Episode 145. TM Foundry America.
On the display screen of D-Tab3 that Ryosuke saw, a first-person action game in which the main character was controlled and played was floating.
When the demon raised his arms armed with sharp claws and slammed them towards the main character, Ryosuke unconsciously stopped breathing.
In the scene where the main character fires a double pistol while striking the demon’s attack with a sword, he exhales admiration.
“Wow! cool.”
Ryosuke, who had been watching the scene for a while without realizing it, asked the person standing next to him.
“Do you know what the name of that game is?”
The person next to him glanced at Ryosuke and then opened his mouth.
“This is Devil May Cry from Gamcom. There is no other action game these days that can match that.”
Ryosuke nodded.
“Devil May Cry? and! That’s really well made. I will definitely buy it later.”
“But do you have D-Tab3? It’s a game that only works on D-Tab3.”
Ryosuke asked in surprise.
“Only in D-Tab3? why?”
“It works only on products equipped with Korean Drill 3 CPU, but so far, there is only D-Tab3 such product. Since Apple in the US will release the D-AMac 3 soon, you could buy it, but since the action game is still tasteful, the D-Tab3 is probably better.”
Ryosuke was stunned, unable to speak immediately.
‘Is the CPU even made in Korea?’
“No, there are many good CPUs from Wontel, so why did you have to use Korean-made CPUs?”
“Of course, the Drill 3 CPU has the best performance among existing products. There are rumors that the latest product from Onetel, the Leon, is inferior in performance to the Drill 2, so I said everything.”
“..is there really that much of a performance difference? Is it a product made in Korea?”
“You can’t think of Korea as it used to be these days. For CPU, tablet PC, and even LCD TV, products made in Korea are the best.”
At that moment, Ryosuke’s belief that Japanese products were the best began to crack little by little.
“yes. So these days, most of the latest games come out first for D-Tab.”
“Can you do anything other than games with it?”
“sure. The D-Tab3 has a touch pen, so it’s good for business use. In a small meeting, I can show the material right away, and especially since the presentation program called E-Pointer is well presented, I can explain it while marking it with a pen.”
“..that would definitely be convenient.”
“yes. Besides that, there are many other advantages, so please try it yourself. It will feel different.”
In the end, Ryosuke spent more than 30 minutes in the exhibition area alone while experiencing the functions of D-Tab3 as he said.
He had to admit that it was superior to any other PC he had ever experienced.
I approached the clerk at the counter with a determined face.
“I will buy the D-Tab3 instead of the RX-210 laptop. I’m sorry I told you to take it for nothing.”
The clerk laughed.
“haha. no. It’s okay because there aren’t one or two people who bought a D-Tab3 after coming to buy a laptop with a customer. And to be honest, I’m using a D-Tab3 these days, but I can’t use my old laptop anymore.”
At the clerk’s words that he made a good choice, Ryosuke was filled with satisfaction.
“It cannot be ignored because it is a Korean product.”
“Right. Prejudice is so scary. Even today, there are people who buy laptops, and half of them come back to ask for a D-Tab. However, the customer realized quickly, so there is no need to come twice.”
Ryosuke smiled happily and held out the card.
“haha. is that so? Then please pay for one D-Tab3. A lump sum payment!”
#I stopped by Highcast after receiving a call from President Kim Woon-jin that PMP development was over.
He held the PMP with a 6-inch color LCD in the air with a proud face.
“The PMP you mentioned is finally complete. Most video files such as MPEG, AVI, WMV, and audio files such as MP3 can be played, and sometimes there are file formats that cannot be played, so we made it possible to update the codec at any time. The capacity is 8GB, so it can hold more than 10 movies or dramas of normal quality.”
“That’s great. How about the display?”
“Since the IPS mode LCD is adopted, there is almost no screen change even when viewed from the left or right, and the video movement is natural due to its good response characteristics. At least there won’t be any claims about image quality. As you said, the touch screen is applied, and there are not many physical buttons on the front, so it is definitely pretty.”
“Is that right? I said the design would come out well, didn’t I? haha. Now we just need to release it. How did you come up with the plan?”
“It will take about a month from the time we finish setting up the line and finish producing the initial stock, so we are thinking of launching it early next month.”
“All right. Prepare for that schedule. Is there any problem with selling the P-Pod?”
“The monthly sales peaked around May of this year and have been declining little by little. I think it’s because people are so used to the P-Pod, but it seems like it’s time to prepare a sequel.”
“haha. I was going to tell you, but now, President Kim has a much broader view. We thought of a new P-Pod concept, but instead of the click wheel, which is a physical button, we put a touch screen for convenience and design, and we will increase the capacity to 5GB.”
“Ah, the MP3 player also has a touchscreen…I see. Let’s get our development plan in that direction.”
“yes. And I’m not going to sell this right now, so please make just a few with a PMP with a GPS sensor.”
