Reinventing the Millennium

In late April, Yike's performance in the secondary market gradually stabilized.

On the one hand, the first half of the year's press conference was postponed to the last day of this month. The tablet products were routinely upgraded, with the focus on launching the Y-Book equipped with Intel's latest 14nm chip, and some smart home products from cooperative manufacturers were released.

This shows that Yike's business activities are proceeding step by step and have not been greatly affected.

On the other hand, after the breakdown of negotiations with Intel's wafer foundry, Yike has more news in this field. It is said that it has had extensive contacts with Samsung, UMC, and Taiwan News.

Although the contact has not yet produced results, it undoubtedly shows that Yike is actively reducing supply risks.

Yike's doubts have not been resolved, but Yike, which is so successful, seems to have the inertia of successfully solving problems. This is evaluated by many analysts as "the temperament of a great company", and then a new problem is put in front of it.

Who can stop Yike?

The Mars 8.8 series has brought great success to Yike, but it cannot be glorious forever.

In particular, when the ice core is restricted and the wafer manufacturing process cannot bring a new generation of leaps this year like last year, there must always be a hero to stop the big devil.

So, who is it?

On May 3, Samsung released a preview of its new flagship.

It seemed to respond to the expectations of the public, and it stood up without hesitation. It announced that it would hold a mobile phone flagship new product launch conference on May 21, launching new products based on Taiji's 16nm process chips, and launching a new product series named "Glory".

Glory, glory.

Perhaps Trump really couldn't beat Yike, so he could only launch a new series to create Samsung's new glory.

The flagship launch conferences of the three major companies in previous years were not far apart. Samsung's move this time was undoubtedly under the pressure of market erosion, and it released its flagship mobile phone in advance to make up for its disadvantages.

This further led to the diving of Samsung Trump's mobile phone, but it had no better way.

With Samsung's actions, unverified rumors spread that Samsung made great concessions on price in order to give priority to Taiji's production capacity.

Samsung and Taiji are in a competitive relationship, and Apple, a major customer, was poached by the other party, but this time Qualcomm mediated, and Samsung apologized with the price, which led to this new product.

However, although Samsung was hit the hardest by Yike, Apple was not feeling well either. It followed closely and announced similar news, with the new product launch scheduled for mid-June.

The two major rivals adjusted their new product plans, and Yike was expected to make some moves, but it did not release any news for several days in a row. According to Schroeder, the company's new products will still be released in the fall.

Wall Street analysts believe that even if Apple and Samsung launch new products based on Taiji technology, the Mars 8.8 series will still be competitive, so Yike is not in a hurry to change its plans.

Another factor that cannot be ignored is that Yike may still have administrative negotiations after obtaining a temporary license from BIS. No matter which manufacturer it can add, Bingxin is the most suitable for cooperation. If it can continue to use the best process technology, the quality of this year's flagship can also remain stable.

However, there are obvious variables in the "temporary" license.

At present, Yike is trying its best to reduce the variables, and senior executives including Apple and Samsung have also talked about their own views in informal occasions, and do not think it is difficult for Yike to solve the manufacturing process.

According to the most likely scenario now, even if Yike cooperates with GlobalFoundries, its competitiveness will only be weakened.

Compared with Yike's two direct competitors, the domestic hero seems to be Alibaba.

Since Alibaba's successful listing, it has been taking a very active offensive strategy, focusing on the e-commerce market and competing head-on with Yike in many fields.

The outside world generally believes that this competitive situation comes from the huge gains made by Alibaba's listing, but the top management basically believes in "Feng Qingyang's" judgment on Yike's head.

—— Mr. Fang has been doing this for many years, how could he retreat at the last minute?

Based on the extension of this judgment, Alibaba continues to consolidate its advantages in e-commerce on the one hand, and is extremely willing to spend money in travel, games, social networking and other fields on the other hand.

The first to see results is the mobile travel field, which has been fighting a price war for two years.

Alibaba increased subsidies, and Uber finally didn't want to play anymore.

Uber had been planning to enter the Chinese market for a long time, and thought it had chosen a very good time to enter. The three brands had been fighting for a long time, and it was the time when they were weak. As soon as they entered, they immediately acquired the business in Duji, which seemed to verify their observations.

However, they never expected that the remaining three companies, Yike, Alibaba, and Penguin, would be so resilient and determined!

