India: Develop Gadgets not just Chips

 Though India is making progress with making semiconductor chips happen, the real success would come when there are local gadget makers (like Apple, Samsung, Sony) are developed in India.

Apple built the chip supply chain, not the other way

Consumers all over the world want to hold iPhones in their hands. Similarly global businesses want a piece of Apple’s business too. They want to be suppliers of Apple or want to be associated with them. That gives immense power to Apple. A tight grip over an entire industry.

Being a fabless company, Apple began to source their chips from Foundries. They were the single most company which gave rise to the success of Foundry business model in semiconductors. Complex chips were manufactured in Taiwan and not so complex in China. Not to forget the chips and components which flew from South Korea, Europe and Japan. They were assembled and tested elsewhere and marketed all over the world.

Apple went global not just to save costs. They wanted exclusivity and protection of IP rights. They made the learning difficult and slow for their competition. For their suppliers, there is pain along with pride. For most of Apple’s suppliers, Apple is the biggest customer. Many of Apple’s suppliers run risky, concentrated businesses. Apple has the power to walk away and develop a new chip supplier elsewhere. Nvidia too enjoys similar benefits being another dominant player in their domain.

Who makes more money, gadget maker or chip maker?

If all is fair in business and war, you don’t want to criticize the dominant players. Rather you want to see how to grab a portion of their business. If we want to build fabs to make chips, not only we have to compete with other chip makers for business efficiency, but we will be at the mercy of companies who buys chips.

South Korea, China, Europe and Japan have local smart phone and other electronic gadget makers who can buy chips locally either for cost benefits or supply chain constraints. Chip makers in those countries have a domestic market and are not entirely dependent on exports. In India, there is no big electronic gadget maker present to consume chips made in India. Chips are needed in many industries, but electronic gadgets are the main market consuming semiconductor chips.

A company with successful products like Apple can develop its supply chain and create a huge market for its suppliers. And for companies like Apple, Nvidia, a good portion of their revenue is profits unlike their chip making suppliers who make thin margins. Build businesses like Apple, Samsung, Sony who make gadgets, their supply chain too will flourish. Build only fabs, you are a dependent.

Audacious goal

However audacious it might look like, a goal of building businesses which consume chips and market end products would be great for a consuming economy like India than just making chips. If India can change itself to build an environment conducive to making chips, it should do the same to develop customers for the fabs it is building.

ನೀನಾರಿಗಾದೆಯೋ ಎಲೆ ಮಾನವ?

ಕೇರಳದ ವೈನಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಮತ್ತು ಹಿಮಾಚಲ ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಸುರಿಯುತ್ತಿರುವ ಮಳೆ ಮತ್ತು ಅದು ಸೃಷ್ಟಿಸಿದ ಅನಾಹುತ ಸಾವು-ನೋವುಗಳು ಅಪಾರ. ಮೇಲ್ನೋಟಕ್ಕೆ ಇದು ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯ ವಿಕೋಪ ಎನಿಸಿದರೂ ಅದು ಮನುಷ್ಯನೇ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಂಡ ಅಪಘಾತ.

ಹೀಗೆ ಆಗುತ್ತಿರುವುದು ಇದೇ ಮೊದಲೇನಲ್ಲ. ಉತ್ತರಾಖಂಡ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಹಲವಾರು ಬಾರಿ ಹೀಗೆ ಆಗಿದೆ. ನೇಪಾಳದಲ್ಲಿ, ಚೆನ್ನೈ ನಲ್ಲಿ, ಕೊಡಗಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ಹೀಗೆ ಪ್ರತಿ ವರ್ಷ ಒಂದಲ್ಲ ಒಂದು ಸ್ಥಳದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಳೆ ಸೃಷ್ಠಿಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ನೆರೆ ಜನರನ್ನು ತೊಂದರೆಗೆ ಒಳ ಪಡಿಸುತ್ತಲೇ ಇದೇ. ಹಾಗೆಯೆ ಪ್ರತಿ ಸಾರಿ ತಜ್ಞರು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಲೇ ಇದ್ದಾರೆ. ನದಿ ಪಾತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಟ್ಟಡಗಳನ್ನು ಕಟ್ಟಬೇಡಿ  ಎಂದು. ಆದರೆ ಜನ ನದಿಯ ಹತ್ತಿರವೇ ವಾಸ ಸ್ಥಳಗಳನ್ನು ನಿರ್ಮಿಸುವುದು ಬಿಡುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ನೀರು ನಿಲ್ಲುವ ಜಾಗಗಳಲ್ಲಿ, ಕೆರೆಗಳನ್ನು ಒತ್ತುವರಿ ಮಾಡಿ ಜನ ತಮ್ಮ ಉಪಯೋಗಗಳಗೆ ಬಳಸಿ ಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಮಳೆಗಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಮಳೆ ನೀರು ಆ ಜಾಗಗಳಿಗೆ ನುಗ್ಗಿ ನೈಸರ್ಗಿಕವಾಗಿ ತನ್ನದ ಆದ ಜಾಗವನ್ನು ಮತ್ತೆ ತನ್ನ ತೆಕ್ಕೆಗೆ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದು ಮನುಷ್ಯ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯ ನಡುವಿನ ತಿಕ್ಕಾಟ. 

