After reaching its peak in the late 1980s, the domestic DRAM industry began to decline rapidly in the early 1990s, heading toward the beginning of decline.
Due to the failure to grasp the era of consumer-grade PCs, coupled with the United States' eye-catching trade policy restrictions, as well as many unfavorable factors such as the appreciation of the yen, the cost of domestic DRAM memory chip products remains high.
After the financial turmoil of 1997 and the long bloody low-price competition of 1998, major Japanese manufacturers finally couldn't hold on anymore and withdrew from the field of DRAM memory chip production, leaving the market to competitors.
In early February 1999, unable to tolerate the huge losses, Hitachi Manufacturing and nec merged their DRAM businesses and announced the establishment of Elpida Memory to operate independently.
Mid-March 1999.
Atlantic Business Machines Company launched the Oppo brand mobile phone, which became an instant hit with its extraordinary style. It joined the increasingly fierce competition in the mobile phone market and was introduced to the market with a high-end image. Its main target is high-end business people.
shortly afterwards
News that shocked the world came from Fuso. Toshiba sold its DRAM business to Atlantic Jinko Group and completely withdrew from the field of memory chip production.
Another major Japanese manufacturer collapsed and sadly withdrew from this cruel market.
thereafter
The Wang Consortium and the US-funded consortium behind Samsung Group reached a tacit agreement. The two parties gave up price competition, took advantage of the recovery of the international memory chip market, and seized the time to lick their wounds.
June 1999
Marvel Entertainment's "Fast and Furious 2" was a box office hit, grossing US$372 million at the global box office since its opening, boosting the company's stock price to soar to US$10 billion, ranking it among the seven major film production companies in Hollywood.
August 1999
The commercial blockbuster "Iron Man" produced by Marvel Entertainment hit the market, and the box office was full after opening in the United States.
It has topped the box office charts for seven consecutive weeks, grossing US$470 million at the US box office and US$830 million globally, and its peripheral toys and action figures are also selling like crazy.
This phenomenal performance has made Wall Streeters re-examine Marvel Animation's frighteningly rich IP resources, and they can't help but be surprised.
Just like discovering a gold mine, huge amounts of investment are pouring in.
Boosting the stock price, it soared like a rocket, reaching 20 billion US dollars, 30 billion US dollars, 40 billion US dollars, and reaching a peak market value of 47.6 billion US dollars. The rocket's soaring stock price stopped.
September 1999
Wang Yaocheng signed and approved the expansion plans of Carrefour supermarket chain and Pacific Appliances Mall in hundreds of cities and thousands of stores.
Carrefour supermarket chain planning;
In three years, 72 hypermarkets and 1,000 stores with a business area of 500 to 3,000 square meters will be developed to build a dense commercial chain network and seize the ever-expanding commercial retail market.
It is expected that by 2002, the Carrefour supermarket chain will have 200 hypermarket stores and 1,000 community stores, with a turnover of 160 billion yuan and a profit of 30 billion yuan.
Pacific Appliances Mall Planning;
In three years, we will develop 16 home appliance hypermarkets and 1,200 new stores, extend our sales reach to counties, expand our bargaining power with home appliance companies, and consolidate our position as the leading home appliance seller in the country.
November 1999
The trial operation of Huanghe Technology Group's first independently developed fifth-generation LCD screen production line was successful. Immediately afterwards, the group will set up a second production base in Jinling to put into production the latest fifth-generation LCD screen production line to expand market share.
December 12, 1999
HSBC re-listed in London and Hong Kong. After asset restructuring and value-added share expansion, HSBC's share capital has reached 10 billion. It is expected to issue 3 billion shares at an issue price of 6 pounds.
On the first day of listing on the Stock Exchange, the stock price soared 24%. A dozen hours later, on the first day of listing on the London Stock Exchange, the stock price rose 11.7%. This super heavyweight IPO was a complete success.
The Wang Consortium received a one-time harvest of 18 billion pounds (30.8 billion U.S. dollars), and the consortium's cash pool reached 56 billion U.S. dollars.
January 2000
Atlantic Business Machines Company wanted to acquire Qualcomm for US$9.7 billion. The management of both parties approved the merger agreement, but at the last moment, it was urgently stopped by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The deal was cancelled, and Atlantic Business Machines compensated Qualcomm for US$460 million. It was hailed as a failed marriage.
February 2000
Yangtze River Technology Group acquired the bankrupt Dell Computer for US$130 million and released new computer products under the Dell brand to compete in the computer market.
shortly afterwards
Changjiang Technology Group acquired the Playboy brand of its parent company for US$110 million to produce consumer-grade home appliances and Playboy laptops and mobile phones, further strengthening the company's strength.
As a result, Changjiang Technology Group has broken away from its role as a simple foundry and has its own world-renowned brand.
February 2000
Red Hat Systems acquired AMD for US$6.6 billion and injected the company's assets and patented technologies to form Athlon microprocessors and AMD microprocessors, as well as the Opteron processor product series for enterprise servers.
It competes with chip giant Intel, and its market value has climbed to US$87 billion.
Red Hat Systems has a market value of US$505 billion compared to Intel, which is about a quarter of the other company. Its products are widely used in Oppo, Dell, Fujitsu, Panasonic, Glitter, Lenovo, and some Taiwanese brand computers, accounting for 67.2% of the market share.
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Mid-February 2000
A big event happened in the DRAM field. Due to the accusations from the American personal computer manufacturers IBM and Gateway (these two companies have notoriously bad relations with memory manufacturers), the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation in 2000. From 1999 to February 2000, Samsung
, North American sales staff of Atlantic Jinko, Hynix, Infineon, Micron and other companies conspired to control memory prices.
In fact, during this period, memory manufacturers had a very difficult life, and it was only after the end of 1998 that things became easier.
Due to market factors, major Japanese manufacturers have withdrawn from the DRAM field one after another, and a rare supply and demand shortage occurred in the market. This caused the price of DRAM memory chips to skyrocket again by more than ten times, reflecting the distinctive characteristics of cyclical bulk products.
Making money faster than printing money makes me scared. When I lose money, I feel like jumping off a building. I wish I could chop off my own hands. It’s so magical.
However, the U.S. Department of Justice made full use of its dominant market position. On the one hand, it imposed huge fines and severe penalties such as jail time on four non-U.S. manufacturers. On the other hand, the U.S. manufacturer Micron was exempted from fines on the pretext of serving as a tainted witness.
In the end, Samsung was fined US$300 million, Hynix was fined US$485 million, Atlantic Jinko was fined US$625 million, and Infineon was fined US$160 million.
Wang Yaocheng curiously checked the website of the US Department of Justice;
In the past 20 years, the United States has invoked the Sherman Act to impose fines exceeding US$10 million 140 times, and fined multinational companies a total of US$12.5 billion. What can be said here besides admiring its hegemony?
Wang Yaocheng smiled bitterly and shook his head. He thought that these more than one billion US dollars were just feeding the dogs. From this, he also remembered the name of a company, which was Micron, the market competitor in the DRAM field.
This is a US-funded manufacturer with a lot of dark history. It is the most aggressive in blocking mainland chip technology and initiates patent lawsuits at every turn.