Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 345 Emergency treatment
"If I just say it, there might be some things that are not clear to everyone. These are the proposals that President Kobayashi and I wrote. Please take a look."

Although everyone's discussion was enthusiastic and they were very supportive of the youth's Xinghai Medical Project, seeing is believing. So he simply handed out a copy of the project proposal he had in his briefcase to everyone.

In addition to identifying and addressing any gaps, this also helped everyone gain a better understanding of the entire plan.

A few minutes later, Rogers saw what the young man hadn't said and curiously looked up to ask.

"President, are we going to build 23 hospitals all at once?"

"That's right, this is the first step of the plan. The company will build more hospitals across the country in the future."

Masato Takeshita has great ambitions; he wants to first dominate the domestic market and then expand into Southeast Asia.

In addition, he also planned to establish a dedicated medical aesthetics department.

With cosmetic surgery becoming increasingly popular in the future, he wants to capture this market share to generate greater profits.

"Wouldn't it be better if Tokyo and Osaka developed simultaneously?"

The young man glanced at Kamoto Ryūsei, then shook his head with a smile.

"No, not at all. Our company is still very new, and our resources are mainly concentrated in Tokyo. If we were to open a hospital in Osaka, we would encounter many problems."

The Xinghai Group lacks sufficient power and influence in Osaka. Opening a hospital, a sure-fire way to make money, could easily offend the local power brokers. It would be better to lie low for now and wait for a better opportunity.

Furthermore, Osaka did many more absurd things during the bubble economy era. For example, the infamous Onoe Seki incident occurred here.

Because Osaka is Japan's second-largest city, it has long been at odds with Tokyo and is very dissatisfied with Tokyo's status within the country.

Having money but being unwilling to submit, and being far from the emperor's reach, naturally leads to more trouble.

With numerous problems and a smaller scale than Tokyo, it suffered a greater blow, exacerbating the social crisis and creating chaos.

The Xinghai Group needs to wait until the internal power struggles in Osaka are exhausted before stepping in to clean up the mess.

"Alright, let's wait until the procedures in Tokyo are all completed and running smoothly before taking action in the other cities."

"Yes, President."

In addition to medical care, a nursing home project has been added to the proposal.

Xinghai Group's nursing home project will only target the high-end market, serving wealthy individuals and retired employees of Xinghai Group.

It's a business with high profit margins, but the actual amount of money earned isn't particularly high.

However, the nursing home industry is expected to develop better and better, becoming a stable source of cash flow for Xinghai Group.

"Then let's cooperate with specialized schools to train caregivers?"

"Yes, we can also recruit unemployed college graduates."

Caregivers are paid well, but their work is more strenuous than that of office workers.

However, for the current Japanese university student population, it is already very difficult to get a job with a decent salary, as the job market is currently in a period of stagnation.

Whether it's hard work or not is no longer a consideration for many college graduates from ordinary backgrounds.

The Xinghai Group's entry into the medical industry will have a significant impact; it took almost the entire morning of discussion to finalize the decision.

"Alright, it's decided then. Xinghai Medical will be run by Mr. Kobayashi in the early stages, and will become independent again later."

"It's already noon. Let's go to the cafeteria for lunch."

Upon hearing their chairman say this, the group's vice presidents, who were feeling a bit hungry, immediately perked up and loudly agreed.

During lunch, Masato Takeshita noticed that Fujio Masuoka seemed hesitant to speak.

Without even looking up, he asked, "Tell me, is it a lack of funds or a lack of equipment?"

A laboratory is essentially about three things: funding, equipment, and personnel.

In terms of talent, Xinghai Group has a well-established strategy for training and poaching talent, so it basically doesn't need his help.

Therefore, the problem must be a significant gap in funding and equipment, requiring strong support from young people.

Fujio Masuoka shook his head. "These are also important, but that's not what I came here to talk about today. I'm very optimistic about the mobile phone chip industry and plan to conduct in-depth research in this field."

"Oh, could you tell me why?"

The young man, intrigued, unconsciously stopped picking up food.

"That's right. As global mobile phone sales increase, so does the sales of mobile phone chips."

"Furthermore, as mobile phones become more complex, the number of chips used in practical applications will far exceed the growth rate of mobile phones."

Whether it's mobile phones or computers, as their capabilities increase and become more powerful, the number of chips used also increases.

In the early stages, only a few chips may be needed, but in the later stages, dozens or even hundreds of chips will be required.

"Hmm, that makes sense, but hasn't the company been researching mobile phone chips all along?"

