Chapter 600

There was still a light rain in the early morning. Zhang Ke, ye Jianbin, Chen Xinsheng and sun Shangyi had just arrived at Ye Zhenmin's red brick villa in the Western District of Hong Kong Island. The street lamps were emitting a faint yellow halo in the drizzle and shining on the slippery cement pavement.

"What's the matter so late?" Ye Zhenmin just received a phone call from Zhang Ke saying that there were more important things to report to him face to face. After he came to Hong Kong, he didn't go to bed until two or three in the morning every day, so he asked Zhang Ke and them to come directly to his temporary residence to talk about things.

The financial turmoil is still raging over Southeast Asia, and other countries in Asia are also feeling increasing pressure. Hong Kong's financial market can only be said to be calm on the surface, but few people can sleep safely at night.

The raindrops patted on the glass of the study window, and Zhang Ke told the whole story.

The causes and consequences are not complicated. As early as the beginning of 1995, in order to accelerate the development of its domestic electronic information industry, the Malaysian government decided to replicate Taiwan's electronic industry development model in the multimedia super corridor in Kuala Lumpur.

The development of Taiwan's electronics industry is based on TSMC. The Malaysian government has actively promoted the financing and construction of a wafer factory in the multimedia super corridor.

The initial investor is the Malaysian tycoon, Guo Songyan, chairman of the board of directors of Guo's group.

At the beginning of the preparations for the second half of 1996, Guo's group had strong financial resources, and the wealthy Chinese businessmen in Malaysia were well-known in the whole Chinese business circle. The key to investing in the wafer factory was not the huge investment of more than $1.2 billion, but the acquisition and stable and reliable technical team of manufacturing technology and equipment.

From a realistic perspective, if you want to invest in building a wafer factory in Malaysia, only the wafer factories in Singapore and Taiwan can attract a large number of mature technicians; Singapore is willing to transfer some of its wafer manufacturing technology. Guo Songyan can only hope to obtain technicians from two Taiwan wafer factories, TSMC and Shida Jidian.

At the beginning of the year, Liu Zhicheng was found by Guo Songyan to participate in the wafer factory investment plan in Malaysia.

In order not to arouse the vigilance of TSMC and Shida, investors such as Guo Songyan and Liu Zhicheng have not disclosed the investment plan of Malaysia's wafer factory.

After raising money secretly for such a long time and preparing to officially register the company, the Southeast Asian financial storm suddenly hit, and a comprehensive economic crisis broke out in Malaysia only ten days after Thailand. The enterprises of Guo's group suddenly suffered heavy losses. At this time, it is too late to raise funds for self-help. How can there be too much rich funds to invest in wafer factories?

More than a month after the financial storm, the economy of Southeast Asia has been devastated, the import and export trade has decreased sharply, and the industry prosperity of the electronic industry has dropped sharply to an all-time low in one month. At this time, it seems no longer wise to continue to invest more than one billion dollars in Malaysia's multimedia super corridor, Previous investors have withdrawn their investment intentions, which is naturally expected.

As the economic situation worsened, Malaysian financial institutions that had promised to lend to the investment plan were forced to shrink their money at this time. No one was willing to mention their previous commitments.

For the vast majority of investors, it is only to suspend an investment project that has not been fully carried out.

Liu Zhicheng is not only one of the investors, but also directly involved in the preparation process. In the past six months, I have done a lot of work and reached private agreements with some technicians of TSMC whose employment contracts are about to expire. In the past six months, under the influence of Liu Zhicheng, more than 30 engineers did not renew their contracts with TSMC after the expiration of their employment contracts, and chose to leave TSMC for Malaysia to carry out the preliminary technical preparations for the preparation of the wafer factory.

Other investors left, losing at most a small amount of initial investment, but Liu Zhicheng needs to be responsible for the group of engineers who have left TSMC.

In any case, it is impossible to hide his participation in the investment and preparation of the Malaysian wafer factory for long. The relationship between him and Zhang Zhongmou has long been tense. Even if he continues to stay in TSMC, he and his group of engineers who intend to leave TSMC will be completely trampled under his feet until they are completely replaced by others

The best way out for Liu Zhicheng and his engineers is to continue to implement the investment plan of the wafer factory; The important task of the leader of the investment plan of the wafer factory was transferred from Guo Songyan to Liu Zhicheng.

Since most of the previous investors have withdrawn their investment intention, Liu Zhicheng can only find another investor, which is why he has been staying in Hong Kong recently. Hong Kong is not only one of the financial and trade centers, but also the center of the Chinese business circle. It seems that Hong Kong has not been directly impacted by the financial storm in the past month or so.

In fact, Hong Kong is under a lot of pressure. The Hang Seng Index has fallen by one third in more than a month, which has meant the advent of a bear market. After a month of hard support, the property market can not bear the momentum. The transaction volume of the early active property market has shrunk to the extreme recently, and the avalanche of the property market and the economic recession of Hong Kong can be clearly foreseen; The most fatal, the current mainstream view, the financial storm will have a trend of further spread.

