Chapter 894
Zhang Zhongmou truly lives up to his name.
Before we knew it, it was November.
Hong Kong experiences more rainfall than usual in March.
The entire city seemed to be shrouded in a hazy mist.
Zhang Zhongmou has been in Hong Kong for a full week.
During this week, he did not give any media interviews or attend any public events. It was as if Zhang Zhongmou had disappeared from the world.
Only Oracle Semiconductor's top executives knew that the new chairman was reshaping the young company's technology blueprint and management structure with astonishing efficiency and focus.
Kwun Tong, Sheung Kong Ling Industrial Park.
This is an industrial park under the Hongkong Land Group.
The entire industrial park consists of more than twenty six-story industrial buildings and one sixteen-story industrial tower.
Apart from a portion belonging to Dairy Farm International Holdings Limited's manufacturing base, nearly half of the area has now been allocated to Oracle Semiconductor.
The 16-story industrial building has been renamed Oracle Tower and is used as a research and development center and office space.
At this moment, in the newly renovated conference room on the eighth floor of the building, which still smelled slightly of ink, Zhang Zhongmou was presiding over his third technical committee meeting since taking office.
Outside the window, the fine rain weaves a tapestry of colors, transforming the red brick buildings of the industrial park into a hazy ink painting.
But no one in the meeting room had time to appreciate it; everyone had thick technical documents spread out in front of them, and the air was filled with the bitter aroma of coffee and a kind of almost frozen focus.
This team consisted partly of people recruited by Ma Shimin from Silicon Valley and Texas when he was setting up Oracle Semiconductor, and partly of people who were Zhang Zhongmou's confidants from his time at Texas Instruments.
After leaving Texas Instruments, he directly poached more than 20 core technical and management personnel from Texas Instruments' semiconductor division.
These are not all.
Many more high-end talents in the industry are still on the path of resigning.
Today, Texas Instruments is focusing more on consumer electronics, and its semiconductor R&D spending has decreased significantly. As a result, many engineers and managers are feeling lost about the company's future, and some are even considering leaving.
Zhang Zhongmou's secret summons was not only a respectable way out for them, but also an opportunity to choose a new career path. Should they stay at Texas Instruments and serve a board that looked down on the semiconductor business, or follow their old boss who had always been at the forefront of technology for twenty years and go to the East to explore a brand new world?
The answer is not difficult to choose.
Therefore, their departure went very smoothly.
The reason Zhang Zhongmou was able to resign from Texas Instruments so smoothly was because the chairman of Texas Instruments himself was hostile to him, and his initiative to resign was exactly what Xia Bai wanted.
If it weren't for the opposition from many board members, Zhang Zhongmou wouldn't have needed a month to successfully leave Texas Instruments!
Zhang Zhongmou's departure also made Texas Instruments Chairman Xia Bo even less concerned about the fate of the semiconductor business group.
In his strategic blueprint, Texas Instruments' future belongs to consumer electronics, to calculators, digital watches, and those trendy gadgets that can be placed on department store shelves.
semiconductor?
That's the obsession of the previous generation, a bottomless pit that devours capital, and the culprit that caused the company's stock price to underperform the market over the past five years.
For Xia Bai, Zhang Zhongmou's departure not only removed the most vocal dissent from the board of directors, but also served as an excellent signal for a strategic purge.
With even the creator of the semiconductor division gone, who would question the correctness of the consumer electronics transformation?
He even said something that became widely circulated at the first senior management meeting after the announcement of Zhang Zhongmou's departure:
"Dr. Zhang Zhongmou is an excellent engineer, but excellent engineers often cannot see the future. The future belongs to the market, not the laboratory."
When this news reached Hong Kong, Zhang Zhongmou was on the eighth floor of the Oracle Building discussing the company's initial development plan with his team.
He did not comment on Xia Bai's words.
Twenty years of working together made him understand better than anyone else that when someone starts using "market" to negate "technology," the argument becomes meaningless.
Moreover, it was precisely because of this statement that he felt even more strongly that leaving Texas Instruments and coming to Hong Kong was an absolutely correct decision.
He didn't need to refute Xia Bai with words.
