The next day, I arrived at the address the counterfeit factory owner had given me.
"…This is it? Seriously?"
The factory was located in the same industrial complex we had been searching yesterday.
"Isn't this the factory we visited yesterday? The one that said they manufactured electric fans…"
Manager Han also looked dumbfounded.
"…Yes, it is."
It was the same factory we had dismissed after hearing that they manufactured electric fans.
"We were completely fooled."
Maru said triumphantly,
"See? We found it easily thanks to me. What would you have done without me?"
"Yes, yes, you did a great job."
I indulged Maru's playful boasting, acknowledging his reverse-tracing idea, and we entered the factory.
It was a small factory, with a single building on a 1,650 square meter site.
I called the factory owner, and as if on cue, the factory door opened, and a plump, bald man came out.
I greeted him with a smile, shook his hand, and asked Manager Han to interpret for me.
"Tell him it's a pleasure to meet him, and I hope we can have a mutually beneficial business relationship."
Manager Han nodded and spoke to the owner.
"He says he's also glad to meet you and wants us to come inside."
"Let's do that."
The owner led us to a shabby room with six metal folding chairs. It could hardly be called an office.
"His name is Wang Ho. He wants to see the IC chips."
I took out the sample bags I had prepared and handed them to Wang Ho.
"Tell him this is 256 kilobytes, this is 512 kilobytes, this is 1 megabyte, and the rest are unverified."
While Manager Han explained, Wang Ho picked up the bags and carefully examined the contents.
He looked at the chips from all angles and then said something to Manager Han.
"He's asking where we got these. He says they don't look new."
I smiled.
"Tell him it doesn't matter. As long as they work."
Wang Ho thought for a moment, nodded, and then called out to an employee in a loud voice, asking for the testing equipment.
He skillfully attached an IC chip to a small board, stared at the monitor for a while, nodded, and then started testing the other chips.
He took out ten chips at random from each of the four bags and tested them. I sighed in relief every time he nodded.
Maru, who was watching nervously, whispered to me,
"It seems to be working, right? His reaction isn't bad."
"Yeah, I think so."
Wang Ho tested 40 chips and then took out another ten from each bag, testing them one by one meticulously. After an hour of tense silence, he looked at me and said something to Manager Han.
"He's asking if we can guarantee a steady supply."
"Tell him this is just a sample, so the quantity is limited, but we can guarantee a steady supply starting next month."
I had declared our expansion into China the previous evening and asked CEO Wu to find a suitable site for us.
Our goal was to start the IC chip restoration business within a month. CEO Wu readily agreed to my request to set up shop in Shenzhen.
He had only been in Shenzhen for less than a year and was feeling lonely, with no one to socialize with besides his employees. He was delighted to have us there.
"He's asking about the price."
"The buyer should make the first offer. That's how business works. We'll accept if we like the price, or we walk away."
Wang Ho thought for a moment and said something to Manager Han.
"He's offering 500 won for 256 kilobytes, 600 won for 512 kilobytes, 800 won for 1 megabyte, and 500 won for the unverified ones."
"Only 100 won more for 512 kilobytes, which has double the capacity of 256 kilobytes?"
"He says 256 kilobytes is enough for making Tamagotchis, so there's no need to pay more for higher capacity chips."
I frowned.
The prices he was offering were already five times higher than what we would get from extracting gold, but I wasn't satisfied.
I felt like we could get more.
"1,500 won for 256 kilobytes and the unverified ones, 2,000 won for 512 kilobytes. We're not selling the 1-megabyte chips."
Wang Ho's eyes widened, and he protested in an agitated voice.
"He says the prices are too high. He says it would be better to buy genuine chips at that price."
I had tried to find out the market price of IC chips through semiconductor companies before coming here, but their prices fluctuated a lot and were considered confidential information, so I couldn't get any concrete numbers.
I didn't know if Wang Ho was bluffing, but I decided to play hardball.
"Then tell him to use genuine chips. We're not running a charity."
Wang Ho thought for a moment and then said,
"He'll pay 700 won for 256 kilobytes."
"700 won…"
My resolve wavered slightly at the 200 won increase.
I couldn't tell if this was his final offer or if he was still lowballing us. As I hesitated, Manager Han said,
"CEO Park, what's your target price?"
"The more, the better, of course."
"Then let's pretend the deal is off."
I narrowed my eyes.
"What if he actually walks away?"