Liu Zhicheng's trip was not smooth until he met Zhang Ke and them.

Liu Zhicheng's dilemma made him not qualified to fight for the control of the project at all. When he met sun Shangyi, he asked sun Shangyi to introduce the people of Jinhu. He was anxious to seek medical treatment when he was ill.

"Ah, that's right..." after listening to Zhang Ke's explanation, ye Zhenmin took a deep breath, thought for a moment, looked at Zhang Ke, "are you going to take this project back to the mainland?" there was some expectation in his eyes.

"I can't take this project back to China. How can I spare so much time to work so late?" there is no doubt that the investment of a pure wafer factory may not be able to make a smooth profit in a few years. Only by building it in the mainland and firmly controlling it in the palm of my hand can it be in the interests of Jinhu and the overall interests of the country, Zhang Ke said with a smile, "But it's too difficult. It may have been tossed for a long time. In the end, I still found that I was working blindly."

"Tell me how difficult it is in reality..." Ye Zhenmin sat at the corner of his desk with his chest in his arms. His posture was always very casual. Although the media understood him as an overly pessimistic scholar official, he accurately pointed out the profound inducement behind the sudden financial storm as early as a year ago, which shocked him in the economic circle.

"You are a professional, or you introduce the situation..." Zhang Ke kicked the ball to Chen Xinsheng.

"The first is the problem of capital. Generally speaking, an investment budget of US $1.2 billion to US $1.5 billion is enough to build an eight inch wafer factory... The second is the introduction of manufacturing technology and production equipment. The United States, Japan and Europe block the export of relevant manufacturing technology and production equipment at home... The third is the problem of technical team. It is extremely difficult to have a stable and reliable technical team Please, this is also the key reason why wafer factory investment is called "half inverted" -- this "inverted" is the inverted... "Chen Xinsheng has a thorough understanding of the depth of this pool of water, and many unknown secrets are also told, "As far as I know, when a group of people such as Zhang Zhongmou and Liu Zhicheng left Deyi to return to Taiwan to prepare for the construction of TSMC, the senior managers wanted to hire technicians from the mainland to train them, hoping to help the mainland's electronic industry and provide convenience for entering the mainland to build factories in the future. However, this idea was resolutely stopped by the Taiwan authorities, and later hired from Malaysia and other places A large number of Chinese engineers have been hired. These engineers are not well treated in TSMC. This time, it is mainly these engineers who intend to follow Liu Zhicheng to launch TSMC. On the contrary, Singapore's wafer factories employ many local engineers. The real headache may face a severe technical blockade, but this is the best time for mainland China to prepare for the construction of wafer factories - - the financial turmoil in Southeast Asia will spread further, and it will also cause a further blow to the electronic industry in Asia, and promote the whole industry to enter a trough period. The gap of technology blockade may be loosened due to the deterioration of the economic situation. Perhaps, there will be more room for negotiation on the price of imported technology and equipment... "

"In the required funds," Ye Zhenmin glanced at Zhang Ke, "how much are you going to take out of your four billion?"

Zhang Ke said: "I have considered the issue of funds. The previous investors of this project have not completely given up. We can raise US $100 million from the original investors. We are on a diet. We can spend almost US $300 million and work hard to pull another US $100 million or 200 million from Hong Kong or the mainland. With us $500 million or US $600 million as the bottom, we can raise US $500 million or US $600 million from financial institutions It should not be the most difficult... "

Zhang Ke considered that after the second wave of financial turmoil destroyed the economy of country h, he withdrew the previous 1 billion from the hedge fund. This part of the fund is innocent. If Zhang Ke takes another 1.4 billion from the Jinhu account, he can make up 300 million US dollars, which will not affect the current capital flow of Jinhu.

"Although there is a shortage of funds everywhere in China, if you can really take this project back to China, I think premier Zhao Jidong will personally come forward to help you beg in major banks..." Ye Zhenmin saw that Zhang Ke was sure that they could solve the fund of $5.6 billion, and the rest would be solved easily. He even thought that as long as there was a starting fund of $3.4 billion, it was enough. China was too eager to make a breakthrough in this. Liu Zhicheng and a group of engineers mainly from Southeast Asia were in a dilemma, which could just solve the problem of the technical team The difficulty, said, "it seems that the introduction of manufacturing technology and equipment is a difficult bone?"

"It's hard to chew, but you always have to try to know..." Zhang Ke thought that at least the Singapore government will not deliberately create additional obstacles. Deyi can only consider introducing second and third rate technologies that have entered the phase out period.

At three o'clock in the morning, he left Ye Zhenmin's temporary apartment in the Western District of Hong Kong Island. The rain had not stopped at night.

