Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 392 USB Disk

The hustle and bustle of October quickly passed, and the weather in Tokyo gradually turned colder.

Masato Takeshita is no longer at the age where he prioritizes warmth over style, and he has already put on the thermal underwear his wife prepared for him.

"Hiss, it's getting a bit cold."

The young man, who had just left the office and entered the underground parking garage, couldn't help but rub his hands together.

"Here are some warm clothes, would you like to wear them, President?"

Secretary-General Miho Uchida, who was preparing to accompany her chairman to Xinghai Technology, took out a windbreaker that could keep her warm.

"Okay, give it to me."

After putting on the trench coat and feeling warm, Masato Takeshita inexplicably thought of the shared consciousness in Japanese society this year.

Despite experiencing unpleasant events such as the Great Hanshin Earthquake and the Tokyo subway terrorist attack, 95 was generally a relatively happy year for Japan.

The national economy, which had been in a prolonged slump following the bursting of the bubble, finally showed signs of recovery this year.

People are indeed spending money less extravagantly than during the bubble era, but they are also starting to be more willing to consume.

Unlike in previous years, when everyone tried to save money wherever possible.

The Japanese government has even begun to consider whether the economic development is overheating.

In 1995, Japan's GDP reached a new high, and its GDP per capita reached the third highest level in the world.

This is the third largest economy in the world, a position previously held by smaller countries like Luxembourg. No wonder Japanese society feels the economy is overheating.

Unfortunately, just like how he felt warm after putting on the clothes, it was all just a superficial illusion.

In reality, Japanese society and the economy are already riddled with problems and will soon face a harsh winter.

Masato Takeshita did not reveal his true thoughts, but instead quickly got into the car and gave instructions as usual.

"Let's go!"

"Yes, President."

The car slowly drove to Xinghai Technology, and then the group went to the office of Xinghai Technology President Scully with ease.

After a brief greeting, Takeshita Masato sincerely advised, "There's no need to work so hard; some things are better left unattended."

During this period, Scully was a workaholic.

They often fly back and forth between Japan and the United States, and then start working without making any adjustments.

It's clear that Sculley genuinely believes the handheld computer project has unlimited potential and wants to prove it to Apple.

It's not that other companies are incompetent, but rather that Apple itself is not so good.

It can only be said that the power of hatred is indeed very strong. Scully wouldn't have displayed such exaggerated passion in any other project.

"Yes, President, I'll listen to you."

Scully also felt that he had been working in a somewhat obsessive way these days, and since the preliminary preparations were complete, he could relax a little.

However, his break is destined to be short. After the new year, he will continue his global travels to build the handheld computer team.

"Yes, that's how it should be. The company doesn't encourage an overtime culture."

After showing some concern for Scully's health, the young man then revealed the purpose of his visit.

"Scarlissan, I'm planning to go to the First Laboratory of the Star Sea. Shall we go together?"

"No problem, now?"

"Yes, now, but we also need to inform Hasegawa-san."

The business that Masato Takeshita was going to discuss would involve Xinghai Electronics, so naturally all the relevant key leaders had to be notified.

"Okay, I'll call him."

"Well, let's go."

Hidenori Hasegawa, president of Seikai Electronics, was not in his office, but was visiting Seikai's No. 1 Laboratory.

The two sides are discussing the next generation of Starsea phones, aiming to launch a more innovative flagship phone and dethrone Motorola from its mobile phone throne.

"Well then, let Hasegawa-san wait for us over there."

"Yes, President."

The Starry Sea First Laboratory is located in Qinye City, the hometown of Takeshita Masato. However, it was currently working hours, so he did not choose to go home first, but planned to go back and visit after finishing his work.

The two locations were not very close, so the group arrived at Xinghai First Laboratory around noon.

Given this situation, Masato Takeshita naturally wouldn't spoil the mood by starting a meeting right away; he chose to leave the matter for the afternoon.

After eating, drinking, and resting well, the young man leisurely walked into the small conference room.

"Mr. Masuoka, our company makes a flash memory card the size of a phone card. What's the maximum capacity you can achieve in MB?"

"Laboratory level, or commercially viable level?"

