Chapter 166 Earning Money to Support the Project: Give Me Money to Open a Business in Africa.
Wang Xiao spent a whole week carefully writing a letter.
The letter was addressed to: Respected Leader.
As for which leader it was, she didn't know; she guessed the letter had passed through several hands.
Since they're all leaders anyway, it doesn't matter.
However, the letter's content was quite clear: it strongly recommended that the government plan and develop the chip and LCD display industries.
Ahem, she admitted that she was suspected of having ulterior motives in the latter.
Before she transmigrated into the book, the topic of chips was constantly appearing on her screen, but she hadn't actually seen any news about LCD screens.
However, based on the information provided by Director Wu of Longhua TV Factory and her life experience before transmigrating into the book, she was at least 70-80% certain that the status of LCD screens would not be much inferior to that of chips in the future.
Business people will go all out if there's a 50% chance of making money, let alone a 70% or 80% chance.
Wang Xiao wrote seven pages, totaling more than three thousand words.
Well, that's right, she used a machine to print it.
With so many words, if she were to write them all by hand, who knows how many typos there would be, and how many times she would have to start over.
She didn't just do a perfunctory job. After she typed it out, she revised it seven times, word by word, before finally finalizing the draft.
This is her limit; she can't squeeze any more out of her.
She took the letter to visit Deputy Secretary Cao.
After the New Year, Deputy Secretary Cao had several more gray hairs.
It's clear that being a leader isn't easy; there are too many things to worry about.
She squeezed out time between two meetings to receive Wang Xiao.
Once the letter was in her hands, she skimmed through it quickly before speaking: "Develop ourselves without relying on imports—"
The leader's tone left Wang Xiao unsure whether the leader's words were a period or a question mark.
She nodded at her own pace: "Yes, the Soviet Union has already stepped on a landmine for us. This tactic won't work. If the Soviet Union couldn't do it, we have even less hope."
Firstly, the KGB's intelligence gathering capabilities are, frankly, absolutely world-class. The technology they acquired from the United States is genuine.
Secondly, although the Soviet Union did not live for more than a century, in terms of cultivating talent, even if all the developed capitalist countries in the West were tied together, they might not be able to match it.
In its short history of less than a hundred years, it has cultivated a large number of science and engineering talents, who are crucial to scientific research.
To be fair, in terms of talent reserves, China is currently far inferior to the Soviet Union.
Without a solid foundation of talent, even if you are given the materials and asked to copy them exactly, you won't be able to produce a similar result.
Following the path that the Soviet Union has already failed at will only lead to a more devastating defeat.
Deputy Secretary Cao didn't comment, his gaze falling again on the letter: "Should the development of LCD screens refer to the model of South Korea's Samsung?"
This time, you can clearly hear the question mark.
Wang Xiao nodded again and added, "The Americans were the first to develop LCDs, but it was the Japanese who popularized and nearly monopolized the industry. Among the rising stars, the only one with a chance to get a share is South Korea's Samsung."
Their approach was to hire unemployed Japanese engineers during an industry downturn to develop their LCD screens.
This is also our opportunity.
Deputy Secretary Cao continued reading: "A chip manufacturing plant can do contract manufacturing for the whole world?"
“Yes,” Wang Xiaojun said frankly. “In the semiconductor industry, the key to large-scale production is reliability. Design is certainly important, but being able to achieve stable large-scale production and ensure that the quality of every product meets the standards is also the key to success, and in some ways, even more important than design.”
This is a direct copy of TSMC's model.
Since we've already transmigrated into a book, of course we should take advantage of that and stand on the shoulders of giants.
TSMC is doing the same thing now, but it's still in the early stages of development and can't compare to the later, more renowned companies.
Wang Xiao emphasized: "In fact, compared with most countries in the world, we have a huge advantage, namely a large population and a huge consumer market."
The key reason the Soviet Union failed in chip manufacturing was that their civilian industry was underdeveloped; they were operating entirely with a military-industrial mindset.
