Starting From the Chip in 1991

Chapter 62 You Have the Final Say

Su Yuanshan slumped on the sofa, rubbing his forehead continuously.

Earlier, Lin Yonggu had casually suggested "let's have a few drinks," and he really ended up drinking a few cups with him...

Now his body was clearly struggling to keep up.

Still, it had created an opportunity for Chen Jianguo to help support him, leaving the two senior brothers alone to have a private conversation.

"Right now, the photolithography machines we've come into contact with over there are all at a 1-micron line width," Chen Jianguo said with a wry smile, sighing.

"And their newest machines have already reached 0.5 microns."

"But even so, the veterans over at Huajing are absolutely thrilled."

"No choice," Su Yuanshan said, opening his eyes, which were once again clear and sharp.

"We simply don't have anything comparable.

For them, it's a priceless opportunity to see cutting-edge technology firsthand.

Once Huajing brings back a production line, their people will instantly become seasoned experts."

"Huajing got the approval?"

Chen Jianguo was surprised.

He knew that Su Yuanshan had been helping Huajing behind the scenes.

"Before I left, I gave Deputy Manager Ma a call," Su Yuanshan said, smiling.

"I asked if there was any message he wanted me to deliver.

He didn't have much to say, but he did mention that project 908 should be officially approved soon."

"However, the funding would likely come through special-purpose loans. And..."

Su Yuanshan chuckled, "those bastards at the foreign exchange bureau have been eyeing our foreign currency account ever since."

Thanks to Yang Yiwen's family background and Yuanchip's strong negotiation efforts,

they had managed to keep a large part of their foreign exchange holdings when setting up the account — a rare privilege at the time.

Chen Jianguo burst out laughing:

"Don't tell me the foreign exchange authority wants us to lend money to Huajing?"

"Deputy Manager Ma's insider information suggests exactly that," Su Yuanshan said, laughing lightly.

"But it won't be a loan — it'll be a currency swap."

"Anyway, we were planning to use foreign currency this year to buy land and build a new facility.

So if we can leverage that to gain some goodwill, it's not a bad deal."

"Mm.

What about SOYO?"

Chen Jianguo asked, curious.

"Why are they approaching us?"

Su Yuanshan sat up straighter and smiled.

"It's nothing more than money and technology."

"Intel may have purchased our EDA tools, but their new CPU designs are reportedly still using Synopsys.

That means they're close to completing their design.

And that, in turn, means they'll soon hand out the technical specifications to motherboard manufacturers."

"If they release a new CPU without matching motherboards available, it would be a huge embarrassment."

"SOYO suffered because they didn't have strong in-house design capabilities.

Now they're desperate to align with us — it's perfectly understandable."

In the private dining room, the dishes had been cleared away, and the waiter served tea.

Chen Daohua's eyebrows were furrowed into a deep frown.

"Brother Lin, what do you think that young Su General Manager meant?"

Lin Yonggu blew gently on his tea, took a long pause, and then shook his head:

"All I know is — Yuanchip is not short of money."

Sitting beside them, Chen Jing spoke softly:

"I did a simple check on their EDA sales from last year to now.

Given their pricing model, they must have achieved close to 100 million U.S. dollars in sales since October."

"With salaries, costs, and construction expenses in the mainland being so low, and no news of them investing in a wafer fab,

how could they possibly be short of cash?"

"He even had the nerve to call me a rich man," Chen Daohua sighed deeply.

Lin Yonggu chuckled:

"Come on, by mainland standards, anyone from the island is practically a millionaire."

"Never mind rich or poor," Chen Daohua waved it off.

"Xiao Jing calculated it roughly — we're short about five million U.S. dollars if we want to build the factory."

"Brother Lin, could you help somehow?"

"That much?"

Lin Yonggu was shocked.

"I remember three years ago when ASUS was founded, their starting capital was just 2 million New Taiwan dollars."

"We're building a big plant from the start,"

Chen Daohua said, frowning again.

Mentioning ASUS made his stomach turn.

Those young upstarts had launched a 486 motherboard six months ahead of the veterans —

and within a year, their monthly shipments had exceeded thirty thousand units.

It was already more than SOYO's OEM shipments.

Although Su Yuanshan had praised him earlier,

Lin Yonggu understood clearly:

in the current motherboard market, Chen Daohua was a fading king.

Without a change, sooner or later, they would all be trampled underfoot by newcomers like ASUS, GIGABYTE, and MSI.

Chen Daohua himself also understood this very well.

The new generation was succeeding precisely because they were technically strong.

If they partnered with Yuanchip, at least in design and technical strength, they would no longer lag behind Intel's latest CPUs.

