Chapter 929 I Wish You Could Pick More (4k)

The situation of Texas Instruments has been declining since the second quarter of this year.

The main factor here is not the impact of subprime debt, but the distributors have reduced their inventory levels, continuing the weak trend that appeared in the first quarter.

Among them, the decline in the wireless department is the most obvious.

Simply put, Texas Instruments has encountered challenges in the mobile end.

With Yike equipped with Qualcomm chips and Apple equipped with Samsung chips, the competitive pressure on Texas Instruments in the high-end market has gradually increased, and the low-end market has also been squeezed by emerging Asian forces MediaTek and Spreadtrum.

The low-end market is a red ocean with low gross profit margins. The high-end market has long been separated from the baseband chip product line, making it difficult to generate synergy with mobile chips, showing a lack of competitiveness.

In the third quarter, such performance is even more fatal.

It is said that some major customers have turned to a multi-supplier strategy, and the largest customer Nokia is also considering cooperating with Broadcom and STMicroelectronics.

This is likely to lead to a vicious cycle.

The economic crisis brought about by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September undoubtedly greatly increased the possibility of a worsening situation.

After arriving in New York, Fang Zhuo rested for half a day, adjusted his work and rest schedule, and waited to see whether the US Congress would reject the bailout bill as rumored.

On the evening of the 26th, Yike Company formed an eight-person evaluation team to handle possible external demands during this period.

At nine o'clock, Fang Zhuo met Yu Hong, who had just returned from Silicon Valley, and treated her to a sumptuous midnight snack.

"It's so late, and you're eating all kinds of food..." Yu Hong was surprised, "You lost billions in Hong Kong, and you can't eat there, are you hungry?"

"Aren't you worried that you'll be tired from the long journey?" Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "Hong Kong stocks are just numbers, maybe they will rise again in a year."

Yu Hong adjusted her plate, just wanting to eat some vegetarian food, and asked casually, "Morning Star is unlucky, but Yongke Real Estate seems to be even more unlucky. I was thinking of buying some Yongke Real Estate stocks. Will it be listed?"

"Yes, the sooner it's listed, the sooner it'll sell." Fang Zhuo replied, "If it's listed this year, the basic real estate market is here, and it should be able to sell next year or the year after next. It's a lot of money. Bingxin needs to invest a lot in 28nm and FinFET technology, so it can be used. "

Yu Hong: "..."

She said with a bit of a smile: "Have you even calculated the time point?"

"It's almost the same. The funds need to be invested in advance. Just buying a lithography machine from ASML requires an early order, and it will take a year and a half to prepare the materials in advance." Fang Zhuo said, "FinFET technology is a major improvement. If possible, I hope our mobile phones can use this by then, for a key upgrade."

"It depends on the digestion and absorption of the Hummingbird chip?" Yu Hong knew what Mr. Fang meant.

Fang Zhuo nodded slightly. Yike acquired the Hummingbird team and is still developing chips with Samsung. This is an important achievement worth looking forward to in the next two or three years. It is likely that this decision will also affect Qualcomm.

One of the focuses of this visit to the United States is to enhance Yike's strength in IC design.

Calculating the time, the 28nm chip with independent chip design + FinFET technology will be a sublimation of Yike's mobile phones.

Completing any of these two tasks would be satisfying.

Yu Hong just came back from Silicon Valley, so she took the opportunity to talk about the R&D center there. She also experienced the extremely immature fingerprint technology recognition yesterday.

In order to highlight the technical direction, the R&D center sincerely invited the co-founder of Yike to try the mobile phone fingerprint + laboratory access control function. Then, several people were trapped for half an hour... It can only be said that there is still a long way to go.

Fang Zhuo was very happy to hear this, and planned to experience the laboratory technology after meeting the people from Texas Instruments.

"Texas Instruments' profits fell by nearly 30% this quarter, and you have contributed a lot to it." Yu Hong is in the United States and is very clear about the situation of Texas Instruments, a supplier that plays an important role in the industry.

Fang Zhuo was surprised: "What do you mean?"

"Nokia was very confident in its touch-screen phone, but you held a press conference to criticize it and it lost sales. People online are ashamed to buy its touch-screen phone." Yu Hong talked about her observations, "I heard that it will have another new phone at the end of the year, and it may also switch to a capacitive screen."

She continued: "The Android phone launched by Samsung this month is also equipped with Qualcomm chips. Texas Instruments lacks a complete mobile phone chip solution. This is a problem. Qualcomm's competitiveness is getting stronger and stronger."

