The Greatest Conglomerate Ever With the American Lottery - The Greatest Conglomerate Ever With the American Lottery chapter 48

48. Should we start a company?

After Lisa and I finished the Ferrari sponsorship of the Shanghai Formula One, we spent about a week traveling around the semiconductor industrial park in southern China.

There were mainly foundries in the neighborhood, but the size of HLMC and SMIC in the Shanghai area was quite impressive.

China is China.

No matter what you do, the scale is huge.

Maybe it’s because I’ve never seen a semiconductor factory before.

Then we went to Wuxi and Hefei station complexes, and it was like….

“This is huge.”

“Most of them are either in operation or under construction, and besides this one, China is really pushing semiconductors with a lot of government support.”

“Well, they call it a semiconductor roll.”

“Alex, aren’t you nervous?”

“Why would I be?”

“Well, the semiconductor factories that China is opening or preparing to open are going to overlap a lot with Korean semiconductor companies.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. TSMC in Taiwan, where I was born, is a foundry, but they’re investing heavily in D-RAM, NAND flash, etc. South Korea’s TK Logix and Sasung also have fabs in China, or are preparing to.”

“Is that something I should be nervous about, and Lisa should be nervous about Taiwan?”

“Ho-ho! Isn’t that right? I was born in Taiwan, but I’m an American who grew up in the U.S., so I don’t have any special feelings about it.”

“Really? Because I’m still Korean, and I’m going to die Korean.”

“You know, Alex, even though you deny it, you’re secretly very patriotic, which is why I was joking.”

“Me? I’m patriotic?

Did I say that?

I never thought of myself as being that patriotic.

I thought I was just a normal Korean, but did I look that way?

“Why would you say no?”

“Well? I never thought I was particularly so, so—.”

“Let me ask you a question. Alex, you said you were in the army, and I heard you were in a pretty tough place, too, from what I understand?”

“Well, a little longer than the average Korean guy, and as an officer.”

“Well, then, are you still in the reserves?”

“Ew! You’re poking me where it hurts. Yes, I’m still in the reserves.”

Because I’m an officer, I’m in the reserves until the age of 40, the retirement age for sergeants.

That’s the age when most people are done with civil defense.

Of course, mobilization ended a long time ago.

“So, what would you do if North Korea invaded?”

“What? If North Korea invades?”

Then we’d have to go to war, right?

“Of course we’d go to war, right?”

“Why is that a given? I don’t know what the laws are in Korea, but at least if you’re a permanent resident of the United States, they can’t really force you to participate, especially if you’re a Super Rich like Alex?”

“…”

Really?

Why did you say that was a given?

But what if a war actually broke out in my country?

I thought about it for about five seconds, and then I couldn’t think anymore.

My parents, siblings, friends, and everything I knew was in Korea.

I didn’t think I could just sit back and enjoy the good life in the United States.

“I’m not a particularly patriotic person,” I said, “but I have everything in Korea except for my possessions, so I’m going to go.”

“Even though your parents and sister are in the U.S.?”

“Yes. It’s about my roots before it’s about duty. Lisa, you grew up in the U.S., but I was born in Korea, and I went to the army. I don’t intend to, but even if I were to become an American citizen, I’d still serve.”

“Ho-ho-ho! See? That’s patriotic. Other rich Koreans can’t run away to the U.S. even if they’re in Korea.”

“Eh, I wasn’t rich to begin with, I’m not like those people?”

“I’m just saying, Alex, how would you feel if Korea lost out to China for semiconductors?”

“…”

It sounded pretty bad.

“So, Lisa, what do you think, if China makes this kind of national investment in astronomy, do you think South Korea will catch up sooner or later?”

“Hmmm. I don’t know?”

“Ah, be honest with me, Lisa, you must have an eye for it, right?”

“To be honest, I think we might catch up someday, but it’s going to take a long time, and it’s going to be very difficult.”

“Even with the Chinese government throwing all that money at it?”

Isn’t it true that there’s nothing that money can’t do?

“That’s because you don’t understand our semiconductor industry. It’s not like the automobile industry, it’s not like the electronics industry in general, so it’s not like the government is giving us money.”

“Then?”

“I think the time it took Korea to catch up with Japan was about 15 years, but nowadays, with the high integration of semiconductors and the advancement of technology, it takes longer. We’re probably looking at 20 to 25 years to catch up, assuming everything goes well, and that’s with China, which is a huge market.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Besides, semiconductors are an industry where you have to spend at least $5 billion to $10 billion for a single line, and the problem is, once you do that, they’re even further away.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t look down on the semiconductor industry. What’s worse for China is that the U.S. is starting to raise its sword in earnest. It’s not going to be easy, especially since the U.S. has most of the original technology.”

“Isn’t that because of the current US government?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know. Do you think it would be any better with a Democrat in power? Probably more, but it’s the same thing. It’s the Democrats and the Republicans, united and united, that are keeping China in check. Well, they’ve got a lot of self-pollinating trees, so there’s nothing to say.”

Hearing Lisa’s words, I was secretly relieved.

After all, it’s semiconductors that drive our economy.