Is the military industry meaningful for promoting scientific and technological progress and the development of the times?
Of course, no one can deny the enormous advancement that the two world wars brought to technological development.
Think about it: war means life and death, forcing the world's brightest minds to come together and desperately innovate in science and technology. Countries also spare no expense in investing large sums of money to support it in order to meet the needs of war.
Penicillin was invented during World War II, and the atomic bomb was also born during this period.
However, their subsequent developments were quite different.
Penicillin, an important antibiotic and a life-saving drug, has moved from the battlefield into every household, constantly spawning more products and exerting greater efficacy.
Aside from causing a worldwide sensation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, the atomic bomb's significance was essentially limited to deterrence.
If it's no longer in use, there's no point in talking about performance improvements. Scientists can only focus their efforts on how to preserve this powerful weapon more safely and cost-effectively.
This is also a problem that most countries' military industries have faced since World War II.
Lacking large-scale wars, the consumption of weapons is limited, and the number of orders that a country can place for the military industry is naturally limited.
A lack of sufficient orders means a lack of sufficient profits.
Lacking profits, relying solely on government funding, and continuously investing in chip research, the resulting products haven't been of much use.
This kind of investment certainly can't last long.
After all, with such a large country and so many people, there are simply too many places where money needs to be spent.
“We are different. We have been working on the transition from military to civilian production for more than 10 years and have accumulated some experience. We also have a population of one billion, which is more than the combined population of the United States and Japan.”
Wang Xiao earnestly promoted his idea: "The huge consumer market is the foundation of our investment. Even if they close their doors to us and stop importing our products, we still have enough consumers."
Now
The United States is now building the information superhighway, and the world is about to enter a new phase.
We have already fallen behind in the Industrial Revolution stage, and the advantages accumulated by agricultural civilization over the previous thousands of years have vanished.
Now we've entered a new phase, which is also the best time for us to overtake others.
If you miss this chance, who knows when the next one will be?
Deputy Secretary Cao pondered for a moment: "Do you hope to develop chip and LCD screen production in Jiangdong?"
As a provincial leader in charge of economic development, she certainly understands the importance of industrial upgrading.
Jiangdong's foreign trade is now booming, and its economy is growing rapidly.
But these good days won't last long, because foreign trade mainly deals with daily necessities, which have relatively low technological content and are easily transferred.
After all, labor costs are lower in the Midwest.
If Jiangdong wants to maintain its rapid development momentum, it must plan ahead and make arrangements in advance.
Look at Hong Kong and Taiwan; their current focus is on developing the electronics industry.
Wang Xiao shook his head and denied it directly: "No, I never thought the provincial government would get involved in this. I was thinking about the national strategy."
Honestly, it wasn't that she underestimated the Jiangdong Provincial Government or thought they lacked the courage to take on this responsibility. Rather, it was the nature of the chip and LCD screen industries that determined they were industries requiring long-term, high-investment processes with no immediate results.
Take Samsung Electronics as an example. Since entering the industry in 1987, their LCD screen project has lost hundreds of millions of US dollars, and it is still unknown when they will be able to turn a profit.
TSMC was able to secure business in its second year of operation because its head used personal connections to obtain Intel's certification and product manufacturing orders.
It is not universally applicable across the industry.
Both of these typically require large, long-term investments.
But local governments are governed by terms of office, with a maximum term of five years. You have to let the people see what results you've achieved after spending so much money.
Huh? Nothing at all, lost hundreds of millions of dollars, and still have to keep losing money?
What kind of wasteful behavior is this? Even if our ancestors had mountains of gold and silver, they couldn't afford to squander it like this.
Besides, we're dirt poor, with hundreds of millions of US dollars, we could do a lot of things.
Even if you skip it on the water, you'll still hear a series of sounds.
And where does the local government get the money? Does it borrow from banks?
