Chapter 309 Our Promise (Bug Fix): I hope she's not all alone behind her.
Wang Xiao wanted to clasp his hands in a gesture of respect and express his admiration.
Perhaps because there are no cell phones to record audio or video in this era, and no self-media platforms, there is no need to worry about being taken out of context or over-interpreted. Today's officials really dare to speak their minds.
If she had said some of these things before she transmigrated, any government official who dared to say them in public would have been doomed.
That's right. If you don't have rice in your hand, even the chickens won't come. Many years ago, Chairman Mao pointed out that saying nice things is useless; you have to show people real benefits.
A commotion suddenly arose in the auditorium, then gradually subsided.
Secretary Fang suddenly raised his hand and gestured for Wang Xiao to come up on stage: "Perfect timing. This is Ms. Wang, the general manager of Wuzhou International Group. She is also the person who spearheaded your training trip to Singapore. You are both studying semiconductors, so why not listen to her thoughts?"
For recent graduates, Wuzhou International Group is certainly not an unfamiliar name.
In an era where people crane their necks to watch airplanes fly overhead, the people of Jinning have long been numb to airplanes and even find them noisy, thanks to or blamed on Wuzhou Freight Company.
Those planes coming and going, are they carrying cargo? No, no, no, they're carrying huge amounts of cash.
Many graduates immediately straightened up and looked around curiously, wanting to see who this legendary "General Manager Wang" really was.
Wow! So young! Looks like he's only in his early twenties, about the same age as them, maybe a few years older at most.
However, they also clearly understood that when they walked together on the street, no one would categorize her and them as a group of people.
There was no awkwardness or confusion on their faces; instead, they exuded confidence and ease in controlling the overall situation.
Tsk, will they ever turn out like this?
There are few female students in science and engineering fields, and even fewer female graduates in semiconductor-related majors. Very few of them are even more likely to be hired by Singaporean companies.
Among these one hundred graduates, only two were girls, and when they looked into Wang Xiao's eyes, they were like stars from a Japanese manga.
When Wang Xiao took the microphone, he touched the sweat stains on the metal casing—it seemed that the leaders were just as nervous and apprehensive, their hands still sweating even though the auditorium was air-conditioned.
She looked up at the audience below, where a hundred or so pairs of eyes reflected a range of emotions: anticipation, excitement, restlessness, and confusion. Together, these emotions represented the fiery passion of youth, as intense as the blazing sun outside the window.
Wang Xiao's heart softened and leaped with joy. She got straight to the point: "I won't say nice things to you, and I won't lie to you that the outside world is terrible. In fact, semiconductor factories in Singapore can pay you a monthly salary of two thousand Singapore dollars, and there may be overtime pay."
Whispers broke out in the audience, some people quickly calculated the exchange rate in their minds, and gasps of surprise came from the back row.
Theoretically speaking, when the Singaporean company came to recruit, they should have known their salary standards.
However, there is a huge gap between theory and fact.
On the one hand, most college students in 1994 were in the process of being assigned jobs after graduation. Most of them would only find out how much money they would receive when they received their first paycheck after reporting for duty.
On the other hand, they dared not ask, fearing that it would leave a bad impression on the Singaporean company, and that the company would look down on them for being mercenary and simply reject them.
Doesn't that sound a bit ridiculous? Who doesn't work for a paycheck?
But the work location is in Singapore.
Look at the long lines outside the embassy; look at how many people queued overnight in 1994, spending huge sums of money, just to be able to go abroad—
The value of the phrase "go to work in Singapore" is thus evident.
To put it dramatically, even if we didn't pay them or give them jobs, but just sent them to Singapore, universities would still flood in with graduates.
So a monthly income of two thousand Singapore dollars sounds like an unexpected surprise to them now.
Wang Xiao laughed: "Then I'll make a promise to everyone now. If you return to China in three to five years, I can give you the same salary, plus an 80-square-meter apartment."
She paused, giving the recent graduates time to process what she had learned.
Someone stared wide-eyed in disbelief and blurted out, "Is it in Jinning?"
Seeing Wang Xiao nod, he exclaimed in surprise, "My God!"
His parents were both cadres, and they worked diligently their whole lives. The apartment that their work unit allocated to their family was only fifty square meters, which made the whole family extremely envious.
