mesbooks Chapter 212 Sony: Is joint manufacturing better than buying?
Chapter 212 Sony: Is joint manufacturing better than buying?
Two days later, at Sony headquarters.
Koji Nakamura, the managing director in charge of the sensor business, stood in the conference room with a grim face.
On his desk lay a piece of intelligence that had just been sent from China.
It's happening again!
They only received the news after the projects were already finalized.
"Can anyone tell me where the sound transmission sensor comes from?"
No one spoke up. After all, most people in the conference room were still immersed in the joy of the huge contract with Transsion worth over 100 million yuan. Although the requirements were a bit high, the contract was indeed very large and the payment was made in a timely manner.
So Transsion requested that a group of engineers be sent to jointly train them, and they were happy to be dispatched.
Now it seems...
This isn't joint training; it's clearly aimed at their very foundation.
…………
Koji Nakamura spent six years in China before being transferred back to Tokyo last year.
He believed he knew the Chinese market inside and out, where countless companies claimed to easily crush Sony and trample on Samsung, but he knew none of them posed a real threat.
After all, China doesn't have this kind of genetic predisposition.
They should only worry about a few international competitors, but there is still a certain gap in their fundamentals.
OmniVision's shipment volume is indeed not low, but they only make low-end products. Galaxycore's technology is three generations behind. Smartsens? They don't even have their own wafer fabs, let alone anything else.
The only one we really need to worry about is Sansang.
But now, the intelligence clearly states: Transsion's sensor factory in Guangzhou has mass-produced its first CMOS sensor, with low-light performance approaching that of the IMX145.
What is IMX145?
That's Sony's flagship product, a top-of-the-line sensor expected to be used in the iPhone 4s.
With 800 million effective pixels, it was brought close to a 200-megapixel product from Transsion. Where do they put their faces then?
"Could it be data fabrication?"
"There's such a big difference between 200 megapixels and 800 megapixels. How could they possibly be close in terms of quality, especially for the most challenging scene like night photography?"
This statement was immediately agreed upon by everyone, but they did not feel at all that their own night view was bad.
After discussing for a while, a new viewpoint emerged: plagiarism!
"Is this sensor a modified version of one of our other models? Are there any problems? Can we pursue patent litigation?"
Koji Nakamura shook his head: "No. They really did make it. As for whether the performance will meet the standards, we'll have to see how it performs in the future."
But it's unlikely that a telepathic communication system would falsify information in this regard.
The entire conference room fell into a tense atmosphere.
Since the 3/11 earthquake in Japan, Sony's sensor factory has not yet fully resumed production capacity.
Global orders were piling up, and customers were pressing for delivery every day. And just then, a new competitor emerged in China.
And they're not just low-end knock-offs. They're real competitors with technology, production capacity, and the ability to compete.
There's an even more important problem: they've already ravaged the global market.
It's really "hard to guess" who the client will choose next.
"Where is the head of the China region?"
"The investigation is still ongoing, so I can only participate in online meetings."
Koji Nakamura returned to his seat and turned on the video conferencing system.
A familiar face appeared on the screen: Ichiro Yamada, President of Sony China.
This was originally his position, but as the Chinese technology market developed, Sony's bets on the Chinese market grew larger and larger, and a separate branch was established specifically for it.
He was the first trailblazer.
"Yamada-kun, what's the situation on your end?"
Yamada Ichiro's expression was also very unpleasant. While he was investigating the telepathic communication, the other party was not idle either.
They pulled another stunt.
This time, they targeted not only engineers, but also sales staff, after-sales engineers, and marketing personnel. In short, Transsion took down every department that Sony had in China...
"Nakamura-san, I went out to investigate and got some really scary news."
"The telepathic message is trying to poach our people."
Nakamura didn't react for a moment, but he quickly said in surprise.
Which positions are you recruiting for?
"The Suzhou factory, and the Shanghai R&D center."
"Triple pay for everyone, housing provided after 5 years, ownership of the house after 10 years, and solutions for household registration and children's education..."
A collective gasp filled the conference room.
Triple pay, housing allocation, and resolution of future worries.
索尼在华国的工程师年薪大概在30万~50万华国币之间，三倍就是90万~150万，再加上房子……只需要10年就给所有权。
And then... some senior engineers in the conference room were also tempted by this "savory sauce pancake".
But the most surprised question from the HR department was: "Where did they get so much money?"
Yamada Ichiro remained silent.
Where does the money come from? We don't know where they got the sensors and flash memory; they're hyping up audio transmission and profiting from it…
Koji Nakamura also knew the answer.
Transsion made a fortune in Africa and started making money in Southeast Asia. As for the Chinese market, it was their own territory, with at least several billion US dollars in cash on hand.
Add to that the mysterious Huaxin Investment, and they could not only poach a few engineers, but they could buy the entire Sony sensor division... no, they could buy the entire Sony if Sony was willing to sell.
"Nakamura-san, should we retaliate?" Yamada Ichiro asked.
"How do we retaliate?"
Koji Nakamura remained silent for a long time. Although Transsion had its own sensors, they were still a major customer of Sony.
They are the real sugar daddy.
Now they've fallen out just because they poached a few of their own engineers?
A few engineers aren't worth hundreds of millions.
"Give them more money, and they'll stay." Koji Nakamura finally offered a compromise.
In short, the sponsor was right. They're just a few engineers; should they continue training them?
But this plan immediately caused anxiety in the finance department.
Pay more? Everyone knows what's going on with Sony right now.
The losses from the economic crisis had not yet been recovered, and then the major earthquake struck. Although Sony's losses were not the greatest, it was still a double blow. The entire group was laying off employees, and at this time, they gave raises to their Chinese employees.
The people at the Tokyo headquarters were the first to disagree.
Just as he was about to voice his objection, Yamada Ichiro raised another question.
"Is there one more thing?" Yamada said. "I tried to contact the people at Transsion to discuss cooperation with them."
For example, let's not let them do any technology research and development. Let's cooperate. They set the targets, we do the research and development, and then nominally give them the research and development rights.
"We only need OEM manufacturing?"
"What did they say?" Koji Nakamura asked anxiously.
After all, this plan was simply ingenious. Although Sony abandoned its bottom line, it successfully obtained the money.
As for the insults... let them talk about the money they've already received.
Of course, this plan also stifled China's independent research and development capabilities to some extent, thus preserving their status...
But the problem is...
"You refused?"
Koji Nakamura, who was about to offer praise, immediately shut his mouth.
Sony's sensors have always been highly sought after by global mobile phone manufacturers. Chinese companies wanting their products have to place orders six months in advance and accept all sorts of stringent conditions.
As for joint research and development? That's out of the question.
But now... they've been kicked out instead.