Lu Feng's gaze swept across the entire audience, noticing that many people's expressions held a hint of mockery. Clearly, in their eyes, this was a farce.
Last year, Lu Feng was a high-ranking CEO with billions in assets, dealing with venture capital firms like Schroders. Now, he's been reduced to working with smaller venture capitalists and having to give them detailed reports on the company's value.
If it were an ordinary person, they would have already broken down by now. But Lu Feng didn't care about any of this. That's how it is when you ask someone for investment. Before you invest, you are the grandfather and I am the grandson. Once you have the money, it's your turn to be the grandson.
"Everyone is aware of the overheating problem in the global semiconductor industry. Every industry has its cold period, boiling point, and boom period. In my view of the industry, the semiconductor industry will experience a sustained period of decline in the next two to three years. This decline is not an industry decline, nor is it a market decline, but a relative decline!"
"Everyone has overly high expectations for semiconductors, leading to excessive expansion and vicious competition. In the next two or three years, semiconductors will be dirt cheap. Price competition will cause a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises to go bankrupt. After the excess capacity is cleared, prices will naturally rise back up."
"Why do I say that the decline is neither an industry decline nor a market decline? The semiconductor industry will absolutely not decline in the future. Whether it is Japanese companies or Silicon Valley companies, they are all working hard to break through new technologies. The next few years will definitely be an era of patent explosion."
"The market will absolutely not decline. The semiconductor market will expand at a rate of about 30 percent per year. I personally predict that the market share will exceed 300 billion US dollars in 2001. The basis for this confidence is the ever-increasing global demand for communications, computers for office and home use, and mobile phones!"
"The main reason for the decline is human factors. The United States and Japan are vying for market share, trying to squeeze out others. To put it simply, 150 people came and cooked for 300 people, with the aim of ruining the business of other restaurants!"
"So why won't Hurricane Semiconductor be targeted? First, it has the backing of our motherland. We are a major country, and major countries need their own industrial chains. The country also has the will and is willing to provide support. Second, Hurricane Capital owns equity in other companies, which allows it to move funds at critical moments and prevents it from being easily cornered."
"Thirdly, market advantage. You may not know much about the mainland. Do you know how many mobile phone users there are in the mainland?" Lu Feng asked, scanning the crowd.
"Mr. Lu, besides high-end talents like you, who else in mainland China can afford a mobile phone?" someone sneered.
"Let me tell you, 6.85 million households! And how many are we expecting this year? Let me tell you again, over 10 million households. The market share is doubling every year, or even several times over. What kind of market is that?" Seeing that the crowd seemed somewhat incredulous, Lu Feng continued, "Now, guess how many computers there are in mainland China?"
"Does the mainland have internet?" some people asked incredulously.
"In 1996, there were around 400,000 computer users in mainland China. This year, the number is expected to be over 600,000, representing a growth rate of 50%. I won't go into detail about communication base stations, but their annual growth rate is over 100%. Such a high growth rate is Hurricane Semiconductor's biggest asset!"
"Of course, there is a gap between our technology and that of top international manufacturers. If it were a few years ago, this would have been a disadvantage for us. But now that the entire industry is about to fall into a predicament, this will be our advantage!" Lu Feng said confidently.
Everyone present frowned upon hearing this, looking at Lu Feng as if he were an idiot. It was like saying that if someone slapped you, you would tell them that you slapped their hand with your face!
"If you don't understand, let me explain. The world's semiconductor development is at a critical moment. It's about dry etching in Europe and the United States and wet etching in Japan. Overcapacity will lead to low product value. Price competition will ultimately result in lower profits. With lower revenue, investment in research and development will also decrease."
"Both sides are focusing their efforts on dry and wet lithography, which reduces R&D investment in other areas. For Hurricane Semiconductor, this is the best time to catch up. We may not be able to catch up in some areas, but we definitely have hope in lithography machines, chip design, packaging and testing, motherboards, and displays!"
"Once we weather this winter, we will have secured a place in the semiconductor industry. That's why we're seeking funding. Fundraising isn't about surviving this winter, but about launching an attack! Thank you!"
After Lu Feng finished speaking, the room became quite quiet. Several venture capitalists standing in the back row were tempted. With the government backing them up, they could invest money and catch up. As long as they could produce one or two flagship products after the winter was over, the company would have a firm foothold.
What everyone originally thought was a highly risky business activity, after Lu Feng's explanation, seemed to have almost no risk, and instead gave the feeling that it was a sure thing.
A man in his fifties sitting on a chair next to him asked, "Mr. Lu makes it sound so easy. Providing one or two flagship products isn't something you can just talk about. The global semiconductor technology blockade is severe. How confident are you in making them? You mentioned the mainland market. As far as I know, companies like Intel, AMD, Sony, Sharp, and Siemens have basically all entered the market. You will be facing these top-tier manufacturers in the market."
"No matter how high the growth rate is in the mainland market, how much market share can you capture? You can't survive on the mainland market alone. As for overseas markets, given the current international relations, won't Jiafeng Group's overseas markets suffer the same fate as Hurricane Semiconductor?"
"Of course we can't take over the entire mainland market. We plan to increase our investment in niche markets, such as monitors, accessories, PC motherboards, and memory. We don't expect Hurricane Semiconductor to make money as soon as the market recovers. Instead, we plan to build our brand over a ten-year period."
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