As CTO, Ji Minghua is the absolute top executive of SMIC.
Such high-level officials were so disenchanted that the current chairman, Jiang Shangzhou, was constantly looking for people to communicate with him in person.
However, the results did not change.
Jiang Shangzhou is indeed the chairman, but when he takes over SMIC, he plays the role of a glue. Not only can many things not be settled in one word, but a lot of communication is required.
On the way to find Ji Minghua, he called CEO Wang Ningguo. Instead of hearing the ideal content, he felt a hint of Wang Ningguo's general dissatisfaction with him.
In this matter, is Ji Minghua really going to leave, or did Mr. Fang have a hook-up in advance?
Jiang Shangzhou believed it was the former, but he couldn't let Wang Ningguo completely ignore the possibility of the latter.
Moreover, Ji Minghua's position adjustment also involves the team of Yang Shining, CTO of Chartered Semiconductor. They are experienced and very capable, and it is impossible to poach people without being given high positions.
Only when Jiang Shangzhou met Ji Minghua did he realize that it was really difficult for him to retain the chief technology officer.
When he heard the always gentle Ji Minghua's extremely firm statement that he wanted to leave, he couldn't help but have a thought in his mind, it would be great if Mr. Zhang was still here.
"Ice core, ice core, is also a good place." Jiang Shangzhou didn't mention Zhang Rujing's name, but just sighed.
"I'm going there tonight to see how it's going. I've been listening to the progress of the ice core, but I've never been to the actual site." Ji Minghua said making arrangements.
Jiang Shangzhou said helplessly: "Dr. Ji, are you going tonight? This is too urgent."
"I just went to take a look first." Ji Minghua said truthfully, "Teacher Hu just called me and he also wanted to talk to me."
Jiang Shangzhou was silent for a while before saying: "Mr. Fang is right. Going to the ice core is better than going to other places. Besides, Qiu Ciyun has already passed there."
The original senior executive Qiu Ciyun was even higher.
The talent exchange activities between SMIC and Bingxin have a long history.
He shook hands with Ji Minghua: "Dr. Ji, say hello to Professor Hu and Mr. Fang for me."
Ji Minghua and Chairman Jiang shook hands vigorously.
Then, in the evening when he returned home, he and his wife simply packed their luggage and drove straight to Luzhou.
Although the drive from Shanghai to Luzhou was less than five hours, it was already twelve o'clock in the night when Ji Minghua arrived at Yuhu Road where the ice core is located.
What surprised him most was that Mr. Fang was waiting at the door.
Moreover, Ji Minghua also recognized the person chatting with Mr. Fang next to him - the CEO Luo Jianhua who bankrupted Qimonda.
The semiconductor industry is both big and small.
SMIC also used to do OEM work for Qimonda, and Ji Minghua and Luo Jianhua met twice.
Fang Zhuo shook hands with the former CTO of SMIC with a smile on his face, and after a brief exchange of greetings, he said: "It was too late. Professor Hu originally wanted to wait for Dr. Ji to come, but I drove him away. As you get older, you still have to pay attention to your health.
It just so happens that Mr. Luo has just arrived in Luzhou, so we will have many opportunities to meet each other in the future, and we will get to know each other again tonight."
Ji Minghua could tell the difference. He was surprised and said, "Mr. Luo..."
Luo Minghua laughed loudly and admitted: "The prospect of ice core is very good. Mr. Fang does not think that I am a defeated general, so I can't help but try my best again."
Ji Minghua was thinking, Qimonda was forced to go bankrupt, which was unlucky.
He has now realized one thing: Ice Core is likely to enter DRAM.
If it is such a strategic decision, Luo Jianhua, who once headed the international manufacturer Qimonda, is indeed a good candidate.
At this point in time, the industry is still at a trough, Samsung is killing it, and Japan's Elpida is crumbling. Investment can indeed be relatively low-cost. Coupled with the period of financing, market demand will gradually recover...
Ji Minghua himself is an expert in making DRAM. When he saw Mr. Fang greeting Mr. Luo late at night, he could roughly guess the direction that he might be responsible for if he really wanted to join the ice core.
"The current situation of Qimonda is really unlucky. I have always had confidence in Luo, and I feel very sorry for SMIC to cut off its DRAM business." Fang Zhuo said seriously, "Professor Hu is very impressed by Dr. Ji's memory.
I appreciate the talent very much. If Mr. Luo and Dr. Ji come together to take charge of Lin'an No. 2 Ice Core Factory, I will definitely invest in it."
Within a few words, the conversation turned to work.
Ji Minghua was quite moved, but he still wanted to chat with his mentor, Professor Hu.
He had just arrived in Luzhou, and he didn't know much about the internal situation of the ice core. The Lin'an factory was not the core. He wanted to hear Professor Hu's opinion before discussing.
