Author: quiet thoughts

After several years of development, SIC is no longer an unknown person in Neon.

Especially outside the industry, with the reputation of Neon's first independent research and development company, SIC has earned a lot of attention.

In terms of technology research and development, SIC basically retains about 10% of its profits every year and invests it in the research and development of first-generation chips.

After an update iteration, SIC's 8-bit chips currently have two families: 8089A and 80289M.

To the east of them, there are many detailed branches developed for various applications, and there are always dozens of them.

Next year's 8-bit chip shipments have increased to about 5 million compared to last year's 3 million.

Although shipments increased by 1.67 times, profits did not increase by the same multiple.

Compared with last year’s profit of 11.25 billion yuan per month, next year’s profit will be 13.75 billion yuan per month, which is far from the 1.67 times of 18.8 billion yuan.

The reason is that with the large-scale application of 1.5 micron manufacturing technology, the manufacturing cost of chips has also dropped significantly.

Since costs have fallen, prices have naturally risen as well.

After all, there is more than one company manufacturing chips around the world, and if there is competition, there will be room for price reductions.

A year or two ago, the price of 8-bit chips was outside the range of 20 to 25 US dollars. Now the price of an 8-bit chip has dropped to about 13 to 15 US dollars.

The selling price of SIC's 8-bit chips is also outside that range and cannot be lowered any further. If it is lowered further, SIC's profit will even be lower than last year.

If you can maintain a profit of 10 to 11 US dollars per chip, it is already quite good, at least it is very profitable.

In the future, with the continuous advancement of technology, Moore's Law will have an increasingly strong presence in the chip industry.

By that time, because the number of transistors integrated outside the chip has doubled, the cost of developing a chip will rise significantly.

The cost of masking, etching, and testing can be many times what it is now, so the chip industry should enter the industry early and eat meat early.

When the technology evolves to the nanometer level, the number of transistors outside the chip will increase to tens of millions or billions.

Imagine that there are so many transistors and it is a huge project to arrange them into an ideal circuit.

Without the initial underlying architecture as a reference, it would be impossible to achieve it in one step.

That’s why several major Neon semiconductor manufacturers want to develop SIC architecture technology.

After several years of iteration, SIC technology has become quite mature.

NEC doesn't say they don't have relevant technical talents. Even if they do, step by step, it will take several years to reach the current level.

But will the chip technology level remain unchanged in a few years, waiting for NEC and others to catch up? The answer is obvious.

Therefore, the fastest way to enter the industry is to obtain their technology and start its own research and development on this technology.

Of course, no matter whether they deal with NEC or not, SIC is still making a lot of money in the neon market.

Compared with the 8-bit chip with a shipment volume of more than 5 million, its enhanced versions 8089 and 80289 have shipped a total of more than 2.5 million.

Compared with last year's 1.4 million, there is a significant increase. Although its profits have also shrunk, they still remain at around US$30.

2.5 million pieces will result in a profit of 18.75 billion, which is about 1.5 times higher than last year's 12.25 billion.

It can also be seen from there that the greater the number of external transistors, the more complex the process. Although its profits are also affected by the new process, the decline is limited.

This is most evident in 16-bit chips. Last year, the profit per chip of SIC reached US$180.

Although the price will drop to around US$200-250 next year, the cost has also dropped significantly compared to before.

Last year, the cost of 300,000 pieces was close to US$100 per piece, and next year it will be about US$60.

And because Fujitsu used 8081 in batches in high-end computers, annual shipments once reached 500,000 units.

Adding the 300,000 pieces accumulated in other fields, a total of 800,000 16-bit chips were shipped.

The profit they bring to SIC is only 120 million US dollars, or 30 billion yuan per month.

As for the 20,000 to 30,000 pieces of the latest model 80281 shipped to Pingcheng, the loss was US$20 per piece.

For that batch of goods, SIC paid roughly US$500,000. Unfortunately, the shipment volume was too small and the cost could not be reduced.

Of course, as a ticket, it is not cost-effective. As long as the evaluation of Pinggao SIC remains unchanged, you will not worry about not making money in the future.

