The Industrial Giant Reborn - Chapter 645

c636 Buying the dip in Japanese technology

What is about to break out will be a new era military war that will make rabbits and polar bears hairy. It will also shorten the bilateral confrontation that was originally expected to take years to days. It is precisely because of this war. , established the strongest strength of the United States, and at the same time completely stabilized the US dollar. Coupled with the rise of the Internet and various electronic technologies, the world has also entered an era of single-level strength.

The price of oil will also be like a roller coaster, falling rapidly. If you speculate on futures, you will naturally need to stop when it gets better. After all, Chen Zhiwen only knows about the oil crisis and does not know how the price of oil rose in the process. After you have made most of the profits, you should withdraw in time. There is no need to chase the last small part.

For this oil futures layout, he also entrusted almost 10 institutions from different countries to operate it, thus avoiding the possibility of being in the same company and attracting outsiders’ attention because of its large scale.

Although the Internet has not yet become popular, the electronic information era has begun. Futures trading is much faster than the previous transactions purely by phone, whether it was the original purchase or the current sale.

An order was issued, and a few minutes later, all the investment banks involved in the matter received the order, and then immediately placed the sales orders. And with the help of computers and local area networks, many people could quickly see the news. , so that any transaction can be carried out quickly.

It took a total of 5 days. When the US aircraft carrier fleet was just launched, Chen Zhiwen also cleared all the futures in his hands and cashed out US dollars in cash.

As Chen Zhiwen knows, the initial contact was one-sided, just like the African natives who encountered the guns of Europeans hundreds of years ago. They were vulnerable. The price of oil immediately began to skyrocket. In many cases, even professional analysts cannot tell the reason for the roller coaster ride of plummeting. In fact, too many people are dealing with the oil futures in their hands like headless flies.

As for the subsequent oil price, which was the third oil crisis, Chen Zhiwen stopped paying attention after all his funds were cashed out.

This time, he invested a total of US$3 billion in oil futures in the early stage. He used normal 5 times leverage to magnify and buy US$15 billion in oil futures. When the oil price more than tripled, he sold it again, including the transaction fees deducted in the middle. Commission fees and so on, the net profit was almost US$16.5 billion.

It’s not that Chen Zhiwen doesn’t want to invest more, but that although oil trading volume ranks first in the world, with trillions of dollars every year, most of it is contract-based spot trading, and only a small part circulates to the futures market. In addition, futures also have time It is restricted, so the funds that can be accommodated are also limited in the short term.

The return on this investment is much lower than that in Japan, but the cycle is much shorter, which makes it much more cost-effective.

Another piece of good news for Chen Zhiwen is that the Japanese market has finally exploded.

Beginning in 1985, the signing of the Plaza Accord marked the beginning of the appreciation of the yen against the U.S. dollar, and all assets in Japan will begin to appreciate significantly. This is detrimental to industry and is also the intention of the U.S. government. However, Japan has strong financial resources and in the short term On the contrary, the appreciation of the yen is equivalent to a strong adult who has taken hormones that can stimulate adrenaline and becomes invincible in the short term.

In addition, a large amount of US dollar capital has entered Japan for speculation, and Japan is also daydreaming about surpassing the United States and becoming the world’s number one. Therefore, Japan’s real estate, stock market and finance are appreciating at an extremely fast rate, which is even more attractive. internal and external funding.

The funds involved and the madness of human nature can be described as BT. The total housing price in Tokyo can buy half of the United States. The lifetime income of a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries chief engineer who designs aircraft is no better than his daughter’s income from real estate speculation in a year. , a studio apartment in Tokyo, when the price was at its highest, the transaction price reached 3 million US dollars.

Japan’s housing prices have exceeded everyone’s expectations time and time again, making many Japanese people think that there will never be an upper limit on housing prices in Tokyo. Until the housing prices become crazy, the Japanese government is frightened. They are not fools and know the threats.

Therefore, the policy of several consecutive interest rate hikes calmed the market a little. In this matter, Chen Zhiwen arranged for the withdrawal of funds. He would not wait until the last day to leave.

