Reinventing the Millennium

The progress of the Yangtze River Delta Business Association is good. Although it is basically expected, the actual implementation is still exciting.

As for the advancement of ice core investment...

Although people from the German Federal Trade and Investment Agency joined the negotiations, they only received concessions on some minor conditions.

Fang Zhuo is not in a hurry. If we can't finalize this trip, let's continue to talk slowly. Anyway, the one who is anxious now is not the one with the money.

The third and fourth days passed very quickly. The number of people at the hotel exhibition was decreasing. Some were visiting local brands, while others needed to visit other cities in Germany. Everyone will be at the hotel exhibition on January 9th. Everyone gathered in Berlin, then stayed in Paris, Milan, Vienna, and Barcelona for one day each, and finally took flight No. 14 back home.

The two cities, Dresden and Magdeburg, talked for two days and both invited Mr. Fang to visit and inspect the site. However, this invitation was arranged by Fang Zhuo to the two vice presidents of Bingxin, Liao Chaoyong and Xu Keyu respectively. People rush to their destination.

On the fifth day, Fang Zhuo, who was in Berlin, was waiting for guests from the Isère province in France. He was very happy to talk to them about Bingxin's investment plan in Europe. The overall investment in the new wafer fab exceeded 1.6 billion US dollars, it is expected to create at least 1,000 jobs and can radiate and promote the industrial chain in surrounding areas.

We talked for a whole day and it was very pleasant. Fang Zhuo changed his itinerary. The original trip to Paris on the 10th would be changed to a trip to Crolle in the Isère department.

As a result, that very night, Stig, who was in charge of investment promotion in Magdeburg, made another urgent call and wanted to discuss the ice core investment with people from the Federal Office for Economics and Investment tomorrow.

You really won’t eat what is put to your mouth, you have to rush to eat it to make it taste delicious.

Fang Zhuo maintains his attitude and talks about anything, it all depends on who is more sincere. Right now, France is leading, Magdeburg is in the middle, and Dresden is last.

On January 5, Kohler, Director of the Investment Agency, personally participated in the talks between Ice Core and Magdeburg, and worked hard to promote cooperation between the two parties. Deputy Mayor Stephen was willing to increase the investment ratio to 35%, and Deutsche Bank was willing to increase the investment ratio to 35%. It took two years to implement the interest-free loan.

Financial crisis requires special measures.

Even so, Fang Zhuo expressed consideration and did not say that he was not satisfied enough. Kohler, director of the Federal Economic and Investment Agency, first expressed his position privately during the luncheon that it was not enough! Not enough! We can still talk!

As for how to negotiate, Deputy Mayor Stephen is holding on to 35% and won’t let go for the time being...

"Magdeburg is very suitable for the construction of wafer fabs. I will communicate with them again. If Magdeburg really insists, we can think of other ways." Kohler is very sincere and very resolute.

Because of this person's attitude, Fang Zhuo specifically agreed to go to Magdeburg for a field trip on the 6th. Cooperation is an interaction between the two parties, and you can't just do it alone.

Needless to say, the advantages of Magdeburg include good transportation conditions and human resources. Vice President Xu Keyu also got a very good impression during his short inspection.

When Fang Zhuo arrived here, he saw the location of the factory planned on paper, and was welcomed by the city government and local universities.

Generally speaking, Europe, as one of the earliest regions to develop the semiconductor industry, has focused on automotive semiconductors and industrial semiconductors as the key development directions of the industry, especially after the bankruptcy of the last memory light Qimonda.

Like Infineon, STMicroelectronics, and NXP, they are all strong in traditional fields such as power devices, microcontrollers, sensors, radio frequency technology, and automotive chips, rather than pursuing the most advanced manufacturing processes.

However, this overall strategy does not mean that Magdeburg does not need relatively advanced foundry companies. In fact, the performance of departments including the Economic and Investment Agency also proves that they very much welcome Bingxin to Germany.

On January 7, Fang Zhuo, Xu Keyu and others returned to Berlin.

"Can it be invested? Can it be built here?" Fang Zhuo asked Xu Keyu's opinion.

"Yes, it's very good. Although the foundation is a little worse than Dresden, the local area welcomes us and it is easier to recruit engineers. This difficulty is much lower than when we open a new factory in China." Xu Keyu talked about his concerns the key of.

As soon as ice cores went overseas, the difficulty level of opening a new factory dropped sharply, especially for engineers. Those recruited in the United States during the financial crisis and those in Europe were more willing to come to Magdeburg.

