Chapter 572: The Only Seedling

Hearing that the Dongxin Hanxi chip factory project was only willing to give them 12.5% of the equity, Walden was quite dissatisfied.

But this time, Dai Er did not speak up to refute. The main reason was still Li Dongling's words just now. This chip factory was not Dongxin begging them to invest, but giving Walden an opportunity to invest. There was a world of difference in this!

If it were begging Walden to invest, then Dongxin would have to give up the controlling stake to Walden and let Walden be the major shareholder.

But now, it was the Dongxin Hanxi chip factory giving Walden an opportunity to enter a domestic chip factory. Letting Walden make money along with them was fine, but they would definitely not give the controlling stake to the other party. Otherwise, how could it be said that they were earning money with dignity!

Chen Zuhan was also a bit silent, but he also knew that this chip factory must have a major shareholder who had the final say. Otherwise, with so many domestic and overseas shareholders, who knew how they would pull each other's legs; they would probably exhaust their energy on internal fighting.

Just like SMIC in the previous life, it was truly fought out through internal fighting. This was also the reason why many people were not optimistic about it in the early stage; the factional internal fighting was simply too fierce.

In the early stage, it was the founder's management team and overseas investors fighting like cats and dogs because of the right to speak. Finally, when foreign capital saw that the situation was not right and SMIC was losing too much, they abandoned the stall and ran away, which stopped the internal fighting.

Then there were the mainland factions represented by state-owned enterprises and the municipal government, who wanted SMIC to support the local semiconductor component industrial chain.

And the factions formed by investors and technical personnel from America, Taiwan, Singapore, etc., wanted to play internationalization, which meant they didn't want to cultivate the domestic semiconductor industrial chain but wanted to process for overseas, making profits however high they could.

The international faction didn't care about technology at all; what they wanted was returns, for SMIC's stock price to rise, and then they could cash out. They didn't care about anything else.

Because of different routes and concepts, the two sides fought fiercely, exhausting one batch of management after another.

With an absolute majority shareholder in the Dongxin Hanxi chip factory, there would be no internal fighting. At worst, they could just use a veto at a critical moment!

Chen Zuhan hesitated. Not getting the controlling stake was not good news for Walden or for Gao Sheng, whom he wanted to pull into the water, meaning they couldn't restrain Dongxin.

Overseas investment companies coming to the mainland used to be big bosses. As long as they invested in a project, they were big financiers and could pick on the project. If they couldn't manipulate the invested project, wouldn't they be too stifled as big financiers?

But this time, in front of Li Dongling, the old routine didn't work, because Li Dongling didn't care about their so-called rules at all. On Dongling High-Tech's turf, they had to follow Dongling High-Tech's rules!

"General Manager Li, without rules, there is no square. I hope Dongxin can give Walden and other investors some guarantees!" Chen Zuhan said to Li Dongling.

Not getting the controlling stake, Chen Zuhan couldn't really do nothing. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't be able to explain it to Walden's shareholders.

Chen Zuhan was Walden's founder, it was true, but in the end, he was also a high-level wage earner, helping those who invested money in Walden to manage the money and then give returns to the shareholders.

It was impossible to say that he had let hundreds of millions of US dollars of investors go down the drain without rhyme or reason. Even if his seniority in the world of business was high, he probably couldn't calm the anger of Walden's shareholders, and he wouldn't be able to mix in the investment industry in the future.

"Please speak!"

Wu Xinyi glanced in Li Dongling's direction and then said to Chen Zuhan.

"Walden hopes that the Dongxin Hanxi chip factory can sign a gambling agreement with Walden: within four years, this chip factory must be put into production, and within eight years, it must achieve profitability!"

"If Dongxin cannot do it, it needs to return Walden's investment!"

Chen Zuhan's conditions were not harsh. If the chip factory hadn't been built and put into production in three or four years, it would probably be a failed project, and the money invested would have gone down the drain.

Like SMIC in the previous life building a chip factory, it was built and put into production in less than two years, but that was because SMIC's founder brought a large group of experienced engineers, and with the support of all parties, the domestic chip industry had also had a certain foundation after years of development.

But Dongxin was different. Now there was not so much talent, and building a factory had to be explored by themselves, which would definitely take time.

But no matter how much time it took, it should be built in three years. Four years to put into production, and then four years to gradually become profitable. If it was still losing money after eight years, it was equivalent to a complete semiconductor cycle having passed, which meant that if they couldn't make money when the semiconductor industry was most profitable, they wouldn't want to make money in the future.

Just close down with peace of mind, or it would only be useful to clean up the management from top to bottom...

If the conditions of Chen Zuhan were not met after eight years, then the parent company of the Hanxi chip factory, Dongxin Semiconductor, would have to repay Walden's investment for it.

Li Dongling pondered for a moment, then nodded and extended his hand to Chen Zuhan. "Dongxin can sign this gambling agreement. I hope for a happy cooperation!"

Chen Zuhan also said, "I will reach an agreement with Gao Sheng and other investors as soon as possible. Regardless of whether Gao Sheng joins the investment group, Walden will invest in this project!"

Don't suspect those you use, don't use those you suspect. Li Dongling didn't doubt Chen Zuhan's words. In the previous life, Chen Zuhan invested in a large batch of chip projects in the country. Among them, Walden must have been aiming to make money.

