Chapter 952 Promoting Cooperation (4k)

The Yangtze River Delta Chamber of Commerce has made good progress. Although it is basically expected, it is still gratifying to see it actually landed.

As for the advancement of Bingxin investment...

Although the German Federal Foreign Trade and Investment Agency joined the consultation, it only resulted in some concessions on minor conditions.

Fang Zhuo is not in a hurry. If this trip cannot be finalized, then continue to talk slowly. Anyway, the people who are in a hurry now are not the ones with money.

The third and fourth days passed quickly. The number of people at the hotel exhibition was decreasing. Some were visiting local brands, and some needed to visit other cities in Germany. Everyone will meet in Berlin on January 9, and then continue to stay in Paris, Milan, Vienna, and Barcelona for one day each, and finally take the flight on the 14th to return home.

The two cities of Dresden and Magdeburg talked for two days, and both invited Mr. Fang to visit and inspect on the spot, but Fang Zhuo arranged this invitation to the two vice presidents of Bingxin, Liao Chaoyong and Xu Keyu, who led people to the intended place respectively.

On the fifth day, Fang Zhuo, who was in Berlin, met guests from the French province of Isère. He was very happy to talk to them about Bingxin's investment plan in Europe. The new wafer factory has a total investment of more than 1.6 billion US dollars, which is expected to create at least 1,000 jobs and radiate and drive the industrial chain in the surrounding areas.

After a whole day of talking, Fang Zhuo was very happy. He changed his schedule for this. The original Paris on the 10th will be changed to a visit to Crolle in the province of Isère.

As a result, that night, Stig, who was responsible for Magdeburg's investment promotion, called again urgently and wanted to discuss Bingxin's investment with the Federal Economic and Investment Agency tomorrow.

It's really a good idea to eat something that is right in front of your mouth. It's delicious if you have to rush to eat it.

Fang Zhuo maintained his attitude and said that he would talk about it. It depends on who is more sincere. Now France is leading, Magdeburg is in the middle, and Dresden is the last.

On January 5, the director of the Investment Agency, Kohler, personally participated in the talks between Bingxin and Magdeburg, and worked hard to push the cooperation between the two sides forward. Deputy Mayor Stephen was willing to increase the investment ratio to 35%, and Deutsche Bank implemented an interest-free loan for two years.

Financial crisis, special matters should be handled specially.

Even so, Fang Zhuo expressed his consideration, but before saying that he was not satisfied, the director of the Federal Economic and Investment Agency, Kohler, first expressed his position privately at the luncheon at noon, saying that it was not enough! Not enough! It can still be discussed!

As for how to talk, Deputy Mayor Stephen held on to 35% for the time being...

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

Because of his attitude, Fang Zhuo specially agreed to go to Magdeburg for a field visit on the 6th. Cooperation is an interaction between the two sides, and it cannot be done by one person alone.

There is no need to elaborate on Magdeburg's advantages. Its transportation conditions and talent resources are good. Vice President Xu Keyu also got a very good impression during his short inspection.

Fang Zhuo arrived here and saw the planned factory location on paper. He was also welcomed by the city government and local universities.

In general, as one of the earliest regions to develop the semiconductor industry in Europe, automotive semiconductors and industrial semiconductors are the key development directions of the industry, especially after the bankruptcy of Qimonda, the last memory light.

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

However, the overall strategy does not mean that Magdeburg does not need relatively advanced wafer foundry companies. Even the performance of departments such as the Economic and Investment Agency has proved that they are very welcome to Bingxin to come to Germany.

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

"Can we invest? Can we build here?" Fang Zhuo asked Xu Keyu for his opinion.

"Yes, it's very good. Although the foundation is a little worse than Dresden, the locals welcome us very much and can easily recruit engineers. This difficulty is much lower than opening a new factory in China." Xu Keyu talked about the focus of his attention.

Once Bingxin went overseas, the difficulty level of opening a new factory dropped sharply, especially engineers. People in the United States who took advantage of the financial crisis to recruit and people in Europe were more willing to come to Magdeburg.

In addition, the buyer's market for second-hand equipment is now, and the process itself is 65nm, which Bingxin already has. 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 little longer, I think Director Kohler has the goods." Fang Zhuo was waiting for the efforts of the Investment Bureau.

Another day later, members of the Chamber of Commerce returned to Berlin one after another. The total order amount has climbed from 3.15 billion to 8.69 billion, with an average of 180 million per family, which is already very satisfactory.

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

However, most of the companies that came to the Yangtze River Delta Chamber of Commerce this time were medium-sized enterprises, and their size determined that the orders would not be too high.

If this activity is continued next year, I believe that with the experience and lessons learned from the first success, the results will be greatly improved.

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

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

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 its investment ratio from 35% to 40%, which is still 10% short of Fangzhuo's expected maximum.

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.

It 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 Ice Core 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 a more detailed inspection. Dr. Qiu is a master of factory construction. Bingxin is 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 & Invest plays a decisive role in the entire investment decision-making process.”

“Administrator 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 feel that the evaluation is quite objective." Fang Zhuo joked, "I was rated among the top ten this year. I hope I won't be rated among the ten worst in the future."

"This year, there are also ten worst CEOs in the world, 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 sorry for Mr. Luo and Qimonda.

The reporter recorded this answer, which was a bit interesting in the interview.

One of the top ten CEOs in the world led the Yangtze River Delta Business Association to board a flight to Paris. Although there were no friends like Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Telekom there, there were still receptions from the administrative and business circles.

Fang Zhuo specifically asked about the "good and bad CEOs" on the plane, and found that almost half of the people really knew about it.

Richard was indeed the first among the bad CEOs, and he got more votes than the remaining 9 people combined, while Mr. Luo ranked third.

As for the good CEO, the first place was actually Xiao Ao...

For this, Fang Zhuo can only say that the selection is not a set, if you want to evaluate, give a good evaluation. Why did you put Xiao Ao on it, resulting in him only being ranked second.

The rest are also his familiar friends, Apple's Jobs, Google's Schmidt, Amazon's Bezos, Twitter's Evan...

Twitter has developed very well this year, successfully showing the value of microblogs as social media and business tools.

When the plane landed in Paris, Fang Zhuo was thinking about whether to post a message on Twitter, but before he could come up with a text, a call from China announced a good news.

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

A new era has arrived!

Yike, which has been ahead of the curve, can finally...end the pilot life and enter the stage of full force.

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

The news of the 3G license has been circulating before. Now that it has landed, everyone realizes the significance of this to Yike. It is like 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 3G procurement of operators!"

"Do you think I opened the three major operators? Fair competition, fair competition." Fang Zhuo said seriously, "Yike will not do anything dirty."

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

"It's very convenient. Nokia is such an influential brand, and China has just issued a license. Everyone is watching." Fang Zhuo said unhappily.

Schmidt understood that it was not inconvenient to talk, but it was inconvenient to do something dirty now.

This is the understanding of the world's seventh best CEO to the world's second best CEO.