Coupled with the current buyer's market for second-hand equipment, and the manufacturing process itself is also 65nm, which Ice Core already owns. It can be said that as long as the funds are in place, it can indeed quickly form combat effectiveness as President Qiu Ciyun hopes.

"Well, wait a minute, I think Director Kohler has the goods." Fang Zhuo was waiting for the investment agency's efforts.

Another day later, members of the business association returned to Berlin one after another. The total order volume had climbed from 3.15 billion to 8.69 billion, with an average of 180 million per company, which was very satisfactory.

Fang Zhuo once again led everyone to summarize the results, hoping that the number would exceed 10 billion by the end of the European trip.

However, most of the people from the Yangtze River Delta Business Association who came this time were medium-sized companies, and their size determined that the orders would not be too high.

If this activity continues next year, I believe that with the successful experience and lessons learned from the first time, the results will be greatly improved.

January 9th was also the last day of the Chamber of Commerce in Germany, and the economic and trade activities welcomed big names.

Fang Zhuo met Merkel when he last visited Germany. This was the second time he met this evergreen figure.

Merkel expressed her affirmation of the economic and trade delegation from China and believed that such a mechanism would help each other's economic development.

She had a cordial conversation with the leader Fang Zhuo and welcomed seeing the Yangtze River Delta Business Association again in the second half of the year or next year.

Fang Zhuo responded normally to this and was willing to contribute to economic and trade exchanges between the two sides.

Not a word about ice cores was mentioned in the afternoon talks. However, in the evening, new progress emerged in the negotiations with the Investment Agency, Magdeburg, and Deutsche Bank.

Magdeburg increased the investment ratio from 35% to 40%, which is still 10% short of the highest value expected by Fangzhuo.

Deutsche Bank relented and was willing to provide an interest-free loan of US$400 million, specifically for the construction of Ice Core's factory in Magdeburg. The funds would be received in two installments within six months, and the repayment period was two years.

The Investment Agency has talked about administrative ladder subsidies. Ice core wafer fabs can receive subsidies of up to US$300 million after reaching different revenue figures, which is almost 20% of the overall investment in the wafer fab.

40% ratio + US$400 million loan + government subsidy of up to 20%, this is the final condition set by the Special Affairs Office.

This also means that the initial investment amount required for ice core is about US$560 million, which is US$160 million higher than the internal estimate. However, in the later period, more costs can be reduced through government subsidies.

Can you sharpen it again?

Fang Zhuo asked himself this.

It would be nice if the loan didn't have to be repaid.

As he thought this, he noticed that Deyin Weir, Investment Agency Kohler, and Magdeburg Stephen were all looking at him.

“I feel the sincerity of our German friends, and I am happy to let Bingxin build a wafer foundry with world-leading processes in Magdeburg.”

Fang Zhuo smiled and agreed to the terms of this negotiation.

"Mr. Fang, this is a wise decision." Director Kohler said immediately.

“Magdeburg welcomes the arrival of ice cores!” Deputy Mayor Stephen was very excited.

Deutsche Bank Vice President Will also smiled.

Fang Zhuo stood up and shook hands with the three of them one by one, and said with a smile: "In this case, our Bingxin CEO Dr. Qiu Ciyun will come here after the Chinese Lunar New Year to be responsible for more detailed inspections. Dr. Qiu is a master of factory construction. Bingxin could not be what it is today without his leadership.”

Building factories overseas requires a leader, and Qiu Ciyun, who has worked from SMIC to Ice Core, is naturally the best candidate.

Stephen shook Mr. Fang's hand and refused to let go for a long time.

No matter what, the two parties have taken a big step in cooperation.

If Stephen's happiness is 10, then Fang Zhuo, who was able to reach a cooperation intention before leaving Germany, is 20. He is now extremely happy to spend money, and he is even more willing to spend it on the cutting edge of ice cores.

According to Qiu Ciyun's plan, the manufacturing process of Ice Core's four overseas factories is 65nm. On this basis, we can unite European semiconductor talents to conduct horizontal research on better production processes, and finally feed back into Ice Core's advanced manufacturing process.

Qiu Ciyun, like Liang Mengsong, tirelessly puts the manufacturing process first.

The flight to Paris was on the afternoon of the 10th. In the morning, Fang Zhuo, as a representative of the economic and trade delegation, accepted an interview with the German media and spoke highly of the significance of this economic and trade event.

As the chairman of Bingxin, he also praised the German Investment Agency for promoting his own investment.