If banks have this kind of money now, why don't they lend it to industries with better development prospects, such as real estate in Hainan?
It's obvious to the naked eye that you can make money tomorrow by investing today.
Even if you successfully fool the bank and get them to get carried away and hand over a large sum of money to invest in the high-tech industry.
But loans have time limits. If you don't have the money to repay when the loan expires, do you still want to take out another loan?
What kind of delusional fantasies are you having? You deserve to be bitten by dogs.
Why have there been so many astonishing cases of counterfeiting in China's history of chip development?
The infamous Hanxin chip scandal involved counterfeiters simply sanding off the logo of imported chips.
Their methods were so crude that they even made one question the intelligence of the leaders in charge.
It's because of the time constraints that local economic development faces.
The leaders lacked understanding of the industry and were eager to produce results as quickly as possible.
With such a major premise in place, the regulatory authorities will naturally try to deceive as much as possible.
Regardless of the consequences, when the time comes, you must produce results.
As for how you actually did it, that's not so important to some officials.
In any case, the high subsidies and various funds did not come from his personal pocket.
Wang Xiao spoke frankly: "This matter can only be addressed by the country's overall plan as a long-term strategy. Otherwise, even if Jiangdong has made arrangements now, a change of leadership would lead to a completely different approach."
As everyone knows, what people who work on government projects fear most is not having their accounts settled yet.
Suddenly, the local government leadership was replaced.
If you want to settle the debt later, unless you're a local bigwig who's been around the area for a long time, the time you spend doing the project won't be as long as the time you spend collecting the debt.
The same applies to investing.
The characteristics of China dictate that, in reality, the words of leaders are more effective than legal provisions and contracts.
With a change of leadership, the various preferential conditions promised by the previous leader may very well vanish.
Planning at the national level can save a lot of trouble.
Wang Xiao said earnestly, "Personally, I'm willing to do venture capital and invest. But I need support."
Deputy Secretary Cao sensed the main event was about to begin and calmly asked, "What kind of support?"
“Policy,” Wang Xiao said earnestly. “I need more air routes, routes to Africa. I need to make money.”
Deputy Secretary Cao suddenly realized that after going around in circles, it turned out to be about flight routes.
There are now more and more places where people realize they can make money trading with Russia, and competition for shipping routes is becoming increasingly fierce.
It's understandable that she planned ahead and sought alternative paths, such as doing business in Africa.
only--
Deputy Secretary Cao finally asked out of curiosity, "Do you do trade with Africa the same way you do with Russia?"
Wang Xiao nodded: "Yes, we only provide the goods and transportation; the middlemen do the business themselves."
Seeing the subtle look on her leader's face, she quickly emphasized, "It's not that we're unwilling to invest money now, but the oil field we're investing in on Sakhalin Island is about to receive funding."
Before the oil and gas are sold, it is a money-devouring beast that requires a constant influx of money.
Moreover, if things go smoothly with this oil field, we'd like to acquire more mining rights later.
Currently, the money earned from trade with Russia is only enough to sustain oil field development.
She half-jokingly said, "Everyone here has their own designated spot, so it's not appropriate to raise funds to invest."
As if a beat late, Deputy Secretary Cao sighed again: "These two projects are actually most suitable for Jiangdong."
Wang Xiao comforted her, saying, "Actually, industrial relocation is probably not easy either. Take the garment and footwear industry for example; it will likely take at least twenty years for it to be able to move to the central and western regions."
Before she entered the book, the horse-face skirt from Cao County was all the rage. But the fabric they used to make the skirts still had to be sourced from Zhejiang.
Their only advantage is probably their lower labor costs. Working overtime at night only pays ten yuan per hour.
If this happened in Zhejiang, probably no workers would pay you any attention.
As an online influencer, she discussed this issue with her peers: why has the garment and footwear industry been concentrated in coastal areas such as the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta?
Why didn't a large-scale relocation of networks occur in the central and western regions?