Duji fell, which was not the standard for the end of the price war, but only meant entering the second half.

Uber had hoped for the matchmaking of investor Masayoshi Son around the Spring Festival, and also saw the intention of other competitors. However, Yike firmly rejected the suggestion of a ceasefire, and Alibaba continued to increase subsidies. Finally...

On May 15, Uber officially announced a reduction in the subsidy amount for the Chinese market, injecting a breath of fresh air into the fierce mobile travel market.

Subsequently, Holly, the senior vice president who was originally responsible for the Chinese market, was transferred, and the vice president who was two poles lower was responsible for the relevant work.

This move was interpreted as Uber temporarily giving up the Chinese market.

Before returning to the United States, Holly gave his last media interview with a sense of disappointment, predicting the future mobility market.

"There will probably only be two major brands in the Chinese market in the future, and Penguin will definitely be out of the game soon."

"This kind of competition in the subsidy war is abnormal and unhealthy, but it is a last resort. Both Yike and Alibaba have too strong funds, but this does not make people despair. The most desperate thing is that This is not only a competition for funds, but also a competition for various resources.”

"How does Uber compare with Yixin and Alipay? They can both have built-in programs, which naturally shortens the distance between them and consumers."

"On this aspect, it is difficult for Penguin to compete with these two companies."

"We spent two years teaching consumers how to use electronic payment to hail a taxi, but in the end, everything was just a wedding dress for Yipay and Alipay."

"Such competition is unfair, but the reality is far from fair."

Holly’s interview was full of resentment. Uber was unable to match Yike and Alibaba, which had developed earlier in terms of capital, resources, technology, etc. It seemed that these two companies were really willing to pay any price.

They are competing for mobile travel, but more importantly, they are competing with each other for payment application scenarios.

Since the Spring Festival, the promotion of Alipay and Yipay can be seen almost at any time. The competition between the two companies in this regard is no longer limited to traditional e-commerce fields such as Taobao and Yigou, but has spread to pan-e-commerce scenarios.

In addition to well-known brands, such as Dada and Kuaidi, Mi Tuan and Word of Mouth, the cash registers of offline chain stores and even the collection and payment of community stores have become the battlefield for competition between Alibaba and Yike.

This kind of all-round three-dimensional competition cannot be matched by Duji. Its core search market is already crumbling. Penguin is also powerless. It knows the siphon effect of traffic dominance better than anyone else.

In the first half of 2015, the competition between Alibaba and Yike was very eye-catching. As the leader, Ma Chen frequently appeared in the media spotlight to comment on competition and development in many fields.

On the contrary, regardless of whether it was the press conference in the first half of the year or the many bad and good news from Yike Abroad, Fang Zhuo had no intention of standing up. Instead, Executive Vice President Yu Hong presided over the company's related work.

Occasionally, someone on Douyin captured videos of Mr. Fang in different cities, either during inspections or on the way to inspections, but these short videos did not get much traffic.

Just before the release of Samsung's new flagship, Yike was exposed to a news that aroused much media discussion. It is recruiting practitioners in automobile-related industries, and there are many positions.

Last year, Apple was exposed to a tram project called "Titan". Will Yike follow suit this year?

Or is Yike just providing automotive-related chip solutions?

In many cases, Yike and Bingxin can be regarded as one. The latter has been providing automotive chip solutions in recent years, especially in factories in Germany, which has cooperated with many European brands.

Perhaps, after the ice core restrictions, Yike took over some of this work?

The news was quickly verified, and the answer came from Yu Hong, co-founder of Yike.

When interviewed by the media, she responded to this matter lightly: "We have indeed established a vehicle-related project. The development of electric vehicles at home and abroad has been rapid in the past two years. If possible, Yike is also willing to try in multiple fields. ”

Because of this sentence and the confirmation of the Yike vehicle project, the stocks of domestic automobile-related companies have risen to varying degrees.

The reporter finally caught a senior executive of Yike, who was still at the level of Mr. Yu, so naturally he had to ask clearly: "What are Yike's goals in the tram field?"

"Yike has not set a goal for the time being. The project has just been established." Yu Hong said pragmatically, "Personally, if possible, I hope to bring something new to the traditional automobile industry, but this is not yet It depends on the development of the project.”