Masato Takeshita naturally understood this, which is why he had the Seikai Laboratory develop mobile phone chips early on.

He didn't understand, what had happened?

"Yes, we have been doing research and development. But I think we have taken the wrong path in our research on mobile phone microprocessors."

"The existing Intel-like approach is not feasible; a design solution with lower power consumption is needed."

In the end, Fujio Masuoka sounded a little embarrassed. It was under his leadership that the Seikai Laboratory embarked on this path.

The young man didn't know much about these technical things, and asked hesitantly, "So, what do you mean?"

"I plan to go down the reduced instruction set architecture route. This route was proposed by Mr. John from IBM and is very suitable for the mobile phone industry, which needs to save energy."

Computer CPUs mainly follow two paths: the complex instruction set architecture and the reduced instruction set architecture.

The former is more suitable for the computer field, where power consumption is less of a concern and functionality is more important. The latter is widely found in fields such as mobile phones and tablets.

ARM is a company that follows the reduced instruction set architecture, and it's one of the companies that has gone quite far in this direction.

"No problem, since you think this is better, then go ahead and do it."

Young people don't understand these things; the only thing they can do is spend money to support them. If they go down the wrong path, they can always make up for lost time by spending money later.

There are many things in this world that money alone cannot provide, but the development of the semiconductor chip industry is definitely not one of them.

Later generations of China invested heavily in narrowing the gap with the world's advanced levels.

"Yes, thank you for your support, President."

"This is necessary; we are a research-driven, innovative company."

Takeshita Masato waved his chopsticks, his tone full of pride.

"um, yes."

Masuoka Fujio nodded in agreement with his chairman.

However, he quickly regained his composure and continued speaking.

"I think our company's research and development alone is not enough; we must leverage more resources. ARM in the UK is a very good company, and it is necessary to acquire it."

"ARM?"

Upon hearing the familiar name from his past life, Takeshita Masato was momentarily dazed.

"Yes, this company, which focuses on designing reduced instruction set CPUs, is developing very rapidly in this field."

"No problem, then let's acquire it quickly, we have plenty of money."

Once the young man realized what was happening, he immediately put down his chopsticks to show his support.

He doesn't understand reduced instruction sets, but he really understands ARM.

This company later dominated almost the entire mobile phone CPU design market.

Whether it's Apple, Samsung, or Xiaomi and Huawei, they all use the mobile phone CPU design solutions provided by this company.

However, unlike Qualcomm, this company has little control over the mobile CPU market. This is because ARM simply provides design solutions and cannot control chip production.

However, this is enough. It is not something that a single British company can achieve by truly monopolizing the global mobile phone CPU market.

"Yes, understand."

After discussing mobile phone chips, Fujio Masuoka appeared much more relaxed.

He asked casually, "Where is our company's battery research and development at?"

"It's still in the laboratory stage, and I'm not very clear about the specific progress."

Xinghai Group has invested heavily in the development of lithium batteries, which represent the future of the battery industry.

However, like Sony, which launched lithium batteries as early as 1991, it is still in the experimental stage.

The cost is too high, and it cannot be put into the market yet.

Masuoka Fujioya knew a little about the inside story, so he cautiously asked, "Does the company have any plans to develop nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal hydride batteries?"

Why are you suddenly asking this?

Masato Takeshita was curious, feeling that this was somewhat unlike Fujio Masuoka.

"Is such that……"

The chief scientist of Xinghai Group, who is also the first vice president of Xinghai Technology, slowly explained his reasons.

He mainly asked questions on behalf of Xinghai Technology.

Chambers didn't want to wait for a major breakthrough in lithium batteries and a significant price drop before entering the mobile phone battery market. He planned to acquire several mid-sized battery companies to achieve self-sufficiency as soon as possible.

"What did you say? Japan is preparing to abandon nickel-cadmium batteries?"

"Yes, the government thinks that nickel-cadmium batteries are not environmentally friendly."

"How could they be so foolish as to abandon their own core business?"

Japan is the dominant player in nickel-cadmium batteries; abandoning nickel-cadmium batteries would be tantamount to abandoning a stable and profitable industry.

It can only be said that the Japanese government has been completely bewildered by the US's industrial relocation strategy.

The US government, with its dollar hegemony, can naturally recklessly engage in industrial relocation. Japan, with its manufacturing sector, would be doomed if it dared to do the same.

"No, it's mainly because nickel-metal hydride batteries are developing very well, and we also hold the future in the lithium battery market."

