联发科的“联发”优势

Watch out Qualcomm, Broadcom and AMD. MediaTek’s bid for MStar vaults the Taiwanese chipmakers into fourth place by fabless (that is, designing and selling the chips, but not actually making them) sales. If they can redeploy their research and development overlap and use MediaTek’s market-creating savvy, they could just pose a threat.

高通(Qualcomm)、博通(Broadcom)和AMD超微公司要留神了。联发科(MediaTek)对晨星(MStar)的收购要约，令这家台湾芯片商一跃成为Fabless芯片（即设计和销售芯片，但并不从事芯片制造）销售排名第四的公司。如果他们能重新部署重叠的研发资源，并利用联发科在开辟市场方面的精明，他们很可能构成威胁。

MediaTek’sreputation rests on its innovative packaging of full chip “solutions to Chinese makers of cheap phones. After the early iPhone knock-offs, this spawned the legitimate low-cost smartphone industry that has overtaken the high-end market by sales globally. MStar competes (poorly) in phone chips but its strength lies in the television market.

联发科的声誉缘于其为中国廉价手机制造商提供创新的一站式芯片整体解决方案。在早期仿制iPhone的山寨版手机之后，这已催生了合法的低成本智能手机行业，在全球销售上已超越高端市常晨星也参与手机芯片竞争，但表现不佳，其优势是在电视机市常

The financial rationale for the merger is simple: keeping up with the Americans is expensive. In its China-leading profits heyday in 2007, MediaTek generated $9 in sales for every $1 spent on R&D. Now it gets $4, in line with the biggies. Operating margins have tumbled from two-fifths to about 14 per cent – still double that of AMD, but only half of Qualcomm. MStar, meanwhile, is still getting an impressive $6 for every R&D dollar. The challenge for the new company will be retaining and refocusing more than 1,000 handset-focused engineers (Nomura estimates) on next-generation projects.

合并的财务理由很简单：要跟上美国竞争对手是代价高昂的。在2007年由中国市场引领的利润高峰期，联发科投入研发的1美元，能带来9美元的销售。如今则只能带来4美元的销售，跟大公司相仿。营业利润率已从40%暴跌至大约14%——仍是AMD的两倍，但只有高通的一半。与此同时，晨星公司每投入1美元研发，仍可带来挺不错的6美元销售。新公司面临的挑战，将是留住1000多名（据野村证券的估计）专注研发手机的工程技术人员，并将其投入下一代项目。

New MediaTek (2011 sales of $4.2bn, compared with $6.6bn for AMD, number three) might not yet have the Americans quaking. After all, its squeezed margins are testament to the power of the biggest: its strong position with Shenzhen’s small phonemakers is being superseded by Qualcomm’s links with the emerging giants and its cut-throat pricing.

新的联发科（2011年销售为42亿美元，排名第三的AMD销售为66亿美元）也许还不能对美国同行造成威胁。毕竟，其受到挤压的利润率证明了大企业的威力：它在深圳小型手机商圈子中的强大地位，正被高通与新生代巨型企业的联系及其咄咄逼人的定价所代替。

Still, MediaTek chairman Tsai Ming-kai is known as a far-sighted thinker. The question is whether he can use his added resources to repeat his China mould-breaking move – and profit before the Americans put the squeeze on once more. After all, MediaTek knows to its cost that it is only as good as its last revolutionary product.

尽管如此，联发科董事长蔡明介(Tsai Ming-kai)以远见灼知闻名。问题是他能否利用自己的新增资源，重复他在中国的打破模式之举，并在美国同行再一次挤压利润率之前获利。毕竟，联发科在付出代价后明白，要评判公司成功与否，只能看它最新一款革命性的产品。