You know, even now, many tenement buildings still house three generations living together in rooms of just over ten square meters.
But some remain unmoved, displaying the noble spirit of a plum blossom braving the snow, indifferent to fame and fortune.
Wang Xiao smiled slightly, hinting at something: "Of course, I'm sure everyone is well-informed and knows about Singapore's public housing system. This system guarantees that Singaporeans can basically have a place to live, unlike Hong Kong in our country, where ordinary people have to struggle their whole lives for a house."
The person in the audience, with an air of pride and elegance, slightly shifted their gaze and subconsciously straightened their back once more.
That's right. In Singapore, people with a monthly income of less than S$3,500 can apply for HDB flats.
Look at Singaporean TV dramas; the houses there are quite nice, with everything you could want, no less luxurious than the mansions that pretty girls dream of.
However, Wang Xiao's next sentence cruelly poured cold water on the hopes of the young people: "But Singapore's public housing system is only for Singapore citizens; foreigners are not allowed to buy it. Even if you go through all sorts of hardships to finally become a citizen, there are still a bunch of restrictions if you want to buy a public housing unit."
She smiled slightly, "What foreigners can buy in Singapore is the same as what we sell to foreigners in China: high-priced bungalows. But the price of bungalows in Singapore is difficult for local Singaporeans to afford, otherwise the country would not have vigorously promoted the public housing system."
The graduates, who were initially excited about the HDB flat system, suddenly felt deflated, like a punctured balloon.
Good heavens! Even Singaporeans can't afford to buy Long Di Cave, let alone these foreigners.
Singaporean dramas don't mention the troubles of buying a house, but Hong Kong dramas do. The living conditions of poor people in Hong Kong aren't much better than those on the mainland.
If they can't afford a house, they can't settle down. It seems they'll have to come back in the future.
Someone in the audience raised their hand: "President Wang, we really want to serve our country. But we're worried about one thing: we're afraid we won't have the opportunity to use our skills. We want to be engineers, but right now the factory can't even build production lines, and we can't see any orders. What can we do if we come back?"
“Good question.” Wang Xiao tapped the microphone with his fingertip. “China’s semiconductor industry is currently in an awkward phase. Take this year for example, the semiconductor imports continued to climb in the first few months, which means that we are still highly dependent on foreign semiconductor products, and a large amount of foreign exchange is spent on importing foreign goods.”
She paused, her gaze sweeping over the young faces. "If the industry doesn't develop, even after you graduates with relevant majors, you'll find it difficult to utilize your talents and find jobs in your field. You'll have to find other ways to make a living, which leads to a significant loss of skilled professionals. This problem exists in many majors."
Many of the students in the audience began to nod in agreement.
Many students in these majors want to study abroad, and newspapers often publish sarcastic articles saying that they are blindly worshipping foreign things, thinking that the moon is bigger and rounder in foreign countries, and insisting on drinking foreign water and eating foreign food.
But these people don't realize that if they don't go out, what they've learned will be useless and will become a waste over time.
They've studied so hard for so many years, not to waste their youth and lives idly at work.
They want to showcase their talents; they want to live up to their lives.
What's wrong with planning for your own life?
Wang Xiao sighed and continued, "But after the loss of talent, the already weak semiconductor industry will find it even more difficult to develop, thus creating a vicious cycle."
The students, who had been making a commotion, stopped whispering and instinctively avoided looking at the person on the podium.
They knew it was their responsibility to support China's semiconductor industry. It was their duty to repay the country for its years of nurturing.
So at this moment, everyone who was about to head to Singapore felt inexplicably guilty.
Wang Xiao looked at them, seemingly unaware of their discomfort, and continued speaking at her own pace: "You're going to Singapore not to be assembly line workers, but to learn how to manage cleanrooms, how to adjust equipment parameters, and how to increase the yield rate from 50% to 90%."
She recited a series of data points, looking at everyone with hope, "When you come back, our newly built wafer fab will be short of staff. Once you join us, we will be able to upgrade and make more home appliance chips."
A sneer came from the back row: "Making chips for rice cookers? What kind of semiconductor is that?"
“Microwave ovens, refrigerators, air conditioners—which of them doesn’t need chips?” Wang Xiao stared at the laughing student. “Back when Samsung of South Korea made microwave oven chips for Sanyo of Japan, it was just a junior supplier. And now? Now they’ve made enough money from these side businesses that others look down on, and they dare to compete with Intel for the CPU market.”
