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When it comes to Gree's chips, many people find it strange. Why has Gree, a company that manufactures air conditioners, started making chips? This matter has to start five years ago. Gree's business is roughly divided into four major parts: air conditioning, high-end equipment, daily necessities, and communication equipment . Among them, air conditioners are the main business. Gree's air conditioners are divided into many types: household air conditioners, commercial air conditioners, , photovoltaic air conditioners, nuclear power air conditioners, etc. These air conditioners actually require chips. In the past, Gree's chips were purchased at a high price, and every year, it took more than 4 billion yuan to import chips. Seeing so much money being made by foreigners, the patriotic and domineering Miss Dong could not bear this. So in 2018, Dong Mingzhu shouted a bold statement to the whole country: Even if Gree invests 50 billion, it will still build chips.
If Dong Mingzhu said this sentence now, I believe it would definitely receive applause from the entire network. However, at that time, China's chips had not been "bottled" by European and American countries. Many people were confused by sugar-coated shells and could not see the future clearly. They were strange, puzzled, and unfavorable about Dong Mingzhu's decision, and even sarcastic people. After all, chips are not something that ordinary companies say, and they cannot be successful with just one or two bold words. On the one hand, the technology of chips is extremely difficult, the trial and error cost is very high, and the troubleshooting is also very difficult. Its patents are basically monopolized by several giants internationally. It is destined to be very difficult for latecomers to catch up. This is a recognized industry with a lot of capital investment, a long return cycle and a large demand for talents. Especially high-end chips, not only have high technical thresholds, but also the accumulation of talents cannot be completed overnight. This is not something that can be created by temporarily forming a technical research team and building a straw team. To put it bluntly, the chip industry needs to burn money. If hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in, it is completely possible to waste the money and the risk is extremely high.
is not only an outsider, but when Dong Mingzhu proposed the idea of Gree to build chips, even Gree had opposition. Even former chairman Zhu Jianghong was not very optimistic about Gree's prospect of making chips by herself. He once expressed his concerns. He believed that unless Gree takes other measures later, judging from Gree's situation at that time, he did not have much confidence in Gree's chips. Previously, Dong Mingzhu also made some layouts in the mobile phone and automobile fields, but the effect was not ideal. Now Dong Mingzhu wants to enter the more money-burning and more difficult chip field. It is not surprising that most people were not optimistic at that time. Even investors in the capital market were not optimistic. Some investors even said that Dong Mingzhu was whimsical, and Gree's stock price fell by 8.97% at this time.
On the other hand, everyone is kind-hearted and worried about Dong Mingzhu. After all, Gree is a state-owned enterprise, and the money of state-owned enterprises is not as easy as their own money. In case of a mistake in this investment decision, Dong Mingzhu will definitely be responsible. 50 billion yuan is not a small amount of money.
is good. Dong Mingzhu had already achieved success at that time. She could lie on Gree's credit book. Even if she had enough money for her for the rest of her life, she had no need to take this risk. However, no one knows the ambition of a swan. If Dong Mingzhu is afraid and retreats, she will not be the domineering Internet celebrity president Miss Dong. What Dong Mingzhu cares about is definitely not her wealth, position, and fame. What she sees more is the competition behind the chip industry, which is not a capability that ordinary people can possess. Chips are one of the core competitiveness of the modern IT industry. In the air conditioning industry where Gree is located, chips are also core technologies that cannot be avoided. At that time, among the domestic air conditioning companies, only a few large companies such as Gree and Midea had the funds, technology and talent strength to develop chips. It can be said that if these domestic air conditioning companies master the core technology of air conditioning chips, they will basically have the right to speak in the air conditioning industry. Dong Mingzhu, who has always refused to admit defeat and vowed to be the first, will naturally show unique persistence in chips.
However, if you think Dong Mingzhu wants to make chips purely to give Gree an advantage in the domestic competition, then you are a little too underestimated by our Miss Dong. What she considered was that in addition to Gree's "little selfishness", it was also more important to the chip industry. As an entrepreneur, especially an entrepreneur in a state-owned enterprise, she should have a patriotic heart and a full sense of social responsibility.
As we mentioned above, chips are a "three highs" industry, with high technical difficulty, high capital investment, and high R&D risks. This is not something that any company can do. Even if some companies have this idea, they cannot do it due to their own strength. It is precisely at this time that we can truly reflect the sense of responsibility and mission of a large enterprise, a state-owned enterprise, and a national brand. If all our people and all our companies do not want to take such risks, then our country's chip industry will never have a chance to make a comeback. When other companies are timid, unable to make up their minds or lack this strength, as a state-owned enterprise and national brand, standing up at critical moments is not only a historical choice, but also a courage, responsibility and responsibility. Dong Mingzhu has done it.
Gree has such strength, and Dong Mingzhu has such courage, and they can bear it. In 2017, Gree's sales revenue reached 148.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37%; net profit reached 22.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37%. Such impressive performance is the confidence of Dong Mingzhu and Gree to announce the high-profile announcement of making chips in 2018. In fact, in addition to its financial strength, Gree also has a strong foundation in technology research and development. At that time, Gree applied for more than 35,000 technical patents, including more than 15,000 invention patents, , 4,182 invention patents in 2017, and 1,273 authorized invention patents.
