Chapter 894: The Treacherous Hero Fang Zhuo (4k)

Fang Zhuo didn’t care about this unpleasant meeting with the head of LG Electronics.

We are competitors, what else is there to talk about?

Now that LG Electronics China President Yu Nanjun, LG Electronics America President Wayne, and LG Electronics head Nam Yong have come out, who else could be next?

The Gu family of LG Group?

The head of this generation of LG Group, Gu Bonmoo?

Fang Zhuo has dealt with Samsung Crown Prince Lee Jae-yong, and because of Nam Yong’s appearance, he is also a little curious about LG’s Gu family.

However, Nam Yong never came back, and LG had no new moves.

Fang Zhuo was ready to answer Gu’s call, and even wanted to hear news from LG’s cooperation in other fields, such as semiconductors. This family is not just an electronics business, but also a large conglomerate entrenched in South Korea.

Unfortunately, no one called again.

Despite the slight disappointment in his heart, Fang Zhuo still communicated with Qualcomm briefly about Huawei's intention to improve the positioning of foundry products after obtaining consent, hoping to substantially help his own factory get more orders.

From the subprime crisis in the United States last year to the current economic situation, China is promoting home appliances to the countryside, Germany wants to stimulate the economy, and many industries have felt the chill to varying degrees.

The semiconductor industry is no exception.

In the first quarter of this year, Bingxin upgraded its 65nm production capacity as planned, from 1.5W to 2.5W wafers per month.

I thought I would be able to introduce more customers soon, but except for NVIDIA, which had suffered losses due to the instability of the new process of Taiji, this time it chose to allocate a moderate amount of orders to Bingxin, other international manufacturers were more cautious.

Not cautious about Bingxin's process that has been verified by Qualcomm, but cautious about the global market.

Bingxin's production capacity was almost full in the fourth quarter of last year, but it was not so smooth at the beginning of this year. As of April, the capacity utilization rate of the Luzhou plant was only 70%, and the Lin'an plant was cut by Qimonda to the lowest capacity. However, the sensor production line jointly owned by Shencheng and Sony was still quite satisfactory.

If it was just Bingxin, it might need to be reflected, but even the industry leader Taiji has reported suspected production cuts, which can reflect the situation.

So, the industry is not doing well, and Mr. Fang is working hard.

Bingxin has always taken breakthroughs in advanced processes as its first goal. Looking at Bingxin at this time point, the Lin'an plant is at a loss under the situation of the global storage industry plummeting, and the Shencheng plant is in a better situation but it is not outstanding. The huge equipment depreciation costs for upgrading the production capacity of the Luzhou plant this year need to be digested...

If it were someone else, the industry's downward cycle might slow down, but Fang Zhuo wanted to do some counter-cyclical gameplay, and wanted to keep a close eye on the flow of engineers from industry-leading manufacturers such as Taiji and UMC.

Taiwan reporters are suspected of reducing production. When Lehman Brothers sets off fireworks, will layoffs be far behind?

As for the doubts that Bingxin has caused due to the situation... Mr. Qiu Ciyun did talk about the weakening customer demand and overall business problems in the first quarter.

Fang Zhuo's answer is simple.

"Can it be worse than SMIC?"

"Don't worry, I won't say that I made a little money by shorting Lehman Brothers, nor will I say that friends who are willing to invest in the listing, just say that this Luzhou place has expressed their position and will fully support us."

Because of Bingxin, Luzhou has initially formed the framework of the industrial chain and has received recognition and planning at a higher administrative level.

If Zhangjiang in the Shencheng New District is the "China Silicon Valley", then Luzhou is now implicitly the China Small Silicon Valley, which will only support the development of Bingxin more than before.

Fang Zhuo is so busy attracting customers for his own company, and he also has to give some opinions to the Yikezhen Silicon Valley R&D Center remotely.

After postponing his overseas trips several times, seeing that it was already approaching May, he simply stayed in China and planned to fly to the United States in June to see the latest situation of the heroes in the mobile phone industry.

On the morning of April 28, Fang Zhuo was busy working at Hang Lung 23 as usual. Before he finished signing the documents, his secretary Liu Zonghong walked into the president's office and reported some reactions that LG Electronics had finally given.

"Mr. Fang, the media has reported extensively on the patent dispute between Yike and LG, and there are some abnormal personal comments."

Liu Zonghong came in with a notebook.

