novelslam Chapter 1368 Small Goal (5k)
Chapter 1368 Small Goal (5k)
Chapter 1368 Small Goal (5k)
Because of Avago's global business distribution, it does not need regulatory approval from nine countries or regions like the Broadcom acquisition, but only needs five.
Apart from the United States, the only other countries that may face resistance are Europe and Singapore.
However, Qualcomm and Avago increased their lobbying after basically reaching an agreement. Singapore has already agreed to the acquisition. As for Europe, it has been mainly dealing with Microsoft and Google this year and has not had much reaction to Qualcomm's acquisition, so it is expected to have no major problems in passing.
Also because of this review background, although Jacob has flown to China, Chen Fuyang, the former CEO of Avago, was officially announced to be appointed and is about to become Qualcomm's senior vice president.
In fact, many media and analysts believe that this Chinese man who is highly recognized by the head of Qualcomm will succeed Morenkov as COO, and Morenkov has previously been rumored to be the candidate for Qualcomm's next CEO.
If Qualcomm's turmoil and transformation are over and Jacob retreats to the board of directors, Qualcomm's power allocation in the future will most likely be CEO Morenkov + COO Chen Fuyang.
However, these are all things for the future. Qualcomm’s most important task at the moment is to smooth over the crisis.
After the FTC's approval, despite the more severe statement from China, Wall Street is generally optimistic about the acquisition between Qualcomm and Avago.
Can Qualcomm perfectly integrate innovation?
Not necessarily, but it will definitely reduce our reliance on the current single business that has been criticized.
Moreover, Avago was very smooth and seemed fully prepared to integrate into Qualcomm, which was also a positive factor.
Fang Zhuo, who is in New York, is also paying attention to the changes in Qualcomm. On the one hand, he sees the industry development views shared by the proposed senior vice president Chen Fuyang on different occasions, and on the other hand, he sees the competitive presentation of Qualcomm's products this year.
Qualcomm announced in April that this year's high-end chip would be named Snapdragon 810. On the first day of September, the first mobile phone manufacturer confirmed to be equipped with Snapdragon 810 finally appeared - Samsung.
Samsung will launch its flagship phone Trump, which will be equipped with Snapdragon 810, on September th.
As of September, the Snapdragon 810 is a flagship chip designed by Qualcomm, manufactured using the 20nm process, and used by Samsung.
Because Samsung failed last year with its own Exynos chip, and this year reached a settlement with Qualcomm on baseband chips and communication patents, it directly used the Snapdragon 810 and no longer faced Apple and Yike head-on. Instead, it chose to release products at the end of September in an attempt to revive the momentum of Samsung's flagship brand.
Fang Zhuo felt that this decision was quite correct.
嗯……只是这个八核的骁龙810处理器，这个由4颗Cortex-A57核心和4颗Cortex-A53组成的产品，是不是还是那个名闻遐迩的大火龙？
According to the temperature test results of Snapdragon 810 released by Qualcomm, its maximum operating temperature is lower than that of the previous generation Snapdragon 801. However, this test was conducted on the test machine of MDP development equipment.
The thickness of this test machine is much greater than that of a normal flagship phone, so it has more space for heat dissipation and can even accommodate a cooling fan.
Naturally, Yike cannot get the prototypes and samples, so it is difficult to evaluate the true strength of Snapdragon 810. It can only be said that although Qualcomm has to abandon its self-developed architecture and switch to the public version of A64 and A53 architecture in the era of 57-bit processors, it seems from the disclosed information that it is still fully prepared.
Therefore, Samsung Trump combines the advantages of Qualcomm and Taiwan, and may be able to compete for the second place.
This is the estimate given internally by Yike.
Following the successful risk trial production of Bingxin's 16nm process, the current task is to carry out small-scale mass production with process verification and optimization, and the new Mars that Fang Zhuo received is the product of this link.
The yield improvement in this link is still bumpy, but the prospects are becoming clearer.
Fang Zhuo talked to Qiu Ciyu and Liang Mengsong almost every two days, and roughly confirmed that large-scale mass production could be carried out by the end of November. However, based on the current progress, the yield rate might not be as good as expected.
According to Liang Mengsong's idea, the yield of the 16nm process that introduces FinFET must be increased to 65% before mass production. In this way, relying on the leading process, even if the yield is a little low, it can be equivalent to at least 20% of the cost of the 85nm process of other companies.
