The Industrial Giant Reborn

"You want Midea to place the production of game consoles in Shekou?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"Yes, I have done some research. First, although Hong Kong's economy is not doing well and there is a crisis, the labor cost in Hong Kong has not dropped. It is still about the same as the previous two years. Compared with Shekou, it is ten times higher. Second, I also found that the current production capacity in Hong Kong has been far behind the order demand of Midea electronics. The cost is a little lower, but it’s still not as good as mine in Shekou.” Yuan Geng analyzed that since he wanted a big order from others, he had already made preparations and checked a lot of information.

"But at Wanwan, the most important thing is not labor costs, but a mature industrial chain, a large number of high-quality workers and engineers in the electronics industry. As early as the 1960s, Wanwan began to cultivate the electronics industry, and even several universities I have relevant majors, which is the reason why I prefer to produce in Wanwan, and Shekou can’t compare in this area, right?” Chen Zhiwen asked rhetorically.

Hong Kong's production capacity, although Chen Zhiwen has long been prepared, still cannot keep up with the needs of the European, American and Japanese markets. This is actually quite normal. In the original history, after Nintendo's Gameboy became popular, it was not enough to find OEMs in Japan. In the end, it was relying on Wanwan to guarantee the production capacity. The current Midea is only in the handheld market, which is no worse than the original Nintendo in history. In addition, home game consoles, game cassettes, some arcade machines, etc. are added. The first two The number of millions of units is easily enough, and the city of Hong Kong is naturally not enough.

When choosing Wanwan, in addition to the similar language and culture, there is also its electronic foundation.

Even the success of TSMC is inseparable from the support of the electronics industry and the training of a large number of talents by the Gulf government for more than ten years.

"We are indeed lacking in this area, but we can definitely attract talents from other cities. Mr. Chen may not know that at present, many talents in China are willing to come to Shenhai City, and our attraction in Shekou is even stronger!" Yuan Geng said. .

"Major Yuan, if you want Midea to transfer some more production capacity, it's actually not a big problem. Hong Kong has always had this plan, but the core industries related to games are not available for the time being, at least in the last two or three years. Not very good." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, "Besides, when we invest in a place, we are also optimistic that this place has all kinds of infrastructure, talent pool, transportation environment, etc. we need, instead of the other way around, we invest first, and then the place Slowly improve to meet our needs. In this case, it is impossible for any company in the world to do this kind of thing.

Unless it is a very low-end industry, a personnel-intensive industry that can be built with only a little electricity, in that case, it can be invested as long as it is almost ready. "

Electric fans and radios actually belong to this category. When labor costs and factory rental costs in Hong Kong increased a few years ago, they needed to be transferred out. It was actually possible to go to Wanwan at that time, but Chen Zhiwen knew that Wanwan The labor cost will also be higher and higher in a few years, and the mainland just opened, and the Shekou Industrial Zone can be a sole proprietorship. At the same time, due to the large scale of its industry, it helps the Shekou Industrial Zone by the way, but it is not free Yes, just provide loan assistance!

"Then transfer a little bit here first, how about we try it out? If the effect is good, let's discuss the next step? How about it? In terms of taxation, we can give more preferential treatment." Yuan Geng thought for a while and said again, he I also know that it is a bit difficult to transfer other people's core industries.

"Actually, even if the production of game consoles is placed in Shekou, you can only assemble them. The core PCB board production is a high-tech process. We only have a small part in Hong Kong, and most of them are outsourced. As for The chips in it cannot be manufactured in Hong Kong." Chen Zhiwen said.

"It doesn't matter, we will do the assembly first, and I don't want to make those high-tech electronic products. After the assembly is completed, we can also make the most basic plastic parts of the shell and internal wires. In fact, Shekou already has these. The factory used to supply fans, and the requirements were not high." Yuan Geng said with a smile.

"I can arrange some consoles to be produced in Shekou, but can they be sold domestically?" Chen Zhiwen asked after thinking for a moment.

Originally, the handheld home game consoles under his banner were only prepared for Europe, America, Japan and some Southeast Asian markets. Domestically, he didn’t pay much attention to them. They were mainly game products, not necessities of life. Theoretically speaking, the central government would definitely I will not agree to this kind of thing entering the domestic market. Although there are various other methods that can still enter the domestic market, if they cannot be sold openly, then the market will not be very large.

But since the country wants its own production capacity, it is natural for me to propose the need for the domestic market, so that everyone can make money.

"This may be a bit difficult!" Yuan Geng said with a frown.

"Isn't it okay to maintain foreign exchange balance?" Chen Zhiwen said.

"It's mainly products like games, which may be a little troublesome in China." Yuan Geng said with some embarrassment: "And I know the price of Midea's game consoles. Even an ordinary handheld may be worth a lot of people in China. monthly salary."

