I Am the Third-Generation Heir of a Conglomerate - Chapter 487



Only Noblemtl

487. The Time of Promise (2)

Approved the development of gene therapy.

The researchers returned to their lab excited.

However, CEO Seo Jeong-jun, who was responsible for managing the company, kept his position as if he were a stone statue.

“I guess you are unhappy with the development of gene therapy.”

“No, it’s not. It’s certainly a great achievement, but I was thinking about it for a while because I thought that the development of gene therapy could damage Sentryon’s image.”

CEO Seo Jeong-jun was an outstanding person.

Before his return, he was the one who single-handedly raised Sentryon to become the No. 1 company on KOSDAQ without any help from Taewoo Group.

CEO Seo Jeong-jun’s concerns were not something that could be easily overcome.

I sat up straight and focused on him to share my concerns.

“Do you think that the price of the treatment is too high and that this could damage your image?”

“Unlike general treatments, this involves a process of checking the genetic information of each patient, so it costs a lot of money. But would the public care about that? They are likely to think that they are just raising the price by putting their lives on the line to make money.”

A rare disease that can lead to death if there is no cure.

Gene therapy was the only lifeline, and the high cost of the drug was bound to be an even bigger problem.

“If each country were to shoulder a certain portion of the burden, like health insurance, it might not be that expensive.”

“Still, it is bound to be at least hundreds or thousands of times more expensive than other treatments.”

“If it becomes a problem, Taewoo Group is willing to support the full cost of treatment. If we use the social contribution fund set by Taewoo Group, we can fully support the full cost.”

“Really? If you just do that, I can worry less!”

It was only then that CEO Seo Jeong-jun’s expression softened.

I gave him a new problem to worry about.

“Did you hear about the new factory from Vice President Han?”

“I heard that you are building new factories in the US and Europe.”

“We plan to build factories in the US and Europe that will be more than twice as large as the ones Sentryon currently has.”

“Is that so big a scale?”

CEO Seo Jeong-jun suddenly stood up from his seat.

The scale of the new factory was shocking, and from the perspective of CEO Jeong-Jun Seo, who was in charge of Centurion’s finances, it was an unacceptable scale.

“Don’t worry about the construction cost. Sentry will invest 25% and Taewoo Group will invest the remaining 75%. If you want, Taewoo Group can increase its stake.”

“Well, then I have no reason to object, but is that okay? Although Yugovin’s sales are increasing, the demand is not enough to operate such a large factory.”

“Don’t worry about the factory operation. If the drugs developed by Sentryan are insufficient, we plan to increase the factory operation rate by receiving orders for drugs from other pharmaceutical companies.”

Actually, there was no such plan.

If a coronavirus vaccine and treatment are developed, demand will not be able to keep up with supply even if all factories operate 24 hours a day.

“Are you planning on a large-scale contract manufacturing plant? When I first started Sentryon, I planned to grow the company mainly through contract manufacturing.”

“In order to expand the scale of Sentry, wouldn’t we need to increase production through consignment production? And there’s no harm in building a factory. If things don’t go as planned, we can just sell the factory.”

It was something said to reassure CEO Seo Jeong-jun.

And it wasn’t a wrong statement. The factory site and the factory could be sold for a fair price, so the loss could be minimized.

“Then, we will invest a 25% stake in Centrian. I would like to invest more than 50%, but since we are investing so much money in new drug development, it will be difficult to do more than that.”

“That amount of money is enough. In fact, Taewoo Group was considering investing the entire cost of building the factory, but since it is a factory that Centrian will use, wouldn’t it make sense for Centrian to own at least a portion of the shares?”

What does equity matter?

Both Taewoo Group and Sentryon were places that were almost like my own.

“Thank you as always. And I think I have one more good news to share with you.”

“Is another new drug being developed?”

“That’s not it. Thanks to the explosive response from Yugovin, we were able to relist on KOSPI.”

Sentryon is currently listed on KOSDAQ.

KOSDAQ was a securities market for small and medium-sized venture companies.

KOSPI was a market where only companies above a certain size could be listed.

“Not a bad choice.”

“Actually, I’m a little worried. Isn’t it like you’ve been the head of a snake and now you’re the tail of a dragon?”

“If we look at the corporate value of Sentryon, it would be at least as big as the Dragon’s Chest.”

The overwhelming number one company on KOSDAQ was Sentrion.

If it were listed on KOSPI now, it would be ranked at least within the top 10.

Of course, it meant giving up the symbolism of being number one on the KOSDAQ, but considering the COVID-19 era, it was right to list on the KOSPI.

“I will work harder so that I don’t hear people say that I went to KOSPI for nothing.”

“I can guarantee you one thing. Sentryon will be in the top 3 of KOSPI within 5 years.”

“It’s such a burdensome ranking. Can we possibly rise higher than the formidable affiliates of Taewoo Group?”

“It is entirely possible. So just trust me and continue to manage Sentry as you have been doing.”

It was reduced a lot and came in 3rd place.

With just Yugovin’s performance, Sentryon could have surpassed the top spot.

If a coronavirus vaccine and treatment were developed, it would definitely take the top spot.

Of course, if you look at them as a group, Taewoo Group is still in first place.

If we look at only a single affiliate, the company that will have higher value than Taewoo Group’s affiliates and Samjin Electronics is Sentryon.

***

Nvidia’s stock price started to fall.

It was a small amount compared to the decline in Bitcoin.

