The Industrial Giant Reborn

As early as 1981, IBM launched a small portable computer, which can be said to be the first generation concept of a notebook computer. However, it did not have a battery and needed to be connected to a power source. At that time, lithium battery technology was still in theory. Later in 1985, it was also Just last year, Toshiba launched a T1100 small portable computer, equipped with an Intel 8086 processor of less than 1MHz, equipped with a 9-inch monochrome display and equipped with an MS-DOS operating system.

However, even at that time, the actual use of the T1100 was not great, because its performance was far inferior to that of desktop computers of the same period, it was inconvenient to use, and the body was too heavy compared to the notebooks we saw later. Not convenient to carry. It has no commercial value and doesn’t sell much. At most, it makes people in the industry start to see this development direction.

"With the current chip technology, miniaturization is still very difficult. Whether it is heat dissipation, performance requirements, or weight, it is difficult to solve it. The clarity of the liquid crystal is not high and the cost is also very expensive." Woz thought for a while. He said that he had briefly researched portable computers, and finally concluded that it was difficult to make such a computer that could be used normally.

"It is indeed difficult to miniaturize, but computer companies around the world are working in this direction, so we cannot miss it. Your desktop computer has been successfully developed, and the marketing operation department will take over later. The technical department only needs to cooperate with some after-sales service That’s it, the next task is to conquer this portable computer, otherwise, it will be difficult for us Midea to gain a foothold in the computer hardware market." Chen Zhiwen said.

Chen Zhiwen has also seen the desktop computer developed by Woz. It is naturally far inferior to the computers that Chen Zhiwen has access to in later generations, but it is not bad compared to what is on the market. For the technical department, it has done everything it can. But it may not necessarily be successful. There are many factors for the success of a product, which is a combination of technology, quality, operation, and opportunity. Many times, no matter how good the other items are, if none of them works, it may fail. Therefore, in the past, The desktop market is in serious decline. A good computer can only be said to be the foundation for success. What happens next depends on management, operations and market opportunities.

But portable computers are different. This market has not yet begun. If related products are launched first, it will gain the same advantages as Apple once did. Especially nowadays, office software and computer games are both areas where Midea is strong. Portable computers, There is no need for any other high performance. If these two things can run normally, it can satisfy almost all consumers in the market. This will open a huge breakthrough and completely impact the entire computer industry.

Of course, it is still very difficult. It is difficult to suppress the weight to less than 3KG and run even simple office software and small games, not to mention problems such as heat dissipation. The smaller the electronic product, the more expensive it is. Expensive, this is the reason why mobile phones in later generations are much more expensive than pads.

Chen Zhiwen knows the direction of computer development, but he can only provide opinions. The product itself still needs a high-tech team to develop. In the field of software, Prophet Golden Finger has an advantage. He can put forward specific requirements and the technicians can implement them. Even if it cannot be realized, Chen Zhiwen can clearly understand that he does not need to understand the internal structure of the software to participate in the command, but the computer hardware is completely blind, and he cannot give guidance on anything. He can only rely on his team to operate it. Therefore, in terms of talents, Chen Zhiwen is also willing to invest heavily. Not only Woz, but also the hundreds of professional talents that Woz has hired. Chen Zhiwen also pays high salaries. The purpose is to develop the computer market. This The most important of them is the upcoming laptop computer.

"Okay, I will try my best, but such a project requires a lot of funds." Woz added.

"Funding is not a problem." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. Not to mention Midea's huge profits in the game market every year, "The King of Fighters", which was just launched a few months ago, can bring in at least hundreds of millions of dollars in net profit in the first year, even if it declines later. , hundreds of millions a year is not a problem. With such a large amount of funds, it is easy to support the development of laptop computers.

"Okay, I will go back and think about the most basic plan." Woz nodded and said.

