sbdcsierra Chapter 399 Xinweino
Chapter 399 Xinweino
It gets hot early in Beijing; the sun is scorching as soon as it comes out. By the end of August, the temperature had already reached 40 degrees Celsius. When Lingyun got out of the car, he felt a wave of heat rising from the ground and hitting his face; he was sweating profusely in no time.
If it weren't for the urgency, Lingyun wouldn't have been willing to leave home. She's been on summer vacation for the past month and doesn't want to go out, so she just stays home and plays with her child.
There was no time for sentimentality; Ling Yun could only hurry towards the office building ahead, with Zhao Hu following closely behind carrying his bag.
The building in front of me is a five-story gray structure with white paint on the exterior walls. The paint is a bit old, and in some places it's peeling, revealing the cement underneath. A sign hangs at the entrance, with white background and black lettering that reads "Beijing Xinvino Electronic Technology Co., Ltd."
A man in his fifties stood at the door, tall and thin, wearing a dark blue polo shirt and khaki pants. His hair was neatly combed, with a few gray hairs at his temples. He saw Ling Yun get out of the car, walked quickly over, and extended his hand.
"Mr. Ling? I'm Zhang Weinuo from Xinweino. Welcome, welcome."
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Zhang Weinuo stepped aside and led Ling Yun inside.
The first floor is the office area, not large, about 200 square meters. There are several long tables, piled with documents, laptops, drawings, and samples. The walls are covered with OLED structural diagrams, energy level diagrams, and process flow diagrams, some drawn with markers, some printed, with the edges curled up.
The air smelled of paper and printing ink, with a hint of bitter coffee. Several people sat at a table; some were typing, some were looking at blueprints, and some were on the phone. When they saw Ling Yun enter, they looked up, glanced at him a few times, and then went back to their work.
Zhang Weinuo walked ahead, saying as he went, "President Ling, our company isn't big, and we don't have many people. We currently have thirty-two full-time employees and a dozen or so part-time employees, all of whom are faculty and students from Tsinghua University. We focus on research and development, and production is on a small scale. Last year, we built an experimental production line that can produce samples, but it's not yet ready for mass production."
Lingyun asked him, "Do you have any samples?"
Zhang Weinuo said, "Yes. It's in the lab on the second floor. Would you like to go up and take a look?"
Ling Yun nodded.
The second floor is the laboratory. The corridor has clean gray rubber flooring. The walls are white, and the fluorescent lights illuminate the entire corridor. Zhang Weinuo pushed open a door, leading to a cleanroom. Through the glass windows, he could see the equipment inside: a vapor deposition machine, a packaging machine, and several testing devices. The equipment wasn't large, but it took up most of the room. Several people in cleanroom suits were operating the equipment inside, moving slowly and carefully.
Standing in front of the glass window, Zhang Weinuo pointed to the equipment inside and said, "This is our experimental line. The vapor deposition machine is domestically made, with slightly lower precision, but it's barely usable. The packaging machine was modified by ourselves, converted from semiconductor equipment. The testing equipment is imported, from Agilent, and it's second-hand. The whole line cost over ten million yuan, mostly invested by Tsinghua University, with a small portion earned by the company itself. Currently, we can produce two-inch OLED screens, but in terms of brightness, lifespan, and color, we're about one generation behind international advanced levels."
Ling Yun asked him, "What about mass production? When will mass production begin?"
Zhang Weinuo said, "The plan is to build a pilot production line next year, complete the process technology integration the year after, and realize small-batch production and sales. This is our timeline." He took out a piece of paper that had been folded several times from his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to Ling Yun. A timeline was drawn on the paper, from 2001 to 2005, with several milestones marked.
Ling Yun glanced at it, folded the paper, and handed it back to him. He asked, "Your progress seems a bit slow? The time it took you to go from trial production to mass production is enough for others to upgrade two generations."
Zhang Weinuo was stunned for a moment. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, unsure how to explain.
After a few seconds, he thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Ling, it's not that we want to go slow, it's that we can't go fast. First, we don't have the money. Second, we don't have the equipment. Third, we don't have the manpower."