The combined profits of all SIC family chips have reached 62.5 billion yuan per month, a total of 250 million U.S. dollars.

Tsk, although it has less than doubled compared to last year.

But even with that profit data, Toshiba's entire semiconductor division is already close to that.

No wonder they can't stand it any longer and want to move towards SIC. The processor chip market is indeed growing at an impressive rate.

I don’t know if SIC will be able to maintain that growth rate in a few years.

After all, Neon has Fujitsu, Yueli and Toshiba authorized by SIC.

A few years are enough for them to develop corresponding chips and apply them to their own products.

Bu Nao thought about it carefully, and Hongchuan Feng put aside her worries again.

Because the most affected ones are only those companies' own products, and they are unable to compete with SIC in the external market.

At the rate of development of Moore's Law, by the time they develop their own chip a few years later, SIC's 32-bit chip will have already been available.

There is no doubt that SIC is still a unique presence in the cutting-edge market.

And with the development of overseas markets in the future, SIC's territory will become larger and larger.

“SIC’s goals for next year are mainly overseas, especially the computer market.

In terms of external licensing, it can be opened to chip companies in non-computer fields, such as instrument manufacturers like Arnold.

But in the field of CPU processors..." Hongchuan Feng paused, "Then the pearl of SIC's technical crown must not be awarded to others!"

"Hai!" Heitaro Nakajima promised Donglai with a serious face.

He also understands whether red computer processors will be the exclusive domain of SIC, at least in Neon.

Speaking of computers, Hongchuan Kaede turned his attention to Eiji Kimura again.

"Kimura-san, how about the computer Anke will cooperate with SoftBank next year?"

Eiji Kimura stood up after being called out, with excitement in his expression.

“UW (Union world) computer sales are going very well, with 130,000 units sold in the first year.

Sunsang has already raised its sales forecast for next year, and Anke has received more orders than in the past."

As a brand new computer brand, selling over 100,000 units in the first year is considered a great success.

Sharp's X series computers have sold more than 200,000 units.

On the other hand, SoftBank's development in the computer field is off to a good start.

This also proves that the computer market has indeed become increasingly hot in the past two years.

SIC's profits and Anke's data all indicate one thing to Hongchuan Feng.

Then there is the computer craze, which will gradually rise in the next few years until it sets off an information revolution that affects the global economy.

Tsk, the storm is rising.

All these signs have made Hongchuan Feng a little jealous of the computer market.

If you don't think about it, forget it and concentrate on your notebook first.

Will it be Hongchuan Electric's future sail in the information field? SIC's chips and HAL's software will protect it.

And because Anke proved for the first time that it is capable in product design.

Although Eiji Kimura's hair is getting redder, she is more energetic than before.

Do you want to make money by making your own products?

Last year, their OEM profit was only 1 billion yuan per month, but next year they will launch new products in computer motherboards and power supplies.

As well as the business of assembling computers for SoftBank, Anke's operating profit has reached 6 billion yuan per month.

Although the total amount is not large, it has increased six times compared with last year.

The growth is very gratifying, and Eiji Kimura is already very satisfied.

When we were working alone, when Kimura Manufacturing was doing well, its profits were only two to three hundred million yuan a month.

Although Eiji Kimura owns 30% of the current Anke Electric Co., Ltd.

But if the profit of 6 billion is divided into his legs, it will still be 1.5 billion.

Look, what is that?

Is this a blessing in disguise?

When Kimura Manufacturing Co., Ltd. was acquired by Benikawa-san, I might have gotten lucky.

The proud Eiji Kimura had no memory of how he knelt on the ground and begged Hongkawa Kaede to raise his leg.

Of course, Hongchuan Feng is now paying attention to his ideas, and after understanding Anke's operating conditions, he finally has a clearer understanding of Hongchuan Holdings Qidong's manufacturing industry.

The battery factory has 4 billion yuan per month, the LCD factory has 15 billion yuan per month, and the optical disk factory has 3.5 billion yuan per month. Those peripheral non-core businesses have a total profit of 22.5 billion yuan per month.
To be continued...