At the laboratory level, Fujio Masuoka was able to make a memory card the size of a phone card into a 128MB size.

If we consider the level of commercialization, the difference is significant.

"Commercialization level".

"It can be made up to 16MB, but the price will be relatively high, with a memory card costing $100."

$100?

Masato Takeshita muttered to himself, then looked up and asked the chief scientist of Xinghai Group.

"What if it's 4MB?"

"The cost is about $40."

Early chips were very expensive, which is the biggest reason why electronic products are usually very expensive.

However, with the advancement of technology and large-scale market application, the prices of various chips are constantly decreasing.

Previously expensive memory cards now cost less than $1.

"If we mass-produce them, say 500 million memory cards, how much can the cost be reduced?"

"Yes, the initial costs can be reduced by one-third, but we'll have to see how things go after that."

Fujio Masuoka also couldn't say the specific price of the product, as it required careful research by a professional team.

"I see, that should be acceptable."

The young man muttered something under his breath again before explaining to the others why he had asked about the memory card.

"The chairman wants to put the memory card in the phone to increase its storage space?"

"Yes."

Takeshita Masato looked at Hasegawa Hidenori, nodded, and continued speaking.

"With more and more functions in mobile phones, memory chips alone are simply not enough; flash memory chips must be added to improve functionality."

"For example, we can add an e-book function to mobile phones, and then users can download the books and various documents they need online."

“Some hard-to-remember contracts, data and other written materials can also be saved directly from the computer to the mobile phone.”

E-book functionality, along with music and camera functions, was one of the most essential applications in the era of feature phones.

With this application, Xinghai's new generation of mobile phones can add a new gimmick for promotion.

Of course, the e-book function alone is a bit lacking; the new generation of Xinghai phones will also have a camera function.

The two will be launched together, and it is expected that the effect will be greater than the sum of its parts.

"Photo function?" Upon hearing his chairman say this, Hideyuki Hasegawa immediately became interested.

Putting everything else aside, the concept of a camera phone should attract a segment of people who enjoy taking photos.

"Yes, it can take pictures, but the images will probably be very blurry and in black and white."

Early mobile phone photos were very blurry, with only a vague outline of what the phone looked like. As a result, no mobile phone brand became popular due to its camera function in the early days.

There's no way around it; the difference between mobile phone photography and that of a camera is just too great.

"Well, President, I think it's better not to add a camera function. It's not too late to add a camera function when phones have color screens."

The phone's camera function wasn't very good to begin with, and the photos were mostly black and white, so I doubt many people would be interested.

Adding it would be better not to add it at all; it would only increase the cost of manufacturing the phone.

"Um, that makes sense."

After thinking about it, Masato Takeshita realized that the camera function was indeed a bit superfluous at the moment.

However, flash memory cards will still be available, which can add e-book functionality and larger phonebook capacity.

As a result, business users who need to add hundreds or thousands of phone numbers for their business are more willing to buy their own phones.

Besides being used in mobile phones, memory cards can also be used to manufacture independent electronic products, namely the USB flash drive, one of the few electronic products invented by the Chinese in later generations.

Once this little thing is released, it will soon end the floppy disk's dominance in the storage field.

Because floppy disks have less than 2MB of storage, while USB flash drives can now be manufactured in storage units of GB.

"Making a floppy disk-like storage device using flash memory chips is feasible, and it will definitely sell very well."

Hideaki Hasegawa, a man with keen business acumen, tried his best to suppress his excitement. He felt that this product was definitely more promising in the short term than its application on mobile phones.

He was fed up with the pitifully small storage capacity of floppy disks and had long wanted to switch to a larger capacity product.

"That's right, it's very promising. The computer interface format was recently standardized, which will make production easier for us."

Scully quickly realized the situation and also favored the USB drive.

This is normal, though. Anyone with even a little knowledge of storage devices will find it hard not to be optimistic about USB flash drives.

This is a product similar to a rolling suitcase, and even a layman can easily see through it.

Masuoka Fujioya also agreed with a smile, believing that the new product had a very bright future.

"Great, our flash memory department's research funding will increase significantly."

