中國科技產業的全球抱負 Tsinghua’s hopes for Micron signal a shift

US Memories Inc may sound like a greeting-card company. In fact, it was the name for a proposed industry-wide joint venture to keep the US in the memory chip business at the end of the 1980s, as the sector reeled from a Japanese corporate onslaught.

美國記憶公司(US Memories Inc)聽起來可能像一家賀卡公司。實際上，這是上世紀80年代末爲保持美國在芯片業中的地位，擬成立的全行業合資公司的名字，當時美國芯片業在日本公司的衝擊下茫然失措。

US Memories is a forgotten footnote in the technology history books. The attempt at collective action failed when some of the backers got cold feet. Instead, the fight back, when it came, took a far more American form: an entrepreneurial start-up from the unlikely location of Boise, Idaho, called Micron Technology.

美國記憶公司在科技史書籍上是一個被遺忘的註腳。當一些支持者臨陣退縮的時候，集體努力失敗了。實際上，最終發起的反擊採取了更爲美國的形式：一家名爲美光科技(Micron Technology)的創業企業，公司所在地令人意外地位於愛達荷州博伊西。

Now the US faces another challenge from Asia in the chips that act as one of the most basic components of the digital world. News this month that Tsinghua Unicom, an offshoot of Beijing’s Tsinghua University, has been weighing up an offer for Micron has provoked a predictable ripple of nationalist angst. When kites like this are flown in public, it is often to find out what the reaction to a formal offer would be. On cue, Republican senator John McCain worried publicly about the “potential national security implications” if the US lost a significant position in memory chips. That Tsinghua is a Chinese state-owned company was among the factors weighing on the his mind.

現在，美國在芯片業面臨亞洲的又一次挑戰——芯片是數字世界中最基本的部件之一。本月有消息稱，清華大學(Tsinghua University)旗下清華紫光(Tsinghua Unigroup)一直在考慮對美光科技發起收購要約，這激起了意料之中的民族主義憤怒。當此類消息被公諸於衆，人們往往可以發現，對正式收購要約的反應將是什麼。就在這個時候，共和黨參議員約翰麥凱恩(John McCain)公開表示擔憂：如果美國喪失記憶芯片行業中的重要地位，“可能對國家安全造成什麼影響”。清華紫光是一家中國國有公司，這正是他擔憂的因素之一。

Much has changed in the chip world over the past quarter century — but some things have not, in either politics or technology. Memory chips still occupy the same paradoxical place in the tech universe: though low margin commodity products in a market subject to vicious cyclical swings, they demand advanced design and manufacturing techniques and huge capital investment. They are also key components in military systems — the reason that many analysts believe the US is extremely unlikely to approve a formal takeover offer, should it materialise.

在過去25年裏，芯片世界已經發生了很大的變化——但一些事情並未改變，無論是政治還是科技方面。記憶芯片在科技領域仍處於和以前一樣矛盾的處境：儘管記憶芯片是低利潤率產品，所處市場容易受到惡性週期性波動的影響，但它們要求有先進的設計和製造技術，以及鉅額的資本投資。它們也是軍事系統中的關鍵部件，正因爲此，許多分析師相信，如果清華紫光正式發出收購要約，美國極不可能批准。

One thing that has changed since the 1980s is the global ambition of China’s tech industry. Given its massive share of global electronics manufacturing, building a position in silicon — the key component in most systems — has become a national priority. Some 41 per cent of Micron’s sales are to Chinese manufacturers. China’s attempt to consolidate its position as the world’s electronics manufacturing hub relies, in the long term, on being able to establish a domestic chip industry.

自上世紀80年代以來，發生了一個變化：中國科技業的全球抱負。鑑於中國在全球電子製造業中的巨大份額，在硅領域佔據一席之地已成爲一項國家首要任務——硅是多數系統中的關鍵材料。美光約41%的銷售額來自中國製造商。長期而言，中國鞏固其全球電子製造中心地位的努力，取決於能否建立本國的芯片產業。

Up to now, the efforts have failed dismally. But Tsinghua’s tentative takeover approach seems to point to a change in strategy that could have implications for China’s involvement in global tech markets far beyond chips.