The reporter wanted to ask more questions, but Yu Hong had already waved her hand to indicate that she would not elaborate further.

Therefore, the reporter could only quickly ask about the plans of Yike mobile phones, focusing on the price cuts of previous generations of Samsung and Apple and the arrival of new products.

"The price cuts of Samsung and Apple are just that their mobile phones have found a more suitable position." Yu Hong commented on the other party's promotion, and said, "Whether it is chip performance or overall use, Mars 8.8 will not be outdated this year. I watched Samsung The new Glory’s screen is really good, which is its strong point, but it didn’t bring any surprises to me.”

"Qualcomm's 810 last year had a heating problem, which made consumers very dissatisfied. Maybe they can improve this problem this year."

"The flagship adjustments between Samsung and Apple can be regarded as healthy competitive interactions. Yike hopes that there can be more interactions like this."

Immediately afterwards, she answered the reporter's more sensitive questions about the BIS temporary license, Yike's negotiations with GlobalFoundries, etc., which was basically consistent with Yike's previous response.

Yu Hong's interview was at Yike's public event in Shanghai, and the person opposite her was also from the central media, so she remained patient.

Until the end of this interview, the reporter couldn't help but ask about the man's movements.

"We have noticed that Mr. Fang has been keeping a low profile recently. What has he been busy with lately?" the reporter asked cheerfully.

Yu Hong smiled back and did not answer the question.

What can he be busy with? He has been busy with the guarantee and integration of all aspects of the ice core since February. Except for the online meeting of the General Office on major matters, his voice can hardly be heard.

I thought that I, the "King of America", was going to be a vassal, but I didn't expect that I would come back to inherit the throne.

She complained in her heart, but soon after the interview, she turned her thoughts to the next work at hand.

Because of the restrictions on Bingxin and the impact of Yike, the work tasks of Yu Hong, the executive vice president, were indeed a bit abrupt, but she was very familiar with the company's affairs, and she brought up the senior market executives, and then relied on the decision-making mechanism of the general office, so there were no problems in handling.

There was only one thing that surprised Yu Hong. Alibaba's offensive momentum in the first half of the year was too enthusiastic, almost like it was going to fight to the death with Yike this year.

Fortunately, Yike thought almost the same way. The combination and preparation of multiple platforms have been prepared, and it plans to deepen the allocation of resources and go straight to Alibaba's core e-commerce.

Yike has rich experience in fighting with giants. Facts have proved that the combination of bleeding non-core businesses and attacking core businesses is a more effective way of competition.

Although Yike may face the biggest challenge since its establishment this year, it will not delay the competition with Alibaba.

On June 2, Yu Hong led the senior management of Yike to fly to Hong Kong, and rang the bell on stage as co-founder and executive vice president, completing Yike's secondary listing in Hong Kong.

Influenced by Yike's recent market performance and the news of the new project revealed by President Yu, Yike's listing on the Hong Kong stock market rose sharply on the first day of listing. Its market value converted into US dollars was nearly US$10 billion higher than that of Nasdaq, and finally closed at 2.94 trillion Hong Kong dollars, becoming the market value leader of Hong Kong stocks.

Domestic media highly praised Yike's listing.

However, in just two days, a piece of news from GlobalFoundries made Yike's prospects a little confusing.

GlobalFoundries CEO Sanjay announced the end of negotiations with Yike, announcing that the cooperation between the two sides had failed, and this was not due to commercial factors, but because the SEC stopped GlobalFoundries' stock issuance plan on the grounds of the sensitivity of advanced technology.

Sanjay was very dissatisfied with this. It was indeed advanced technology, but... this time it was someone else's advanced technology!

However, the SEC's intervention was very firm and did not give room for mediation.

Yike's stock price fell again. After Intel's cooperation was hopeless, GlobalFoundries could not become Yike's supplier. Then, in the next six months, the attitudes of Taiwan Semiconductor, Samsung, and UMC will become the key vane.

This is likely to cause delays in Yike's new products this year.

Even if Yike's Mars 8.8 series has the same level of chips, its competitiveness against the new products of Apple and Samsung is obviously not as good as last year.

From the end of February to the beginning of June, Yike's troubles have gone through many twists and turns, and it seems to have become a chronic disease.

The New York Times said about this situation that the user Fang Zong once said to other competitors: There is not much time left for Yike.