It was a meaningful situation because the upward trend was broken and turned into a downward trend.

And the planning director explained another meaning.

“Mr. Chairman! We have received a call from Shopbank. They said that Chairman Son Jung-woo will be coming to Korea soon and would like to have a private meeting with you.”

“You’re definitely faster than anyone else when it comes to taking action. You start moving as soon as Nvidia’s stock price starts to decline.”

Chairman Son Jeong-woo’s quick judgment was famous.

He was the one who invested hundreds of millions of dollars with just a 10-minute conversation.

On the other hand, it was Chairman Son Jeong-woo who moved without delay to sell billions of dollars worth of shares.

“It was packaged as a visit to invest in promising Korean companies, but it is presumed that it was a trip to Korea for a one-on-one meeting with the chairman.”

“I guess you want to meet quietly. But it wouldn’t be good to spread rumors.”

Nvidia’s fourth largest shareholder was Shopbank.

I don’t think you want to spread rumors that you’re giving me that position.

I could have done as much as I wanted, even a quiet negotiation. If you just hand over Nvidia’s shares, what wouldn’t I do?

“I’ll try to schedule a time so we can meet quietly.”

“If it’s the annex of the restaurant I often go to, I think we can negotiate quietly.”

“I will do that. And Taewoo Semiconductor would like to have the Chairman visit.”

“Is it because of the semiconductor city?”

The semiconductor city was growing in size every year.

Thanks to securing the site in advance in Myeongdong, construction was able to proceed quickly, and the large-scale complex has already begun operation.

“The purpose of visiting the semiconductor city is also to remodel the old semiconductor factory in the semiconductor complex.”

“Ah! It looks like the construction of the old factory that the two presidents were competing to build has finally been completed.”

An older semiconductor factory that introduced fully automated facilities to reduce labor costs.

The two presidents of Taewoo Semiconductor decided to modify it to suit their own style.

These were also factories that were renovated by actively utilizing massive amounts of funds, manpower, and various experts and technologies from the Taewoo Group.

“I guess I should go right now.”

“I will contact Taewoo Semiconductor.”

How much would you like to brag about?

It was an automated factory built using all the resources available.

Moreover, since two presidents competed to build two factories, there was bound to be even more to talk about.

“Please prepare a helicopter. It will take too long to get to Gyeonggi-do by car at this hour.”

“The weather conditions are good, so it’s a good idea to travel by helicopter.”

How great an automated factory would they have created?

I deliberately did not receive any related reports and waited only for today.

***

Arrived at the semiconductor complex.

Many experts from Taewoo Semiconductor and other affiliated companies were waiting for me.

In addition to the two presidents, experts from each affiliated company were also participants in this competition.

“Congratulations on the completion of the smart factory. Thanks to the combined efforts of Taewoo Semiconductor and the talented individuals from each affiliate, we were able to complete the factory ahead of schedule.”

“thank you!”

Have you ever seen such a soulless expression of gratitude?

I decided to get to the point quickly before their souls completely left me.

“The first complex that Mr. Wei is in charge of is close by. Let’s start from there.”

“I will guide you personally!”

President Wei was a man of generous appearance.

However, the protruding belly was halfway back in, showing how much effort had been put into the smart factory.

Perhaps because he had lost weight, his gait was more powerful, and he quickly arrived at the first complex, where he bragged about the factory.

“Automation at the level of 3.5 has been applied. Compared to the previous factory, the manpower input has been reduced by 30%. And most importantly, the production speed and production volume have been maximized.”

“We reduced the workforce, but production speed and quantity increased.”

“We can now produce 20% more. I can proudly say that there is no factory more efficient than Complex 1 at this point.”

It was a factory that clearly revealed President Wei’s personality.

As he was in charge of a foundry, he had a tendency to be obsessed with production volume and speed, and the factories he created were ones built solely for efficiency.

Of course, it wasn’t a bad thing.

Especially in the case of older semiconductors, production volume was even more important, so we had to follow President Wei’s method.

“I will continue explaining!”

President Wei continued his explanation for over an hour.

Only then could it finally be President Lisa’s turn.

We moved on to the second floor, and this time, President Lisa herself volunteered to give a tour of the factory.

“Our factory has gone beyond level 4 factory automation and has adopted level 4.5 full automation. Almost all operations are performed unmanned, and only minimal management work is required. In particular, we actively utilize artificial intelligence to enable error correction and emergency response to be performed unmanned!”

“I heard that a lot of staff from the AI ​​Center were deployed.”

“We used artificial intelligence for everything from scheduling and route setting to variables, and in particular, we applied upgraded technology developed at Amazon’s logistics center for the automatic wafer transport device and system.”

Taewoo Group’s technology hub.

It was President Lisa who had invested in logistics center technology and various technologies including artificial intelligence over 10 years ago.

In terms of efficiency alone, it may be lacking compared to Complex 1.

It was even better when looking at future growth potential and the ability to cope with variables.

“Thank you all for your hard work. Now, please design a semiconductor factory to be remodeled in the future, taking advantage of the strengths of both factories while discarding their shortcomings.”

I didn’t necessarily decide on a winner for the competition.

Because the real victory was a matter to be decided through the US-China trade dispute.

So now we had to secure a little more semiconductor stock.

The same was true for the older semiconductor market.

Before the return, the old semiconductor production was handed over to China, but this time it will not be handed over.

The same goes for the Nvidia stock negotiations with Son Jeong-woo, chairman of Shopbank, which will be held a few days later.