Reborn Tokyo Golden Age

"Professor Shirakawa, Professor Hosono, what is the approximate production cost of our current STN and TFT screens?"

These two LCD technologies have just been put into commercial use. To be honest, Bai Chuanfeng was stunned when he saw the ex-factory price of Casio.

The TFT screen, which is larger than the electronic watch, is as high as 30,000 yen.

This small piece is more expensive than Baichuan Electric's high-end Walkman, no wonder the sales volume has not reached 10,000 after selling for more than a month.

Of course, the 30,000 yen includes the driver IC, which is the package price of the SIC.

"The cost of the TFT screen is about 7,000 yen because of the yield rate.

Our internal calculation cost of the driver IC is 2,000 yen, and the matching of the two can basically be controlled within 10,000 yen. "

A yield rate of less than 30% is still too low, which more than doubles the production cost of LCD factories.

Of course, Hideki Shirakawa and Hideo Hosono have also been continuously improving the craftsmanship, and it is expected that they will be able to improve by about 78% in a few months.

TFT, which uses photolithography technology on a glass substrate to burn transistors in a large area, is relatively immature.

If you want to improve the yield rate, you can only grind it little by little. Of course, in addition to the equipment, if there is a relatively large improvement in the process, the yield rate will also increase faster.

Bai Chuanfeng silently calculated, if calculated at a cost of 10,000 yen.

With an ex-factory price of 30,000 yen, there should be a profit of more than 15,000 yen in the end.

Tsk, although the things are not big, the profits are considerable.

It's a pity that the shipment volume is really not large, otherwise it can indeed be called a golden mountain.

"What about the STN screen, is there any way to improve its yield rate?" If Bai Chuanfeng remembers correctly, the process of the STN screen is much simpler.

"We are confident that we can increase the yield rate to over 60% within half a year for STN screens."

STN does not involve photolithography technology, and this alone is destined to make its process improvement much simpler than TFT.

However, in order to improve its response speed and increase the pixel magnification, the process is still much more complicated than when it was first shown to Bai Chuanfeng.

Not to mention various polarizers and optical filters, the performance of the driver IC is not much different from that of TFT.

But the cost is still much lower than the latter, only about 2,000 yen, and the total is less than 5,000 yen including the chip.

The shipping price of STN to Casio is 14,000 yen, and SIC can make a profit of about 8,000 yen here.

If the shipments increase, it is not difficult for the final profit to exceed the former.

"In the next stage, our main focus will be on improving yield and saving costs.

As for the research and development of larger TFT screens, it can be done step by step, and there is no need to rush. "

"Hay" Hideki Shirakawa and Hideo Hosono both nodded in understanding.

At the same time, they also admired Bai Chuanfeng's rationality. Their boss did not invest in the next stage of research and development regardless of the cost because of the outside world's enthusiasm for TFT screens.

The technical difficulty of TFT is far more complicated than imagined, and materials and equipment all restrict its technological progress.

It is not possible to solve these problems by throwing money at them. If you want to achieve a relatively large breakthrough, you need the progress of the entire industry chain.

Bai Chuanfeng also understands this point, so he is not in a hurry to develop a larger-sized TFT screen.

If the problem is so easy to solve, later generations will not start to use TFT technology on a large scale until the millennium.

Now Panasonic and Toshiba are swarming into the TFT-LCD field and developing 14-inch large display screens.

Bai Chuanfeng was really not optimistic about their ambitions.

If nothing else, after several years of huge investment, there may not be many companies that can really persevere.

After discussing the future LCD development plan with Hideki Shirakawa and the others, Kaede Shirakawa found Masatoshi Shima and Heitaro Nakajima again.

Regarding the reminder from Prince Akihito to him, Bai Chuanfeng also told them the general situation.

Of course, the source of the news need not be so detailed, he still understands the truth.

"Brother Nakajima, Shima-san, the situation is probably like this, do you have any ideas?"

Brainstorming, Bai Chuanfeng also wanted to hear their opinions.

As expected, both Nakajima Heitaro and Shima Masatoshi fell into deep thought with serious expressions.

They understand very well that if the Ministry of International Trade and Industry forces SIC to disclose chip architecture technology, then the latter really has no good solution.

Ten years ago, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry organized several semiconductor companies to put aside their selfishness and work together to overcome DRAM technology. This is not all based on interests.

Bai Chuanfeng wouldn't believe it if he said that he didn't use any means. Otherwise, NEC will not obediently contribute its own technology to the VLSI Institute.

No, no special means are needed. It only needs the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to come forward, and I believe that no company dares to refuse its request.

In front of the state apparatus, any resistance is like a mantis' arm.

Through the Ministry of Industry, as long as the policy is slightly tilted, or a few fines are issued casually, a company can slowly die.

There are too many articles that can be done here, even if it is stronger than NEC, it has to bow its head, let alone SIC, which has not yet grown up.

Seeing that they all looked serious but didn't have any constructive suggestions, Bai Chuanfeng also sighed secretly.

This was not beyond his expectation. If ordinary people heard such news, they might not even have the thought of resisting.

They can keep calm, which is pretty good.

"How about this?" Bai Chuanfeng knocked on the table to attract their attention, "Brother Nakajima and Shima-san, mobilize all your contacts and go to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to inquire about news.