"Structurally speaking, I won't ask for more, because I don't understand it either. You can negotiate internally and show it to me when it's ready. As long as there are no big problems, I should agree." Chen Zhiwen added: "However, compared to Toshiba's T1100, our notebook, needs to come with a battery, which ensures that customers can use our computer for a short period of time when there is no power supply around them."

"Battery? Eric, are you talking about the lithium battery?" Woz thought for a while and asked. An ordinary battery can support ordinary handheld game consoles and calculators without any problem, but for computers that require large-scale calculations, it is simply not enough. It may run out of power in a few minutes, and it also takes up a lot of space. Space and weight conflict with the definition of "portable". Only lithium batteries that are still based on theory can have this commercial value. Although this technology has nothing to do with Woz's previous research, he is also very concerned about cutting-edge knowledge in some scientific and technological fields. Therefore, he knows what fields various major companies or countries have made achievements in, so that he can also apply them at the right time. These technologies are combined with own research and development.

"Yes, the lithium batteries in the laboratories of some large companies in Japan have not been officially commercialized yet, but I estimate that they will be commercialized soon. You just need to communicate with them about the specific situation. If there is another big customer, they will not Rejected." Chen Zhiwen said.

Although Midea Group has also invested in the battery industry and opened a battery manufacturing factory in Shenhai City, Mainland China, and has also established a domestic research and development team for battery technology, the gap between it and the traditional giants is still relatively large. The purpose of Chen Zhiwen's investment is also In the future, we can avoid the possibility of being manipulated by strong suppliers, but there is still no way now. However, whether it is lithium batteries or liquid crystals, although Japan's technology is advanced, the scale of these industries is still not very large. Therefore, the client It is still very tough, such as LCD panels. Midea's handheld console is the largest customer of several major Japanese LCD giants. At least for now, Japanese suppliers are still relatively polite to Midea. Of course, this is also because in Taiwan and South Korea , there are also latecomers catching up. Once Midea moves its orders, it will create competitors for its Japanese counterparts.

As long as the balance is well controlled, as a major customer, he will not be restricted in turn. Before Samsung became the dominant company, this problem was easy to solve. In order to avoid possible problems in the 1990s, Chen Zhiwen also spared no effort to support BOE in the future. Encourage them to enter the LCD industry, and also specially hand over some of the most basic small handheld LCD chips to Yanjing No. 1 Electronics Factory. Even the equipment was purchased with a loan from Hisense Bank. At present, it is natural to profit from it in the short term. It’s unlikely, but as long as Yanjing No. 1 Electronics Factory can gain a firm foothold in this industry, it will definitely get support from the mainland government in the future. In this way, it can go back to the historical route of BOE, especially now. Have your own support.

As for the battery industry, BYD was able to do it in the previous life, which means that it also has opportunities. Even if it cannot be that big, as long as it has some technical production capacity and is not stuck. Or, if one day Comrade Boatman can still rise, he can also invest again. It is easier to succeed than LCD, chips, etc.

"Okay, I will go to Japan to take a look when I have time." Woz nodded and said.

"I am also planning to buy a private jet in the United States with a range of two to three thousand miles for the use of the company's senior executives. You will have the first priority when the time comes." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. He plans to provide a private jet to the senior executives in Hong Kong, but in any case, it is not used frequently in Hong Kong. It is not a big problem to use it occasionally for senior executives in Europe and the United States. One day, when the company is larger, it can be According to the region, such as Asia, America, and Europe, one car each is enough. Even if several high-level officials meet together, they can negotiate to stagger the time. Unless they are meeting with the president or prime minister of a country, otherwise they should not As for having to use the plane on a certain day.

"Private plane? Okay." Woz nodded. He didn't care too much. In the American business world, it is actually normal for senior executives to use private planes.

"OK, I'll thank you for the hard work in this regard." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

"Nothing, I'm also happy to develop such a practical product." Woz smiled and said.

