Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 382 That person should appear.

After consoling himself, Masato Takeshita temporarily put aside the matter of the mobile phone and began calling the actual controller of a major company that supports Sino-Japanese friendship.

"Hello, President Tsutsumi, I am Masato Takeshita from the Seikai Group."

"Yes, I'm sorry to bother you."

"Yes, you're too kind."

After some polite small talk, the young man finally got down to business.

"Well, Prime Minister Murayama made a statement a few days ago, and I would like to take this opportunity to have a small gathering with everyone."

Tsutsumi Seiji was a clever man and immediately saw through the young man's true intentions, readily accepting his invitation.

These business leaders who support Sino-Japanese friendship really need to unite in order to better cope with domestic and international changes.

If we say that Seiji Tsutsumi, Yasuyoshi Tokuma, and others belong to the faction that will support Sino-Japanese friendship no matter what changes occur between China and Japan.

Then NEC President Tadahiro Sekimoto, Hitachi President Tsutomu Kanai, and Panasonic President Yoichi Morishita are examples of opportunists.

The current trend in Japan is towards friendly cooperation with China, and therefore, Japan has also expressed its support for the Murayama Statement.

Of course, the most important reason is that these companies have investments in China, so they naturally choose to say good things.

However, when it comes to investment and donations to China, Xinghai Group is now not only number one in Japan, but also number one globally.

This single company accounts for nearly half of all Japanese investment and donations to China, demonstrating its commitment to promoting friendship with China.

Of course, Xinghai Group is now investing and donating more in the US.

There's no way around it; the US is powerful and offers more opportunities. A single deal there could be comparable to a whole host of projects in China.

Taking Wanglaoji as an example, Xinghai Group only spent a few million US dollars.

If it were the United States, the price would be at least several dozen times higher.

On Saturday night, the Shinagawa Prince Hotel was brightly lit.

Masato Takeshita and Izumi Sakai greeted the guests at the banquet entrance.

Yes, to soften the formality of the gathering, Masato Takeshita had mentioned in advance over the phone that female companions were welcome to attend.

This is everyone's first meeting, so it's best to keep it brief.

It's not too late to have a deeper exchange once everyone is familiar with each other.

"Good evening, President Tsutsumi."

Good evening, President Takeshita.

After exchanging polite greetings, the two chatted casually for a few more minutes.

Then, Tsutsumi Seiji tactfully said, "President Takeshita, you're busy, so I won't bother you any longer. Let's talk later."

"Okay, President Tsutsumi, please come inside."

The process of receiving guests was tedious, but Masato Takeshita couldn't leave.

Only after watching the last guest enter the party hall did the young man rub his cheeks, which were stiff from faking a smile.

Japanese etiquette and daily routines were making things difficult for Takeshita Masato.

Because Chinese people tend to have a lot of subtle movements, unlike the Japanese who are more methodical.

However, the reception work before the party required him to speak and act like an NPC, which naturally made the young man very uncomfortable.

"What, are you still not used to it?"

When his wife asked him a question, Masato Takeshita unconsciously straightened his suit.

"Yeah, I probably won't be able to get used to this in my entire life."

After the banquet officially began, Masato Takeshita had to politely say some pleasantries.

Of course, it lasted very short a time; he announced the official start of the evening's banquet in less than a minute.

There's really nothing to say, just some polite but empty talk.

After the banquet officially began, Takeshita Masato quickly approached Tsutsumi Seiji.

After exchanging polite greetings, Mrs. Tsutsumi smiled and took Izumi Sakai's hand. She then walked away from the two of them, praising them as she went.

"Sakai-san, your skin is so good, do you not use any makeup?"

"I use Shiseido products, but I just wear a light makeup."

Both of them knew very well that their husbands had things to talk about and would naturally have to leave for a while, while also avoiding being disturbed by others.

While they were discussing women's topics over cosmetics, Seiji Tsutsumi and Masato Takeshita were talking about the concept of simplicity.

"The minimalist brand of Xinghai Group has made us Japanese proud. We Japanese finally have a high-end brand that is popular all over the world."

"Not at all, President Tsutsumi is too kind. Our company's minimalist concept is actually learned from your Muji."

Muji is one of the earliest companies in Japan to promote the concept of simplicity.

However, Muji's operations were somewhat conservative, and it failed to go public in the 1990s, thus failing to achieve global expansion.