Fang Zhuo was surprised when he heard this, and asked while taking the notebook: "Which media?"

This is a patent lawsuit between Yike and LG. Logically, the media should not write nonsense or take a stand. Even Penguin, which is not on good terms now, would not distort the report so obviously in such a matter.

"It is the Korean media, including mainstream media such as the Korean Broadcasting Corporation KBS and Chosun Ilbo." Liu Zonghong reported.

Fang Zhuo had no objection. This is not really taking a stand. Their position is quite correct!

He flipped through the translated reports and wondered, "Is there also the Chosun Ilbo?"

"The Chosun Ilbo is a Korean newspaper with the largest circulation there." Liu Zonghong answered his boss's doubts, "Not only newspapers and TV stations, but also new media on the Internet, are reporting extensively on our company's lawsuit against LG mobile phones. The guidance of public opinion is obvious."

He continued, "Now, several BBS forums in South Korea have announced that they will boycott Yike mobile phones, which may cause losses to our market in South Korea."

Yike Mars has now entered the Japanese and Korean markets, aiming to achieve the sales target of 8 million before the replacement.

Although South Korea is not a big country, it is one of the fastest growing markets for 3G business in the world. The proportion of 3G users is much higher than that of Europe and the United States, reaching more than 35%, while Europe and the United States are less than 30%.

When Fang Zhuo heard the words "boycott Yike mobile phones" for the first time, he couldn't help but look up at his secretary and commented: "It sounds strange."

He continued to browse the reports of the neighboring media and found that there was also an interview with Nan Yong, the head of LG Electronics.

"LG Mobile launched a full-touch screen mobile phone as early as the end of 2006, earlier than the iPhone, and also made patent reserves."

"China's Yike Company is now taking advantage of the patent loopholes and trying to stifle our competitiveness."

"LG mobile phone sales in the United States exceeded one million units in the second month. This is a success of innovation!"

"Yike will not succeed if it jumps out to stop LG at this time!"

"Fang Zhuo is a conspirator hiding behind Yike and hiding behind patents. He is destined to not get everything he wants!"

Unlike the generally polite visit to Shencheng, Nan Yong denounced Yike and Fang Zhuo in an interview with a TV station.

Fang Zhuo was stunned. After being called a pragmatist and a doer, there was another person who was called a conspirator?

When did he hide behind others?

Everything was clear.

He shook his head slightly, and after turning the page, he saw a report title with quite a few words - "The traitor Fang Zhuo!"

It's not enough to call him a traitor, but there was a cross on the word "Fang Zhuo".

This newspaper from the Korean newspaper "Dong-A Ilbo" not only reported the patent dispute between Yike and LG, but also went deeper and talked about the fact that China BOE became a tainted witness and stabbed Samsung and LG LCD panels.

Without any evidence, the "Dong-A Ilbo" directly put the blame on Fang Zhuo, trying to explain the word "traitor" in the title.

And, its review was not only that, "the malicious acquisition of Sina" and "hunting investment institutions" were also turned up, in order to denounce the lack of business ethics of China's richest man in the mainland.

Fang Zhuo nodded frequently.

After a long time, he sighed: "How come they identified me in this matter of BOE? They never mentioned Mr. Wang."

Liu Zonghong was somewhat indignant. He didn't mention the hostile takeover and hunting for venture capital. He couldn't put the LCD stabbing on his head just because his boss took the lead in helping!

This is what the media fears most. It's easy to tell if it's all fake, but it's really annoying that nine are true and one is fake!

"It's too unfair for the Korean media to be so irresponsible to make groundless accusations!" Liu Zonghong frowned.

Fang Zhuo nodded. The accusation was a bit accurate.

The problem is that this is the media of a neighboring country. This is their home court. We can't go over to confront them.

What to do now?

Find the media by ourselves and let Sina write about LG?

Fang Zhuo felt that there was no need for this. There shouldn't be anyone in China who would pay attention to Korean public opinion. As for the Korean market, the company should just ignore it.

Although South Korea's 3G business is developing rapidly and has a high consumer penetration rate, its total volume ceiling is there. With the deep-rooted Samsung and LG, there is nothing to be done if there is a loss. Just wait for August to fight back.

Liu Zonghong saw his boss change a cup of tea and asked for his opinion on the matter: "Mr. Fang, what should we do now?"

Fang Zhuo glanced at the secretary who had been following him for a long time and said: "Next time, there is no need to make a PPT for such a summary of public opinion. Your PPT is really good."