For Midea, there are hundreds of thousands of projects in progress every day. The normal behavior of these technology companies is to cast the net everywhere, and then when there is a fish in the net, they will invest a lot of resources into it. Therefore, these things , Chen Zhiwen will basically not interfere unless a project is really a huge success, and the projects that he pays special attention to are the kind of projects that can affect future technology, such as laptops.

However, as more and more time passes, the development of one's own industry becomes more dependent on forming a large-scale corporate team, especially when it comes to the research and development of various technologies.

On the contrary, in those investment fields, the power of his golden finger remains the same as before.

For example, when investing in Japan, after the five superpowers signed the Plaza Accord in Tokyo in September last year, the yen began to appreciate. The exchange rate against the US dollar rose by nearly 25% in just three months. The entire group has more than The company's investment in Japan immediately received huge returns. Even if it was an increase in wealth on paper, as long as it could be cashed out at any time, it would be real money. Especially Chen Zhiwen also knew that all this was just the beginning. In addition to the exchange rate against the U.S. dollar that will continue to rise in the Japanese market, its own real estate market will experience an even crazier increase than the Hong Kong market. The time is short but the increase is high, which is very suitable for short-term investment. When it is close to the peak, you can gradually cash out and leave the market.

Hong Kong's real estate is suitable for long-term investment. Although the growth rate is not as high as that of Japan, from this year to the 2020s of the 21st century, it gradually fell by half between 1998 and 2003. But this half is actually At the peak in 1997, the actual value of house prices in 2003 was almost the same as in 1995, which is equivalent to eight years of no movement. Then starting from 2003, it continued to rise and lasted for almost another 20 years. Not to mention such an increase No matter how many times the price rises, even the rental income can recover the basic initial cost.

There are currently two large-scale projects in Hong Kong, one is Disneyland and the other is the Tin Shui Wai Town Project. Both are in the early stages, and both were planned by Chen Zhiwen and given to Land. Once these two projects are completed, Land will also receive additional With two more sources of income, it will be easier to expand in other parts of the world, such as the mainland, in the future.

Time soon came to April 1986.

The mainland government issued the Catalog of Industries to Encourage Foreign Investment, half a year earlier than in the original history. This may also be due to Chen Zhiwen’s butterfly effect. As the largest foreign investor in the mainland, he has three major projects in Yanjing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. A huge amount of money has been invested in this economic circle, which has created more than one million direct and indirect jobs. The annual economic benefits will be measured in billions of dollars. Such a scale of impact is beneficial for triggering the mainland government to launch foreign cooperation in advance. policy is also normal.

The entire "Catalogue of Industries Encouraging Foreign Investment" has a total of 22 items. The last two items are about the right of interpretation and effective time. The first 20 items are about the content. To sum up, foreign-invested factories are allowed to operate under the condition that the foreign exchange balance can be ensured. For sole proprietorship to produce domestically, there is no need for a joint venture and the chairman does not need to be a mainlander. Some high-tech industries will also have some special discounts, etc.

The opening of liberalization is not very large, including commerce, real estate, service industries and other industries, and foreign investment will still not be allowed to be arbitrary and unrestricted. However, for the manufacturing industry, it is a new beginning. Once this policy is released, a large number of Foreign-funded factories can freely come in to invest, at least doing the simplest three-to-one supplement, which is completely fine.

Especially for some low-end factories in Japan, it is simply the most suitable place to invest. They themselves are being troubled by the rapid rise in the country's foreign exchange rate and the substantial increase in labor costs. At this time, the country next door where labor costs are less than 1% of Japan's, Investment is being attracted, and the number of knowledge groups is not small. It is still no problem to do the most basic low-end OEM. Therefore, a large number of Japanese low-end industries are beginning to prepare to move to the mainland. Similarly, Hong Kong and Bay Area The same is true.

The mainland market is ushering in the spring of investment, and Chen Zhiwen is naturally happy to see it. At the same time, he also needs to get involved. (End of chapter)