All he needed to do was set up Oracle's factory, produce Oracle Semiconductor's chips, and turn those technologies that Texas Instruments considered "outdated" into a broad road to the future.
That's the best rebuttal.
He values semiconductor experts and engineers that Texas Instruments doesn't value!
Although a large number of people chose to go to Intel, Motorola, or stay at Texas Instruments, there were still enough people willing to follow him.
It wasn't because Zhang Zhongmou offered a higher salary than Intel. In fact, while Oracle Semiconductor's salaries were generous, they didn't have an absolute advantage compared to top-tier companies in Silicon Valley.
They followed him because of their trust.
Trust his judgment on the technology roadmap, trust that he will not abandon the team in difficult times, and trust that the blueprint for the "Eastern semiconductor kingdom" he speaks of is not just a pie in the sky.
This trust is built up over the past twenty years through overcoming technical challenges together, working side by side at board meetings, and getting back up after projects were cut.
Xia Bai doesn't understand, and never will.
And now, this trust is being transformed into concrete action.
This is the benefit that Lin Haoran gained from recruiting Zhang Zhongmou.
If we poach him, we'll have a ready-made team, and one of the world's top semiconductor teams at that.
This is something that others cannot do.
Lin Haoran once said to Zhang Zhongmou: "I will not interfere with your team, your structure, or your pace."
For Zhang Zhongmou, this sentence carries more weight than any salary figure.
He struggled at Texas Instruments for twenty years, watching helplessly as the team he had built was marginalized, as the engineers he had nurtured lost their edge with each budget cut, and as they became second-class citizens under Schapper's "consumer electronics first" strategy.
He had thought about leaving more than once.
But each time, he asked himself: What will happen to these people if you leave?
They've followed you for twenty years, not because of how many stock options you gave them, but because they believe in the future you envision.
What will happen to them if you give up first?
This problem has troubled him for five years.
Until Lin Haoran personally appeared in Dallas.
After the meeting, Zhang Zhongmou had a complete vision for the future of Oracle Semiconductor.
As he walked out of the conference room, he looked at the gray Kwun Tong Pier not far from the corridor window and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
He was full of confidence in Oracle Semiconductor, a company that had only recently been established.
Although it's just a startup, it has funding, connections, a team, technology, and a market that it can build.
This is much better than his last few years at Texas Instruments.
He wasn't without resources at Texas Instruments.
On the contrary, as the head of the semiconductor business group, he has access to the world's top process teams and a customer network built up over decades.
But so what?
When the board no longer believes that semiconductors are the future, when the CEO would rather invest money in calculators than upgrade lithography machines, when Wall Street analysts describe the career you've dedicated your life to as a "sunset industry."
No matter how many resources you have, they are just nourishment for a slow death.
Now, he stands in this unassuming sixteen-story building in the Kwun Tong Industrial Park, with a gray sky, fine rain, and a city that doesn't even have a rudimentary semiconductor industry chain outside the window.
But he was more certain than ever before.
Because here, no one says that technology is "an obsession of the previous generation".
Nobody cuts their R&D budget to invest in consumer electronics.
No one uses "market" to negate "laboratory".
There's only one thing here: get things done.
Most importantly, the boss fully supports him in doing it!
"Chairman Zhang, the boss is here and waiting for you in his office!" At this moment, the assistant walked over quickly and said respectfully to Zhang Zhongmou.
"Okay, I understand." Zhang Zhongmou smiled slightly upon hearing this and quickly walked towards the office at the end of the corridor.
This is an office with an area of only about 20 square meters. The decoration is simple, but the view is excellent.
The floor-to-ceiling windows face the Kwun Tong Pier. On rainy days, the sea and sky merge into a hazy gray, while on sunny days, cargo ships can be seen coming and going through the Lei Yue Mun Channel.
When Zhang Zhongmou chose this office, Lin Haoran asked him if he wanted to move to the bigger one on the top floor.
He shook his head and said this was enough.
It's not about being humble.
He was used to a small office.
During his 23 years at Texas Instruments, his office evolved from a 7-square-meter researcher's cubicle to a 15-square-meter project manager's office, and then to a 35-square-meter department head's suite.