Liu Zonghong was solemn. If the superior likes something, the subordinates will be even more so. If the superior says not to do it, then it will not be done next time.

"Let the company issue a statement in South Korea. Patents are subject to legal procedures." Fang Zhuo said again.

Liu Zonghong waited for a while, but there was no follow-up. He hesitated and said: "What about the smear reports in the media?"

Fang Zhuo hesitated. The level of media reporters varies. Objectively speaking, the style of the report in the Dong-A Ilbo is relatively neutral, but it lists some things in a more exciting way.

How did they smear?

He said what he had done.

This is not easy to respond.

He finally shook his head: "Forget it, I don't know Korean anyway, let them go."

Liu Zonghong hesitated for two seconds and didn't say anything about the Chinese cultural radiation circle. The "traitor Fang Zhuo" in the "Dong-A Ilbo" was directly written in Chinese characters, and the following content was specially translated.

"LG's reaction is so big and so intense, as if it was stepping on their tail." Fang Zhuo shook his head and sighed, "The problem is, I'm not the first to step on it. It was obviously Apple who stepped on it first. Apple can step on it, but I can't?"

Liu Zonghong couldn't give an answer.

LG Electronics is indeed unfairly treated. Mr. Fang is really kind to others by just being angry and not taking any other actions.

"Tomorrow, no, in the afternoon, let the company sue LG's touch-screen machine in China. Isn't it going to enter the mainland market in June? Try to prevent it from entering." Fang Zhuo thought of practical measures.

Liu Zonghong took back what he said in his heart.

Well, the boss is different from LG. The boss is fair. You wronged me, and I sued you. It's very fair.

Seeing that Mr. Fang really had no other instructions, he picked up his notebook, left the president's office, and urgently dealt with LG's affairs. The first thing he had to do was to initiate a domestic lawsuit.

What? LG's new phone has not been sold in China yet?

No matter what, Mr. Fang said he wanted to sue, so he would sue as soon as he came in.

As the secretary left, Fang Zhuo was not troubled by any emotions.

It was just some media reports from neighboring countries. If they could really influence the choice of the local market, he would accept the defeat and there was nothing to say.

Fang Zhuo continued to handle his work.

On this day, the president of LG China was interviewed by the Chinese media again, but there was not much content and it did not stir up any waves.

The issue of Zhihu liking to copy foreign reports was suppressed after a little ripple.

Just deal with it coldly.

Fang Zhuo thought that the matter would end here, and he only needed to pay attention to Nokia's possible response. After all, the head of LG Electronics had come, scolded, and guided public opinion, so what else could he do?

As a result, on the last day of this month, the most unexpected thing for him was to receive inquiries from the diplomatic line.

On April 30, Seoul, South Korea held a trade, diplomacy, and business forum. Both LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics attended and talked about a patent case that has caused a stir in South Korean public opinion recently.

Then came informal contacts and inquiries.

LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics, the two names in front are the big ones, the giants.

Like Samsung Group, whose revenue accounted for 15% of South Korea's GDP last year, LG Group is also a large conglomerate with electronics, chemicals, communications, finance and other businesses. They all have a strong influence.

This influence is not just the performance of revenue figures.

For example, Fang Zhuo considered German investment and sought better investment conditions. When he really did it, he organized a group of people in the Yangtze River Delta to jointly carry out economic and commercial exchange activities, which was not limited to the influence of Bingxin's investment figures.

LG and Samsung added this influence to special channels to exert pressure.

Fang Zhuo was really surprised this time. He never expected that LG or Samsung, who helped, would really do this for Yi Ke, the second person to initiate patent litigation.

Fair, fair, fair?

"Normal patent disputes, everything is in accordance with procedures." Fang Zhuo's response was normal, neither excited nor giving in, "It's just market competition, everything will return to the market."

The informal inquiry ended here.

Mr. Fang is right, this matter is in accordance with procedures, Yi Ke was infringed, and it was a reaction in accordance with procedures. Do we have to shout villains and villains after being contacted?

There is no reason to put pressure, right?

It's just a matter of procedure, and I asked Fang the villain casually, that's all.

The plot of May 2008 cannot be written, so I can only pass it over.

One is the scale, and the other is the worry of hurting emotions. If possible, I will write a special chapter in the future, and those who are willing to read it can read it when the time comes.