The workers in the industry are mostly from the Midwest, where it is cheaper to work near their homes.
Wang Xiao and her friends concluded that the issue was cost constraints.
The Midwest has a lower labor force, but higher transportation costs.
As is well known, water transport is the cheapest mode of transportation.
However, the height of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge prevented giant ocean-going vessels from crossing.
This means that goods from the Midwest region, if exported by waterway, will have to go through another sea freight procedure.
This naturally increases costs.
The rise of the horse-face skirt industry in Caoxian County can probably be attributed to the popularity of the "Guochao" (national trend) style. It primarily caters to domestic consumption, doesn't export, and doesn't require ocean-going vessels.
In addition, the influx of a large number of migrant workers into major cities in the eastern region has also boosted the local economy.
Besides basic necessities like food, drink, and sanitation, the rise in housing prices in big cities also relies on the influx of people from other areas.
With these two factors in place, industrial relocation is not as simple as it seems.
Upon hearing about the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, Deputy Secretary Cao chuckled and immediately asked her, "Who would you like me to give this letter to?"
Wang Xiao shook his head: "I don't know. I hope it's about long-term planning, not about always thinking about breakthroughs all at once, and not about leaders who are overly ambitious."
The profits from solely manufacturing chips and LCD screens are actually limited. This is because no matter how much money they make, they must continue to invest in industrial upgrading.
Otherwise, they will soon be eliminated by international industries.
However, their existence can drive the upstream and downstream industrial chains.
You could say they are the core.
Deputy Secretary Cao nodded, offering no further comments, only reminding her, "How's your house construction going? You need to hurry up."
Wang Xiao immediately took credit, talking about his work on smart homes and enthusiastically inviting the leaders to come and see for themselves.
If Deputy Secretary Cao hadn't been in such a hurry to get to the meeting, she could have easily chatted with the other person for another couple of minutes.
Now that the leader has left, it's not appropriate for her to stay any longer.
Wang Xiao glanced at the time, then went to a public phone booth to make a call after leaving the government building.
Modern mobile phones are really bad; the battery dies very easily, and the signal is also not very good.
Even though Wang Xiao was willing to pay high phone bills, she would still use a landline whenever possible instead of her cell phone.
The phone rang for a long time before it was finally answered.
The voice on the other end was extremely impatient: "No more cars, no more cars, everyone says there aren't any left. Don't ask when there will be any, how am I supposed to know? What were you doing yesterday, thinking all this and that, comparing prices before buying? When there's stock, everyone's scrambling to get their hands on it."
Wang Xiao said calmly, "Xiao Feng, ask your General Manager Tang to answer the phone."
The person on the other end of the phone was probably startled, perhaps because their toe hit the table, and cried out repeatedly, "Brother Tang, President Tang, it's the boss on the phone."
The sound of slippers clattering filled the air, followed by Tang Yicheng's voice: "Hey—boss?"
"How is the car now?"
"Ladas are basically impossible to get now; what's on the market are mostly fakes," Tang Yicheng complained. "The Russians have really gone bad. Factories in Siberia and the Far East are starting to assemble the 2105 and 2107 models with substandard parts. I don't dare to go into a car casually anymore; if someone gets killed while driving one, it would be a huge problem."
Wang Xiao agreed with his cautious approach: "If there aren't any good cars, we won't go into this one."
She never expected the business to last.
All I can say is, make money one step at a time, however much I can earn.
If it can't be done, then let's just give up.
Tang Yicheng reassured his boss, "The motorcycles are doing alright; we still have some in stock."
Although it doesn't earn as much as a car, it's still an income source.
“Then let’s keep doing it.” Wang Xiao changed the subject. “There’s something you need to keep an eye on: buying a house. Not in Suifenhe, but in Beijing. If there’s a courtyard house, we’ll buy it. We can also buy a house in Hong Kong.”
When Tang Yicheng heard about the courtyard house, he didn't feel much.
