Because Europe, America, Japan and South Korea entered the semiconductor industry earlier, they have achieved great technological leadership and controlled the upstream technology of the industrial chain. So they have an absolute say in the chip industry.
Under the heavy barriers of foreign technical restrictions, Huawei Hisilicon is a rare counterattack case. His later attitude rushed to the forefront of the chip industry, but due to the limitations of chip manufacturing technology, his development was curbed and his future was worrying.
Therefore, in the high-tech field, due to its high technical barriers, the need for technology precipitation, huge industrial chain and other factors, in the case of foreign technology blockade, it is increasingly difficult to catch up with technology.
Is it difficult?
Very difficult. But we never stopped chasing. There are also many enterprises bravely joining the team competing with foreign giants.
One of them is the most striking and easily overlooked. He almost completely realized the counterattack surrounded by foreign giants and broke the foreign monopoly in this field.
For a long time, panel technology has also been mastered abroad, such as Samsung, LG, Sharp, JDI and so on. And stay ahead for many years.
It was not until the appearance of BOE that this situation was broken. Mobile phones, computers and televisions can use their own panels, and BOE's screen technology has reached the forefront of the world. It has even promoted the development of the whole panel industry in China, and Huaxing Optoelectronics, tianma microelectronics and Longteng Optoelectronics have made good progress.
In the field of organic light-emitting diodes, Samsung, the strongest at present, is far ahead, absolutely ahead. Moreover, LG only leads in OLED TV, and the organic light-emitting diodes of mobile phones are not very good. The reputation of green screen used to be "very popular". Japan JDI has no organic light-emitting diode technology (it was revealed at the beginning of 20 19 that it can be mass-produced and not used in mobile phones). Domestic mainstream manufacturers such as BOE, Huaxing Optoelectronic and tianma microelectronics are manufacturing or have already produced OLED on a large scale, and China has been one step ahead of organic light-emitting diodes.
Like chip technology, the catch-up of any cutting-edge technology is ups and downs, and the development of BOE is also full of twists and turns.
BOE, formerly known as Beijing Electron Tube Factory (774 Factory), was once brilliant and was known as the largest electron tube factory in Asia. 1in April, 1993, more than 2,600 employees raised 6.5 million yuan to set up Beijing Dongfang Electronics Group Co., Ltd. ..
However, before its establishment, the 774 factory had gradually declined and had been in a state of loss. At the same time, 780 Factory, 7 14 Factory and Qingdao No.2 Radio Factory all followed the trend of the times and came out. This is the later Sichuan Changhong, Nanjing Panda and hisense electric.
What is the trend that makes the same batch of enterprises develop into two different results?
In order to conform to the trend of home appliances localization at that time, most factories adopted the way of introducing foreign production lines and parts in full, which only needed to complete the assembly by themselves, with less investment, quick results and high returns, that is, localization of assembly.
What can be bought is not built, which was the concept at that time.
However, Factory 774 is an independent research and development route, and it is the earliest enterprise in China to study the core technology of color TV. Even in 198 1, liquid crystal panels have been successfully developed.
However, the actual gap between long-term R&D investment and technology has not seen benefits in the short term, and enterprises have been in a state of loss.
This stage has become a watershed for the development of major manufacturers. Only BOE chose the hardest road. How to treat this choice after 20 years is extremely important to the enterprise itself and the whole industry.
At the beginning of its establishment, BOE realized profit in that year through debt-to-equity swap and resource optimization and reorganization, which laid the foundation for its later development.
At that time, Wang Dongsheng, the factory director, led the enterprise to focus on CRT display related business. With the development of domestic color TV industry, the benefits of enterprises are getting better and better. 1997 and 2000 were listed on B shares and A shares respectively, raising HK$ 350 million and RMB 970 million.
But at this time, there is still a big gap from the leading Korean enterprises in the panel industry. Samsung, LG and Hyundai are the top companies in the world in technology through years of counter-cyclical operation.
