November 21st.
Taewoo Group officially announced the acquisition of Hyundai Semiconductor.
I personally shook hands with the creditors and signed the documents before heading to Captain Kang's office.
"Congratulations on acquiring Hyundai Semiconductor."
"I'm not sure if it's something to be congratulated on. It's like having taken on an enormous bomb."
"A bomb, if used well, can become a nuclear power plant. If used poorly, it becomes a nuclear bomb. I'm confident you'll handle the bomb very skillfully, sir."
Dimon, uncharacteristically, flattered me.
If he reacted this way, it meant the media response was severe.
"Are the media calling me crazy?"
"They haven't used such harsh words, but there are plenty of reports with similar implications."
That was a natural reaction.
If a positive response had come from taking over Hyundai Semiconductor, the creditors wouldn't have sold it at this price.
"Such reactions will continue for a while. Over time, even harsher words might emerge."
"There are already talks about successor risk.
It seems to have started because you actively pushed the acquisition."
"Taewoo Group's stock must be in chaos."
"The stock price is falling rapidly in real time.
Especially, the shares of Taewoo Electronics and Taewoo Telecom are struggling to hold."
Why bother defending it?
It was exactly the situation I wanted.
"Why not dump the Taewoo Group shares held by SAVE investment company? Wouldn't that make the stock price fall even faster?"
"That could cause a huge shock to the entire Korean stock market. If things go wrong, a circuit breaker might be triggered."
The term "circuit breaker" originated from electrical circuit breakers.
In the stock market, it is used to temporarily halt trading to prevent overheating during sudden, massive price plunges.
It was introduced in Korea after the foreign exchange crisis.
It had already been triggered once before.
If one activation is difficult, then two should be easier, right?
If SAVE investment company starts dumping stocks, the likelihood of the circuit breaker being triggered would be very high.
Wall Street investment firms would likely sell simultaneously.
Since Wall Street was closely watching SAVE investment company's movements,
"It's the perfect time to start the inheritance process."
"...Understood. Then I will have SAVE investment company start moving from today."
"Please do so. By the way, where is David now?"
"He went to the sauna for a while."
I didn't know why Americans liked saunas so much.
Maybe because he was trapped in a drinking binge daily, David enjoyed sweating in the sauna.
"Were you looking for me, boss?"
David entered the office sipping banana milk.
He looked very refreshed.
His skin was not just fair but had a pinkish glow from sweating.
"I've thoroughly sobered up. I underestimated the bank presidents. Their drinking is incredible.
Also, I don't know why Koreans like bomb shots so much. I didn't expect even bank presidents to drink bomb shots."
"Bomb shots are like traditional Korean liquor.
So this time, you must try some Taiwanese liquor."
"Taiwan is famous for kaoliang liquor. Who should I drink kaoliang with?"
David was one of the highest-paid employees at SAVE investment company.
With bonuses, he earned several hundred million won a day.
There was something important enough in Taiwan to send such a costly person there.
"We need to recruit a few talented people."
"Recruitment is my specialty. Just give me the list, and I'll bring them all to Korea."
"There's a person named Wei, who graduated from Yale University. Make sure to bring him here."
In Taiwan, there was a company called TSMC.
Before the regression, it was known as the number one semiconductor foundry company.
But since it hadn't yet fully entered the foundry business, if we negotiated well, we could recruit talent from that company.
"If he graduated from Yale, we should communicate well. Leave it to me."
"This time, I'll make sure you get a generous bonus, so please take care of this."
"Take care? When it's an order from the boss, of course I have to follow."
David finished his banana milk in one gulp and started moving.
Now that recruiting talent was in his hands, all I had to do was make good use of the existing Hyundai Semiconductor staff.
It had been a week since Hyundai Semiconductor changed its name to Taewoo Semiconductor.
During that time, I stayed up all night checking the employee roster and evaluating their abilities.
There were more talented people than I had expected.
Since the company was suffering a 2 trillion won deficit, I thought many employees would be incompetent.
But in terms of ability, they were no less skilled than those at Taewoo Electronics.
Still, there were problematic people.
Especially among the executives, I added everyone with poor ability to the kill list.
Conversely, those who weren't executives but showed strong ability were added to the promotion list.
Among them, Executive Director Yoo Seok-jae's abilities were outstanding.
He was leading semiconductor technology development and possessed an S-grade level of skill.
How could I just let a person like that remain unnoticed?
I summoned him to the vice chairman's office and called Taewoo Electronics' President Woo Seong-il and Taewoo Telecom's President Lee Ju-young as well.
"Welcome. You must have been very surprised to be contacted suddenly."
"Oh, not at all. It's truly an honor to meet you, Vice Chairman."
Executive Director Yoo Seok-jae looked very nervous.