They bought it before, and they're still using it as a warehouse.
But when Wang Xiao mentioned houses in Hong Kong, he was taken aback.
What, Mr. Wang, you're taking big strides, aren't you? Going to Hong Kong to develop your career?
"Investing in real estate." Wang Xiao didn't hide anything, half-jokingly and half-seriously saying, "If we can't make money in the future, we'll live off selling houses."
The listed company was able to save itself by relying on two properties in Beijing.
She should accumulate more real estate now, so it will at least provide her with liquid assets in the future.
Tang Yicheng had no concept of buying a house before, but after seeing the soaring housing prices in Suifenhe, he also felt that this was a good investment opportunity.
“Great!” he said cheerfully. “Then we can just sit back and collect the money from now on.”
After hanging up the phone, Wang Xiao checked the time again, estimating that he would arrive home just in time for lunch.
She was lucky; she ran into her mother bringing fried spring rolls to the table as soon as she entered the door.
Without hesitation, Wang Xiao reached out and pinched it, putting it in his mouth.
Oh my, spring rolls are so delicious this season! They seem to have shredded pork and shrimp inside, they're so fresh.
Chen Yanqiu was truly blind to look, and slapped her daughter's hand away: "Didn't you wash your hands? Stop eating, hurry up and take this plate to your Grandma Zhang."
Grandma Zhang was an old neighbor of theirs; she used to live downstairs from them. Her children stayed in the area after being sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution and never came back. After her husband passed away, she lived alone ever since.
According to Chairman Chen, the original owner of this body usually did his homework at Grandma Zhang's house after school when he was a child, and would not go home until his parents got off work.
Wang Xiao made another spring roll, and before her mother could explode, she grabbed the plate and ran away: "Okay, okay, I'll go, I'll go."
She even gave one to Lyuba after that.
The two ate as they walked, and after going downstairs, they checked each other's mouths to see if they were still oily before walking proudly toward Grandma Zhang's house.
In March, the spring sunshine was indeed bright and clear, casting golden light across the ground.
The wind felt warm on my skin.
It brushed against the willow tree, and tender green buds sprouted.
It touched the peach and plum blossoms, and the pink flowers bloomed with joy.
Wang Xiao looked at the Chinese toon tree not far away and thought, "Oh, it's time to pick the Chinese toon shoots. They're so delicious when used to make omelets."
Lyuba was so tempted by her words that she confidently assured her that climbing trees was no problem and would be a piece of cake for her.
Wang Xiao was delighted; she had gotten a really good deal on this bodyguard, as there was nothing he couldn't do.
She asked curiously, "How many other unique skills do you have? Tell me about them and broaden my horizons."
The female bodyguard was very modest: "There's nothing special about it. If I had to say, my sense of smell is quite sensitive. I can smell things that most people wouldn't even notice."
Wang Xiao laughed: "Then if you want to change careers in the future, you can become a perfume appraiser."
Just as Lyuba was about to reply, her expression suddenly changed slightly, and she turned her head and shouted, "Stop!"
The man who hurried past them paused for a moment, then quickened his pace and rushed forward.
Without saying a word, Lyuba kicked a flowerpot from the roadside, which slammed into the man's knee.
"Grab him, don't let him get away."
"What's wrong?" Wang Xiao had no idea what was going on.
"He smelled of blood, but not of chicken, duck, or goose."
Oh my god!
Wang Xiao's legs almost gave way. Had he committed murder?
Otherwise, why would this guy run away?
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Tears well up in my eyes; my procrastination is getting worse. I'll try my best to finish this as soon as possible. Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants between 2024-03-02 07:08:01 and 2024-03-03 03:55:08!
Thank you to the little angels who watered with nutrient solution: Qiqi, Keke, and Xiaomei (10 bottles each); Affirmation (5 bottles); Xiaop (2 bottles); and the adorable little cutie who wants to grow taller and Happiness Forever (1 bottle each).
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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