  

ಗುಡ್ಡ ಪ್ರದೇಶಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಯುವ ಗಣಿಗಾರಿಕೆ, ಬಂಡೆ ಕೊರೆಯುವ ಸಲುವಾಗಿ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸುವ ಸ್ಫೋಟಕಗಳು ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಮಣ್ಣನ್ನು ಸಡಿಲಗೊಳಿಸಿ ಮಳೆಗಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಅದು ಸುಲಭವಾಗಿ ಜಾರಿ ಹೋಗುವಂತೆ ಮಾಡುತ್ತವೆ. ಆ ದಾರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ರಸ್ತೆಗಳು, ತೋಟಗಳು, ಮನೆಗಳು ಇದ್ದರೆ ಆ ಮಣ್ಣು ಅವುಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಜಾರದೆ ಬಿಟ್ಟಿತೇ? ಭೂಕುಸಿತ ಎಂದು ವರದಿ ಮಾಡುವ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮಗಳು ಅಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಸಿದ ಬೇಕಾಬಿಟ್ಟಿ ಗಣಿಗಾರಿಕೆಗಳನ್ನು ಅಷ್ಟೇ ಮುತುವರ್ಜಿಯಿಂದ ಏಕೆ ವರದಿ ಮಾಡುವುದಿಲ್ಲ?

ಈಗಲೂ ತಜ್ಞರು ಹೇಳುತ್ತಲೇ ಇದ್ದಾರೆ. ಹಿಮಾಲಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಣೆಕಟ್ಟುಗಳನ್ನು ಕಟ್ಟಬೇಡಿ, ದೊಡ್ಡ ಕಾಮಗಾರಿಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾಡಬೇಡಿ ಎಂದು. ಆದರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ಗಂಗೋತ್ರಿಗೆ ಚತುಷ್ಪತ ರಸ್ತೆ ಹೆದ್ದಾರಿ ನಿರ್ಮಿಸಿದೆ. ಖಾಸಗಿ ಕಂಪನಿಗಳು ನದಿ ಹರಿಯುವ ಜಾಗಗಳಿಗೆ ಹತ್ತಿರದಲ್ಲೇ ರೆಸಾರ್ಟ್ ನಿರ್ಮಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ನದಿ, ಕಾಡು ಪರಿಸರಗಳನ್ನು ಉದ್ಯಮಗಳನ್ನಾಗಿಸಿ ಹಣ ಮಾಡುವ ಹುನ್ನಾರದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಆದರೆ ಅವರ ಯೋಜನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮಣ್ಣು ಮಾಡಲು ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಗೆ ಒಂದು ಮಳೆ ಸಾಕು.

ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯ ವಿಕಾಸದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೊನೆಗೆ ಬಂದ ಮಾನವ, ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯನ್ನೇ ತನ್ನ ಮುಷ್ಟಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹಿಡಿದಿಡುವ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ಮಾಡಿದರೆ, ಅಪಾರ ಶಕ್ತಿಯ ಪ್ರಕೃತಿ ಅವನನ್ನೇ ತುಳಿದು ಹಾಕುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಮನುಷ್ಯನನ್ನು ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಯಾವುದೇ ಪ್ರಾಣಿ-ಪಕ್ಷಿಗಳು ಆಣೆಕಟ್ಟು ಕಟ್ಟುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯನ್ನು ತನ್ನ ಸ್ವಾರ್ಥ ಸಾಧನೆಗೆ ಬಳಸಿಕೊಳುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಬದಲಿಗೆ ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯೊಡನೆ ಹೊಂದಿಕೊಂಡು ಬಾಳುತ್ತವೆ. ಆದರೆ ಬುದ್ದಿವಂತಿಕೆ ಹೊಂದಿದ ಮಾನವ, ಸಣ್ಣ ಪುಟ್ಟ ವಿಜಯಗಳನ್ನು ಸಾಧಿಸಿದ ಹಾಗೆ ಕಂಡರೂ, ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯ ಯೋಜನೆಗಳ ಮುಂದೆ ಕುಬ್ಜನಾಗಿಬಿಡುತ್ತಾನೆ.