"We can figure out how to get the money. We've saved some ourselves, Tsinghua University has invested some, and the national project has provided some, but the total funding is less than 20 million. 20 million is enough to build an experimental production line, but not enough to build a pilot production line, which requires 100 million. We can't come up with 100 million."
"The equipment issue is difficult to resolve. Domestically produced vapor deposition machines, packaging machines, and testing equipment lack sufficient precision. We've requested that equipment manufacturers optimize their products, but we can only wait. Imported equipment is too expensive and difficult to acquire. The Japanese and South Koreans won't sell to us either. It's not a matter of money; it's a technological blockade. These high-precision equipment are on the embargo list."
"The people are alright; Tsinghua University has plenty of talent, with many PhD and Master's graduates every year, and some are willing to come. But once they arrive, there's a lack of equipment and funding, so we can't retain them."
He didn't say anything more.
Ling Yun didn't speak. He stood by the glass window, watching the people inside operate the equipment. One person used tweezers to place a glass substrate into the vapor deposition machine, closed the door, and pressed a button. The machine began to draw a vacuum, making a soft hum. He watched for a while, then turned to look at Zhang Weinuo.
"I'll provide the money, a billion. Is that enough?"
Zhang Weinuo's hand froze in mid-air. He looked at Ling Yun, his mouth slightly open. After a few seconds, he said, "Enough, more than enough, too much."
Ling Yun said, "We should spend more if we have more. We're not afraid of investing more in R&D; what we're afraid of is not investing enough. If we don't invest enough, the progress will be slow, and if we're slow, we'll fall behind. So we can't be slow, we can't wait, and we can't cut corners. It's still worthwhile to spend money to buy time."
Zhang Weinuo was stunned and didn't say anything. It was the first time he had heard someone say that spending money to buy time was a good deal.
"Mr. Ling, how would you like to submit your bid?"
Ling Yun said, "Let's acquire it outright. I'll acquire Xinvino, 100% controlling stake. The money will be provided all at once. You'll continue as general manager, you'll set the technical direction, the product roadmap, and lead the team. You'll be in charge, and I'll only look at the results. R&D investment will be no less than 30% of revenue annually. If R&D funds are insufficient, I'll make up the difference. For equipment procurement, you'll make a list, and we'll buy what we can. For what we can't buy on the open market, I'll find another way."
Zhang Weinuo looked at him for about ten seconds, then said, "President Ling, if we have sufficient funds, I would like to expedite the pilot production line project."
Lingyun asked him, "When will it be brought forward?"
Zhang Weinuo said, "Next March. The equipment installation and debugging will take three months, with one month for samples, one month for small-batch production, and one month for mass production."
Lingyun asked him, "Can you buy the equipment?"
Zhang Weinuo said, "For vapor deposition machines, there's a Japanese company, Tokki. They won't sell to us, saying they're afraid of technology leaks. But I know they actually do sell, they just don't sell to unknown companies. If you step in, they might sell. For packaging machines, there's a Korean company, SFA. They also sell, but they're expensive. Expensive is fine, as long as it works. For testing equipment, there's the American Keysight brand, used is fine, new is better, just pay extra for expedited shipping and priority delivery."
Ling Yun said, "You make a list, and I'll find someone to negotiate. If you can't buy them, let me know. I'll find someone else."
"Mr. Ling, when will you sign the contract?"
Lingyun said, "The lawyer is on his way; we'll sign when he arrives."
Zhang Weinuo nodded. He turned around and glanced at the equipment inside the glass window again. The door of the vapor deposition machine was closed, the red light was on, and it was being vacuumed. He watched for a while, then turned back to look at Ling Yun.
"Mr. Ling, there's one more thing. Samsung is also working on OLED. They started earlier than us, invested more money, have better equipment, and more people. We've been trying to catch up for three years, but the gap hasn't narrowed; it's actually widening."
Ling Yun looked at him and said, "In the past, you all tried to save money wherever possible. Saving money naturally meant spending more time. In the future, you need to change your mindset. Time is more important than money. Whoever is ahead can set up patent barriers and slow down the research and development of others. We need to race against Samsung and get ahead of them to set up our patent barriers."
Zhang Weinuo didn't speak, but nodded solemnly.