However, the government did not dare to make a decisive move, so it did not completely suppress housing prices and the stock market until the third oil crisis broke out.

Japan is an island country, and its energy is heavily imported from overseas. Problems in the Middle East will inevitably seriously affect the Japanese economy. Although Japan has energy and oil reserves in the short term, the economy depends on expectations. No one knows what will happen in the Middle East. How long will the chaos last? At the same time, everyone is pessimistic about the future economic trend and is worried that the oil crisis will come back again.

Therefore, a large amount of money began to leave Japan, which caused Japanese real estate and stock markets to begin to decline. The economic bubble was like an avalanche. Once it started, it would be like thunder and unstoppable.

Japan’s bubble was burst by the oil crisis. However, it was not an economic crisis like that of 1929. Coupled with the efforts of Japan’s local consortium and government, the rate of decline was not as severe as a plunge. However, the long-term downward trend has already It’s finalized.

Among them, the biggest losses in the Japanese market are not the real estate market, but some financial giants, because in crazy times, banks will not consider risks.

In October 1990, the Japanese real estate market entered a state of collapse. A large number of developers were unable to repay principal and interest, which began to plunge various banks into a bad debt crisis.

“This little Japan actually expects the property market to rise again to revive the economy. It’s really a daydream.” Chen Zhiwen sat in the presidential suite of the tallest hotel in Tokyo, looking at the buildings in front of him, and said with a smile.

A year ago, this was still the place with the highest concentration of wealth in the world. But today, a lot of capital has begun to retreat. Although places like Tokyo will still be one of the most expensive cities if they fall, they will never return to their peak. .

“Now the entire Japanese government hopes that the United States can calm down the Middle East as soon as possible and allow the global economy to recover.” Tian Xiongyi said beside him. He is the top manager of Hutchison Whampoa Group in Japan. This time the big boss comes to Japan to travel, naturally if he Accompanied.

“Even if there is no oil crisis, Japan’s sky-high stock market and land prices will definitely cause problems.” Chen Zhiwen said with a smile: “But it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t suit us. Tian Sheng, I came to Japan this time to travel. Half, the other half is that I have something to tell you.”

“Sheng Chen, please speak.” Tian Xiongyi said immediately.

“First, during this period, no matter how Japan’s financial assets fall, or you think you can buy the bottom, it will not work. I will not allow my funds to purchase any real estate or stocks unless you have my separate order.” Chen Zhiwen said.

Today’s Hutchison Land is already very large. Therefore, unless it is a very large-scale investment, the boss Chen Zhiwen will know about it. Otherwise, ordinary decisions are basically made by his middle and senior management. Indeed, it is because everything is Ask Chen Zhiwen, then he must die from exhaustion.

However, some major directions were determined by him, such as buying a house in Japan, buying stocks in BayWan, buying technology stocks or stocks of several special companies in the United States, etc. These were all directly authorized by Chen Zhiwen. Within this scope , the subordinates can basically perform freely, and then they can report uniformly every quarter.

The purpose of coming to Japan this time is not to allow local financial teams with Japanese capital to recklessly buy the bottom. In fact, there are still many people who are optimistic about the future of Japan. If Chen Zhiwen was not a time traveler, it would be difficult to make the right decision. After all, no one could have imagined that Japan’s economy would stagnate for the next 30 years. The economy has indeed not become very bad, but for outside investors, it does not have much investment significance, so they might as well go Mainland China and even the United States investment.

“Okay, I understand.” Tian Xiongyi agreed. Based on the boss’s previous investment record, no one dared to question his decision. And if it was the top person like Zhou Jiayang, they might be able to ask the whole story, but his level But it’s not enough, and it’s not necessary. Even if the boss’s decision is really problematic, does he still dare to contradict it face to face now? Don’t want to work anymore?

“The second is to keep an eye on some Japanese technology industry technologies and patents, collect information in this area, and then communicate with relevant companies within the group to see which companies need it, and then fully cooperate with them to purchase technology patents, dig up People or direct acquisitions of companies must cooperate with them.” Chen Zhiwen added.