“Our cooperation with Germany Trade \u0026 Invest plays a decisive role in the entire investment decision-making process.”

“Director Kohler’s productive dialogue and the good faith shown by Magdeburg have brought this huge project forward, and I look forward to Ice Core’s expansion as a global company in Europe.”

Fang Zhuo praised Director Kohler from the bottom of his heart.

"Mr. Fang, how do you feel about your selection as one of the 'Top Ten CEOs in the World in 2008'?" The reporter asked another question that surprised Fang Zhuo.

"Top ten CEOs in the world?" Fang Zhuo was stunned, "I don't know about this."

The reporter briefly talked about this. He was a business leader selected by the American media. Mr. Fang was the only Easterner selected. The reason for being on the list was Yike Mobile's development of the smart product market.

"So that's the case. After hearing this, I don't have any thoughts at all. I just feel that the evaluation is quite objective." Fang Zhuo joked, "I was rated as the top ten this year. I hope I won't be rated as the tenth worst in the future."

"There are also ten worst CEOs in the world this year, and Lehman's Richard is on top." The reporter actually mentioned this ranking.

Fang Zhuo estimated that Richard was probably at the top of this list.

He asked casually: "Who else is here?"

The reporter was obviously familiar with this and listed the remaining nine one by one.

As Fang Zhuo listened, he suddenly heard a familiar name. Mr. Luo from Qimonda was also there.

This... this won't work. Mr. Luo may still do things for me in the future. You can't dampen his enthusiasm like this!

I want to speak out for Mr. Luo!

"I just heard the name of President Qimonda." Fang Zhuo waited until the reporter finished speaking and then said seriously, "If Mr. Luo is included because Qimonda is bankrupt, I don't agree with it."

The reporter was surprised: "Why?"

"Mr. Luo is a very capable professional manager. Qimonda's bankruptcy is just a reshuffle of DRAM in the world. Even if I become Qimonda's president, I can't save the fate of this company." Fang Zhuo said, "Perhaps Mr. Luo should indeed bear responsibility, but he should not bear so much responsibility. Who could have thought of the financial crisis?"

Fang Zhuo felt sad for Mr. Luo and Qimengda.

The reporter recorded this answer, which can be regarded as a somewhat interesting interview content.

The newly minted one of the top ten CEOs in the world led the Yangtze River Delta Business Association on a flight to Paris. Although there were no friends like Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Telekom there, there was still reception from the administrative and business circles.

Fang Zhuo asked about "good CEOs and bad CEOs" on the plane and found that almost half of the people actually knew this.

As expected, Richard led the list of bad CEOs. He received more votes than the remaining nine people combined, while Luo always ranked third.

As for good CEOs, the number one one is actually Xiao Ao...

Regarding this, Fang Zhuo can only say that the selection does not matter. If you want to comment, just give it a good review. Why did you put Xiao Ao on the list? As a result, he could only be ranked second.

The rest also include his familiar friends, including Apple’s Steve Jobs, Google’s Schmidt, Amazon’s Bezos, and Twitter’s Evan…

Twitter has had a great year, successfully demonstrating the value of microblogging as a social media and business tool.

When the plane landed in Paris, Fang Zhuo was thinking about whether to post a speech on Twitter about being selected, but before he could come up with any copy, a call from China broke the good news.

China's 3G communications have finally been officially launched. China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom have obtained 3G licenses respectively, and related communications deployment will also move forward rapidly.

A new era has arrived!

Yike, who had jumped the gun, was finally... able to end his pilot life and enter the stage of full strength.

As soon as Fang Zhuo hung up the phone, more calls came in, including Liu Qiangdong from China, Yu Hong from the United States, Schmidt from Google, etc.

News of the 3G license has been circulating before, but now it has landed. Everyone realizes the significance of this to Yike. It is like South Korea to Samsung, such a local advantage...

Schmidt said bluntly on the phone: "Mr. Fang, hurry up and sue Nokia in China, or find a way to exclude Nokia from the operator's 3G procurement!"

"Do you think I run the three major operators? Fair competition, fair competition." Fang Zhuo said seriously, "Yike doesn't do anything dirty."

"Is it inconvenient for you to talk now?" Schmidt asked.

"It's very convenient. For such an influential brand as Nokia, China has just issued the license, so everyone is watching." Fang Zhuo said angrily.

Schmidt understood that it was not that it was inconvenient to speak, but that it was inconvenient to do evil now.

This is the world’s seventh-best CEO’s understanding of the world’s second-best CEO.