Xinghai Apparel's minimalist brand is different; it invests heavily in global promotion to establish itself as an authoritative high-end brand.

It's fair to say that minimalist brands are built by spending money.

This is also the best way for many new brands to quickly rise to prominence: as soon as a profitable concept emerges, they rush in and spend money on promotion.

However, the US and China are good at this model, while Japan is not so good at it.

In the past, the US and China had a subsidy war in the food delivery and ride-hailing industries, while Japan was very conservative and handed over the market to others.

"Is that so? It's our honor."

"Of course, I just don't know when your company will go public. Now is the best time to enter the international market."

The minimalist fashion trend spearheaded by Xinghai Group has benefited minimalist-related brands worldwide. Many people, influenced by politicians and celebrities, have chosen to shop at their stores.

If Muji were to go public now and raise enough funds, it would likely achieve far greater success than in its previous life.

"There's no rush. Right now, we just want to focus on doing well in Japan."

"Okay, let me know if you want to go public, and Xinghai Group is willing to provide strong support."

"No problem, it's our pleasure."

After discussing business matters, the two then talked about employee management.

Despite their differing opinions, the two quickly reached an agreement on providing better treatment for employees.

Neither Masato Takeshita nor Seiji Tsutsumi were misers; they both wanted their employees to have a better life.

After the conversation ended, the young man noticed that no one was around Sekimoto Tadahiro, so he strode over to him.

"Mr. Guan, how is your cooperation with China going?"

NEC is the Japanese semiconductor company most willing to invest in China, and has tried several times to sell its high-end production lines to China.

Because Tadahiro Sekimoto wanted to take a roundabout route to achieve his goal, which was to sell chips to the United States through China.

This would both reduce production costs and circumvent US sanctions.

"It's difficult to talk; we have quite a few points of disagreement."

Tadahiro Sekimoto was greedy; he didn't want to spend money but wanted to gain control of the joint venture.

Forget about technological advancements; let them become our chip foundries.

The Chinese side was naturally unwilling, but no other company offered a better partnership, so the matter remained at a stalemate. "Well then, you'd better hurry up and negotiate; Samsung's expansion speed in South Korea is a bit too fast."

The young people wanted to help China and put some pressure on NEC.

"They're all under our control; they can't turn the tables."

Tadahiro Sekimoto's admiration for Samsung was tinged with arrogance, somewhat similar to the American view of Japanese chip companies in the past.

It can only be said that humanity finds it very difficult to learn lessons from history. Even if it superficially learns, it will eventually revert to the same old cycle for various reasons.

"Don't underestimate Samsung; they have the support of both the South Korean and American governments."

"I know that too, but there's really nothing we can do now; we can only watch our market share keep declining."

NEC is also struggling, trying to replace the US market with the Chinese market. But NEC's cooperation with China is awkward; it's always trying to have its cake and eat it too.

"Oh, so Mr. Guan, haven't you considered cooperating with China on the wafer foundry route?"

“Wafer foundry is indeed a good business, but it’s not suitable for our company.”

Tadahiro Sekimoto looked down on the wafer foundry business, feeling it had no future.

In his view, Xinghai Wafer's foundry business was completely pointless and unnecessary.

After removing orders from Xinghai Group itself, they don't make much money at all. And those orders are troublesome and time-consuming, taking up a large portion of Xinghai Wafer's production capacity.

It can only be said that Tadahiro Sekimoto's abilities have declined significantly.

Although they saw China's potential and made significant investments, they didn't understand what kind of wafer fabrication model represented the future.

“I see, that makes a lot of sense. Every company is different.”

Masato Takeshita thought about it and realized that he had indeed been a bit too hasty.

The current size of China's electronics market is not very large, and the demand for the wafer foundry model is very low.

TSMC's rise was primarily driven by the US market. Mainland China's demand in this area won't materialize until after the 21st century. Even if NEC wanted to pursue a wafer foundry business, it wouldn't be able to find enough customers.

Because Xinghai Wafer almost monopolizes all of Japan's small, individual clients. And those large clients all have their own partner companies.

After talking with Tadahiro Sekimoto, Masato Takeshita's mind was opened.

Everything changes with time, and sometimes being advanced doesn't mean being correct. In China today, wafer foundries might starve to death.

Because there are not enough orders, they cannot support themselves solely through the Chinese market.

After thinking everything through, the conversation between the two went much more smoothly.

