Author: Xiao Man
Source: Zhenghe Island
01, "card neck" has a long history
In the past few years, the pain of "stuck neck" has been felt very strongly.
The United States and other developed countries have contained China through various means such as science and technology wars and trade wars, and our development has been seriously challenged.
Today we mainly can't make chips, looking up at the lithography giant Asma. But in fact, the "card neck" is a long-standing thing.
Before the chip, there were many things that China's industry and technology were stuck in the neck. For example, TV screens, operating systems, China once had six major appliance giants: TCL, Hisense, Konka, Haier, Changhong, Skyworth, but there is no own panel industry, TV was very dependent on foreign companies.
Further on, the appliance will be stuck in the neck. In the heyday of Japanese home appliances, there was a saying in the anecdote: "Japanese home appliances have three production lines, first-class products are sold to Japan, second-rate products are exported to Europe, and third-rate products are sold to China." "In the early days of reform and opening up, a foreign company sold the production lines eliminated by its own country to China, and the products produced were the top first-class products in the Chinese market.
Further on, we couldn't make a good refrigerator or washing machine. Even before that, Chinese athletes participated in international competitions, and sneakers were made in foreign countries.
In the past few years, I have felt deeply because of the Huawei incident, as well as Hikvision, Xiaomi, etc., and more and more sanctions have made us feel the pain of the skin. But at the same time, it also makes us soberly realize that the essence of great power competition lies in science and technology, and without strong and controllable independent technology, sooner or later it will be stuck in the neck.
Looking at the international community, it's the same.
In the 2020 Japan-South Korea trade war, South Korea is one of the world's most powerful semiconductor manufacturers, but in the Japan-South Korea trade war, South Korea was stuck in the neck of Japan in the field of key materials. Although South Korea is leading in some products such as chips and storage, it is completely constrained by Japan in the production of materials such as fluoropolyimide and photoresist used in the production of semiconductors. In the end, they are helpless, willing to bow to the wind and be subject to others.
At present, a series of operations in developed countries such as the United States have made China realize the importance of this issue from the top level, entrepreneurs, and the private public.
One of the primary plans of the 14th Five-Year Plan is scientific and technological innovation, and even by 2050, the core main line of China's economy and society will be real industries and science and technology. The state has also repeatedly stressed that "scientific and technological research should abandon illusions and rely on ourselves" and "to achieve the 'two hundred years' goal, some major core technologies must rely on themselves to overcome difficulties.".
02, we have experienced the battle of the breakout
Just because someone else's neck is stuck doesn't mean we can't break through.
In fact, the more the field of card neck, the more Chinese entrepreneurs rely on the heart of the industry full of enthusiasm to serve the country, the more they have made breakthroughs and achievements.
Today's clothing and sneakers are the world of China, and ANTA is the representative of the new domestic products. Today's Chinese home appliances are the world's top, but the Japanese home appliance industry has begun to gradually decline.
There is also the automotive field, China once hoped to use the market for technology, for decades, the market door opened, but the core engine technology has been controlled in the hands of the old car manufacturers, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, General Motors, firmly grasp the technical code.
China's choice of the way is to change lanes to overtake, the direction of the choice is new energy vehicles, we have seen the rise of the Ningde era, see the ideal, the rise of Xiaopeng, and now China in the field of power batteries, has been the world's leading.
So, being stuck in the neck is not terrible, as long as we break it one by one.
At the national level, both policies and honor systems encourage independent innovation. For example, in the recent "2021 Top Ten Economic People of the Year" award, 9 of the 10 people are physical entrepreneurs. Including TCL Li Dongsheng, Ganfeng Lithium Li Liangbin, CRRC Group Sun Yongcai, Bloomage Bio Zhao Yan, etc.
Among them, Li Dongsheng is a very representative figure among the entity entrepreneurs, and the TCL Huaxing he led is a benchmark for China's industry to break through the "card neck" problem.
TCL Huaxing joined hands with other domestic companies to break the monopoly of Japanese and Korean enterprises on the panel. Previously, domestic mobile phones bought Samsung screens, and now whether it is Xiaomi Mi 12 or Huawei mobile phones, many of them use domestic screens.