The area is getting bigger and bigger, and the scenery outside the window is getting better and better, but the distance between us and those engineers is getting further and further away.
He misses the days when he could push back his chair and argue with the person across the whiteboard about technical specifications.
This office, which is just over 20 square meters, is just right.
The door was ajar, letting in a sliver of warm yellow light.
Zhang Zhongmou pushed open the door and went in.
Lin Haoran stood by the window, his back to the door, gazing at the misty, rain-shrouded dock outside. Beside him stood Liu Xiaoli.
This young lady had just returned to Hong Kong from her hometown a few days ago, and couldn't wait to go out with her boss.
In reality, after Liu Xiaoli went back to her hometown, she felt much more comfortable in Hong Kong compared to her hometown.
Everything is good in my hometown: loving parents, warm relatives, and delicious food.
But after staying for half a month, she began to miss the bustling streets of Hong Kong and her villa in the Mid-Levels of Wan Chai.
After getting used to the life of the wealthy, returning to a life that, while cozy, required careful budgeting in every aspect, was a much greater sense of loss than she had anticipated.
This isn't being pretentious.
This was the first time Liu Xiaoli had realized so clearly that her life had been completely changed.
She knew she had to cling tightly to Lin Haoran's coattails.
Because she knew that as long as she clung to Lin Haoran, she could have this kind of life for the rest of her life.
Although she knew that her boss was already married and the bride was not her, so what?
Although she also longed for pure love, compared to a life of comfort, wealth, and dignity, love seemed like something that could be put on hold.
Therefore, after Liu Xiaoli returned, Lin Haoran was surprised to find that her loyalty had actually increased again.
Before the Lunar New Year, Liu Xiaoli's loyalty score was 98, almost 100.
After she returned to Hong Kong from her hometown in mainland China, Lin Haoran was surprised to find that her loyalty level had increased by 1 point, reaching 99.
In other words, you're only one point away from reaching 100 loyalty.
Lin Haoran was surprised to see this number, but it was ultimately a good thing.
Zhang Zhongmou's footsteps brought Lin Haoran back to his senses.
"Haoran, you've come at the perfect time. I have something to tell you," Zhang Zhongmou said with a smile as he entered the room.
Lin Haoran turned around, his face now showing its usual calm.
"Chairman Zhang, please speak."
After the two were seated, Liu Xiaoli closed the door for them and went outside to wait.
"After these days of discussions with my team, we have a complete vision for the future development of Oracle Semiconductor." Zhang Zhongmou took a folder from his black briefcase and placed it in front of Lin Haoran.
The folder was thin, with a plain kraft paper cover and no markings.
Lin Haoran took it and opened it.
Lin Haoran spent a full half hour looking at the document before finally putting it down.
At this moment, he felt a mix of emotions.
Zhang Zhongmou's plan was to avoid being blocked by the international market and to make full use of his connections. In the early days, Oracle Semiconductor would start by engaging in chip manufacturing and packaging testing.
As for the development of independent chips and lithography machines, these can be considered as the second phase of development. Once Oracle Semiconductor's manufacturing platform is fully mature, they can be launched at an opportune time.
In other words, we can invest in domestically produced chips and lithography machines on a small scale in the early stages, without the need for large-scale investment for the time being. As long as we don't lag too far behind the mainstream in terms of technology and are not held back by technological bottlenecks, that's fine.
After reading the plan, Lin Haoran remained silent for a long time.
It wasn't because Zhang Zhongmou's strategy was too conservative.
Quite the opposite.
This is the best development path for Oracle Semiconductor at present.
This way, in the short term, there will be little competition with traditional semiconductor giants such as Intel, Texas Instruments, Motorola, Toshiba, Philips, and Siemens. In fact, it can even cooperate with them and become their foundry.
If Oracle Semiconductor had entered the chip and lithography machine development fields with great fanfare from the beginning, it would have certainly attracted the vigilance and encirclement of these giants.
Zhang Zhongmou understands the survival rules of this industry all too well.