The auditorium was so quiet you could hear the sighing of the air conditioner. Because the air conditioner's cooling effect was limited, the electric fan was also on, seemingly complaining that the air conditioner was utterly ineffective.
Wang Xiao pulled a yellowed newspaper out of his bag and gestured for everyone to look: "This is the 1987 edition of Reference News. It says that Japan accounts for 80% of the global semiconductor market, and the United States is being forced into a series of defeats."
The students in the front row had good eyesight and could clearly see the contents of the newspaper, so they nodded in agreement.
Wang Xiao then continued, "But do you know that in the 1960s and 70s, Japanese engineers were also working as 'technology brokers' for American companies, learning their skills by packaging chips for them? That's how technology was transferred step by step. Things change every thirty years, as the old saying goes, 'Don't underestimate a young person's potential,' and that's the point."
She laughed, "Today, everyone sitting here is still a newcomer to the semiconductor industry. But who can say that in ten or twenty years, you won't grow into industry leaders?"
The term "big boss," used in Hong Kong movies, made everyone laugh.
Wang Xiao suddenly put down the newspaper, his tone softening: "Five years from now, when you've been promoted to section chief in Singapore and find that the next level up is Malaysian manager and Singaporean minister, I hope you'll remember this promise we made today. By then, the engineer's apartment in Jinning will still have the key, the factory in Wuzhou will still have the workstation, and your names will appear on the list of domestically produced chip R&D and manufacturing companies."
The girl in the front row raised her hand, her voice trembling slightly with nervousness: "What if... what if the situation in China hasn't changed by then?"
"Then I'll compensate you with an apartment," Wang Xiao laughed, "but I bet I won't. You see—"
She pointed out the window to a tall billboard next to the overpass outside the provincial government building, advertising the paging station.
“In China today, even pagers are a luxury item; anyone who owns one can show it off. But soon, in just ten years at most, every migrant worker will have a mobile phone—a phone that's more sophisticated, convenient, and user-friendly than the old-fashioned mobile phone—and every office building will have a computer. All of these things require chips, and we want to make those chips bear the mark of 'Made in China.'”
Secretary Fang led the applause, and all the leaders on the podium applauded enthusiastically.
The students in the audience seemed to be inspired and joined in the applause.
However, college students of this era generally retain an unruly spirit, daring to question and despise those in power.
Immediately, a boy raised his eyebrows and, like a challenger in a martial arts novel, issued a challenge: "You think you can rely on these outdated goods you got from the Soviet Union?"
Students in every major have their own network of contacts. Universities in Xiaozhou also have semiconductor-related majors, and it's no secret that Russian engineers frequent Xiaozhou and that a wafer fab is being built there.
Wang Xiao laughed and nodded in affirmation: "Yes, our first production line was based on imported Soviet technology."
College students who haven't experienced the harsh realities of society are very prone to emotional outbursts. Graduates who were initially encouraged can instantly become deflated balloons again.
The Soviet Union... the Soviet Union collapsed a long time ago.
Even if it hadn't disintegrated, the outcome of the Gulf War proved it to be a complete failure.
The Soviet Union's chip technology was extremely outdated. Was the importation of Soviet technology out of fear that it would allow them to advance?
The commotion from the audience came in waves, one after another, like the ebb and flow of the tide, showing no sign of stopping.
Secretary Fang had to tap the table lightly to signal everyone to be quiet.
Then everyone remembered to maintain basic manners and stopped complaining.
Wang Xiao fully demonstrated the state of mind of "not being elated by external gains or saddened by personal losses". His expression remained unchanged from beginning to end, and he can still maintain a smile: "I know that many people believe that the Soviet Union's chip technology is outdated. Instead of importing Soviet technology, it would be better to import Japanese production lines."
The young, inexperienced faces nodded repeatedly. Indeed, if we were to say that Huaxia Semiconductor could be considered a hope, the only one right now is Shougang Solar, which has already served as a model.
Wang Xiao smiled and asked, "Do you know what the characteristics of Soviet chips were?"
One student in the audience joked, "They're always ready for war, aren't they?"
This is the result of propaganda; in reality, both the United States and the Soviet Union provoked numerous wars.