Originally, it was said that China 'lacks core and less screen', and now the problem of "less screen" has been solved, and we have gradually mastered the core technology.
The award speech to Li Dongsheng was as follows: "He is a pathfinder for China's intelligent globalization and a doer of industrial transformation and upgrading. He has been founded for 40 years, leading TCL through the cycle, growing from a small local factory to a high-tech industry group with global influence, covering three core industries of intelligent terminals, semiconductor displays, semiconductor photovoltaics and semiconductor materials. He adheres to technology-oriented, builds a global R&D system, continuous strategic investment in the field of cutting-edge science and technology, and sets a benchmark for independent innovation of enterprises. ”
His entrepreneurial story represents a long-term spirit.
At that time, the lcd panel began with Suwa Seiko in Japan and became Sharp in Japan. Japanese brands of TVs used to be the best quality in the Chinese market. At that time, the major Chinese companies were wrapped up in the gorgeous cloak of Japanese technology. From the end of the 1990s to the beginning of the 21st century, there was not a single production line in China that could be put into operation, and the vast majority of the market share was in the hands of Japanese and Korean companies. It is difficult for Chinese companies to grab the cake from it.
However, there is no way, there is no technology, Chinese mainland color TV manufacturers have to spend huge sums of money to purchase key components such as LCD panels from Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese manufacturers. In that era, although the high price of color TVs was difficult to find, mainland TV manufacturers have been struggling on the edge of profits, often falling into losses and becoming part-time workers for panel manufacturers.
What was the price of LCD TVs of that year? In 2005, a 32-inch LCD TV set cost up to 5,000 yuan. It should be known that in 2005, the per capita disposable income of residents in Beijing was only 16,900 yuan. However, more than 60% of the cost of a color TV is the cost of the panel. That is to say, in that era, a Chinese buy a domestic LCD TV, but the big head let foreign countries earn it.
This industry created by Japan has brought great benefits to Japan, but Japan has not occupied a sustained dominant position in the field, and South Korea has spent less than a decade squeezing Japanese companies out of the world's first place.
Long ago, Li Dongsheng realized that upstream core technologies and industries are the key points for industrial chain breakthroughs. South Korea's replacement of Japan confirms the feasibility of its views. This also makes Li Dongsheng more firm in his belief that he must take the road of self-reliance and independent research and development.
In 2009, Li Dongsheng made a decision on Ma Huaxing, focusing on semiconductor display technology, becoming the largest industrial enterprise in Shenzhen at that time.
According to the data, TCL invested 24.5 billion yuan at that time, independently built the T1 production line, and with the volume of TCL at that time, invested in this high-tech, asset-heavy, long-term ten-billion-level industrial project, and took extremely high risks.
However, Huaxing also lived up to expectations, and Dashan achieved profits that year. Huaxing t1 production line is China's first high-generation panel line built through independent innovation, breaking the long-term monopoly of Japanese and Korean enterprises in the field of semiconductor panels.
Li Dongsheng was determined to innovate independently, on the one hand, he saw the success of Korean companies relying on the vertical integration model of "LCD panel + TV manufacturing", and realized that if they did not march into the upstream key areas of high-tech, heavy assets and long cycles, they could not dominate their own destiny, and they were still primary enterprises of processing and assembly.
On the other hand, TCL itself has a TV business, which can digest part of the production capacity of Huaxing Optoelectronics. Coupled with Li Dongsheng's firm commitment to the road of globalization, the production capacity of TCL Huaxing will be more released in the future. After TCL Huaxing was put into production, it did become TCL's "cow". In 2021, the overall revenue of TCL (Group) will exceed 250 billion, and Huaxing will make an indispensable contribution.
In 2017, the scale of display panels of Chinese mainland manufacturers surpassed south Korea for the first time, rising to the first place in the world, creating a panel market belonging to China and competing for the right to speak for China. Since 2019, TCL has surpassed South Korean giant LG and stood second in the world.
With the rise of the next generation of display technology, TCL took the lead in laying out printed OLED, Mini LED, Micro LED, etc., and achieved "curve overtaking" in the field of new generation industrial technology.