Masato Takeshita had the idea of ​​helping Tadahiro Sekimoto out, and was preparing to work with NEC to deal with the pressure from the semiconductor alliance formed by the United States.

However, now is not the time. We need to wait until Xinghai Group becomes stronger before acquiring shares and controlling NEC.

He had no intention of doing the work for someone else.

Since the China route was not feasible for the time being, Masato Takeshita turned his attention back to the United States.

"Let me think, what would be the best way to get in?"

The young man sat in his study and began a new round of planning for the wafer fab.

"Hey, I've got it! We can re-implement the route we abandoned before."

When Starsea Foundry was first established, Masato Takeshita originally wanted to follow the same path as UMC's rise, which was to cooperate with mid-sized American semiconductor companies to establish wafer fabs.

As a result, the newly built wafer fab will naturally not lack chip orders.

However, Xinghai Group expanded too rapidly, and Xinghai Wafer had no shortage of orders, so they gradually abandoned the idea.

The Japanese market is now nearing saturation.

Masato Takeshita is preparing to relaunch the "going global" strategy and implement the United Electric model.

However, the current global situation has changed, and Starsea Semiconductor needs to compete with UMC.

But it doesn't matter; Xinghai Foundry holds a clear advantage in the wafer foundry field. As long as they are sincere, they will definitely have more partners than UMC.

Masato Takeshita, having restructured the company's development path, finally felt relieved of his burden.

The next morning, after arriving at the office, he immediately called his secretary over.

"Uchida-san, please ask President Scully to come over here."

"Hi!"

Upon hearing that the president wanted to see him, Scully immediately put aside his work for the day and rushed to the youth office.

He had just sat down and taken a sip of black tea when he heard some shocking news.

"Scarlissan, Starsea Technologies is too large. I'm thinking of splitting it up?"

"This this……"

Scully wanted to refuse, but couldn't find a suitable reason.

For Xinghai Group, Xinghai Technology is indeed too powerful; all its other subsidiaries combined are not as strong as it.

With the booming popularity of PHS (Personal Handyphone System) services, the top-heavy situation is even more pronounced than before, which is indeed somewhat abnormal.

But as the president of Xinghai Technology, he naturally did not want the company to be split up.

"Don't worry, it's not what you think. For now, we'll just split up the Starsea wafers."

Starsea Wafer is no longer suitable to remain within the Starsea Technology system, as it is hindering Starsea Wafer's growth.

This is one of the reasons why Xinghai Wafer is not receiving many orders from the United States at present.

In addition, Masato Takeshita's decision to make StarSea Wafer independent also reflects his desire to prevent his wafer fabs from becoming too reliant on his own business.

Subsequent changes have proven that companies that rely too heavily on their own company's orders are seriously lacking in competitiveness.

"Yes, Chairman, I understand."

You can't fight city hall; what can you do if you disagree?

However, Scully breathed a sigh of relief, as it wasn't as he had imagined—that Starsea Electronics would be spun off.

Without Xinghai Electronics, he really doesn't know how to run the company.

Fortunately, their president's behavior wasn't too violent.

After finalizing the plan to separate Xinghai Crystal from Xinghai Technology in a few words, Masato Takeshita called over Atsuyoshi Koike.

"I plan to separate Xinghai Wafer from Xinghai Technology and operate it independently."

"Independent operation?"

While Koike Junyoshi was happy, he was also a little confused as to why it was Xinghai Jingyuan.

If you feel that Xinghai Technology is too powerful and a threat to headquarters, shouldn't Xinghai Electronics be made independent?
"Yes, in order to prepare for the future, Xinghai Wafer must operate independently. And after the company becomes independent, it will be split into three parts."

"The First Wafer Company is mainly responsible for chip foundry within the Xinghai Group, the Second Wafer Company is mainly responsible for the external market, and the United Wafer Company cooperates with different companies and countries."

Although the first wafer is mainly for domestic use and the second wafer is mainly for international use, it does not mean that the two sides will not interfere with each other.

If you have the capability, you can enter the other party's market.

As for United Wafer, it naturally refers to wafer foundries that primarily cooperate for mutual benefit.

Whether it's state capital from various countries or collaborations with technology companies, United Wafer welcomes all comers.

As a result, United Wafer Works would become the most complex company internally, requiring a highly capable leader. Masato Takeshita's target was Richard Chang of Texas Instruments.

(End of this chapter)