"There is no shortage of rich people in China." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. The domestic average economy is indeed not doing well, but the high-end consumption capacity is still not bad, such as air conditioners, in the mid-1980s, the domestic price of an air conditioner cost several thousand, because the country is currently short of electricity, and there is an additional charge for the installation of large electrical appliances. Air conditioners generally need to charge 1,000-3,000 yuan according to power consumption, but even so, the annual sales of air conditioners can reach 50,000 to 100,000 units.

"Well, I'll inquire about this matter. If it can be sold in a reasonable amount in China, I will send someone to notify Mr. Chen." Yuan Geng said.

"Okay, if possible, I will definitely build a game console assembly factory in Shekou." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

Although Midea is a non-listed company, relevant personnel can roughly know the cost by dismantling Midea’s equipment, and combined with the selling price of the terminal, you can know the huge profits. Although many people in the mainland have missed the development of the electronic age, such a big With a large population base, there will always be someone with this ability.

Domestic demand for foreign exchange in the 1980s can be said to be endless. It is said that in the past two years, gold has been sold to balance the foreign exchange deficit. Too much equipment needs to be imported, especially the domestic leadership has a far-sighted vision and knows that heavy industry is the next few decades. Therefore, no matter how difficult it is now, it is necessary to introduce various steel, chemical, petroleum, chemical fertilizer and other equipment. The production lines of these equipment cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and the pressure on domestic foreign exchange is indescribable.

However, the development of later generations has proved that it is precisely because of the huge heavy industry foundation that the domestic economy has been advancing courageously after entering the 21st century, with almost no pause. This is a very rare case. It must be known that foreign investment was attracted earlier than domestic reform Southeast Asian countries, Mexico, South American countries, Eastern European countries, etc., are born with various geographical advantages, but after a certain level of development, they stagnate. The fundamental reason is that there is no heavy industry. In global history, except for the mainland, only Japan and South Korea has followed the same route.

Now that the foreign exchange reserves are almost falling to zero, domestic parties naturally want to earn more foreign exchange. The same is true for the Shekou Industrial Zone. This is the vanguard of the reform, and all parts of the country are paying attention to it.

Chen Zhiwen doesn't mind relocating part of his production capacity to China, which can create foreign exchange, employment and reduce his own costs for the country. However, he still needs his own products to enter the domestic market.

In fact, even if you don't enter the country by yourself, there will be domestic imitators after a few years. The market's demand for games is inevitable, so it's better to let yourself get it, which should be your own.

"Mr. Chen, there is one more thing. The second phase of the Shekou port is about to be built. If you need to continue the joint venture, you need to send relevant personnel over here." Yuan Geng continued.

"Oh, the export volume of Shekou has grown so fast?" Chen Zhiwen said in amazement. You must know that the export volume of the first phase of Shekou Port he invested in was 30 times that of the Shekou Industrial Park at that time. It took only two years. Such a big increase?

"It is impossible to rely on Shekou alone. No matter how good the economy of the Shekou Industrial Zone is, it is only such a big place. The main reason is that a large amount of goods have begun to be exported through Shekou from Shenhai City. This is also thanks to the port built by Mr. Chen. It is semi-automatic equipment with extremely high efficiency, and the price of exporting here is much cheaper than going to Hong Kong, and most importantly, it costs less foreign exchange." Yuan Geng said.

"That's the way to go, okay, I'll let He Huang send people over." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

In the original history, the total area of ​​Shekou was only 2 square kilometers, and it was all messy light industries, and the export volume was very low. Naturally, the ports at that time were also very ordinary, and basically all Hong Kong-funded factories. The function is actually to pack the goods and transport them by sea to the port in Hong Kong before exporting to other parts of the world.

But now it is different. The suppliers of Midea and Xinghe Trade have built large-scale factories in Shekou, and the export volume of goods has increased by dozens of times. The port invested by Hutchison is also very international. Yugang directly attracted some international freighters and opened up a complete closed loop.

At the same time, because of the better economy, the traffic from Shekou to Shenhai City is not bad, which naturally leads to more Shenhai factories exporting from Shekou instead of spending more foreign exchange to take the Hong Kong route.

"This time, we are also planning to expand the port a bit bigger. This is actually the meaning of Shenhai City. The Yantian Port in Shenhai City is estimated to take a few years to build, but the export of Shenhai City can't wait. " Yuan Geng said.

"Yantian Port?" Chen Zhiwen's face was slightly moved, and he asked, "Is Yantian Port ready to start construction?"

Although the port is an important business of Hutchison, Chen Zhiwen doesn't care too much about it. Now that he heard the name, he remembered that Yantian port will be one of the big ports in China in the future.

"The scale of the planned project is very small, and the investment in the first phase is only 900,000 yuan." Yuan Geng asked a little strangely. He felt that Chen Zhiwen seemed to be interested in this project, but it was only a 900,000 yuan project? Shouldn't it?