In this era, Japan can be said to be the best in the world in many aspects of technology, followed by South Korea and BayWan. In fact, they took advantage of Japan’s real estate crisis and poached a large number of technical personnel after they were cheated by real estate, thereby laying the foundation. This has laid the foundation for South Korea’s strong foundation in the field of electronic technology.

With such a good opportunity, Chen Zhiwen naturally wanted to participate. In fact, nowadays, making more money has little meaning. To him, it is just a number. The reason why he is still so active in investing in real estate and finance is because With more resources and funds, it will be much more convenient to do other things. What he really hopes is to achieve breakthroughs in the technical market for his own products, so that he will have a greater sense of accomplishment.

After all, for him, there is nothing to be happy about simply making more money. On the contrary, it is his own products that can become more successful step by step, which makes him more excited.

“Okay, it’s just that there are too many industries. I wonder if Chen Sheng has any priority industries?” Tian Xiongyi thought for a while and asked.

“Well, the first choice is cars, batteries, LCDs, chips, etc., especially batteries, which are the most important.” Chen Zhiwen said again.

He also invests in things like liquid crystal chips through the indirect model. The technology involved in these two fields is too high, and it cannot be done by a company without a powerful country background. Especially for chips, they do not sell photolithography. If you don’t have a machine, you won’t be able to play with it, and it’s impossible to make a lithography machine by yourself, because the difficulty is even more difficult than that of the space station. The lithography machine itself is almost a collection of modern human industry. Don’t look at the fact that Asmer in the Netherlands can make it. But in fact, its suppliers are top companies in dozens or even hundreds of cutting-edge fields around the world. They are a combination of European, American, Japanese and Korean technologies. Even the mainland that will make breakthroughs in many technologies in the future will find it difficult to succeed in this field. It has made great achievements and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the last industrial crown.

In terms of automobiles, people are very important, but this market industry is too mature. Without a team of thousands or tens of thousands, it is impossible to make any waves. As an industry that has been strong in Japan from the 1960s to the 2020s, it can even Speaking of the foundation, poaching dozens or hundreds of people from companies like Ryota Nissan may not be a problem, but it is unrealistic to hire thousands of people.

Batteries alone are one of the core industries of the future global economy, but they are still in their infancy. Lithium batteries will be used as widely as chips in the future, but the technical difficulty is much lower. This is where Midea has the best chance at the moment. important industries to control.

After all, even BYD and CATL can control this market in the future, so Midea is at least a certain possibility.

As for lithium batteries, although the theoretical technology was not invented in Japan, the current commercialization is based in Japan. Today, half of the global lithium battery industry’s talent and technology reserves are also in Japan.

This is enough to show the horror of Little Japan. If it weren’t for the fact that the mainland will become the world’s factory in the future, relying on the production of mobile phones to control the battery industry, thereby controlling lithium battery technology in the new century, making Little Japan lose its iteration The basis of research and development, otherwise, I really don’t know what will happen in the tram era.

Of course, the same is true for LCDs and chips. The reason behind this is worth pondering. Without a market, no matter how awesome the technology is, it will not work. Plasma TVs and hydrogen energy vehicles all failed for the same reason. This is also the reason why Chen Zhiwen vigorously worked hard in the early days. The fundamental reason for developing the retail industry and establishing a good relationship with retail supermarket giants is that first establishing the market and then slowly developing technology is the easiest way to succeed.

I don’t care what the future holds, but now a large number of lithium battery talents are in Japan, and Chen Zhiwen naturally wants to poach these people. Just like Samsung spent a lot of money to hire chip engineers from Japan and learned their technology, which later enabled Samsung to have the ability to control the entire market, Midea is also about the same thing, but it is in the field of lithium batteries that no one pays attention to.

“Battery industry? Okay, I will focus on the progress of various scientific research institutions in Japan.” Tian Xiongyi agreed.

“Okay, that’s it. In the future, your main task in Japan is to lock in their scientific and technological talents and technologies. You have so many talents who invest in real estate, transfer some of them back to the mainland, where the group needs new talents in the real estate industry. market,” Chen Zhiwen said. (End of chapter)