Chapter 23 Friction on the Edge of System Rules
So Yao Kun is a smart guy. Cao Shen's slightly puzzled expression made him understand.
After the call, he quickly hooked Cao Shen's shoulder and explained:
"Brother, this Mr. Liu is not that Mr. Liu. His name is Liu Jun.
He also makes video decoding chips, but his team background is not that strong.
He graduated from the Department of Electronics of Peking University and Tsinghua University, and later went to the National Academy of Sciences to study for a doctorate.
Then he went to work in an electronics company under the National Academy of Sciences, and later worked with a group of classmates and colleagues to start the current Bianhe Semiconductor.
I have also seen this company and have a good relationship with it.
They raised 3 million US dollars at the end of 2008, but there was only one round in total.
This time they want to raise 4 million US dollars The valuation is also cheaper than that of Xinyuan, and the asking price is 25 million US dollars. If you want to invest, you can probably cut it down a bit.
I am actually quite interested in both of these two companies, but you can't put all your eggs in one basket. It's enough to invest in one of the same type. Puli Investment is not a specialized semiconductor investment fund.
One has a luxurious team. The other has a cheap asking price. "
Yao Kun patted Cao Shen's arm: "Brother, you are here today, can you help me check it out?"
Because the chips of Bianhe Semiconductor have been shipped and the technology has been verified by customers, due diligence is not that troublesome.
In addition, the amount of financing is small, and the rebate is not much, so Yao Kun did not push it to Wang Hua.
The key is that his first choice was Xinyuan, and Bianhe was just a spare tire.
Now that Xinyuan is out, he started to think about Bianhe. It's not that he is optimistic about Bianhe, but it's almost the Spring Festival and he has only invested in one project this year, and the performance is not good.
Although investment institutions don't have indicators such as how much money they have to spend in a year, investing in only one project a year makes them look like they are not working.
Now, the only project in hand is Bianhe, which is still a bit impressive. If it doesn't work, we can issue a letter of intent for investment before the Spring Festival, which is also the company's achievement this year.
After the Spring Festival, if the project is really not good, we will not invest.
Today, Cao Shen showed convincing professionalism, and Yao Kun was eager for his opinions.
Whether to do it or not, Yao Jinzhu needs Cao Shen to push him and give him some reasons to make a decision.
Cao Shen thought that Xinyuan Semiconductor wanted 5 million US dollars, and the reward was 89 days of life and 1.05 million RMB.
Bianhe wanted 4 million US dollars. According to the proportion, if he messed up, he would deduct 71 days of life and 840,000 RMB.
If the system does not suddenly change the proportion, then it can afford to pay!
If it doesn't mess up, it's worthwhile to get rewards for complaining!
It's time to test whether it can be done this way!
The loopholes in the system, you must exploit them if you can!
When I was looking up information and preparing to complain about Xinyuan before, Cao Shen took a few glances at Bianhe Semiconductor and had an impression!
Moreover, when Mr. Yao talked about Bianhe, he didn't have that kind of passion at all.
It shouldn't be that difficult to get him to stay!
Cao Shen touched his chin:
"Mr. Yao, you said it's not true. The team background of Bianhe is not as good as that of Xinyuan.
This investment is about investing in people, and background is very important.
Moreover, everyone knows that the United States is the birthplace of semiconductors, and there is indeed a gap in our country now.
Therefore, Bianhe probably doesn't have such a deep grasp of advanced technology."
Yao Kun clapped his hands:
"Mr. Cao, you are right! Investment is about investing in people, and past experience is very important.
This is also the reason why I haven't started yet. You see, we will have doubts about this, and other investors will also have this shortcoming in the next round of investment, and it is not particularly easy to get money.
Moreover, you hit the key point.
Their technology is indeed not that strong, and they are all low-end products.
This low-end decoding chip Competition is fierce. There are two relatively large companies in Zhaidu, Nanfang. Now the gross profit margin can't even be maintained at 30%, and it is still falling.
However, Bianhe chose the MIPS architecture license, and the licensing fee is much lower. It can make the chips cheaper and has cost advantages. This is still a bit impressive to me. "
Cao Shen nodded and smiled:
"MIPS architecture license is very cheap, and capable companies can also use the MIPS instruction set to develop their own CPUs, and the instruction set can be expanded without restrictions."
Yao Kun felt that Cao Shen and himself coincided:
"Yes, yes, I think so too!
Bianhe uses MIPS. Even if the chips cannot compete in the future, they can still make their own MIPS architecture CPUs IP is for sale. Others are digging for gold, but he sells jeans. This is also a way.
For CPU IP, it can also be customized according to customer needs, and a customization fee can be charged.
You also said that the consumer electronics market is very fragmented. If there are different customized chips for different scenarios, wouldn’t it be able to improve efficiency and reduce costs? "
After saying this, Yao Kun looked at Cao Shen eagerly, expecting further approval so that he could make a decision.
However, Cao Shen shook his head:
"Mr. Yao, I don’t think customized chip development is a development path.
Think about it, the bulk of a chip’s expenditure is R&D and tape-out.
But there is a feature of decreasing marginal costs. The larger the shipment volume, the lower the cost of a single chip will be spread.
Customization is a small market, and the shipment volume is not large.
And if you customize, you can’t reuse it, and the R&D cost can’t be spread out.
In addition, MIPS architecture authorization will lead to a problem. It seems that anyone can develop and expand the instruction set according to their own needs. There are many developers and a thriving ecosystem.
But this also leads to incompatibility between each other. The same software can run on one MIP****U, but not on another.
After a long time, software developers will not do it. This kind of separation will lead to the inability to create large software manufacturers.
You can't let downstream partners develop and make money. People are very realistic.
You said why mobile phone manufacturers use ARM architecture chips. That's because their instruction sets are strictly managed by the government and have good compatibility.
As long as it is an ARM architecture mobile phone chip, no matter which chip it is, the Anzhu operating system can run.
But if you want to change to MIPS, different companies' chips have different operating systems. If the operating systems are different, software application developers will have to change them, which is exhausting.
For your current smartphone, for example, the WeChat application, you can install it on any Anzhu machine.
But if it is a mobile phone with MIPS architecture chip, you have to find different versions of WeChat for different mobile phones.
You say, if WeChat is to expand users, it may have to develop 100 versions of WeChat for 100 mobile phone models. Is he in a hurry? WeChat can be done by wealthy companies, but what about small entrepreneurial teams? They can't afford it at all.
The MIPS camp cannot produce a unified operating system like Ann.
To do this business, you must hold the right to speak in your own hands. You must have complete control over the instruction set and the operating system.
Look at why Intel and Microsoft are so powerful and why they are called Wintel Alliance. They are jointly developed by one with the instruction set and the other with the operating system.
Why is Shuimi Tao Company so powerful? It controls both the instruction set and the operating system.
Why are ARM and Ann put together for smartphones? The same reason.
Therefore, the current ecosystem of MIPS looks prosperous and there seem to be many developers, but the whole plate is not large. Prosperity is a false phenomenon caused by fragmentation.
And the prospect of this fragmentation in the future is not good at all. ”
Yao Kun didn’t understand instruction sets, but he got a key point:
“Are you saying that the MIPS architecture will decline in the future and will no longer be able to compete with ARM?”
Cao Shen nodded: “Mr. Yao, you are really amazing and insightful!”