Briefly talk about counter-periodic operation.
The semiconductor industry shows cyclical ups and downs. During the recession, the price of memory chips plummeted, and a large number of semiconductor companies lost money or even closed down. At this time, buying at a low price, or investing in R&D and producing against market demand is called counter-cyclical operation. This is also extremely risky. In addition to financial support, it is also necessary to accurately predict the future development of the industry. To put it bluntly, there is gambling.
From 65438 to 0984, the semiconductor industry entered a recession, and a large number of companies lost money and reduced their expenses. Samsung, on the other hand, buys magnesium technology, digs people from the United States and Japan at sky-high prices, builds factories, increases production crazily and develops new products. 1993, developed into the world's largest manufacturer of memory chips. Is one of the most successful countercyclical operations.
Subsequently, LG and Hyundai teamed up with Samsung to dominate the memory chip and LCD panel industry through similar operations.
Counter-cyclical operation, large capital demand, high risk, there is always a rollover. 200 1, Hyundai can't stand it, and the opportunity is coming.
2003122 October, 65438, BOE announced that its Korean subsidiary had acquired all panel business of Hyundai for 380 million dollars.
The acquisition process is very bumpy. At that time, BOE did not have enough funds, and another company, Jiandu, proposed to BOE to jointly acquire the modern panel business. However, "Sword Degree" secretly infiltrated the ROK, hoping to seek more shares and master the core technology, and only hand it over to our processing plant. Fortunately, Hyundai understands the risks, and the debt problem does not allow itself to play these little tricks. Then the cooperation broke down.
Later, Hon Hai stepped in and signed a letter of intent of 650 million US dollars with Hyundai, raising the price. BOE really doesn't have that much money to compete. Then Hon Hai repented and withdrew from the acquisition.
To sum up, rich people can't afford it. At that time, Hyundai had two, three and a half generations, with an annual production capacity of 3 million vehicles, ranking ninth in the world, and its technical reserves were quite strong. But South Korea has no advantage, and Korean companies don't like it at all. BOE has become the best destination for modern solar panel business.
Through this acquisition, BOE acquired the world's leading panel technology, and soon owned its own LCD panel 5th generation line. South Korea regrets the skyrocketing market share. Previously, Samsung set up glass conferences in Singapore, Taiwan Province Province, Japan and other places to manipulate the price of LCD panels, which blocked the necks of domestic enterprises and made it difficult for them to make profits. And this acquisition directly tore a hole in the giant's siege.
However, the market soon ushered in a recession. In 2005 and 2006, BOE lost 65.438+58.7 million yuan and 65.438+0.71100 million yuan respectively. Once on the verge of bankruptcy, it finally survived the industry recovery by local blood transfusion, and began to make profits in May 2007.
In 2007, Chengdu cooperated with BOE and invested 3.4 billion yuan to establish the 4.5 generation line. For Japan, the 4.5 generation line is too small, and they don't think it is a threat. (The higher the generation line, the larger the size. The 4.5 generation line is the size of the mobile phone screen, while the TV needs a higher generation line).
2007 was an extraordinary year. Apple released the first generation iPhone, which changed the mobile phone industry and greatly increased the demand for small screens. BOE's 4.5 generation line just catered to the market and entered a period of rapid development.
In 2009, China's first LCD 8th generation line was started in Beijing. When Chinese mainland, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan heard the news, they couldn't sit still immediately and asked to open a factory in order to seize the market and curb the industrial development of China, killing two birds with one stone. Finally, with the approval of the 20 10 project, all foreign-funded enterprises are pigeons.
In order to curb the development of BOE, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan joined forces to cut prices, which made BOE lose more and more. In 20 10 and 2012 years, BOE lost 2 billion yuan and 70 12 respectively, and received 2.62 billion yuan in subsidies.
Samsung will never have friends. In the past ten years, Korean companies led by Samsung have killed Japanese and Taiwan Province companies through various operations, and the LCD market has undergone a major reshuffle.