But by the 1980s, even socialist countries felt that Americans loved peace and were focused on economic development, while the Soviets were always scheming and still fighting in Afghanistan.
Wang Xiao didn't refute the college student; instead, he smiled and nodded, "That's right. So, a major characteristic of Soviet chips is their stability, especially their stability under high-temperature conditions. After all—"
She laughed at herself, "It was designed for war."
The audience burst into laughter.
The student who raised the question didn't laugh; instead, he stared intently at Wang Xiao: "Aren't Japanese chips stable?"
Wang Xiao has always admired people who dare to question, so instead of being angry, she nodded happily: "Very good, that's an excellent question. Next, I'd like to talk about the issue of compatibility. Let's take the home appliance chips we're currently working on as an example."
All eyes turned to the student who had raised the question. The student, still holding his ground, stretched out his hand in an inviting gesture: "I'd like to hear more details."
His mature-beyond-his-years demeanor drew another round of laughter from everyone.
Amidst the laughter, Wang Xiao spoke up: "First, I want to emphasize a concept to everyone. The most important aspect of civilian chips is not their advanced technology, but their compatibility. Let me give you another example, let's not talk about home appliances, let's talk about computers."
"In foreign countries, such as Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea, personal computers are already quite common. This widespread use has led to a very fast pace of computer upgrades and replacements; a computer can become unusable after five or six years."
The students in the audience gasped again, exclaiming how wasteful capitalist countries are. A computer costs tens of thousands of yuan, and they only use it for five or six years before discarding it. They wouldn't even dare to be so careless with a nice piece of clothing.
Wang Xiao laughed and said, "That's the characteristic of electronic products—they're updated and replaced so quickly. This trend also puts forward new requirements for personal computer chips. It doesn't require your product to be particularly sophisticated, lasting for decades. It requires your cost to be low, your price to be competitive, and it doesn't matter if it can't last five or six years. Because personal computers are updated and replaced so quickly, it will eventually be obsolete."
While the others remained unmoved, Wang Xiao changed the subject, saying, "That's why South Korean chips were able to catch up and surpass others. It's because they pursued different goals, and South Koreans are much better than Japan at cost control."
As bodyguards, Xiao Gao and Xiao Zhao definitely need to be with their boss at all times.
The two subconsciously exchanged glances. Wait a minute, the boss didn't say that to Yamashita Ichiro of Sharp last time.
Lyuba stood motionless to the side, thinking to herself, "Isn't that obvious?"
The boss always speaks one way to one person and another way to another. When speaking to the Japanese, he would definitely emphasize how the US crackdown had severely damaged Japan's semiconductor industry.
Otherwise, you'd say that the Japanese don't know how to control costs at all?
In Chinese terms, wouldn't that be like talking about a bald man in front of a monk?
Wang Xiao's comments on Japan's chip production cost control were so scathing they could roll their eyes and have a lot to say.
Honestly, the Japanese spirit of craftsmanship is a bit excessive, often to the point of being completely unnecessary.
Take Project 909, which was quite famous in the 1990s. It created a project with a very large investment scale, I think it was called Huahong, which also introduced NEC technology.
Later, the chip industry experienced a cyclical downturn, and Japanese domestic companies suffered a huge blow, unable to withstand it and withdrew.
As a result, Huahong, which originally produced chips entirely according to Japanese requirements, began to reform itself, cutting a bunch of unnecessary processes, and Huahong's chip production costs dropped instantly.
How low did it drop? So low that even Nippon Electric Company found it unbelievable, and then sent people to Huahong to learn from them.
However, there was no Project 909 in 1994, let alone Huahong.
So Wang Xiao only muttered a couple of complaints in his mind before skipping over that topic and going back to talk about Soviet chips.
"The control chips for home appliances like rice cookers are low-integration, high-reliability analog/logic chips. The core requirements are controllable cost, process stability, and high temperature resistance/interference resistance. As I mentioned earlier, Soviet technology was a typical example of military technology being transferred to civilian use, so its stability is very strong."
She continued, “Why can’t Japan catch up in this area? Because Japan started with civilian applications. If you’ve read any relevant Japanese materials, you should know that for the Japanese, disposing of obsolete appliances every year is a very troublesome matter, as it requires paying extra money.”
Some people in the audience nodded in agreement, because they had relatives who were ocean-going sailors.
