On the third day, Philips contacted Lü Maoshi and others, stating that Wujiang Group could pay Philips' CD patent fees in one lump sum, but the patent fees would need to be increased.

Lu Maoshi and others went to the meeting and started the second round of negotiations, with Philips offering a price of $30 million.

Philips President Hank Wells stated, "A one-time patent sublicensing worth $30 million is equivalent to purchasing CD technology and patents, which is a very good deal for Wujiang Group!"

“Mr. Wells, the $30 million is only for purchasing the patent license, not for buying the CD patent. If Philips is willing to sell the CD patent, then Wujiang Group is willing to pay a high price to buy it! Haha, does Philips think that Wujiang Group’s CD game sales might be amazing, so it’s selling it to us at such a high price so that you can make up for your losses?” Lu Maoshi said sarcastically.

Hank Wells and others did indeed think that if Wujiang Group could only sell tens of millions of CD games, then Philips probably wouldn't charge such high patent licensing fees. After all, the price per CD would be several dollars, and Philips would be embarrassed to ask for such a high price...

Lu Maoshi, however, would not indulge these Dutchmen. CDs were important, but they were not indispensable.

Currently, only Wujiang Group is willing to try using CDs as a game storage medium. Unless Philips does not intend to promote CDs now, it will definitely make compromises and concessions again.

Lu Maoshi had a firm grasp on the other party's mindset.

Moreover, in 1987, wasn't it enough to spend $20 million to purchase CD patent licenses?

CDs do have great development potential, but currently no company is willing to spend so much money to buy CD patents.

However, after acquiring the CD patent, Wujiang Group can develop CD game consoles, VCD players, PC optical drives, portable CD players, and so on... The profits are quite substantial.

“Mr. Hank Wells, since there’s a significant difference in the price of the CD patent licensing, let’s set that aside for now. Let’s talk about something else. Wujiang Group plans to purchase an advanced CNC machine tool technology from Philips, and we hope your company can provide a quote as soon as possible.” After saying that, Lü Maoshi added, “Oh, by the way, I’m also going to DMG Mori, Siemens, Julang, and Rhodes next. There’s a Chinese saying, ‘compare three shops,’ which means that when buying something, you should compare the products from several companies and then choose the best one!”

Hank Wells was initially delighted, but upon hearing the rest, a black line appeared on his forehead, and he couldn't help but curse inwardly, "These Chinese are really too cunning. It seems my idea of ​​making a fortune in CNC machine tool technology has failed!"

Philips can sell its technology, which is one or two generations behind, to other companies, as long as they are willing to pay the price.

If you don't make this money, someone else will.

Japan, in particular, had caught up with Germany in the field of CNC machine tools. The Chinese government's large-scale imports of CNC machine tool technology at this time were mostly in cooperation with Japanese companies.

It would be incredibly foolish to keep technology that is one or two generations behind; in a few years, this technology will probably become worthless.

Currently, Wujiang Group wants both CD patent licensing and CNC machine tool technology. If the two are negotiated together, Philips will have an advantage over other companies.

Hank Wells felt a little comforted by this thought.

Wujiang Group did indeed send people to DMG MORI, Siemens, Julang, and Rhodes for inspections, and at the same time, it was preparing to poach talent from these companies. Precision technology talent from East and West Germany would be aggressively poached by Wujiang Group.

...

"Mr. Lu, Philips is willing to sell a five-axis CNC machining center and give away Philips' CNC lathe technology from the 1970s, for only $18.5 million!"

Hank Wells' voice came through the phone.

Upon hearing this, Lü Maoshi couldn't help but feel a little excited.

"Mr. Wells, are you sure Philips wants to sell a five-axis CNC machining center?" he asked incredulously.

"Of course I'm sure!"

“Okay, Mr. Wells, I can feel Philips’ sincerity. I think we should get back to the negotiating table immediately,” Lu Maoshi said with a hint of excitement.

It is important to know that CNC machine tools are generally classified into ordinary machine tools and machining centers according to their processing methods and technological applications.

Ordinary machine tools typically refer to automated machine tools that achieve digital control in one step of the machining process, such as CNC milling machines, CNC lathes, CNC drilling machines, CNC grinding machines, and CNC gear processing machine tools.

A machining center is a CNC machine tool equipped with a tool magazine and automatic tool changer. It integrates milling, boring, drilling, tapping, and thread cutting functions into one machine, enabling it to perform a variety of machining processes. Because machining centers can effectively avoid positioning errors caused by multiple installations, they are suitable for products with frequent changes, complex shapes, high precision requirements, small production batches, and short production cycles.

It's easy to see that machining centers are the most suitable tool for producing parts for lithography machines.

Having this Philips five-axis CNC machining center would be of great significance to the research and development of lithography machines at Wujiang Microelectronics!

There are very few five-axis CNC machine tools in China, let alone a five-axis CNC machining center.

If it weren't for the current honeymoon period between China and the US, Philips would never have dared to sell its machining centers to Wujiang Group.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!