Chapter 81 Earning Some Milk Money
Su Yuanshan's words plunged the Japanese representatives into a brief silence.
"Mind if I smoke?" asked Akita Junichi, sitting across from Su Yuanshan as he pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
Su Yuanshan smiled and nodded, pushing the ashtray across the table toward them.
With a click, both Akita Junichi and Ken Kutaragi lit their cigarettes.
Akita Junichi exhaled a puff of smoke, took a few drags, and then stubbed out his cigarette.
He sat silently for a moment, then looked steadily at Su Yuanshan: "Mr. Su, VHS is a mature market. Even if the film industry's vision for a new technology is realized, it won't replace VHS overnight. I hope you can recognize this."
"I've never denied that," Su Yuanshan said as he picked up his pen and tapped it lightly against the document in front of him.
"It seems your side doesn't fully understand your own advantages," he said with a playful smile. "Allow me to remind you."
Akita Junichi leaned back with an amused look: "Please, go ahead."
Su Yuanshan smiled, curling his fingers one by one as he listed: "First, you possess advanced optical pickup and disc production technology and product lines. Second, over the past decade, your involvement in setting VHS standards and your investments in the film industry have given you significant influence in distribution and copyright sectors. Third, you have deep technical reserves and market foresight. We both share the same vision for the future of the home and personal entertainment markets — namely, that the future belongs to digital media."
Hearing this, Akita Junichi's gaze instantly sharpened.
He was, after all, the most ardent supporter of that vision among Sony's new generation.
He firmly believed that analog products like VHS should have been phased out long ago. In fact, he had always envisioned a product similar to the VCD but more advanced — an idea that had previously been dismissed by senior management. Only after Yuanchip's VCD exploded onto the scene did Sony's top brass realize Akita Junichi had been right all along.
That was why he was qualified to be here today.
Su Yuanshan's smile faded, and he spoke seriously: "So I'm very puzzled. Since you have such remarkable foresight, why are you using the excuse that 'VHS is a mature market' to resist embracing new technology?"
"Frankly, I never expected to eliminate VHS from the Western market just by cooperating with you. I only hoped that you, with your advantages, would use the VCD as a tool to carve open a new market, paving the way for the eventual adoption of the DVD — let's temporarily call the upcoming high-capacity optical disc player 'DVD.'"
"Remember, the reason VHS has such deep roots is because it allows consumers to record TV programs — something the film and content industries despise."
...
Listening to Su Yuanshan's speech, Akita Junichi stared at him silently for a long time before finally smiling: "Mr. Su, I understand your meaning. You want to take the most promising markets for yourself and leave us to deal with the hardest ones. What's the point of cooperating if we can't make any money?"
"Then how about this," Su Yuanshan said, glancing at Kutaragi as well: "Yuanchip promises to forfeit all claims to the Western market for high-capacity optical disc players."
The room went still.
Even the Yuanchip team was stunned.
Ignoring Chen Jing's sharp look, Su Yuanshan lifted his chin stubbornly like a rebellious young heir.
"If you still won't agree," Su Yuanshan said, smiling slightly, "we'll have no choice but to approach Philips or Toshiba."
Chen Jing maintained her professional composure at the negotiating table, despite being caught off guard by Su Yuanshan's sudden, massive concession.
But when it came down to the actual details, she quickly regained her sharpness, adjusting her mindset and rhythm to push the VCD project forward at full speed.
However...
"Are you crazy?" Chen Jing exploded as they left the meeting room, glaring furiously at Su Yuanshan, her chest heaving.
Even Qin Weimin looked bewildered at him.
No matter how optimistic they were about domestic growth, abandoning the Western market for a product that the global film industry had been eagerly awaiting wasn't something a mature decision-maker would normally do.
"Sorry, Sister Jing," Su Yuanshan said with a bright smile. "I actually considered mentioning yesterday at lunch that we should forgo the Western DVD market. But then I thought, if I intervene directly during negotiations, showing my hand as a 'second-generation heir,' and you all react naturally, it'll leave a much stronger impression."
Chen Jing blinked, then took a deep breath and quickly composed herself: "So you had thought it through?"
"Actually, I never intended to enter the Western home appliance market at all," Su Yuanshan said. "Even in China, VCDs and DVDs are just fleeting flowers in the current tide of technological advancement."
"The only reason I pursued it was to make some milk money."
Chen Jing's lips twitched, and then she finally burst into laughter: "You're already thinking about earning milk money?"
"That's the spirit!" Su Yuanshan grinned. "And the real reason we needed to pull Sony into this deal was to forge a familial tie."
He sat down, a slight frown creasing his brow, and a touch of melancholy clouding his bright eyes.
It had been more than two months since Li Mingliu and the others had been sent to Chengguang Institute. The ongoing reports from both him and Qu Hui were troubling — that old photolithography machine was more problematic than anyone had anticipated.
Although Zheng Zhenchuan had confidently promised they'd have the necessary components, in reality, it wasn't so simple.
Yuanchip's team, trained under Xi Xiaoding's near-military rigor, had developed exceptionally high standards for their work. At first, they thought the issues were due to unfamiliarity. But as they got used to the machine, they realized the problems were structural — simply put, the machine barely functioned.
Despite some tentative contacts with lithography giants like Nikon and Canon, Yuanchip had gotten nowhere. In the eyes of these monopolistic giants, Yuanchip was nothing more than a random new software company with no real leverage.
Thus, Su Yuanshan had shifted his focus toward second-tier companies like Sony and NEC.
As one of the major players in optical technology, Sony still possessed lithography capabilities. Even decades later, they would still be supplying critical components to ASML.
Shaking off the heavy thoughts, Su Yuanshan smiled at Chen Jing, who was now calming down: "Trust my judgment, Sister Jing. Giving up the Western home appliance market will cost us some profits, but it will save us a lot of trouble."
"We don't have advantages in components, content, or distribution channels. If we truly entered that battlefield, we'd be chewed up and spat out by the big players."
"Mm." Chen Jing was silent for a long time before sighing and giving him a small glare: "But next time, could you warn us first?"
Su Yuanshan nodded: "Absolutely. From now on, negotiations will proceed according to the original plan. I'm stepping back. I need to go check out Chengguang Institute."
"I sent dozens of our best people there, and so far, all I'm hearing is bad news. I need to see it with my own eyes."
On the NEC side, the cleanroom they had promised Yuanchip was scheduled to start construction in May. The location had been carefully chosen — it would be upwind from the new tech park construction sites, minimizing the impact of dust.
And the main reason for building the cleanroom was that photolithography machine at Chengguang — or rather, the dream of a homegrown lithography capability.
Now, it felt like they were about to build a temple... but the Buddha they were counting on was lying sick and might not even show up.
What a mess.
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