If USB flash drive sales become a hit, the company's flash memory chip sales will reach a new level.

This would further increase the funds available for the flash memory chip sector.

Of course, even without the USB flash drive project, Xinghai Group will still vigorously develop its flash memory business.

Because of the presence of the Xinghai Group in this life, the sales growth rate of flash memory chips is even more exaggerated than in the previous life.

Last year, the total sales of flash memory chips were less than $5 million, but in the first three quarters of this year, they have already exceeded $16 billion, and the total sales for the year are expected to reach at least $20 billion.

It's safe to say that the rise of flash memory chips is a foregone conclusion.

Major semiconductor chip companies are increasing their investment in order to become key players in the field.

In addition to flash memory chip companies, flash memory product manufacturers are also accelerating their efforts in this area.

SanDisk's investment in this area has been increasing year by year.

Thinking about the bright future of USB flash drives, Hideyuki Hasegawa became restless.

He couldn't wait to fly back to Xinghai Electronics' product laboratory and quickly manufacture and launch the USB flash drive.

Masato Takeshita quickly saw through Hidenori Hasegawa's thoughts and gave the order decisively.

"Go back first, but don't forget to mention adding a memory card to your phone."

"Yes, please rest assured, Chairman."

Shortly after Hasegawa Hidenori left, Scully also took his leave due to other commitments.

It doesn't matter, although the topic the two are about to discuss will involve Xinghai Technology, it cannot create value in the short term.

"Can the memory chips in the lab reach the performance level of companies like Toshiba?"

"It's not possible yet. We still have some gaps compared to companies like Toshiba and Fujitsu."

"What about Samsung?"

"As for Samsung, the gap between us is not large, but our costs are currently higher than theirs."

South Korea has cheaper labor and also receives technical support from the United States.

The fact that Xinghai Group was able to catch up with Samsung in terms of R&D progress is already the result of the R&D staff's all-out efforts.

"That's it."

High costs are to be expected, but Masato Takeshita quickly put that aside, as he was more concerned with his company's chip manufacturing philosophy.

"Aren't we following the Samsung model, not the Japanese company model?"

The so-called Samsung approach is to reduce chip quality, thereby lowering chip production costs.

Chips made using this method typically fail after three to five years. Unlike Japanese memory chips, which are less prone to failure even after ten or twenty years of use.

However, for computer manufacturers and memory card and memory module manufacturers, the Samsung route is far superior to the Japanese route.

Because after computers entered the consumer market, hardware updates were very rapid.

A computer that is very advanced this year may be an outdated product next year.

So basically, users will replace their computers every three to five years, so the short lifespan of memory is not a problem at all.

Besides, both computer manufacturers and memory module manufacturers would love for memory chips to become obsolete after their three-year warranty period.

As a result, users will need to replace their RAM or new memory modules, allowing manufacturers to earn more money.

Even computer sellers prefer to sell this type of computer.

Because they are more prone to breaking, it means that the store can earn more money in repair fees.

With so many advantages combined, the Japanese approach was bound to fail.

"Of course, we will always remember what you said, Chairman."

Although he was somewhat impatient with the same set of words that his president repeated every time he came to the Starry Sea Laboratory, he didn't show it on his face at all.

Let's just say it; it's a good opportunity to convey to our subordinates the importance the chairman places on this concept.

This is to prevent those few rigid collaborators who stay in universities from adhering to the production principle of "quality first".

Many things require flexibility.

"That's right, I knew Masuoka-san was reliable."

The young man naturally knew that repeating the same thing every time he came would seem like he was being long-winded.

However, there's no way around it; some Japanese R&D personnel are stubborn and still cling to the history of prioritizing quality above all else.

This stubbornness is deeply ingrained and is even directly related to the previous defeat of Japan's semiconductor industry in the memory field.

If he doesn't repeatedly emphasize this, some people might be led astray one day.

You should know that Elpida, the lifeline of Japan's memory industry in its previous life, went bankrupt, yet the company's top executives were still saying that our chips were of better quality.

Everyone knows that a product is of good quality, but price is always more important. Expensive products, no matter how good the quality, are destined to remain a niche product.

(End of this chapter)