With me, the vice chairman, in the center, and the presidents of Taewoo Electronics and Taewoo Telecom standing on either side, it was only natural to feel tense.
"Hyundai Semiconductor's technology was once said to be the world's best. But lately, I've heard it's falling behind Samsung Semiconductor and Japanese semiconductor companies."
"In terms of accumulated technology, we are not losing at all. In certain areas, our current… Taewoo Semiconductor is actually ahead."
"I still can't quite get used to calling it Taewoo Semiconductor."
"Sorry, I was too nervous and misspoke."
I smiled to ease his tension.
"That's all right. But I want to ask you one thing.
We plan to sign a foundry contract for semiconductors used in mobile phones. Is that feasible?"
"Of course it is. Honestly, using Taewoo Semiconductor's technology simply as a foundry would be a waste."
"Really? These are the types of semiconductors we will need to produce moving forward."
I took out a few design blueprints and related documents.
Though I was not knowledgeable about semiconductors, the designs were those Apple had independently created.
Of course, they were not the original blueprints.
The critical technologies were blacked out, making it harder to discern.
But Yoo Seok-jae, having worked long in the semiconductor industry, immediately recognized the complexity of the designs.
"Are these really semiconductors used in mobile phones?"
"Yes. Can you produce them?"
"It's possible, but yield is the issue. With designs this complex, the yield likely won't exceed 50%."
"So, you're saying production is possible."
Yield is the opposite of defect rate.
A 50% yield means 50% defective products.
"It's possible, but the more we produce, the more losses we will incur."
"Won't the yield improve with production experience?"
"As operators get familiar, yield does improve, but stabilization takes a long time."
"We need to produce about six million units a year. The yield should stabilize before then."
"Six million units? Considering the yield, it will be difficult to meet the schedule with only the equipment currently owned."
Who would invest in a company losing 2 trillion won annually?
So, Hyundai Semiconductor's equipment had not been upgraded, and they were even resorting to repairing broken machines themselves.
"Get as many new pieces of equipment as you want. You can replace all the old equipment with new models this time."
"The price per machine exceeds 140 billion won.
To meet delivery schedules, an investment of at least one trillion won is needed."
"One trillion won is not enough. This year, we are planning an investment of over 10 trillion won."
"Over 10 trillion won?!"
Executive Director Yoo Seok-jae was dumbfounded.
During Hyundai Semiconductor's days, they must have tightened their belts to reduce losses.
So it was no wonder he was shocked to meet a company investing 10 trillion won a year.
"Of course, the 10 trillion won includes the construction cost of the new factory, so the actual investment amount will be between 3 and 5 trillion won."
"Isn't that excessive?"
"Don't think about anything else, Executive Director Yoo. Just be determined to meet the delivery schedule. If the yield is only 50%, just input twice the materials. I promise you won't be blamed even if too many defective products come out."
What goes in must come out.
Of course, in the semiconductor industry, it takes a long time.
But if you massively increase the input, you can shorten the time.
"It's certainly possible, but we are slightly short on personnel. Given the nature of the semiconductor industry, training specialists takes a long time."
"Don't worry about that. We have people around the world scouting professional talent."
"I really didn't expect this level of support.
I will repay you with results."
Determination showed on Executive Director Yoo Seok-jae's face.
When he first entered the vice chairman's office, he looked like a nervous rookie.
But now, he displayed the spirit of a seasoned veteran.
To revive Taewoo Semiconductor, reckless spending was essential.
Taewoo Group had enough financial strength to afford such spending, but even so, we had to save wherever possible.
So I visited my grandfather.
I personally got out of the car and sweet-talked him right in front of him.
"Taewoo Group finally has a proper semiconductor company. You must be pleased, right?"
"What is there to be pleased about? I'm only going to get more gray hair taking on a loss-making company."
"That's why I think we need the government's help to reduce the deficits even a little."
"We did get the creditors to forgive 65% of the debt because of the government's help, didn't we?"
No one doubted that semiconductors were the rice of industry.
Therefore, the government made many efforts to save Hyundai Semiconductor.
But from my perspective, the efforts didn't seem enough.
"How about requesting tax reduction benefits?
If we can get tax relief at least until we turn profitable, wouldn't the burdens lessen considerably?"
"The government would want to help, but wouldn't that cause fairness issues?
If only we get benefits, wouldn't Samsung Electronics just stand by?"
"Samsung Electronics can get benefits too.
Their losses are only less than one trillion won, so the benefits going to us will be greater."
Grandfather clicked a calculator in his mind.
Then, smiling, he downed his drink at once.
"I need to visit the Blue House. If I threaten to refuse the acquisition of Hyundai Semiconductor, we might get some tax relief."
Indeed, my grandfather was perfect for such matters.
No one was more reliable than him dealing with the government.
I earnestly rubbed my grandfather's shoulders to thank him for handling these unpleasant tasks.