However, I suddenly had another thought.

Taiwan is technically China, so how do Americans from Taiwan, like Lisa, get along with each other?

For example, with Jensen Huang from Nvidia?

“Lisa.”

“Yeah, Alex.”

“How do you get along with Jensen Huang from Nvidia? I heard that you and Jensen Huang are close relatives.”

“What kind of asshole says that!”

“Huh? What’s the big deal? Are they or aren’t they?”

“It’s just that I’ve been told so. I don’t have a drop of blood in me, so don’t talk nonsense.”

“Really?”

“Well, if you want to get technical, Jensen Huang’s mom’s sister, my little aunt, ‘remarried’ my maternal grandfather.”

“Oh, so what’s the relationship like?”

“What’s the relationship? It’s not a relationship at all, my maternal grandfather remarried after my mom’s siblings grew up, so what can I say? Regardless, I don’t like Jensen Huang, he’s an asshole, so don’t keep trying to mix things up.”

“Fuhahahaha, why do you hate Jensen Huang so much?”

“I don’t hate him, it’s just his behavior. He’s famous in our industry, but no matter if it’s SASUNG, TKRONIX, Apple, Intel, or Linux, no one likes him, because he’s just too greedy.”

“Hmph!”

I had heard that Jensen Huang was unusually greedy, but it seemed like a lot.

It doesn’t matter to me.

I just need to make the company grow well and benefit me somehow.

Lisa and I spent a few more days touring the Chinese semiconductor industry, and because she’s such a mythical figure on the ground, I was treated with great generosity.

Whenever I asked her who I was, she would introduce me as the largest shareholder of AMD and a big shot in the American investment community.

When I went to the factory of TK Lowronics, a Korean company, in Wuxi, the head of the Chinese branch of Lowronics thought I was a Chinese-American and freaked out when he realized that I was speaking to him in English and he could hear me stuttering in Korean.

Watch your language wherever you go.

“One! Two! Three!”

Bam!

After my time in China with Lisa, I flew straight to Korea.

Ladder Center 2 (?), which was being built near Samsong in Goyang City, was completed.

Ladder Center 3, which is being built in Namyangju, is still a few months away from completion, but that’s because they were late in purchasing the land.

That neighborhood is also full of apartments, so there was a lot of opposition to the idea of building a center to protect children who have left childcare.

What kind of criminals are these kids?

Why can’t they even live in the same neighborhood?

It was especially bitter to hear that many young couples moved into the neighborhood.

“The facilities are much better than Parkdal-dong, aren’t they? Bigger?”

“Of course. When we built the ladder center in Parkdal-dong, we reflected all of our trials and errors.”

Ki-dong, who is now the head of the support department of the Jung-Hwa Foundation, a social welfare corporation, guided me around.

“Oh! A swimming pool in the basement?”

There was a 25-meter swimming pool in the basement of the building, which looked better than most private pools.

“Not only a pool, but also a fitness center, auditorium, and indoor gym. I’m going to teach the kids some martial arts there.”

“Huh? Martial arts?”

“Yeah. I’ve been fighting with kids for a couple years now, and, you know what? They’re kind of intimidated, so I’m going to create a martial arts course for all the ladder centers and teach it to anyone who wants it.”

“That’s a great idea. So, who’s going to teach it?”

“Well, me and Signal are busy and only pay attention to it occasionally, so I’m going to call up some people I know.”

“Do you think those people you know are people I know?”

“Maybe the placenta does.”

“Poohahahahaha!”

“hahahahaha!”

These are children who grew up without parents.

According to Ki-dong’s older brother, contrary to outside perception, they are used to being discriminated against and marginalized just because they are from a nursery school, so they are quieter than children from normal families with parents.

In any case, there are many children who are very shy, and they don’t receive the usual taekwondo lessons that most children with parents go to once in a while.

There is a saying that a healthy body is a healthy mind.

Once you feel confident in your body, you’ll see a lot of brightness in your children.

“Ki-Dong, you’re the maneuverer.”

“Huh?”

“It’s martial arts, it’s boxing, and if you want to teach it, teach it properly. I’ll give you all the support you need, and if you want to teach it, I’ll hire you as a full-time employee. You’ll only teach it properly if you’re stable, right?”

“Right.”

“I’ll talk to Mr. Zhang and your father separately. If not a big company, at least a medium-sized one.”

“Is that good?”

The life of a martial artist is not really stable,

The only thing you can do is work for a security company or open a dojo, but even dojos don’t do well because they get pushed out by people from big name gymnasiums with taekwondo departments, judo departments, etc.

So, it would be a good thing for my sister and brother-in-law to hire her to teach our children.

But now that I think about it, there’s not much demand for masters who teach children, so what should I do?

“Hmmm—.”

After thinking about it for a while, I suddenly had an idea.

I wondered if I could create something like Aegis Company in Korea.

I’m sure there would be a lot of demand for competent bodyguards.

I’d make sure Somi was properly attached.

Manpower would be easy to come by with the manpower pool that Ki-Dong and Signal have.

“Maneuvering.”

“Why?”

“Should we start our own company?”

“What?”