"I have a feeling he's interested in the goods. He wouldn't have raised the price otherwise. How about we try it my way?"
I smiled at Manager Han's suggestion.
"Let's do it. This is just the first counterfeit factory we've found. If the deal falls through, we'll just have to search for another one."
I put on a disappointed expression and said to Manager Han,
"Tell him it's a shame that the prices don't match. We came here hoping for a mutually beneficial deal, but it seems it won't work out. We'll try again next time."
I stood up and turned to leave, ignoring Wang Ho's flustered expression. He said something urgently, and Manager Han smiled.
"800 won."
"Hehehe."
I continued walking towards the door without saying a word.
"900 won."
"Is that his final offer?"
"I don't know."
As we were talking, Wang Ho said something again, and Manager Han chuckled.
"He seems desperate. 1,000 won."
"I think we've squeezed him enough. What's his expression like?"
Manager Han looked back at Wang Ho.
"He looks determined."
I nodded and turned around to face Wang Ho.
"Shall we talk again?"
We sold all of our 256-kilobyte and unverified chips for 1,000 won each and the 512-kilobyte chips for 1,500 won each.
We had brought a bag of each as samples, and since the chips were so small, each bag contained about 500 chips. We received 1.75 million won for the 1,500 chips.
There might be some faulty chips, but the number would be negligible, so we let the factory handle it.
"1.75 million won. If we had extracted the gold, it would have been worth only 200,000 won. And we made 1.75 million won from secondhand memory chips salvaged from discarded boards."
"We can completely dominate the electronic scrap market with these prices! 10,000 won for 1 kg of RAM cards for gold extraction, and we're getting 100,000 won. It's no contest."
I said to Maru, who was beaming,
"But the problem is that this is an incredibly simple process."
Anyone could enter the IC chip restoration business, as it only involved heating the chips to melt the solder.
"Ah, you're right. Damn it, why are we always facing this problem? We start first, but then the latecomers catch up."
We had enjoyed a lucrative monopoly in the electronic scrap business, but after the contract expired, many competitors emerged.
The same thing had happened with discarded computers. We were always being caught up by latecomers, and Maru was worried that the same thing might happen again.
"Why does this always happen to us? Of course, we'll make a lot of money before the word gets out, but…"
I burst out laughing at his worried expression.
"Hahahahahaha, are you that worried?"
"Wouldn't you be worried? Why are you laughing?"
"Latecomers? Let them come."
"Why are you so nonchalant?"
I smirked and said,
"This is different from the electronic scrap business. In that business, the smelters, who could extract gold, had the upper hand and controlled the junkyards. The sales channels were limited."
After Naoshima Smelter saw the lucrative profits from electronic scrap, other smelters jumped in, and now three Japanese smelters were producing gold.
I walked over to the window, opened the curtains, and looked at the Shenzhen night view.
"China, especially Shenzhen, is a manufacturing paradise. Low labor costs, tariff avoidance through Hong Kong… Many new manufacturing companies will emerge."
"What does that have to do with latecomers?"
"First, we maintain secrecy and focus on IC chip restoration. We'll hire a large number of salespeople and send them all over the world. Developed countries, developing countries, it doesn't matter. We'll send them everywhere. Even developing countries generate electronic scrap. We need to make as much money as we can."
"Why are you changing the subject?"
"We're expanding the market."
I smiled at Maru and said,
"We'll lead the expansion and then control it."
"How?"
"At the right time, we'll release the IC chip restoration technology to the public. We'll make it accessible to everyone."
Maru was surprised.
"What? You're not just leaking it, you're releasing it?"
"Tens of thousands of junkyards will jump in once they realize that IC chips are valuable, right? Then they'll need sales channels for the restored chips. And manufacturers will need to buy components. But how will they find each other? Tens of thousands of manufacturers, tens of thousands of IC chip restorers, and thousands of different types of IC chips. They'll need a way to connect."
I spread my arms excitedly.
"Low labor costs, tariff avoidance, everything is perfect. We'll turn Shenzhen into the mecca of restored IC chips, expand the market, and then monopolize the distribution. We've done it before."
Maru groaned.
"The secondhand goods… price list."
"Exactly. We'll become a major distributor, connecting the buyers and sellers. We'll buy all the restored IC chips and sell them to everyone. If we can't protect the technology, this is the best option."
I grinned.
"It's the birth of a brand new market: secondhand electronic components. And we'll control it from start to finish. This is just the first step."