Moreover, before preparing to build the core, Gree had already carried out research and development of chips for at least three years. As early as 2015, under Dong Mingzhu's decision, Gree established the Microelectronics Institute and the Power Semiconductor Institute to develop embedded AI chips, air conditioning MCUs, EP series power devices, etc. Today, Gree's R&D team has reached more than 16,000 people. Most of the production equipment of Gree Electric Appliances are developed and produced by themselves. Even the high-quality molds that used to rely entirely on imported from Germany and Japan have gradually achieved self-production substitution. Therefore, Gree and Dong Mingzhu are obviously not talking big or bragging, nor are they talking for a while, but are making the strategic decision to enter chips only when they know their own strengths in all aspects.
What is interesting is that although Gree's R&D team has more than 16,000 people, none of them returnees or foreigners. It can be said that Gree’s R&D personnel are basically trained by themselves. You must know that this is difficult to do. At that time, many people advised Dong Mingzhu more than once that there were so many excellent companies abroad and so many high-quality talents. It would be better to just poach high salaries, which would save time and effort than to cultivate yourself, but Dong Mingzhu didn't think so. In her opinion, it is good to have excellent foreign talents, but they do not conform to Gree's R&D culture. Gree is to cultivate a team with self-creation ability and cultivate talents in its own team. Of course, this takes time, but it is worth it. The talents you cultivate are more reliable and you will have a sense of belonging to the company. This kind of feelings for the company cannot be exchanged for money. From this we can see that Dong Mingzhu's understanding of national brands is definitely transparent and thorough, and is by no means a matter of time and a slogan.
does it right away. After Gree announced the 50 billion core construction project, its zero-boundary integrated circuit company started construction. Nowadays, some professionals estimate that the zero-boundary will produce more than 135 million chips this year. Gree can basically achieve chip freedom, which means that its own air conditioner is more than enough to use its own chips. Not only that, Zero Boundary has also launched industrial-grade EM32 series and EAI series chips, and has passed authoritative testing.In terms of usage standards, it is no longer different from imported chips, so this also indicates that it will become a possibility for Gree's chips to be exported in the future. As of the end of September 2022, Gree had more than 1,000 patent applications in the CPU chip industry, ranking 9th in the world, and even surpassed , Apple , which ranked 10th. What an amazing thing this is. It is not easy for Gree to achieve such achievements in just 4 years.
The reason why Dong Mingzhu has so many fans is that she is straightforward, has clear love and hate, and dares to speak and do, and is also a very important reason for her correct views. Dong Mingzhu was born in Nanjing, Jiangsu in 1954 and is 68 years old this year. Like the people of their era, the love for the country and the nation is really unimaginable to young people today. It can be seen from Gree's 50 billion yuan in chip production. Many people say that Dong Mingzhu is domineering, but Dong Mingzhu's domineering is not unreasonable or using power to suppress others, but convincing others with reason. If you think carefully about what Dong Mingzhu said and done, you will truly feel that it makes sense for her to say this and say this. She once said that the level of a position cannot be the criterion for judging a person's success or failure. Only then will character ultimately determine your success or failure. Dong Mingzhu also said that there is no unified way to measure happiness. As long as a person feels happy, that is enough. Others cannot decide your happiness.
So, of course, we must applaud Dong Mingzhu and Gree's responsibility, and they have made great contributions to my country's chip industry. In fact, in addition to Dong Mingzhu and Gree, many companies have also overcome all difficulties and strive forward in this battle without gunpowder, such as Huawei , SMIC , Yangtze River Storage , Zhenxin Technology , etc., which also allows us to see a bright future and hope for my country's chip independence.
However, we cannot be complacent or even blindly confident, arrogant, and complacent. Only by facing our own gaps and shortcomings can we have a clearer direction of efforts, know shame and be brave, and achieve overtaking. There is no doubt that there is still a big gap between my country's chip industry and developed countries, especially in the field of high-end chips, which is even more obvious. In terms of mid- and low-end chips, there are already many that can achieve independent research and development and production, but the one that represents the future development of technology is higher-end chips. International giants are now spending more energy on the research and development of high-end chips.
chip is called the "engine" of 21st century technology and is a reflection of a country's comprehensive high-end manufacturing capability. The current situation of my country's chips being "bottled" by foreign countries shows that although my country's manufacturing industry has been rising, it still has shortcomings of one kind or another, and some core technologies are still subject to others.
However, there is no need for us to be too pessimistic. Gree's successful case of core making tells us this truth: as long as we have perseverance and perseverance, there is nothing we can't do. Not only Gree, in recent years, a number of key equipment for integrated circuit manufacturing in my country have achieved breakthroughs from scratch and comprehensively improved technical level. Some companies represented by Huawei have already been at the forefront of the world in the field of 5G, and my country's Beidou navigation system has also shown its unique advantages. Moreover, our country is the second largest economy in the world, , with a strong talent reserve, a broad domestic market, and a united confidence and courage. These are our confidence and capital. "Made in China" has pointed out the direction for us and planned tangible measures. As long as we work hard to catch up, I believe that in the near future, we will definitely make up for our shortcomings and enter the high-end field of the chip industry.