The sound of the car was very quiet, and the sound of raindrops outside the window could be heard. Zhang Ke sat in the car, picked up his cell phone and dialed Yao Wensheng. Although it was three o'clock in the morning, Zhang Ke had no scruples about looking for Yao Wensheng. Although Yao Wensheng yawned at the other end of the phone and threatened Zhang Ke, saying, "there's nothing important, just wait for you to go back to Jianye!" Zhang Ke said with a smile, "It's really kind to remind you to get up in the middle of the night and go to the bathroom..." Jinhu came forward to promote some things, like a mantis cart, with thin arms and legs broken, which may not be able to push the project forward. Jianye city is named "digital corridor concept" In addition to the Oak Park Plan, the new high-tech industry strategy of Jianye lacks a really powerful large project. As long as the wafer factory project can fall in Jianye, the development pattern of Jianye's electronic industry can rely on the large market of 1.3 billion people in the mainland to copy the successful model of the rise of Taiwan's electronic industry, and the concept of Jianye's digital corridor is a new high-tech project in Donghai province The core component of the strategy.

After discussing with Ye Zhenmin, few people will contribute to this project. The key is which side will take the lead. Although Zhang Ke is a very short protector, he also knows that from the balance of all aspects, this project is more suitable to fall in the digital corridor of Jianye.

Zhang Ke naturally entrusted Yao Wensheng to do the things reported to Wang Weijun and Luo Jun. Yao Wensheng had been working in the Telecommunications Administration Department of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications before, and the significance of the wafer factory was clear. However, Zhang Ke was still worried, and specially ordered Zhao Peng, who stayed in Jianye and was specifically responsible for the early preparation of the Oak Park Plan, to cooperate with Yao Wensheng.

Back in yingwan garden, Zhang Ke went back to his room to take a bath, fell asleep and didn't wake up until ten o'clock in the morning. Zhao Peng called before. They are going through the formalities. They will fly to Shenzhen first and try to get to Hong Kong before dark. Special affairs are handled on a special basis, and the transit formalities can indeed be completed in one day.

Sun Shangyi, Chen Xinsheng, Jiang Wei and others have made in-depth contact with Liu Zhicheng, clearly put forward that the project should be placed in the mainland, and also hope to further contact with other intended investors of the project.

Before that, Liu Zhicheng did not consider the possibility of moving the project to the mainland: after all, the project was customized for the multimedia super corridor in Malaysia at the beginning of the design; In addition to himself, most of the current investors are Malaysian Chinese businessmen - although most investors quit, Malaysian Chinese businessmen are still the main ones left behind; The project also received the key attention of the Malaysian government, so it successfully reached the cooperation intention of partial manufacturing technology transfer with Singapore.

If the project is moved to the mainland rashly, Malaysian Chinese investors who have not quit until now may completely give up their interest in the project, and all the cooperation intentions reached with Singapore will be invalidated.

Liu Zhicheng saw that Zhang Ke himself didn't come forward. Although he was very confused, since Chen Xinsheng and sun Shangyi both admitted that he was the last person to make up his mind, there was no need to doubt his identity. He said to sun Shangyi and Chen Xinsheng: "it seems that the conditions are more appropriate to invest and build a factory in Kuala Lumpur. There are other things today?"

Chen Xinsheng was not sure whether Zhang Ke woke up at this time. Although he was in the hotel apartment on the same floor, he still called to ask if it was appropriate. The phone was connected. It was Fu Jun who answered the phone and clearly heard the sound of waves lapping on the shore. Chen Xinsheng looked at the beautiful sky outside the window and could only say sorry to Liu Zhicheng: "Ke Shao is really busy with other things at this time..." And he said, "When the project is moved to China, some political factors will add many additional obstacles to the project, but the financial storm in Southeast Asia will spread further. How far the electronics industry in Southeast Asia will decline and how many years will it take to recover? These are unpredictable things. The closed financial system and sufficient foreign exchange reserves in the mainland can ensure that it will not be affected The direct impact of the financial crisis and the market of 1.3 billion people in the mainland are the real objects to rely on... "

Today's sun is very hot. The girls are all in their rooms. Zhang Ke goes to the beach alone to learn surfing.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Yao Wensheng, Zhao Peng and Zhu Xiaojun drove from Luohu, Shenzhen to Hong Kong. Yao Wensheng came to contact Liu Zhicheng on behalf of Jianye municipal government, indicating that the mainland government will come forward to help solve the additional obstacles added to the project by some political factors.

After Yao Wensheng came to Hong Kong and met Zhang Ke, he contacted Wang Weijun. Wang Weijun told him on the phone that the interim meeting of the Standing Committee of the municipal Party committee had just made a decision to let him be the director of the Investment Promotion Bureau of the high tech Zone. The administrative level was still the department level, but the position was a real step forward from the deputy director to the director.

The appointment will wait until Yao Wensheng returns to the mainland. However, he can work directly in the name of the director of the Investment Promotion Bureau of the high tech Zone in Hong Kong. Looking at the progress of the initial contact, Wang Weijun will also rush to Hong Kong in two or three days. On the contrary, the procedures for Wang Weijun's high-level officials to go to Hong Kong need special things, which is a little more difficult.

The significance of the wafer factory project is very clear within Jianye municipal Party committee.

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