Intel can tolerate an Asian company manufacturing chips for them, but it will never tolerate an Asian company trying to compete head-on with them in chip design.
Japanese conglomerates may accept Huaxin International as their second or third supplier, but they will never accept Oracle Semiconductor developing its own lithography machines to shake the foundations of Nikon and Canon.
This is not a technical issue.
This is a matter of survival.
Another, more important reason is that he, a technical giant in the semiconductor industry, is himself a walking card that attracts hatred.
He knows all too well his place in the industry.
Twenty-three years at Texas Instruments, twelve years in core process R&D, and seven years at the helm of the semiconductor business group.
He has led the transition of three technology generations, trained 47 director-level technical backbones, and participated in the formulation of two industry standards.
His name would be written on a whiteboard, circled in red, and marked with a question mark in the strategic meeting rooms of Intel, Motorola, Toshiba, Philips, and Siemens.
If he were to become a consultant for a small American company or teach at a university, these giants would breathe a sigh of relief: Zhang Zhongmou has finally retired from the poker table.
If he goes to Japan, they will be highly vigilant, but not too surprised, given the price offered by the Japanese conglomerates.
But he came to Hong Kong.
A city without a semiconductor industry chain, without technological accumulation, and without a pool of engineering talent.
A "technological desert" in everyone's eyes.
The benefactor is a super-rich man who recently held a wedding that shocked the world, with even the Queen of England in attendance and officiating.
What does this mean?
This indicates that the other party's wealth and strength are extremely formidable.
This means that Lin Haoran, as a major investor, can invest large sums of money in the semiconductor industry.
With the addition of Zhang Zhongmou, a titan in the semiconductor industry, this is no longer a matter of vigilance or encirclement.
This is a problem that must be nipped in the bud.
Zhang Zhongmou knew this very well.
So, after a week and several meetings with his team, he decided he had to hide himself.
It is not a physical hiding place.
It is Tibet in a strategic sense.
Let's start with semiconductor foundry!
Given Zhang Zhongmou's influence in the semiconductor industry, Intel, Texas Instruments, Motorola, Toshiba, Siemens, and even Oracle Semiconductor are very likely to become its partners!
And they will not become enemies.
This is the first layer of camouflage that Zhang Zhongmou designed for himself.
This was also the first space for survival that he secured for Oracle Semiconductor.
Isn't this the same path that TSMC took in its previous life?
Zhang Zhongmou truly lived up to his name. At this moment, as Lin Haoran looked at the thin plan in front of him, an indescribable feeling welled up in his heart.
TSMC.
It was established in the Hsinchu Science Park in 1987.
The world's first professional wafer foundry.
The founder, Zhang Zhongmou, is 56 years old.
These are fragments of information from his past life.
Although he didn't know the specific details, it was enough for him to recognize a clear timeline.
Now, in March 1982, in this small office of just over 3 square meters on the eighth floor of the Oracle Building in the Kwun Tong Industrial Zone, Hong Kong.
Zhang Zhongmou was fifty-one years old, a full five years earlier than that timeline!
But he did not go to Hsinchu.
He came to Hong Kong.
He did not found TSMC.
He became Oracle Semiconductor's first chairman.
On that timeline, TSMC, without much financial support, took ten years to become Taiwan's most profitable semiconductor company, twenty years to become the world's largest wafer foundry, and thirty years to become an indispensable cornerstone of the semiconductor industry.
What does Zhang Zhongmou have in this new timeline?
Lin Haoran.
This is not a simple sugar daddy.
This is a super-rich man who owns Hongkong Land Group, Hong Kong Electric Group, Hang Seng Group, Hutchison Whampoa, Wan Tsing Group, and many other companies; a super business tycoon whose wealth rivals that of a country.
It is also a super platform that can mobilize billions of dollars at any time, connect with political and business circles in the Commonwealth and the American business community, and has a complete industrial ecosystem in Hong Kong.
In other words, Oracle Semiconductor is destined to have a smoother path than TSMC!
The world seems to have changed a lot because of Lin Haoran's appearance, but at the same time, it seems that not much has changed.
"Chairman Zhang, I'll sign this plan. I fully support your plan!" (End of Chapter)