However, the external environment of the semiconductor industry is somewhat unpredictable, and Yike really cannot delay for too long, so it decided to increase the yield to around 55% for large-scale mass production.
From a static point of view, such a yield rate cannot make Bingxin profitable. However, Liang Mengsong also understands the cost of Yi Ke's waiting, and also has to dynamically consider the changes in the entire system.
First solve whether it exists, then solve whether it is good or not.
As soon as Bing Xin made the decision, Fang Zhuo also felt at ease. He had already prepared to postpone it until early next year, but Liang Mengsong and others were able to make comprehensive considerations and felt that every month earlier would be a great deal.
In addition to Liang Mengsong's decision on mass production, Qiu Ciyun also talked about an acquisition and integration related to Bingxin, setting his sights on Changdian, the number one wafer packaging company in China.
Ever since Taiji entered the packaging field, the industry has generally been pessimistic about the prospects of foundries intervening in the downstream links, believing that everyone has their own specialties and the energy invested by Taiji is not cost-effective.
However, two years ago, Bingxin cooperated with Changdian to set up a research and development subsidiary based on the judgment that "Moore's Law will inevitably gradually become ineffective" and taking into account the exponentially rising costs of improving the process technology.
Bingxin has come all the way from 130nm. Although it has basically conquered 16nm, it still has a large number of other process production lines. Considering the limitations of future equipment procurement and cooperation, trying to focus on advanced packaging is a two-pronged option.
However, in addition to these, Qiu Ciyun proposed the acquisition of Changdian because the research and development based on the cooperation between the two entities was not going smoothly.
Changdian was not very willing to set up a subsidiary to carry out research and development together before, as it was worried about the risk of Bingxin entering the competition in this field. Although it agreed later, the research and development was still laborious and difficult to achieve. Not to mention that 1 plus 1 is greater than 2, it is even difficult to equal 2.
Taking all these factors into consideration, and also noting the ups and downs of mergers and acquisitions in the industry, Qiu Ciyun formally proposed to Mr. Fang that Bingxin should quickly expand from the wafer manufacturing link directly to the downstream link, which is also to use the popular acquisition method today.
Fang Zhuo has been talking about the changing trends in the semiconductor industry this year. He has talked to Yike, Intel, Avago, and the media, but he never thought about the integration that Bingxin would need.
After Qiu Ciyu mentioned this, he felt that it was because he was in this mountain.
As for Changdian...
Qiu Ciyun said confidently on the phone: "Mr. Fang, I have already inquired in detail. Changdian's controlling shareholder is Xinchao Technology, but it only holds 14.11% of the shares. The company's equity structure is dispersed."
"Moreover, Changdian's own financial situation is not good. In the middle of this year, its debt ratio was close to 70%. It is a good time for Bingxin to make a move now."
When Fang Zhuo received the call from Mr. Qiu, his mind was full of industrial integration and global development trends. He was suddenly speechless when he heard the enthusiastic introduction from the other end.
He didn't say anything, and Qiu Ciyu on the other side kept introducing things, and the direction was getting more and more towards a hostile takeover.
"Ahem, Mr. Qiu, wait a minute, Mr. Qiu, this..." Fang Zhuo stopped this rather bizarre line of thought. It was too extreme. Is this okay?
Qiu Ciyun said excitedly: "Mr. Fang, you have so much experience in hostile takeovers. Changdian will never be your opponent."
"Mr. Qiu, there's no need to make domestic acquisitions so awkward." Fang Zhuo expressed the tone of his work.
Qiu Ciyun was stunned. Hmm... Who is the one causing all the buzz regarding the domestic acquisition?
"Moreover, since this concerns the domestic semiconductor industry, it will not be good to force it." Fang Zhuo said thoughtfully.
Qiu Ciyu was stunned again. Who pulled Morningstar Semiconductor, which had finally been listed, off the Hong Kong stock market?
He figured out the general intention and felt that this excuse was just a polite refusal.
"Mr. Fang, although Changdian is doing R&D with us, its management and we are not on the same page. After all, the interests of the two companies are different. Bingxin needs to develop advanced packaging to supplement its technology, and it is afraid that we will snatch its orders."
"Changdian doesn't want Bingxin to do more packaging. How can we work together with different positions? Since we are not united and have different positions, Mr. Fang, let's merge into one and have the same position! We have the same heart!"