But it was undeniable that Chen Zuhan was indeed optimistic about the domestic chip industry. Otherwise, he wouldn't have invested in domestic chip projects—which were high-risk, high-tech, and high-input, but had long return cycles—one after another when the chip industry was at its lowest point.

……

"The first modern wafer factory in our province officially started construction today. Wu Xinyi, General Manager of the Dongxin Hanxi chip factory, announced that the overall project will be completed within three years."

"The Dongxin Hanxi chip factory will have a series of supporting industrial chains settle in Hanxi in the future. In the future, the Dongxin Semiconductor industrial chain will become a new high-tech industry in our province!"

Domestic media, especially local media in Hanxi, blew hard for Dongxin. The television showed the scene when the Dongxin Hanxi chip factory broke ground and started construction.

Li Dongling, Wu Xinyi, Lin Benjian, Wu Yaoguo, Chen Zuhan, and Zhang Ailun, who represented Gao Sheng—a second-generation Chinese born in America—all held shovels and shoveled some dirt together, declaring the establishment of the chip factory.

It could be seen from the specifications that on the day the chip factory started construction, a group of leaders from the Hanxi Provincial Government basically accompanied them throughout the whole process. On that day, a subsidy of 30 million yuan from the Provincial Government arrived in Dongxin's bank account, which showed how much Hanxi valued this project.

But media such as Hong Kong Phoenix TV, including media in Singapore, Japan, etc., were not so optimistic about the establishment of this chip factory.

"The 8-inch wafer factory project, jointly invested by mainland Dongxin Semiconductor and multiple investment consortia with a total investment of 420 million US dollars, officially started construction today!"

"This is the largest and most technologically advanced chip project in the mainland's chip industry to date, and it is also the first 8-inch wafer factory production line in the mainland!"

"Currently, the global chip industry is entering the era of 8-inch wafer factories. The number of 8-inch wafer factory production lines that have been built or are under construction will reach 70 in the next few years. This 8-inch wafer factory in Hanxi does not have a clear advantage. In addition, the source of future orders is also in doubt!"

"A semiconductor professor at the University of Munich in Germany predicts that wafer factories below 8 inches will be eliminated in the future. Within ten years, the number of 8-inch chip production lines of various types will reach over 199, and the monthly chip production capacity may reach over 5.6 million pieces."

This was the report from Phoenix TV. Whether it was belittling or praising, one could see from the report how weak the domestic semiconductor industry was now. From these news reports, one could see that a project considered top-advanced in the country could only be considered average internationally.

The 8-inch wafer factory that Dongxin spent so much effort to get out, now the whole world already had dozens of production lines. Intel, Infineon, Siemens, IBM, etc., had actually started tentatively researching 12-inch wafer factories.

But regardless of overseas, in the domestic chip industry, when they saw that Dongxin was playing for real and really spent over 420 million US dollars to start a wafer factory, it formed a huge impact on the entire domestic chip industry!

……

"Dongxin really built its own chip factory, and it's an 8-inch one?"

A group of executives within Shougang NEC were also shocked when they saw the news on TV. General Manager Meng Zongwei didn't speak for a long time after seeing the news reported by the media, and finally sighed.

"If Dongxin builds its own chip factory, will the orders given to us be less in the future?" Some Shougang NEC executives couldn't help but worry. If the factory earned less, their rewards and dividends would be less. Could they not worry?

"Pfft!"

A sneer came out. It was the head of Shougang NEC's marketing department. "Last year, Dongxin asked us several times to give orders to Dongxin and increase production capacity, but you didn't care and wanted to prioritize processing for Japan's NEC. If you don't process for others, can't they do it themselves?"

Hearing this targeted remark, Fang Yuanlu, who was very close to Japan's NEC within Shougang NEC and could be considered Japan's NEC's representative in Shougang, couldn't hold back. "NEC is our second-largest shareholder, and our technology upgrade also depends on NEC. If we offend NEC and delay Shougang NEC's 8-inch production line technology upgrade, can you take responsibility?"

Hearing this high hat being pressed down, several Shougang NEC executives were obviously angry but didn't dare to speak. Although Shougang NEC was cooperating with NEC, it had always been suppressed. Clearly, Shougang was the major shareholder, but it looked like it was about to become Japan's NEC's processing factory, completely suppressed by the other party, and even who to produce for had to listen to the other party.

Now NEC was using technology upgrades to threaten Shougang NEC. NEC wanted to use investment and help Shougang NEC upgrade production levels in exchange for Shougang NEC's controlling stake.

The entire Shougang NEC was now completely kidnapped by Japan's NEC. Technology, orders, and main technical engineers were all the other party's. It was probably inevitable that they would have to agree to the other party's conditions in the end.

Meng Zongwei took one last look at the news on TV and then left without a word. When Shougang and NEC cooperated to build the factory back then, they also wanted to achieve something, just like everything Dongxin Semiconductor did today.

But now, Shougang NEC was more like being kidnapped by Japan's NEC, while Dongxin Semiconductor could already independently design and develop chips, and now it was starting to independently produce chips. Everything Dongxin Semiconductor did was what Shougang NEC wanted to do back then!

Now, things were different. Meng Zongwei didn't know what would happen to Shougang NEC in the future, but he was truly a bit envious of Dongxin... ===== CHAPTER 573 =====