When they go to Japan, many people will give these sailors free home appliances, including refrigerators and televisions.
These things haven't been used for more than a few years and they still work quite well, but people just don't want them anymore.
Wang Xiao continued, "But it's not the same in our country. When people in our country buy a home appliance, whether it's a color TV or a refrigerator, they save up for a long time. Everyone hopes that it can last for at least ten or twenty years. That's not the effect that Japanese home appliance chips are aiming for."
“Different market demands mean different market supplies,” she emphasized. “Aside from other limiting factors, this was the most important reason why we chose to import Soviet technology. Therefore—”
Wang Xiao laughed and steered the conversation back on track, "Don't worry when you come back in the future. I don't have the most advanced technology, and because of patent restrictions, I can't bring the most advanced technology I have to use in China. It's okay, none of that matters."
She gently tapped the table. "Because for the civilian market, applicability is more important than advancement. Only the most applicable technology can capture the market the fastest, thereby feeding back into the technology and giving it room to develop further."
The leaders on the podium were fine; they had already discussed this topic before.
The students below the podium were completely astonished, feeling as if a new world had been opened to them.
At school, they were taught that they must pursue the most advanced technologies in order to demonstrate their value.
As a result, we now tell them that what is advanced is not necessarily the best.
Wang Xiao had said everything she wanted to say. She bowed to the students below the stage and said, "I hope that when the time comes, we can fight side by side and leave our names in the history of China's semiconductor industry."
That was it, so she simply and decisively lifted her foot, ready to go down.
Suddenly, the boy who had been questioning them spoke up again: "What if your factory hasn't been built when I come back?"
Wang Xiao smiled and turned to Secretary Fang, saying, "Then I'll ask you to go to the bank and get a loan for me to build it."
Secretary Fang smiled and nodded, which was considered as acknowledging her words.
Wang Xiao pointed at the boy again, smiling broadly: "But you'd better pray that the factory is built—because the first person to come back will get a Santana."
The students were in an uproar. With villas and cars on display, they were truly going to live a capitalist life in a socialist country.
Wang Xiao didn't stop walking; he went straight back off the stage and sat down next to Secretary Sun again.
The latter sighed and whispered, with the air swirling in the fan's airflow, "Mr. Wang, you're really full of confidence."
Getting people back within three to five years, guaranteeing them salary, benefits, and housing, requires a significant investment.
Wang Xiao smiled and said something particularly eloquent: "With the support of leaders and the government, of course I have confidence."
Is this really the case?
Well, capitalists often trust capital more than anything else.
When is three years later? In 1997.
What happened in 1997? Please answer 1997.
Hong Kong has returned to China, OK, you are right.
But there was another event that had an even greater and more devastating impact on the people of Asia in 1997.
That was the Asian financial crisis of 1997.
How devastating was it? Countless people went bankrupt, and countless people committed suicide by jumping off buildings.
But that's not what Wang Xiao is focused on. As a capitalist, every crisis is an opportunity for her.
The 1997 financial crisis led to South Korea becoming a country with a US military base in the true sense.
At that time, South Korea became the largest debtor country in Asia, and then the major shareholders of all South Korean conglomerates became Wall Street.
In other words, whether it's Samsung or other large conglomerates, they are all American-owned companies run by South Koreans.
It's no exaggeration to say that after this battle, all that's left for South Korea is Korean barbecue and kimchi.
Wang Xiao was waiting for this opportunity: an opportunity for countless South Korean semiconductor companies to fall into crisis and be forced to sell off their assets.
Capitalists are like hyenas; they come for the smell of blood, and she was no exception.
When that time comes, her semiconductor empire will be able to take off and begin to lay a real foundation.
So, when Secretary Sun remarked again, "I hope these students will heed your words and come back in the future,"—
Wang Xiao simply smiled.
Because she didn't care that much; it didn't matter if none of these people came back.
If there is a market, there is no need to worry about a lack of practitioners.
Outside the window, the setting sun was like blood; it was another dusk.
Before that, she needed to accumulate a large amount of wealth to prepare for wielding her sickle and reaping the harvest.
She smiled as she looked at the students who were full of hope for the future, hoping that one day, she wouldn't be all alone behind her.
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[Let me see][Let me see] It's already [melted] Yes, capitalists are cruel, always ready to harvest others.
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