It would be great if it could put some pressure on the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

The same is true here, I will contact all the people who can speak, and go to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to lobby.

Our purpose is not to dispel the MITI and give up the idea of ​​letting SIC disclose technology. We have only one purpose, that is to drag! "

"Drag?" Nakajima Heitaro and Shima Masari looked at Shirakawa Feng in surprise.

"That's right, procrastination. Compared with forcing the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to give up its original idea, the goal of 'procrastination' is easier to achieve.

In addition, things are not that bad. As far as I know, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry is only considering it, and has no real intention to let us disclose the technology. "

This is the only good news now, otherwise such an order was really issued. Then Bai Chuanfeng didn't need to discuss it any more, just obediently implement it.

Hearing that the Ministry of International Trade and Industry is still studying it, Heitaro Nakajima and the others' eyes brightened.

If it just interferes with their decision-making and delays the progress, they can really give it a try.

After all, such a decision cannot be made by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in one word, and it is an indispensable process to discuss it at a meeting.

As long as there is a meeting to discuss, there is a solution. If it is really impossible, you can find a few congressmen to be shit sticks.

In short, it is best to mess up this matter, and if it is not messed up, it can be regarded as achieving the goal after a year or so.

Bai Chuanfeng also had the same idea, and Bai Chuan Electric had given him so many benefits in the past few years. Now these congressmen who have taken money should contribute their influence.

"In addition to these measures, what about Arnold Semiconductor last time, Shima-san, do you think it is feasible?"

Procrastination is one method, but in other respects, Bai Chuanfeng is also actively seeking a way out.

"In principle, this is not a problem. Beimi, in particular, is more reliable than Neon in terms of property rights protection."

As for technology licensing, Masatoshi Shima has seen a lot in Silicon Valley. This is very common in Beimi, and it will become more and more common internationally in the future.

"Okay, then contact the other party immediately and conclude the contract as soon as possible." Bai Chuanfeng made a decision immediately, and this matter should be done sooner rather than later.

"Besides Arnold, if there are other Beimi companies consulting, we will also actively contact them."

Why did Bai Chuanfeng change his previous hesitation and began to consider letting go of the authorization.

That's because he was thinking about the way out, thinking about the worst.

If the Ministry of International Trade and Industry issues an order, it will mean that SIC cannot keep its own technology.

In this case, simply authorize the chip to other companies before that, and earn the authorization fee first.

If the operation is good, maybe in the future SIC can earn a lot of money by lying down and earning licensing fees.

Otherwise, once the technology is lost, it will be difficult to talk about authorization at that time.

There are a few more potential competitors in Nihong in an instant. Can they watch SIC make money and remain indifferent?

Bai Chuanfeng expressed doubts about their integrity.

Of course, everything that is done so far is auxiliary work. Here, Bai Chuanfeng is going to visit the two semiconductor giants Hitachi and Toshiba.

He has some big business and wants to talk to them.

Everyone is contributing to the economy of Neon, isn't it bad to make such a fuss?

In addition to the shock brought by TV watches in July, Shirakawa Electric also launched its new generation of audio-visual products at the end of this month.

For example, the improved portable CD player is just as envisioned at the beginning of the year, and the cumbersome battery box has disappeared.

Not only that, in terms of thickness, the portable CD player is also within 3cm, leaving only 27mm.

At the same time, compared with the weight of the previous generation of 600g, the new generation of D-02 is only about 500g.

It can be said that in terms of portability, the second-generation D-02 has been greatly improved.

Its appearance already has the shadow of the ultra-thin Discman of later generations, at least girls can easily pick it up and walk around at will.

In addition to these changes in appearance, D-02 also has a special design for shock resistance.

The clamp-type turntable originally conceived has been officially applied, and Shirakawa Electric internally named it VRDS (Vibration-Free Rigid Disc-Clamping System) clamp-type turntable.

Its function is to clamp the record, so that the whole mechanism has a good shock-proof buffer effect, and basically realizes the data reading action without resonance.

Compared with the first generation, the phenomena of disc skipping and jamming are greatly reduced, which is a very obvious improvement.

At the same time, Baichuan Electric has also applied this system on desktop computers. And the material is anti-seismic, the pincer clip uses aluminum sheet as a substitute.

The precision of its internal mechanism and the sensitivity of the laser head are also higher, and the effect is much better than that of a portable CD player.

In terms of price, the portable D-02 still maintains the same pricing level as the previous one, 49,800 yen.

As for the desktop, Shirakawa Electric's price is 180,000 yen.

That's right, Shirakawa's desktops are more expensive than Sony's.

Since it is high-end, then simply go all the way to the end. In terms of materials and design, Baichuan Electric is confident that it is slightly better than Sony.

People who are willing to spend money to buy high-end CD players are music enthusiasts, and they don't care about the price difference of tens of thousands of yen.

For them, the effect is the first, the sense of hearing is the first, and the price is the second consideration.

Since the profit is not based on volume, of course the profit of a single machine should be increased.

As for what ordinary people listen to, well, the brand new D-02 has made its debut.

Compared with the various defects of the original machine, its changes are not insignificant.

And the launch of D-02, not surprisingly, ushered in the enthusiasm of consumers, but also brought considerable pressure to friends and businessmen.