Rebirth of Hong Kong's tycoons, shorting Eagle Sauce

In the 1980s, there was a lack of entertainment, and watching TV was the only way for people to have fun.

As long as there was a TV at home, the whole family would wait in front of the TV on New Year's Eve for the party to start.

At this time, the "TV fever" swept across the country's cities and towns.

In economically developed villages, the penetration rate of TVs was nearly 90%.

In the rural concept at that time.

"Buying a TV" was not only a way of entertainment and leisure, but also a symbol of "getting rid of poverty and becoming rich" and "ten thousand yuan households".

Of course, color TVs are still luxury goods, and you can't buy them with money.

You have to buy them with tickets!

Wang Zhengyi certainly knew the value of this invitation.

This invitation is a special round table invitation, the front row that the camera will scan, the main object of interaction between the host and the actors.

The most important thing is that a round table can seat 4 people!

At lunch, Wang Zhengyi proudly took out this invitation in front of the gambling king.

It's very similar to some people in later generations who show off military parade invitations, Olympic opening ceremony tickets, and World Cup tickets in their circle of friends.

"Father-in-law, let's go to Kyoto to watch the Spring Festival Gala live."

Watch the Spring Festival Gala live?

The gambling king was stunned. He was excited and a little sour. Why did Wang Zhengyi have an invitation letter, but he didn't!

The tough gambling king didn't want to see Wang's proud look.

But when he thought of this, it was a good opportunity to show his face in front of the whole country.

He could only grit his teeth and say:

"Okay, let my Chaoqiong drive at that time."

He obviously had a psychological shadow on Wang's driving skills.

Everyone in the group was very happy, but Wang Lei fell into deep thought.

He suddenly thought of a dusty history.

Since the 1980s, Longguo has begun to export color TVs to Xizhou.

Because of the low price, the profits of several local home appliances in Xizhou, such as Philips of the Netherlands, Thomson of France, and Grundig of Germany, have plummeted, and the people of Xizhou are anxious!

Because the profits of home appliances have plummeted, the famous Philips has begun to sell its newly started engraving machine business in order to save itself! ! !

The lithography machine, this magical machine, holds the lifeline of semiconductor technology.

It is the core equipment used to manufacture chips.

Many people know that this is the black technology that the United States is holding us by the neck.

We spend more money on buying chips from abroad every year than on oil!

Once the supply of chips is cut off, it will be a disaster.

As early as the 1960s, Philips was researching lithography machines, and it has many technologies that are at the forefront of the world.

But at this moment, foreigners did not realize the importance of lithography machines, because it costs tens of millions of dollars in research funds every year. Faced with this bottomless pit, Philips once thought about selling the lithography machine business.

They did so. On April Fool's Day in 1984, they completely divested the lithography machine business and established the famous ASML with a small company.

If Wang Zhengyi and the gambling king had not happened to talk about the price of color TVs at the dinner table, he would have almost forgotten this history.

Until the Wassenaar Arrangement signed by the United States in 1996.

The content of the agreement is simply as follows:

The United States and its partners began to open the highest technical barriers and arms embargoes against Longguo, including lithography machines.

Longguo was arranged by the Eagle Sauce.

Thinking of this, Wang Lei avoided the crowd and called Robert first.

"Boss, you want to buy a lithography machine? That thing is not cheap."

"Even if it is not cheap, buy it. Also, ask ASML if it needs funds. I will invest as much as they want."

"If ASML refuses our investment, you threaten them that they are not the only ones researching lithography machines. We, Cayman Capital, have the strength to spend billions of dollars to support its competitors."

Robert immediately realized the importance of lithography machines. It was the first time he saw his boss so eager to acquire a company.

If he were the president of ASML, he would probably agree to Cayman Capital's investment without hesitation.

There is money to be made, and there is also a richer father. Is there anything better than this?

After notifying Robert, Wang Lei thought about it and still felt unsafe, so he called Bandao's vice president Qiu Mingxiang.

Qiu Mingxiang, who was enjoying a rare vacation, immediately called his boss:

"Boss, what do you want?"

There was a sense of alienation in his voice, and he was obviously still upset about Wang Lei asking him to get out last time.

"Mingxiang, I was too serious last time. We have been brothers for so many years, don't you know my temper?"

Qiu Mingxiang was just a little bit irritable in front of Wang Lei. He regretted it as soon as he said it, and quickly adjusted his mood and apologized:

"It's my fault for not managing my employees well.After that incident, I have been reflecting and blaming myself. "

"Stop, everyone makes some mistakes. I want to tell you something serious. Have you heard of ASML?"

ASML has just been reorganized and is not well-known now. It is still a niche track for lithography machines. It is normal that Qiu Mingxiang has not heard of it.

But Qiu Mingxiang said:

"Of course I know. An old colleague of mine is a technical expert at ASML."

Wang Lei was overjoyed and asked hurriedly: "Has he ever considered changing jobs?"

"Boss, do you want to poach him?"

"Yes, I plan to set up a new R&D room in Peninsula to specialize in the development of lithography machine technology."

"As long as you are willing to spend money, it should be easy to poach him. He has complained to me about ASML recently. ”

It turned out that after Philips separated the lithography machine business, it and ASM each invested 210 US dollars to establish ASML.

Not only was the company extremely poor, it did not even have a decent office. Philips built a row of simple mobile cabins in front of its luxurious office building for them to work.

ASML's initial 47 employees all came from Philips' lithography machine team. They thought they were kicked out by Philips and swept out.

Without R&D funds and extremely harsh working conditions, a group of employees were discouraged and their morale was extremely low.

"Mingxiang, no matter how much money it costs, you have to poach your former colleague and tell him that as long as he helps me poach a technician, I will give him a reward of one million US dollars!"

Hearing this, Qiu Mingxiang couldn't help but take a breath.

He understood semiconductor technology and knew the importance of lithography machines, but he still couldn't help asking:

"Boss, it takes a lot of capital to develop lithography machines. Wouldn't it be better for us to buy ready-made ones? ”

“Old Qiu, have you forgotten how you answered me when I asked you why you wanted to study at Stanford?”

“Studying for the rise of China?”

Qiu Mingxiang still remembers that when he said this, the students from Longguo burst into laughter, and only Wang Lei gave him an approving look.

Among his friends who went to study in the United States, only the two of them chose to return to China.

He immediately understood why Wang Lei valued the development of optical machines so much. They could do without them, but they couldn’t live without them!