"Let's not talk about Taiwan, let's take Samsung as an example. Its PoP packaging technology has also successfully optimized the internal space of mobile phones. This is a technological trend!"
"Mr. Fang, you are right. On a larger level, it is industry mergers and acquisitions, and on a smaller level, it is the application of cross-technology integration. We really don't pay enough attention to this area at the moment."
"Taiwan News previously failed to promote its CoWoS packaging, and now it has begun to downgrade to a cheaper InFO packaging alternative. It is still trying to find a balance between cost and technology."
“This is not a good competitive change for us!”
Qiu Ciyun earnestly explained the importance of researching and developing advanced packaging.
"Mr. Qiu, I don't disagree with the acquisition of Changdian, but the method you imagined is questionable. So, you can ask the company to prepare a document for me, and then you can contact Changdian first." Fang Zhuo understood that Mr. Qiu had misunderstood his meaning, and said directly, "Changdian's market value is not high, and a peaceful acquisition should be able to achieve the goal."
Not all takeovers are hostile; a good price can be very tempting.
Qiu Ciyun thought for a moment and asked, "What if Changdian doesn't want to be acquired?"
Fang Zhuo thought about it and said hesitantly: "If I raise the price a little, it shouldn't work."
"Okay, Mr. Fang, I'll go talk to them first. If that doesn't work, you can...well, you can..." Qiu Ciyun felt that the boss might be a little shy about what he had done, so he paused for a few seconds and finished his words, "You can talk to them properly."
Fang Zhuo felt that the emphasis on "hao hao" was sarcastic, but he had no choice but to agree.
He felt that this matter did not require much effort.
By the time Bingxin announces its 16nm process before the end of the year, Amei will not react so quickly. It will have to go through the process anyway. The time in between is enough for the company's stock price to rise, and then it can directly issue additional shares to acquire Changdian.
For a Changdian company worth 100 billion yuan, a 25%-35% premium in cash + stock should be enough, right?
This is what Fang Zhuo thought. After Bingxin sent the information, he just took a quick look and planned to communicate in detail after returning to China. His current tasks in the United States include not only caring about Qualcomm, but also the position adjustment of Yike America and the arrangement of the Silicon Valley R&D center.
However, within two days, Qiu Ciyuen received a response that Changdian refused to be acquired, and the reason was that it was also preparing to acquire another company - Singapore's listed company STATS ChipPAC.
STATS ChipPAC is the world's fourth largest packaging and testing company. According to feedback from Changdian and information verified in the market, its major shareholder Temasek wants to sell its shares.
Therefore, Changdian wants to take this opportunity to acquire STATS ChipPAC and further expand its business overseas.
Moreover, Changdian has received support from the domestic "big fund" and will receive part of the acquisition funds.
Fang Zhuo was extremely surprised. This reason for rejection was really justified...
Well, there are so many "snake swallowing elephant" these days...
He then looked at Bingxin's information in detail and carefully considered the relevant circumstances. He felt that Changdian's intention to acquire STATS ChipPAC still needed to be evaluated, especially as the latter's continued losses would bring about many integration problems.
Fang Zhuo kept this matter in his mind for the time being, but unexpectedly, he did not make any move, and Changdian, who was greeted by Qiu Ciyu, took the initiative to call him.
"Mr. Fang, we have been cooperating well, why does Bingxin suddenly want to swallow us up?" Wang Xinchao, the head of Changdian, went straight to the point.
"Mr. Wang, we are just trying to find a win-win solution." Fang Zhuo sensed the emotions on the other end of the line and said it in a more tactful way, "Besides, Mr. Qiu was just asking, just discussing a possibility."
"Boss Fang, everyone knows that..." Wang Xinchao didn't finish his words. He held back and said, "Boss Fang, this is a good opportunity for Changdian to expand. Don't do anything that will only make your enemies happy while your loved ones suffer!"
"Mr. Wang, you misunderstood. Bingxin is just exploring the possibility of developing better packaging technology." Fang Zhuo said patiently, "If Changdian is unwilling, Bingxin will not force you. You said Changdian wants to acquire STATS ChipPAC. If you really have a good evaluation and are short of money, you can tell me."
