The Industrial Giant Reborn

In the field of personal computer hardware, Chen Zhiwen is actually not very sure about the future of Midea. However, with the various terminal retail channels he has prepared and the fact that he can rely on mainland production to reduce costs in the future, there will always be some markets. It may not be as good as several other products, which can gain a huge market share.

Even so, it is entirely possible to gain share in this market through other methods, such as investment. Lenovo, Dell, etc. in later generations have not yet appeared. Although history may have changed in this life, it will not affect these founders. The ability, they will succeed sooner or later, I just need to pay attention in advance and wait for the right investment opportunity. In the next ten years, Chen Zhiwen is also more confident that he can have a stronger influence on retail terminals in Europe and the United States, plus a Best Buy that specializes in retailing electronic products. You have to cooperate with him more or less, and some giants who can grow up in future generations have the capital to negotiate when they are young.

Of course, Lenovo's situation is still a bit special, and it may need to intervene at that time, and how to do it will need to be decided according to the situation at that time.

And some software is the main market of Midea Group in the computer field in the future. Word and Excel are just the beginning. Otherwise, the various software of the company needs to be matched with different brands of computers. Not to mention the heavy workload, it is easy to give other opportunities to competitors.

However, the operating system, Midea can’t do it. The main reason is naturally that if you want to obtain huge benefits in this area, you must have the strongest global hegemonic government behind it. Even European companies can create better quality products. There is no way to popularize the system. Besides, from a technical point of view, the windows system also needs to rely on Intel, which is also one of the important technology companies in the United States, and outsiders cannot operate it.

Since there is no way to operate it, it is natural to find a way to obtain some economic benefits.

After staying in Los Angeles for a few days and learning more about the achievements of Midea's US branch, Chen Zhiwen came to Redmond, Washington, USA, where Microsoft was founded and will be its future headquarters.

Although Washington state and the city of Washington share the same name, their locations are far apart. It is located in the northeast of the United States, next to Canada, and thousands of kilometers away from Washington, the capital of the United States, one east and one west.

The person who came to pick him up was the deputy director of Citibank in Washington State. Following Chen Zhiwen's company's siege in the global market, he has also cooperated with Citibank on many large-scale investments, involving tens of millions of dollars. , naturally became a super VIP customer of Citibank.

"Mr. Chen, hello, I'm Miller, the director of Citibank in Washington State." A middle-aged lady about 50 years old said very politely.

"Hello, Ms. Miller." Chen Zhiwen also politely replied. In the financial field, there are many female assistants of various kinds, but few are in high positions.

"Mr. Chen, we have prepared the presidential suite of the Intercontinental Hotel, you can take a good rest first." Miller said with a smile.

Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, "No need, it's only two hours from Los Angeles, so let's get down to business first? Is it convenient for me to go to Microsoft's headquarters now?"

"Of course, the two founders of Microsoft welcome you very much." Miller said.

"Okay, then let's go first." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Although, in his capacity, he already has a great reputation in the US technology industry, especially the history of investing in Apple, making him an idol in the investment industry.

However, it is not suitable to suddenly come here to find Microsoft. The famous one belongs to the famous one, but who knows if it is the person who came here? It is also necessary to give Gates and others a buffer time. Therefore, it is most convenient to have an intermediary who both parties know and have status to introduce.

It’s okay to find Jobs. Jobs also knew Bill Gates, but the history of the two is a bit entangled. Microsoft has also cooperated with Citibank in Washington State, so it naturally entrusted Citigroup.

The car soon came to a small five-story office building. There was no company logo on the building itself, but a "MICROSOFT" company logo was placed across the gate.

After everyone got out of the car, Chen Zhiwen saw the world-famous face of the later generations at a glance: Bill Gates, there is another person beside him, who is relatively thin, and it should be Paul Allen who will be diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma next year. Generally speaking, people basically can't live long, but because of the money, this man has been using the most expensive treatment to renew his life, and then lived until 2018.

"Hello, Mr. Chen. It's a pleasure to meet you." After seeing Chen Zhiwen and his group get off the car, Bill Gates immediately stepped forward and said. It is not difficult to know the appearance. Besides, although there are other Asian faces on the scene, the status is obviously different.

"Mr. Gates, hello." Chen Zhiwen also shook hands with a smile. Bill Gates, regardless of his status in the field of science and technology, is worthy of respect for his investment in charity in the future. For tax avoidance purposes, the Gates Foundation also keeps most of its charitable funds in the United States, but this volume is too large. Even if a small part is given to people in need, the number of people who are helped is still very large. Some are also donated to the Mainland.

"Let me introduce. This is my friend and co-founder of Microsoft Paul Allen. This is the CEO of Microsoft." Bill Gates introduced several heavyweights one after another, and the others are just passers-by. up.

Chen Zhiwen responded politely. Then, under the leadership of Gates, Chen Zhiwen and his team visited Microsoft's headquarters and laboratories.

Afterwards, several people came to an office, which should belong to Gates. In the reception area facing the sun, there were several luxurious sofas.

After sitting down, a secretary brought coffee, and Chen Zhiwen said, "Mr. Gates, I came to Microsoft this time because I actually want to reach a certain level of cooperation in the field of software."

"Mr. Chen, please tell me." Bill Gates immediately became interested. Whether it is the other party's capital or Midea's position in the electronic field, they are much stronger than Microsoft. It must be of great significance.

"I know that IBM currently uses the operating system provided by Microsoft. Although Midea has released its own personal computer, the operating system is still not perfect, so we also want to introduce Microsoft's operating system." Chen Zhiwen said.

At the end of last year, Microsoft and IBM reached a cooperation to provide IBM with the operating system on personal computers. It can also be said that this is the predecessor of windows.

This cooperation is of great significance in the history of computers. IBM outsourced the software of the operating system to Microsoft because of its excessive focus on hardware. Microsoft also obtained the first pot of gold and a large number of customers through the massive users of this platform. , thus starting the iterative upgrade of its own operating system, and eventually evolved into the technology giant Microsoft of later generations.

This is the starting point of the rise of Microsoft. Therefore, Chen Zhiwen has been waiting for this matter to be completed before he found it. Otherwise, he would intervene in Microsoft prematurely. If their cooperation with IBM is lost, it will completely change history. Well, this point is different from investing in Apple at the beginning. The rise of Apple is entirely due to Woz's strong technical ability and Jobs' market acumen. Whoever contributes the funds is the same.

Moreover, now that Midea has launched its own computer, the cooperation with Microsoft is even more justifiable.

"That's no problem. We can definitely give Midea a preferential price, the same as IBM." Bill Gates said with a beaming smile. Although Midea's computer has just started now, the capital behind it is strong. In the entire United States, it is estimated that there are only a handful of comparable computers. Moreover, the split design, office software and game software launched by Midea have been well received by many IT enthusiasts and The praise from the media shows that this potential is huge. It may not be as good as IBM, but if its own operating system can have one more market, it is definitely better to have one more market.

"The price can be negotiated, but I think your operating system is not perfect at the moment. It would be better if there are some supplements." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"What supplement?" Bill Gates asked curiously.

"Your system platform is very good, with a high level of fluency, but these alone are not enough. If you add my company's Word, Excel and a few games to it, it will definitely be more popular." Chen Zhiwen said again.