“Are you talking about the sensor that can tell the latitude and longitude of your current location?”
“yes. I am planning to make a navigation system with this PMP.”
President Kim said with a realized face.
“Ah, if you display a map on the PMP screen and receive location information from the GPS sensor, you will know exactly where I am.”
“yes. When you’re done, send it to me.”
Near Oakland, California, USA.
The first production line of TM Foundry America, abbreviated TFA (TM Foundry America), was completed.
The completion ceremony was held in front of a huge cuboid factory that was 15 stories high and the area was the size of four soccer fields.
Not to mention the governor of California.
President Edward, who was re-elected last year, also attended and received the attention of the American media.
Especially thanks to Edward’s voluntarily giving a congratulatory speech.
The status of TFA has risen significantly.
– (omitted)…Finally, I would like to express my gratitude once again for Mr. Kang’s decision to make a huge investment to grow together with the United States.
After the speech, I opened my mouth to Edward, who came down from the podium with the sound of applause.
“Mr. President. I can’t ask for anything more than your attendance while you’re busy, but even a handwritten speech… I don’t know what to say to thank you.”
“haha. Considering what Mr. Kang has done, this is nothing. If you have any difficulties running the foundry business in the future, please tell my assistant Liam. I can’t guarantee that everything will be solved, but I will help as much as possible.”
“haha. It’s reassuring to hear your words. Okay. Mr President.”
“yes. Then I will.”
So the ceremony was successfully completed.
I walked around the factory with Lee Min-hyung, the former head of the development team at the Korean corporation, who was in charge of the line setup of TFA.
“This manager. There were more difficulties because it was not in Korea, but in a foreign country, right? Thanks for your efforts.”
“haha. no. Thanks to the cooperation of the provincial government, it went more smoothly than when we set up the line in Korea. In fact, when building a new factory like this, the biggest stumbling block is the government, which goes through administrative procedures, but this time there was no such thing. The US is famous for being more picky about public officials than ours, so how the hell did you cook it?”
He financed the election of the President of the United States.
Since 10 trillion won was invested in the state of California, it was normal for even the stiffest civil servants to become mushy because they could not be fully boiled.
“It’s all about money. If it is about 10 trillion won, it is an amount that can have a big impact on the local economy. Besides, we are foreign capital. From the California governor’s point of view, we can publicize that we’ve managed to attract foreign capital, so it’s only natural that we can help.”
“yes. Have you finished setting up the line width 90nm (nanometer) process?”
The managing director answered with a proud face.
“That’s right. TFA is all over, and all TFK (TM Foundry Korea) lines are in the process of being replaced with a 90nm process. This means that we have widened the technology gap by more than a year compared to other competing foundries that have just finished developing the 130nm process.”
Now, the minimum stepping stone for Drill 3 to perform properly has been prepared.
Drill 3 produced by TFA will have a driving clock of at least 1.5Ghz and power consumption will also drop below 1W, so it will be able to take a more advantageous position in the competition with Wontel.
“haha. That’s great. When can the TFA line 2 be completed?”
It was planned to build two lines for 10 trillion won.
Today was the day the 1st line was completed.
It could have been done all at once, though.
Based on the 90nm process technology accumulated in Line 1, the next generation process, 45nm process, was planned to be developed and applied, so the construction start timing was delayed on purpose.
“We started construction last month, so we expect it to be around the first half of next year.”
“As I said before, leave some equipment on Line 1 for development. We have to start developing the 45nm process right away. We can see that we are one step ahead, but we must not be satisfied with that. Even if you delay a little, competitors such as Wontel in the US and ASMC in Taiwan will soon follow.”
“All right. Even if it is not, the immersion process suggested by the CEO is being tested and returned in the first TFA line. There are many things to improve, but the resolution has definitely improved. It is my expectation, but I think 6 months will be enough to get to the 45nm process.”
The immersion process is a technique that uses a laser lens to draw a semiconductor circuit by immersing it in water.
The shorter wavelength has the effect of improving resolution, and in the future, most foundry companies will use this immersion process.
Although the managing director was a capable person, he had a weakness that seemed to lack self-confidence.
Now, every word was filled with confidence.
He seems to have grown a lot through this setup experience, so I decided to give him a prize.
“This manager.”
“All the tasks entrusted to Executive Director Lee so far were important to prepare for the future of TM Foundry, and at the same time, it was a process of testing whether Executive Vice President Lee was qualified as the head of the corporation.”
I continued speaking to the executive director, who was looking at me with a nervous face.
“As a result of the test, we have concluded that Executive Director Lee has sufficient qualifications to become the head of the corporation. When the transition to the 90nm process to TFK is completed, you will be appointed as the head of the TFA corporation.”
At my words, the managing director bit his lip as if holding back the surge of excitement and emotion, and clenched his fists strongly.