First, Samsung and Sony disrupted the market, and then released the wind to seize the plasma market. Japanese companies turned their attention to plasma research and invested a lot of money and energy. As soon as Samsung turned around, it began to cut the price of LCD panels, which directly dragged down Japanese companies that had no time to turn around. Then Samsung used the previous price alliance incident to sell enterprises in Taiwan Province Province as tainted witnesses. Faced with sanctions and repression, the semiconductor industry in Taiwan Province Province is facing a crisis of survival.
South Korean companies headed by Samsung are the biggest beneficiaries in this decade and become the absolute leader in the LCD panel industry. Only Sony was left in Japan, and the Japanese government came forward to integrate the LCD departments of Toshiba, Sony and Hitachi into JDI, a Japanese display company.
In order to survive, Taiwan Province enterprises frantically laid off employees, sold technology to Chinese mainland, and talents and technology turned to the mainland. It has created the development of a number of panel enterprises.
Through years of R&D investment, the number of patents filed by BOE in 20 13 has surpassed that of LG, Samsung and Sharp. In order to fight against BOE, Korean companies decided to introduce a new technology, AMOLED, to quickly eliminate BOE products. However, the patents of two key materials needed by AMOLED are in BOE's hands, which makes it difficult for Samsung and LG to study. Due to the investment of a lot of money and R&D personnel in the research and development of AMOLED, the original LCD panel production and continued research and development have been fatally affected. The screens of their own display products are not available, but they have to buy LCD panels from BOE. In 20 13, the screen suppliers of most mobile phones in Korea are not Samsung and LG, but BOE.
BOE achieved technical equality for the first time. Mature technology has led to the price of LCD panels falling all the way and gained the right to speak in the market. No matter how Japanese and Korean companies cut prices, BOE is sure to make a profit, which directly leads to the interruption of the dying sharp waist.
The successful cases of BOE's factories in Beijing and Chengdu have made him a "hot potato" in the eyes of the local government, and BOE has been invited to settle in.
By the end of February 20 19, BOE had as many as 14 production lines. BOE is also worthy of the money burned by others. Each of its production lines will attract a series of supporting manufacturers to settle in the city, which will drive the development of the whole industry in the city, and the tax revenue, employment and urban competitiveness will rise.
With a total investment of 445.2 billion yuan, the panel industry in China has risen and is no longer blocked by foreign countries.
According to the data of market consultancy IHS, in 20 18, BOE's LCD screen shipments accounted for about 25% of the world, ranking first in the world. 20 19 In the first quarter, BOE's smartphone LCD screen, tablet screen, laptop screen, monitor screen and TV screen shipped first in the world.
In 20 18, BOE applied for 9,585 new patents, of which more than 90% were invention patents, and the cumulative number of available patents exceeded 70,000. According to Thomson Reuters's Global Innovation Report 20 16, a leading indicator of global innovation activities, BOE has become the second largest innovative company in the world in the semiconductor field.
Although nominally the world's largest panel manufacturer, there is a huge gap between panel revenue and Samsung panel revenue, and there is a lot of room for product structure optimization. In addition, the panel industry is cyclical, there is no eternal boss, and it is necessary to maintain a sense of crisis at all times.
In the transitional period, BOE was not tempted by the immediate interests, but focused on the future, took the arduous route of independent research and development, and made long-term investment based on technology. From the perspective of timing, we can seize the opportunity of the industry and make up for the lack of technology.
The rise of BOE represents that we have moved from backwardness to world leadership in the panel industry, breaking the technology monopoly of foreign countries, which is a major counterattack in the semiconductor industry.
If you fall behind, you will be beaten, so you should catch up and get rid of foreign restrictions. The panel industry has completed this breakthrough, but there are still many areas to catch up with, such as chips, precision equipment, biopharmaceuticals and so on. More companies like BOE need to step forward.