03, technology for ten years for merit, achievements show breakthrough
Facts have proved that on the key issues related to the country's heavy equipment and core technology, we must do it ourselves, adhere to long-term doctrine, and must "sit on the bench for ten years." Otherwise, it is like China's traditional automobile industry under the epidemic, because of the lack of cores, some car companies sell on the street, some are outrageously lacking, and some are better off than dead. As Lei Jun recorded in his biography "Moving Forward", he had to go to the headquarters of Samsung in South Korea to apologize to others. These are the key technologies that get stuck in the neck pain.
TCL's growth path is also the same, from zero into TFT-LCD, to enter the small and medium-sized screen, and then to LTPS LCD and flexible AMOLED to catch up, for many years continue to increase R & D investment, 2021 R & D investment has exceeded 10 billion.
As we all know, the display panel industry is a narrow caliber industry with high capital investment, the production line investment is huge, and it is very normal for a production line to have tens of billions of yuan. To put it bluntly, this is a heavily invested, low-margin industry. However, the final breakthrough is brewing in this long insistence, just like the breakthrough road of the Chinese panel.
There is no end to technological exploration, and to continuously broaden the boundaries of business, enterprises must walk on thin ice and tremble with fear. Businesses don't have time to rest because your opponents are still struggling. At present, TCL Huaxing Optoelectronics has laid out 9 panel production lines and 5 module factories, with an investment amount of more than 260 billion yuan.
According to our understanding, as of the third quarter of 2021, TCL Huaxing has accumulated 51,590 patent applications and 17,881 global patent authorizations, of which more than 99% are invention patents, and independent patents have widely covered the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea and other countries and regions. The total number of patents granted in the United States totaled 5,962, ranking among the top three Chinese mainland enterprises, and the number of pct international applications was 13,269, ranking among the top three Chinese mainland enterprises.
These patents may not translate into book returns in the short term, but just like there is a grass in Africa called sharp grass, which grows only an inch tall in 6 months, but after the rainy season comes, it can grow to 2 meters. Because the sharp grass can only grow an inch, it already has a very strong root system, so when the water comes, it can grow rapidly. This is exactly the truth of technology accumulation.
TCL Huaxing is expected to make a breakthrough in cutting-edge technology. However, the premise is that R&D investment must be taken the lead, and the proportion of R&D investment in operating income must also be maintained at a high level.
This is a very long-term thing, and it is also an inevitable path.
04, Conclusion: Endure loneliness and usher in a counterattack
Whether it is the breakthrough road of TCL, or the overtaking of power batteries and electric vehicles, as well as the rise of previous industries such as home appliances and clothing, China is breaking through the difficulties of various card necks.
The key to this is the determination of the rise of the country's great powers, and the second is that we have a group of entrepreneurs who dare to fight and dare to break through, and their fists and fists to serve the country.
Technological self-breakthrough is a difficult road, but it is also the only way. But it's all worth it, because technological breakthroughs have never grown linearly, but exponentially.
When a new technology is not recognized by anyone and the market does not accept it in the early stage, entrepreneurs must see the direction clearly, bear a lot of pressure, withstand the loneliness of more than ten or even decades, and sit on the cold bench in order to make achievements.
This is true of smartphones, as is tesla's electric vehicles, and the list goes on and on.
However, once the breakthrough is achieved, from 0 to 10%, entering the introduction period, the public begins to accept, and from 10% to 50%, it ushers in a period of explosive growth, a sharp rise, a large penetration, and unlimited prospects.
TCL's semiconductor display technology has now broken the monopoly and gradually achieved global leadership, more than ten years of effort and loneliness, has been rewarded, and now stands in an accelerated outbreak period.
Let us bless the enterprises that dare to innovate independently, because with them, Chinese have no fear of card neck.
"The wood of the embrace is born at the end of the millimeter; the platform of the ninth floor begins from the tired soil; the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." In the future, China will have to take a more difficult road, which will also be a brilliant and magnificent breakthrough road.
Robert Frost said:
"There are two roads in the forest, and I chose the one that is inaccessible, which makes all the difference."