Ji Minghua briefly talked about his views on global DRAM.
Fang Zhuo listened for a while and could probably guess some of Dr. Ji's mentality. He raised his wrist and looked at his watch and said with a smile: "Dr. Ji, Mr. Luo, it's too late today. You can check in first and have a good rest."
Let’s talk tomorrow.”
Ji Minghua had been driving and was really tired, so he was not humble.
He had a final chat with Mr. Fang, and then followed the Bingxin HR manager who was responsible for the docking to implement the check-in issue.
Bingxin's Luzhou factory is on Yuhu Road, not far from the employee community that Yongke Real Estate is responsible for building.
Ji Minghua talked all the way and found out that people like him who had changed jobs could have houses to choose from based on the number of family members. It was similar to stock options. As long as they worked for a few years, they could get it for free.
"The houses here are cheap, but it's nothing. The most important thing is the logistical support." Xu Xingsheng, the HR manager of Bingxin, did not raise the value of the house. "Dr. Ji may not be able to use it, but our employees have a set of daycare, kindergarten, and elementary schools."
The teaching quality of middle and high school children’s schools is very good.”
This was planned and constructed as soon as Ice Core landed in Luzhou. In five years, a very complete logistics system has been built to solve the worries of employees from all over the country.
Just as Xu Xingsheng was about to continue, he suddenly clapped his hands: "Dr. Ji must know this, and we also learned it from China Core."
Ji Minghua smiled slightly, he looked familiar indeed.
Semiconductor companies often need employees from all over the country or even the world, and only when the logistics are in place can the work go smoothly.
Bingxin has learned this well.
Soon, Ji Minghua discovered that it was not just in place, but very in place.
The house is ready for move-in, the neighbors and the upper and lower floors are old friends of SMIC, and the next day there will be ice cores sent to study the internal information.
We haven't started talking about remuneration yet. Although SMIC did not lay off employees due to the financial crisis this year, it also cut salaries. But here at Bingxin, there is a starting increase of 30% plus some benefits.
And, most importantly...
Ji Minghua heard from old friends the news of a confirmed increase in R&D investment. Some departments and projects have been implemented, and some still need internal review.
On the afternoon of February 9, Ji Minghua arrived at Bingxin's conference room and was surprised to find that there were quite a few people attending the meeting. After getting to know each other a little, he realized that many of them were from well-known companies such as Taiji and Qimonda.
Generally speaking, I may be the highest-ranking CTO in the past, but I also have project leaders with high-level rankings.
Before the meeting even started, he heard a piece of gossip related to the reporter.
After Zhang Zhongtong came back, he announced that the previous 5% layoffs of Taiwanese journalists were invalid, and all those who resigned could go back to work.
In addition, he invited back Jiang Shangyi, who had also retired, and promised to spend US$1 billion in research and development expenses this year to continue to consolidate Taiji's technological leadership in the OEM field.
Fire the CEO, abolish bad governance, name Bingxin, appease employees, invest heavily in research and development, and restore confidence.
This is Zhang Zhongmo’s actions in a short period of time.
$1 billion!
What does this R&D number equate to?
Ji Minghua didn't know the actual revenue of Bingxin, but he saw from IDC's ranking report that Bingxin was already the fifth largest foundry in the world, with annual revenue in 2008 of US$1.308 billion.
This means that the R&D funds thrown out by Taiji are 76% of your company's annual revenue.
The gap is too big.
Ji Minghua is almost certain that with such a heavy investment and Jiang Shangyi's comeback, Taiji will definitely quickly solve the legendary yield climbing problem that occurred at 40nm.
Ice core will also increase research and development this year. How much can it produce?
Can it be $300 million?
This already accounts for 20% of Bingxin's revenue, which is quite exaggerated and optimistic.
In his heart, Ji Minghua gave Mr. Fang full respect for his status as the richest man in the mainland.
He is SMIC's CTO and knows clearly that SMIC's R&D expenses in 2008 were US$102 million.
The gap is so big, and what the several times gap in R&D investment brings is very practical process capabilities and technical reserves.
Ji Minghua digested the news from the former employee of Taiwan Journal, and waited until he saw Liang Mengsong, the co-CEO of Bingxin, walking into the conference room before he restrained his thoughts and listened to the slightly perfunctory welcome from this technology geek.
Taiwan Records, Franchise, Qimonda...
The conference room gathered talents from major companies who had to let go due to the impact of the financial crisis. Most of them were let go by the companies, but there were also a small number of talents who took the initiative to let go.
Ji Minghua paid close attention to the people who came from the station and found that their expressions seemed to be more complicated and subtle when listening to Liang Mengsong's words.