"Samsung actually used Qualcomm chips?" Fang Zhuo was surprised.

He has been preoccupied with the financial market these days and has indeed neglected to observe his mobile phone competitors. Samsung just launched a touch-screen smartphone two days ago.

Yu Hong called the secretary and took out Samsung's latest product from her bag and handed it to Mr. Fang: "It is only equipped with Qualcomm chips in the United States. It is its own chips in Asia. It has not been released in Europe yet. I heard that it has not yet negotiated with the operators."

Fang Zhuo played with Samsung's latest i7500 mobile phone and clearly saw the shadow of itself and Apple.

This is the first product launched by Samsung equipped with Android.

He thought for a moment and asked, "How did Samsung do it? How did they negotiate with Qualcomm?"

Yu Hong said without raising his head, "You'll have to ask your close partners, but there must be an important reason, because Samsung is the world's second largest mobile phone manufacturer."

Such a position in the mobile phone market will undoubtedly increase the influence of Qualcomm chips in the industry and improve its competitiveness in the field of high-end mobile phone chips.

"Will Samsung also use Qualcomm chips in Europe?" Fang Zhuo asked.

"I don't know, I doubt it. We'll find out soon." Yu Hong replied.

Fang Zhuo turned his thoughts to himself: "You said, if our Hummingbird chip is digested, can we also use our own chips in China and Qualcomm's chips abroad?"

"The domestic market potential and South Korea are two different things. Can Qualcomm agree? Let's not talk about the performance of its own chips and Qualcomm chips. There is indeed recognition of the brand power. It is hard to say whether consumers can accept it." Yu Hong said seriously, "But for this It’s a good thing for Yike, I think it can be done in one go.”

She thought about it again: "Hummingbird Chip can produce a sub-flagship and give in on the price. This way, consumers will have nothing to say, and Qualcomm should be able to negotiate with it."

If Yike has chips based on high-end flagships, it will undoubtedly compete with Qualcomm. Whether the other party is willing to cultivate its rivals will have to weigh the pros and cons.

Yu Hong also put the future in reality and said with a smile: "But if you, Mr. Fang, can really enrich the chip department now and come up with chips that are not inferior to Qualcomm in a few years, at worst we will start a lawsuit with Qualcomm again."

Fang Zhuo sighed: "The company is getting bigger and bigger, and there are more and more lawsuits."

"Who says it isn't? Nokia's application for a sales ban has also been filed with ITC." Yu Hong frowned, "If it releases a capacitive screen mobile phone by the end of the year, we can have another round of talks with Nokia."

Although the U.S. ITC's unfair handling of the case hindered Nokia, it could not dissuade the other party from filing a complaint, and the case was eventually filed.

Fang Zhuo took a sip of tea with excitement and said seriously: "Well, let's talk for another round."

Yu Hong knew Mr. Fang's counterattack plan in the capital market and remained silent. She also felt the signs of Xiao Ao's counterattack at the end of this month, and it seemed that there was hope of laying the groundwork for a massacre.

"By the way, HTC went to Shanghai before and wanted to talk to me about patent fees." Fang Zhuo suddenly remembered a small result in the lawsuit.

"How is it?" Yu Hong really didn't know this.

"I didn't see her." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "Didn't HTC counter-claim? You can wait for the process, or you can wait for the ITC's judgment on LG Electronics. Google told me that HTC has started to contact Android, probably I want to reach a settlement through the PRO Alliance.”

Yu Hong asked: "What do you mean?"

"LG Electronics will definitely not let it go. This is also the intention of Google, to scare the monkeys." Fang Zhuo said slowly, "HTC, if it is equipped with Android, then I will take its money. If it does not give up Microsoft's WM system, then Don’t want this money.”

That's it for coercion and inducement.

Yu Hong said tactfully: "This is also for HTC's benefit. The Android system is better than Microsoft WM."

"Indeed, I hope that next year will be a year when Android systems bloom." Fang Zhuo considered, "The development based on mobile devices can also bring many opportunities."

Yu Hong said "Yeah". It was Schmidt who she and Mr. Fang went to meet together, and the Android system had a built-in software location as agreed.

She ate until she was 70% full, thinking about the itinerary mentioned by Mr. Fang, and said sincerely: "A year ago, I would never have thought that I would say such a thing. TI's absolute dominance in mobile phone chips has been shaken."

A year ago, TI was undoubtedly the largest player in the high-end mobile phone chip market, but demand from manufacturers has weakened every month in the past December.