迄今爲止，這些努力都遭遇了慘淡的失敗。但清華紫光的試探性收購舉措似乎表明中國策略發生了改變，這可能對中國涉足遠不止芯片業的全球科技市場具有重要意義。

Chinese companies have often stood accused internationally of copying technology. So joining the free-market takeover game and paying a fair price to acquire the strategic technology of a company like Micron would mark a welcome turn of events, says Mark Anderson, a US tech analyst who has criticised China’s approach to intellectual property. The slow progress made by China’s existing chip industry may explain the boldness of Tsinghua’s move. Shanghai-based semiconductor maker SMIC has represented the most visible attempt at creating a national champion. But it lost a high-profile intellectual property case brought by Taiwan’s TSMC. Nor has licensing technology from US competitors succeeded. Nearly a decade ago, SMIC was granted a licence to IBM’s 45 nanometre chipmaking technology — already, at the time, a technology that was getting long in the tooth.

中國企業在國際上常常遭遇抄襲別國技術的指責。曾批評過中國在知識產權方面做法的美國科技分析師馬克褠德森(Mark Anderson)稱，因此，中國加入自由市場收購大戰，併爲獲得美光之類公司的戰略性技術支付合理的價錢，標誌着一種受歡迎的轉向。中國現有芯片產業的緩慢發展或許可以解釋清華紫光此舉的膽略。位於上海的半導體制造商中芯國際(SMIC)爲打造全國行業領軍企業做出了最明顯的努力。但中芯國際在臺灣芯片製造商臺積電(TSMC)提起的一起引人關注的知識產權訴訟中敗訴。從美國競爭對手那裏獲得技術許可也未能帶來成功。將近10年前，中芯國際從IBM獲得了45納米芯片製造技術許可，但該技術在當時已現老態。

China’s ability to access more cutting-edge technology may be growing. IBM, for instance, has changed its business model in China when it comes to high-end servers: rather than trying to sell machines based on its Power chip technology, it is now offering to license the technology to Chinese manufacturers. But a full-blown acquisition of a significant international player like Micron would represent a far more ambitious expansion of China’s chip sector. Micron is currently worth almost $20bn, making it a significant bite even by the standards of the takeover wave that has swept through the chip industry this year.

中國獲得更尖端技術的能力可能正在增強。例如，IBM在高端服務器領域已經改變了在中國的商業模式：現在，它爲中國製造商提供技術許可，而非試圖銷售基於其Power芯片技術的機器。但是，全面收購類似美光這樣的國際芯片巨頭，代表着中國芯片行業更加雄心勃勃的擴張。美光當前的市值接近200億美元，即使按照今年席捲芯片行業的收購潮的標準，這也是一個難以吞下的大塊頭。

Running a far-flung operation like Micron also would be a significant challenge for a company without a record in global business. Micron’s main facilities are in the US, Singapore and to a lesser degree Japan. Effective management of international businesses like this is a major challenge for Chinese companies looking to move overseas, says Joel Backaler, a business consultant and expert on Chinese international investment.

管理像美光這樣業務廣泛的企業，對於一家沒有全球業務經驗的企業來說也將是一個艱鉅的挑戰。美光主要的生產基地位於美國和新加坡，在日本也有一少部分。商業顧問、中國國際投資領域專家周樂達(Joel Backaler)說，有效地管理此類國際企業對於期待走向海外的中國企業來說是一個巨大挑戰。

Given the likely resistance from Washington, a Tsinghua acquisition of Micron looks a stretch. But it could be the first sign that a new phase of Chinese tech expansionism is about to begin.

考慮到可能遭到來自華盛頓的抵制，清華紫光收購美光看起來希望渺茫。但這可能是中國科技擴張即將進入新階段的首個標誌。