After thinking for a long time, Lin Yonggu finally said softly:

"I only have about four hundred thousand dollars available.

It's nothing compared to what you need."

"And to be honest, since you've come to Yuanchip already,

maybe you should just test their sincerity —

ask clearly how much funding they're willing to accept, and how much equity they want."

Chen Daohua sighed:

"Let's wait until after tomorrow's site visit."

...

That afternoon, Lin Yonggu and Chen Jianguo flew back.

Chen Daohua and his sister stayed at the same hotel as Su Yuanshan's group for convenience.

After Pan Xiaojun and Sun Xihui returned from their errands,

the five of them gathered for another dinner.

The next day, Pan Xiaojun and Sun Xihui continued handling branch office business.

Before they left, they asked Liang Xiaoliang from Shenzhen to come pick up Su Yuanshan's group from Luohu.

Liang Xiaoliang drove a Mazda.

Su Yuanshan sat in the front passenger seat, occasionally chatting with Chen Daohua,

while Liang Xiaoliang introduced the area in detail as he drove.

"President Chen, we're now in Luohu.

Because of the proximity to Hong Kong, the main industry here is trade."

"For electronics, the factories are mainly concentrated over in Futian.

I'll take you to have a look."

"Heh, as long as you say you're here to invest,

my car can drive straight into government buildings.

They'll roll out the red carpet.

You won't even have to get out of the car to get a plot of land."

Chen Daohua smiled and nodded:

"Let's go have a look then.

No need to disturb the officials just yet."

Chen Jing wasn't so easily fooled by the bragging.

She asked softly:

"What about tax policies and land costs?"

"Depends on the nature of your project,"

Liang Xiaoliang explained.

"But basically, there are lots of incentives.

Especially for IT companies.

If you bring in advanced production lines and technology, the government will love you."

He chuckled:

"Even the district chief has asked me several times if Yuanchip would set up a development center here."

"I told him... that decision's above my pay grade."

Su Yuanshan laughed:

"For R&D, it's still better to stay in the poor provinces.

Cheaper wages, cheaper living costs."

"If it weren't for the risk of starving,

I would move the whole development center to the Gobi Desert."

Liang Xiaoliang burst into laughter.

The Mazda drove toward Futian District.

All around them were bustling factories;

freight trucks and private cars zipped past,

and workers in uniform rushed along the sidewalks.

When they reached the edge of an undeveloped area,

Chen Daohua asked Liang Xiaoliang to pull over.

Standing by the roadside, Chen Daohua took a deep breath as he surveyed the surroundings.

Along the way, he had been very satisfied by what he saw:

factories working at full capacity,

workers moving with purpose.

This was clearly a fast-paced, energetic industrial zone.

"Young Su General Manager, what do you think of this plot?"

"It's good," Su Yuanshan said with a glance toward Chen Jing —

who had just graduated from UC Berkeley's economics program — and smiled.

"President Chen, how much are you planning to invest?"

Chen Daohua's tone grew serious:

"Nine million dollars."

Su Yuanshan raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised:

"Big move.

What's the planned production volume?"

"Six to eight hundred thousand units annually."

Su Yuanshan did some mental math.

If Intel didn't cause any disruptions,

those volumes should be absorbable —

assuming Chen Daohua had strong enough channels.

After thinking it over, Su Yuanshan decided to be direct.

"How much funding are you short?"

Chen Daohua hesitated only a moment, then answered frankly:

"To reach full capacity...

we're short about five million dollars."

Su Yuanshan frowned slightly.

Chen Jing also looked at him and said gently:

"General Manager Su, are you worried about our distribution channels?"

Su Yuanshan turned his head in slight surprise.

This girl had seen through his concerns in an instant —

he wasn't worried about technology; he was only worried about sales.

Chen Jing smiled, lifted her hand, and bent her fingers one by one:

"First, we're the first professional motherboard factory on the island.

We have credibility and strength."

"Second, we already have marketing offices in California, the Netherlands, and Germany."

"Finally, once we enter,

we can easily dominate the mainland market."

Su Yuanshan tilted his head slightly, then smiled slowly.

"Alright," he said.

"You have the final say."

Chen Jing blinked in surprise, unsure whether Su Yuanshan was joking.

"Yuanchip can put up the money," Su Yuanshan added calmly.

"But forget about using technology to gain equity."

"Otherwise, Yuanchip could just use our own technology for shares — and I'm sure Brother Lin already told you,

we have the capability to design any chip we want."

He smiled lightly, but his gaze was firm.

"And as for operations,"

"You'll be in charge."

(End of Chapter 62)

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