Rebirth of Northland Technology

A Japanese electronics giant

meeting room

"The sales manager of "American Materials" called me and asked us to confirm the intention order of PECVD and hope to pay the deposit."

Paying a deposit is also a common practice in the field of semiconductor equipment.But in this era, it is still a bit surprising.

"Deposit? Why?"

"I heard that they are reassessing the PECVD equipment research plan. The US wants to determine the number of orders and then decide whether the plan can continue."

"Well... if their equipment can only support 12-inch substrates for glass substrate size, this is really a problem."

"How do you reply to them?"

"Tell them that we are still thinking about it. Hold on."

"it is good!"

The 15-inch panel, the size that should have appeared on the 3rd generation line, appeared on the market 5 years in advance.

If you place a bet on PECVD and related equipment in the U.S. should wait until the production line is completed, it will be the end of 1994 at the earliest.Once the production line is completed, it will lag behind the 15-inch products of "Full Color Technology" by a generation.

The mentality of all manufacturers is the same, and we support the development of new equipment for "America".But let's place a deposit, and we can't do it temporarily.

————————

On the other side of the ocean, Ying Material is also tangled.

Why they need to find out the equipment manufacturers and request a deposit is because of the same considerations.

The launch of the special PECVD equipment development plan for TFT-LCD in 1992 was attracted by the hot notebook display market.

Historically, this wave of new production capacity has been built, there are orders for capacity upgrades, and there are more than a dozen production lines.Under such circumstances, it is a matter of course to invest heavily in the development of new products.

But the feedback from the market survey is very unoptimistic.Only 3 existing LCD players agreed to pay a deposit to confirm the upgrade of production line equipment and capacity expansion.None of the other new players gave an exact answer.

The investment in TFT-LCD production line equipment is huge, regardless of R&D or production.And its sales area is extremely narrow.This equipment can only be used for TFT-LCD production lines.And one production line has only one equipment.

It is just like the lithography machine of later generations. Once it is produced, it cannot be sold, and the loss is in 100 million units.

It is impossible to make this project profitable just by relying on the current orders for a few units.

Because the cost of equipment includes not only corresponding production costs, research and development costs, but also human costs.When the time comes, this dedicated production line will stop producing only two or three units. What about the hired workers?

For today's plan, we can only wait to change.

Of course, dragging, dragging, the project will be dragged.

————————

"The 15-inch TFT-LCD is already available. Should we adjust our plan?"

The discussion in the Japanese conference room continues.

Supplier's inquiry is not the focus of everyone's attention.Various electronics giants and equipment suppliers are re-evaluating their LCD production line plans.

Because of the increasingly popular TFT-LCD market.With the increase in yield, the profits of the three Japanese LCD manufacturers have also increased substantially, which makes the manufacturers jealous.

"But what should I do? When the 15-inch LCD device comes out, I'm afraid the Chinese may not have come up with something."

The exposure of the 19-inch 3rd generation line plan disclosed by "Full Color Technology" at the investor meeting made everyone at a loss.

Looking at the booming TFT-LCD market, inaction is not the case.

This hesitant view is the thinking of most players in this period, especially new players.These Japanese electronics giants, no matter how strong they are, the US$200 million for the second-generation line is not a small figure.

"What a headache!"

On one side is the hot market, on the other side is the technology that cannot be caught up.What's more uncomfortable is that the people who ran ahead of everyone were actually backward China.

If the Chinese people’s technology is really like a rocket, so high that people can’t speak, everyone will recognize it.

But this Quancai technology running in front of everyone is just a big farm man wearing slippers, and his running posture is very obscene. This makes people who chase after him lose face.

International giants still have to consider face.

"Or, let's just buy a set of Chinese equipment. The price of the 19-inch panel is very high. Even if it is a production line with thousands of employees, it may still be profitable."

Some people in the conference room put forward their opinions.Laggards need the consciousness of laggards.

At least after some time ago, these foreign manufacturers found that Chinese equipment can still be bought, although it is a bit more expensive.

Moreover, for some processes, there is no need to completely copy the Chinese technological process.Some processes can be replaced by automated equipment, which can also reduce a lot of labor.

"Yes, if the 19-inch production line can be mass produced, we may have to follow up."

————————

19 inches, a size that arguably will only appear after 2004, its profit will reach nearly $4,000!

This price and amazing profit rate are acceptable even with the high salaries of American and Japanese personnel.

In the pilot line plan, the output of each production line is reduced by 56 compared to the assembly line plan.This makes the market less easily saturated.

In other words, the pilot program has resulted in higher profit margins on high-end products.By the same token, the business cycle of the LCD industry has also been lengthened.

In addition, the 15-inch version of the second-generation line opened the desktop display market, while the 19-inch version of the third-generation line announced that TFT-LCD entered the TV market.

In the past history, before 2000, the output of TFT-LCD was always restricted by the scale of the notebook market.Today, this restriction is completely gone.

With these two newly opened markets, there will be no visible constraints on the development of Quancolor Technology within a few years.

————————

Again, everything has two sides.

Blessings and misfortunes depend on each other, and the extremes of things must be reversed.

Due to the high profit margins of the third-generation lines, even European and American manufacturers can adopt the pilot line program.

When other equipment manufacturers withdrew from the LCD market, several equipment manufacturers in the optoelectronics department formed a de facto monopoly.

If the Optoelectronics Department is not ready to sell related equipment to the market, the anti-monopoly law is not a joke.

If under the pressure of the anti-monopoly law, "Photoelectric Equipment" is forced to supply the market, it will cause the related semiconductor equipment industry to continue to advance under the nourishment of the LCD industry.However, Quancai Technology will lose its unique monopoly advantage, just like the original giant high-tech.

This unexpected result was unexpected by everyone in the optoelectronics department.