Now, it has begun to lay off employees and adjust its mobile phone chip business, and it seems to be struggling.

The changes in technology and market are really rapid.

…

On the 29th, four o'clock in the afternoon.

Accompanied by the Yike team, Fang Zhuo flew to Dallas, where TI's headquarters is located.

Today, if the news goes viral, Congress rejected the $700 billion bailout bill from George W. Bush.

What followed was an immediate impact on financial markets.

The stock market plummeted wildly, and everyone panicked.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 777.68, a drop of 6.98%, to close at 10,365.45.

The S&P 500 stock index fell 106.59, or 8.79%, to close at 1106.42.

The Nasdaq Composite Index, dominated by high-tech companies, plummeted 199.61, a drop of 9.14%, to close at 1983.73.

It was the largest drop in U.S. stock market history.

Fang Zhuo was stunned.

The most direct connection with him is that Morningstar Semiconductor has fallen by another billion, and Qimonda has lost 95% of its value on the New York Stock Exchange, with its stock price less than 1 US dollar.

In 2005, Qimonda was listed at an issue price of US$18. No one could have imagined that it would be like this three years later.

Fang Zhuo felt very sorry for Qimonda's performance. Today he received another call from Mr. Luo. He hung up the phone after only 30 seconds of conversation. He couldn't bear to hear the other party's plea for help.

Judging from the current situation, with the outbreak of the global financial crisis, Qimonda has been unable to obtain financial assistance from Infineon and the German government, and bankruptcy is inevitable.

Fangzhuo does not plan to acquire Qimonda, which means that it may have to bear debt and other issues, which is undoubtedly a big pitfall.

Now he is just waiting for Qimonda to come to an end, and then use the arrears of foundry fees + cash to pick out some practical DRAM patents and reactivate Ice Core's Lin'an No. 2 Factory.

In fact, Fang Zhuo is also considering whether to take this opportunity to separate the Lin'an Plant 2 and operate it independently, which will not only facilitate the injection of international funds, but also be relatively more focused.

For him, this is a system that can be controlled. Bingxin can go into battle lightly, and the Lin'an Plant can be regarded as a cunning rabbit with three burrows, but it seems that it will harm the interests of shareholders.

Fang Zhuo has not yet finalized the decision. He plans to discuss it with Qiu Ciyun and others before seeing it. Anyway, the current shareholders will definitely be happy to see the loss-making Lin'an Plant being sold.

In the evening, the Yike team arrived in Dallas.

When Fang Zhuo could see the Texas Instruments sign, he suddenly asked the secretary: "Texas Instruments laid off employees, UMC laid off employees, Qimonda laid off employees, is there any news about Qualcomm's layoffs?"

Liu Zonghong reconfirmed it first, and then replied: "No news has been received from any channel."

Fang Zhuo nodded regretfully.

There are also manufacturers that are developing against the trend under the crisis. Qualcomm is worthy of being the fourth of the iron triangle. Qualcomm is fine.

At eight o'clock in the evening, Fang Zhuo, who was begging for money, met Richard Templeton, the head of Texas Instruments.

Originally, Fang Zhuo only wanted to meet a vice president or something like that, but Richard immediately expressed his desire to meet in person after hearing the news.

He actually said very clearly on the phone that this time it was not for the Mars series chips, but just to help Texas Instruments optimize its business, but Richard still couldn't hide his enthusiasm.

The two sides met.

As expected, Richard still talked about Texas Instruments' mobile phone chips.

"Yike has no plans to change suppliers." Fang Zhuo was a little helpless. "In the first half of last year, we frequently contacted Texas Instruments, hoping to get more support for solution optimization, but Texas Instruments is indeed slow. I hope that we will have room for cooperation in the future, but definitely not now."

Last year, Texas Instruments did not help Yike optimize, but this year, Yike came to help Texas Instruments optimize.

Richard was really sad.

But who could have thought that Yike's mobile phones and Android systems would explode?

And Nokia, the largest customer, did not hesitate to add STMicroelectronics and Broadcom to its suppliers, which made Texas Instruments very passive.

"TI will catch up. We plan to launch a high-end chip for Android next year. We hope we can cooperate then." Richard said.

Then, he called for TI's menu for today.

The heads of five project teams walked into the conference room.

Because of Mr. Fang's sincerity, TI provided a two-way option for package.

Richard saw the smile on Mr. Fang's face and could only comfort himself in his heart. Instead of letting them lay off, it would be better to send them to a place that would be good for them.

Mr. Fang is a good person. At least, there will be no problem with their treatment.