"hehe."

Takeshita Masato gave two disdainful sneers.

"There is no technological gap between nickel-metal hydride batteries and nickel-cadmium batteries, and they can be used in mobile phones and other fields."

"It's still unknown when lithium batteries will be successfully developed. These short-sighted people in Japan will regret it sooner or later."

Japan's prolonged economic difficulties have led to widespread ideological confusion throughout the country.

Neither the government nor the conglomerates knew what to do.

For example, the medical industry in the past, and the battery industry now, are typical examples of making mistakes when things are rushed.

However, unlike the medical industry, abandoning nickel-cadmium batteries is intended to force companies to enter more advanced fields and earn higher profits.

However, Japan's slow progress in lithium-ion batteries and limited lead in nickel-metal hydride batteries have backfired. New entrants from China and South Korea will continue to erode Japan's market share in this field.

"can you?"

Masuoka Fujio was somewhat alarmed; he hadn't expected things to be so serious.

"What do you think? Don't forget how Japan developed."

In its early years, Japan also developed outdated technologies that the United States disliked, but eventually succeeded in surpassing the United States in some areas.

South Korea, Taiwan, and China are all currently following this path.

"This……"

Masuoka Fujio immediately understood and took a deep breath.

However, he had no say in such matters of national importance and could only show a helpless expression.

The same applies to Masato Takeshita; the Xinghai Group has only a shallow understanding of the battery field, and this cannot change Japan's decision to abandon nickel-cadmium batteries.

Companies like Sanyo are very confident, believing that lithium batteries can be commercialized soon and that Japan will always be the king in the battery field.

"Forget it, there's no point in thinking about it so much."

Takeshita Masato unconsciously picked up the chopsticks he had just put down, tapped them casually on the plate twice, and continued speaking.

"That's good too. We can easily take over several nickel-cadmium battery production lines, making money while accumulating experience in battery factory development."

Masato Takeshita originally planned to enter the market when the Asian financial crisis was being dealt with, but now that such a good opportunity has presented itself, he naturally wants to move forward.

By simply moving the production line to China, you can immediately set up a factory and start making money.

"Yes, President Chambers and I share similar thoughts."

Chambers had a strong entrepreneurial spirit and observed for several months before finally finding the opportunity in batteries.

He wanted to leave his mark on Xinghai Technology and didn't want to live in Gerstner's shadow for the rest of his life.

The battery he's working on now will be his first step at Xinghai Technology.

Besides the chips and batteries, the two also talked about the progress of the PHS (Personal Handyphone System).

"How are the preparations going?"

"Technically, there are no problems. With our efforts and those of NTT, more than a thousand base stations have been installed, and we expect them to be online normally this summer."

"Very good, we must correct more problems during the operation period."

When Xiaolingtong was first launched, it was bound to have many problems.

Therefore, instead of placing the PHS phone directly in Tokyo, the two companies chose a small city in Hokkaido to conduct experiments.

This process of experimentation and continuous improvement enhances the user experience.

Of course, no matter how much it's improved, it won't go much higher; it can only meet people's minimum call requirements.

Of course, hospitals and similar places are exceptions. Hospitals need to minimize the impact of radiation on their equipment, making low-radiation PHS (Personal Handyphone System) phones ideal.

"Don't worry, we've done several tests, there won't be any major problems."

The technology behind PHS (Personal Handyphone System) is very simple, and the two companies have tested it multiple times.

If it weren't for Masato Takeshita constantly finding excuses to delay, it should have been released in Japan long ago.

"Well, that's good. Our standards are intended to be adopted by countries in Southeast Asia and elsewhere."

"Understood, please rest assured, Chairman."

Although Masuoka Fujio was inwardly unsure, he didn't show it on his face. Since the chairman had said so, there must be some advantages to this technique that he hadn't yet discovered.

"That's good. I trust you to handle things."

"Hi!"

Masuoka Fujio decided to go to Seikai Communications later to find Tanaka Kenji to learn more about the base station business.

When it comes to mobile phone signals, Xinghai Communications is the real expert. I, as the head of the department, only understand the terminal equipment for the PHS (Personal Handyphone System) business, that is, the PHS mobile phone.

"Alright, that's settled then. You take your time eating, I'm going now."

"Yes, Chairman, please take care."

This time, Masato Takeshita didn't speak, but simply waved his hand. Then, under the respectful gaze of Fujio Masuoka, he quickly placed his plate down and left the cafeteria.

(End of this chapter)