC8089 is not profitable, Bai Chuanfeng will still push it to the market without hesitation.

It doesn't matter if the first generation of chips is not profitable, it is regarded as cultivating the market.

When the second-generation chip is launched, it may be the beginning of SIC's profitability.

However, at the current price of $40 for SIC8089, Bai Chuanfeng believes that it still has certain market competitiveness.

And in order to improve its audience, Shimasatoshi aimed to be compatible with Intel assembly instructions at the beginning of the design.

In addition, SIC has also developed its own assembly software, and a series of auxiliary chips are in the design.

A single main chip cannot dominate the world, nor can it occupy the market.

SIC has understood this truth from the very beginning, so this part of the work has been planned in advance, and is now in the process of gradual improvement.

Moreover, with the improvement of the yield rate and the increase of shipments, the cost of 30 US dollars can continue to be reduced.

The reason why the arcade was chosen as the first promotional user group is because of its semi-independent nature.

A game, an arcade, the chip only needs to serve the game, without too many complicated instructions.

If it is used as the CPU of a computer, there will be many bugs without thinking about it.

Nowadays, most of the people who buy computers are commercial companies. There are too many problems, which is not conducive to the reputation of SIC.

As the first commercial platform, the arcade machine is suitable for slowly testing out the defects and deficiencies of the chip without causing much loss.

In addition, Namco has a good relationship with Shirakawa Electric, so there is no doubt that it is the first target.

In addition to Namco, Shirakawa Feng will also visit Taito.

Although overall, the arcade market is limited. But after a whole year, the shipments are still barely noticeable.

If an arcade game is more popular, it is still possible to sell 50,000 to 60,000 units a year.

If it is a super popular game, it is easy to ship 100,000 units in the first year.

This is just the neon market. You must know that both Namco and Taidong have branches in North America.

Adding up these parts, the total shipments are also quite impressive.

Bai Chuanfeng is not greedy, as long as the SIC chip can sell 100,000 pieces in the arcade, it will be considered a big success.

In the first year of commercial use, profit is secondary, and the goal is achieved without losing money.

In addition, the cost of $30 is determined based on the shipment of 100,000 pieces. If the output is further expanded in the later stage, the cost will continue to drop by half.

In addition to SIC8089, SIC is also developing pure 8-bit chips.

Why go back to 8-bit processors with lower performance? The answer is market demand.

Some industrial equipment and low-end consumer electronics products still use 8-bit processors in large numbers.

Although the profit is relatively weak, the advantage is that the market demand is large, so it is naturally worth a try.

The structure of SIC is ready-made, and family processing can save a lot of time on this basis.

After leading Heitaro Nakajima and Akira Yamazaki to the chip market for the first time, Shirakawa Feng was not in a hurry to open up a second market.

He developed obscenely in the early stage, and after he was recognized in the arcade market, he was going to talk to Fujitsu again.

As the president of SIC, Heitaro Nakajima will tentatively sell SIC8089 and even 16-bit 8081 to professional organizations.

In his early years, he had worked in units such as the National Research Institute, so he also had his own contacts.

Of course, resources must be utilized, which is one of his responsibilities as the president of SIC.

Oh, by the way, in addition to this, there is also its own game console.

Yes, Bai Chuanfeng finally plans to try the field of home game consoles.

With its own chip, other problems will no longer be a hindrance.

But when Bai Chuanfeng arrived at the HAL Institute, Akagi gave him unexpected news.

"Suba Seiko wants to increase the price?" Bai Chuanfeng frowned instantly.

"That's right." Akagi also had an ugly face, "The reason they gave was that the factory caught fire and the production capacity will be limited next month, so the LCD price will rise to 600 yen per piece."

"Heh" Hearing this reason, Bai Chuanfeng almost laughed angrily.

The tradition of Ganqing factory fire, or is it passed down to Bangzi from childhood?

If he hadn't known where Suba Seiko's factory was, he would have almost believed it.

Just across the river from the window of Bai Chuanfeng's office, on the other side of the Tama River, he could even see the outline of the opponent's factory.

fire? Not even a smoke you tell the fire?

Bangzi will also put some cigarettes on for a while, but you are lucky, you don’t even have to take part in the performance.

He didn't know why Seiko Suha suddenly raised the price, and why he used such a blunt reason.

But Baichuan Electric certainly cannot accept such a price increase.

600 yen per piece is double the previous 300 yen per piece, which is simply unreasonable.

The price of Shirakawa Electric's handheld has been lowered because of the improvement of the display technology and the change of the game.

The profit has already been reduced, and now the LCD screen has increased by 300 yen, leaving even less profit for Shirakawa Electric.

Small profits but quick turnover, too thin profits will affect the income of Baichuan Electric.

"Besides Suwa Seiko, did you inquire from Sharp?"

At present, apart from Suwa Seiko, only Sharp is in the LCD business.

After all, it is an emerging industry in the past few years, and there are not many entrants.

"Have we sent a tentative inquiry to Sharp?" Akagi's face was still ugly.

"How to say?" Bai Chuanfeng frowned.

"It's still 600 yen."

Um? Bai Chuanfeng smelled an unusual smell.

Suwa Seiko and Sharp raised prices together. Is this a joint industry monopoly and market price manipulation?

Bai Chuanfeng was a little uncertain, if that was the case, he might as well call and ask.

Picking up the phone on the table casually, Bai Chuanfeng dialed a long-lost number.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Yamauchi-san, it's me, Shirakawa."

"So it's Shirakawa-san, what a rare visitor." Hiroshi Yamauchi held his coffee leisurely and greeted him unhurriedly.

"The game "Donkey Kong" recently launched by your company is really amazing.

After I tried it, I am still fascinated by it. "

"That's right, it's really an honor for Nintendo to be praised by Shirakawa-san." Hiroshi Yamauchi still smiled politely at him.

"Presumably your company will transplant it to the handheld soon. Thinking about it is really stressful." After saying this, Bai Chuanfeng quietly concentrated.

"Bai Chuan-san was joking, your company has countless good games. "Pac-Man" and "Snake" are classics, and no one has surpassed them so far.

For Nintendo, Baichuan Electric is the object we need to learn from. "

"Yamauchi-san is too modest, so I won't bother you. I will visit you in Kyoto when I have time."

"Welcome."

Hanging up the phone, Hiroshi Yamauchi was thoughtful.

He was not surprised by Bai Chuanfeng's call, but what was strange was that the other party asked some irrelevant questions.

Suddenly Hiroshi Yamauchi froze for a moment, then smiled wryly.

In the end, I still underestimated him, and fell into his way without paying attention.

What a formidable kid, he is very sensitive to the market.

Here in Tokyo, Bai Chuanfeng hung up the phone, but his expression suddenly turned ugly.

"Master President, how are you?" Chi Mu looked at him anxiously.

"Bai Chuan Electric has been targeted." Bai Chuanfeng's face was uncertain.