Liang Mengsong finished his welcome speech and immediately began to talk about the technological prospects of ice cores.
Among them, the FinFET process was highlighted.
Everyone here knows that this is an invention from Professor Hu Zhengming, and also knows that Liang Mengsong has profound attainments in this field.
Liang Mengsong talked a lot, basically looking forward to the technical prospects and goals of ice cores in the next five years.
Ice Core has gone through five years and has initially acquired the ability to establish a foothold in the international wafer foundry field. One of its important goals is the application of FinFET in a five-year period.
As early as when Fang Zhuo invited Hu Zhengming to join Ice Core, he mentioned FinFET's transition from theory to practice, and now we have finally reached the point where we can actually talk about it in a little more detail.
It is precisely because of his confidence in FinFET that Liang Mengsong is confident when talking about catching up with the world's first-class level.
People in the conference room listened to the co-CEO's impassioned speech. Regardless of whether they liked his personality, they all recognized his technical strength.
Yesterday in Shanghai and today in Luzhou, Ji Minghua had a sense of déjà vu from one battlefield to another more intense battlefield.
The meeting lasted for two hours, and Liang Mengsong's endless chatter sounded very boring to outsiders, but it was different in front of a group of experts. It was only half boring.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Liang Mengsong stood up and announced the end of his duties as CEO.
Before leaving, he simply said hello to Ji Minghua.
The two were fellow students of Professor Hu at UC Berkeley, but their friendship was not that deep. Liang Mengsong was not a good dancer, so he hurriedly left the conference room after a few sentences.
Ji Minghua thought about what Liang Mengsong said in the afternoon, and in a blink of an eye, he chatted with the surrendered generals in the conference room about his understanding of the ice core strategy and direction.
After all, I have been a CTO, and I have a very thorough understanding.
With such a little communication, after receiving a call from his teacher, he cheered up and went to see Professor Hu to seek advice from Bingxin CTO.
When Hu Zhengming met his students, he was not too polite and talked about future plans.
"The Lin'an factory is indeed going to enter DRAM as you think. Ice Core is seeking Qimonda's packaging patents and will also absorb some engineers and equipment from there. It is not without foundation."
"The Lin'an factory may become independent in the future. From this point of view, I think you can have a lot of space there."
"Your experience with DRAM is exactly where you can put it to use."
"What does Mr. Fang mean? If you can work with Mr. Luo and transfer a COO from Luzhou, the high-rise construction will be quite good."
Hu Zhengming spoke eloquently.
Lin'an No. 2 Factory is positioned to absorb Qimonda's experience and lessons and try to make achievements in DRAM. Luo Jianhua and Ji Minghua can assume part of the high-level skeleton by dividing their respective responsibilities.
As for future separation and independence, that depends on the situation.
Ji Minghua thought carefully and did not rush to express his position.
Instead, he talked about the news he heard today about Taiwan’s US$1 billion R&D.
"The news is true." Hu Zhengming frowned slightly and confirmed the situation, "The reporter is going to increase efforts in research and development."
"I heard that ice core investment will be increased this year. What will this number be?" Ji Minghua asked straightforwardly what he was curious about.
Hu Zhengming hesitated for a moment and replied: "There is no upper limit."
Ji Minghua repeated: "There is no upper limit?"
This sounds more like a cliche.
"There is no upper limit, which means that we can invest in as much R&D as is needed after the internal review." Hu Zhengming said sternly, "Part of the budget approval work has already begun."
Ji Minghua still has doubts: "Does this mean that ice core needs to invest US$1 billion like Taiwan Journal did, and it can really cost US$1 billion?"
It’s not that I don’t respect Bing Xin or Mr. Fang, it’s just that my tone is a bit harsh.
Hu Zhengming nodded directly: "That's what Mr. Fang meant. According to his words, we will fight with them!"
Ji Minghua: "..."
"This is actually Mr. Fang's latest statement, which was released today." Hu Zhengming glanced at Ji Minghua's expression and said with a smile, "When I heard this, my expression was similar to yours now, but..."
He paused and continued: "Mr. Fang is a person who has more money and more friends. No matter how he invests, how he finds money, or how he makes money, since he has said this, I believe he can do it."
Ji Minghua still remained silent.
Hu Zhengming made an analogy: "Inside the ice core, we don't talk about technology, but only about money. Our total trust in each other is just like your trust in Mr. Zhang Rujing."
Because of their trust in Mr. Zhang, hundreds of people landed in Shanghai from Baodao.
Also because of the other party's total trust, if he said yes, he would go to great lengths to help him spend money.
Ji Minghua understands this very well, and can only correct his general respect for the other party in his heart. If the respect increases, the DRAM budget can be discussed with peace of mind.
This chapter has been completed!