Wang Xinchao has already found a large fund and was originally interested in bringing in Bingxin to help, but Qiu Ciyu suddenly asked him about the acquisition, so he didn't dare to let the wolf in now.
As long as Changdian successfully acquires STATS ChipPAC, it will be able to become the world's third largest packaging and testing company. Why should it be acquired by Bingxin?
The problem now is that he is a little worried that Mr. Fang will force his way in. Whether it is company status, financial resources, connections with higher-ups, or customer orders, the other side is obviously stronger.
But, in broad daylight, even though the ice core is powerful, it cannot be so barbaric!
That is... the major shareholder's shareholding is too low, which seems to be easy for the barbarians to smell blood...
"Thank you, Mr. Fang. I don't dare to ask for your money. I hope you don't throw money at me." Wang Xinchao still expressed his concerns. "Changdian is developing very well. I hope to successfully acquire STATS ChipPAC."
Fang Zhuo wanted to sigh but didn't, and said sincerely: "I am very happy to see Changdian develop."
"Thank you Mr. Fang for your blessing." Wang Xinchao ended the call with this sentence.
In fact, he felt that Mr. Fang had a closer relationship with Changdian. After the financial crisis in 08, the Ice Core Wafer Manufacturing Alliance took the lead in finding foreign funds and carried out a number of corporate integrations.
Among them, Changdian also made some gains, and eventually gained more foreign institutional shareholders through asset mergers and acquisitions.
Later, when we reviewed the industrial development and corporate responses after the financial crisis, we could not help but speculate and conjecture. What happened back then is still worthy of gratitude, but, will this become a knife?
Wang Xinchao admired Mr. Fang very much, but no matter how much he admired him, he had to hand over Changdian willingly, especially at a time when they were planning to acquire Star Semiconductor... He had resentment.
This emotion was quickly conveyed to Fang Zhuo by a third party.
On September 9, just a few days before Samsung's autumn conference, Singapore officially approved Qualcomm's acquisition of Avago, and basically only Europe's final attitude remained.
Fang Zhuo received a call from the big fund that day, which also mentioned Bingxin's interest in Changdian and Changdian's intention to acquire it.
"We are just asking. We are just considering strengthening our R&D capabilities in advanced packaging. This acquisition... is not a very formal contact, just a chat." Fang Zhuo was really helpless.
"It's not impossible for Bingxin to acquire Changdian." The other end of the phone slowly said, "But, Mr. Fang, I hope you can have a good discussion after Changdian acquires STATS ChipPAC."
Fang Zhuo did not intend to not have a good talk, and responded: "Okay, Bingxin's acquisition still needs more evaluation. It's not that I just say something and they will take action. Well, it's mainly Mr. Qiu and his team who make the decision."
"Mr. Fang, when will you return to China? Let's sit down and study it together. Besides, hasn't Bingxin already established a joint venture with Changdian called 'Bingxin Changdian'?" The person on the other end of the phone said, "Mr. Fang, there's no need to rush this matter."
Fang Zhuo heard the persuasion and agreed directly: "Okay, there is absolutely no rush! I will wait for Changdian to complete the acquisition, and Bingxin can also provide the acquisition funds!"
When the big fund heard this, they laughed it off and were unwilling to talk about Bingxin's investment.
Fang Zhuo felt that his sincerity was slightly hurt. It was all Mr. Qiu's fault...
However, if Changdian really takes over STATS ChipPAC, it is said that STATS ChipPAC's advanced packaging technologies such as SiP and FoWLP are quite good...
It is good for the industry, good for Changdian, and perhaps good for ice cores...
This matter is worth a little consideration.
Fang Zhuo controlled his thoughts and prepared to take a look at Samsung's masterpiece this year, which was the culmination of the collaboration between Taiwan News and Qualcomm.
And just during the few days of waiting for Samsung's press conference, as if it was pre-arranged, the regulatory agencies that needed approval for Qualcomm's acquisition of Avago gave their decisions one after another without raising any objections.
Six days passed, and on the 27th, the day of Samsung's press conference, Europe finally approved it, announcing that there were no more obstacles to Qualcomm and Avago's acquisition.
On September 9, Samsung launched the Trump, which is equipped with Snapdragon 27, in an attempt to revive the high-end mobile phone market. Qualcomm, which acquired Avago, is expanding its scale and trying to complete the transformation amid the antitrust storm.
(End of this chapter)