ಪರಸ್ಪರ ಹೊಂದಿಕೊಂಡು ಬಾಳುವುದೇ ಬದುಕು ಆದರೆ ಮಾನವ ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿರುವುದು ಏನು? ನೆರೆ ಅನಾಹುತಗಳು ಅವನು ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿರುವ ತಪ್ಪುಗಳಿಗೆ ಅವನಿಗೆ ಸಿಕ್ಕ ಶಿಕ್ಷೆ ಅಲ್ಲವೇ? ಇಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೂ ಮಾನವನ ಮೇಲೆ ಅನುಕಂಪ ತೋರಿಸುವ ಅವಶ್ಯಕತೆ ಇತರ ಪ್ರಾಣಿ-ಪಕ್ಷಿಗಳಿಗೆ, ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಗೆ ಏಕಿರುತ್ತದೆ? ಅವುಗಳು ಕೇಳುತ್ತಿರಬಹುದಲ್ಲವೇ - ನೀನಾರಿಗಾದೆಯೋ, ಎಲೆ ಮಾನವ?

ಗುಡಿ ಸೇರದ, ಮುಡಿ ಏರದ

ಹೂವಿನ ಸಾರ್ಥಕತೆ ಇರುವದೇ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಅಲ್ಲವೇ? ಗುಡಿ ಸೇರಿ ಪೂಜಿಸಿಕೊಂಡರೆ, ಮುಡಿ ಏರಿ ಆಕರ್ಷಿಸದೇ ಹೋದರೆ ಹೂವಾಗಿ ಅರಳಿ ಏನು ಉಪಯೋಗ? ಆದರೆ ಕಡೆಗಣಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಹೂಗಳಿಗೇನು ಕಮ್ಮಿ ಇಲ್ಲ.

 

ಇಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೂ ಆರಾಧಕ ಇಲ್ಲದೆ ಹೋದರೆ ಸೌಂದರ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಏನು ಬೆಲೆ? ಯಾವುದೊ ಕಾಡ ಮೂಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಘಮ್ಮೆನೆ ಅರಳಿ ಹಾಗೆಯೆ ಬಾಡಿ ಹೋಗುವ ಹೂವುಗಳ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಯಾರು ತಲೆ ಕೆಡಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಾರೆ? ಹೂವಿಗೆ ಬೆಲೆ ಬರುವುದು ಅದರ ಬಣ್ಣಗಳನ್ನು ಮೆಚ್ಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಚಿತ್ರಕಲಾವಿದನಿಂದ. ಅದರ ಸುವಾಸನೆಯನ್ನು ಮೆಚ್ಚಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಜನರಿಂದ. ಅದನ್ನು ಹಾರವಾಗಿ ದೇವರ ಕೊರಳಿಗೆ ಅರ್ಪಿಸುವ ಭಕ್ತರಿಂದ. ಅದನ್ನು ಮುಡಿದು ತಮ್ಮ ಅಂದ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಹೆಂಗಸರಿಂದ.

 

ಅದನ್ನೇ ನಮ್ಮ ಜನರ ಜೀವನಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಲಿಸಿ ನೋಡೋಣ. ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಪ್ರಮಾಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಹಣ ಗಳಿಸುವ ಜನರಿಗೆ ಪ್ರಪಂಚದ ಎಲ್ಲ ಮೂಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಗೌರವ ಇದೆ. ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ರಿಕೆಟ್ ಆಟಗಾರರಿಗೆ, ಚಲನ ಚಿತ್ರ ಕಲಾವಿದರಿಗೆ, ಧರ್ಮ ಗುರುಗಳಿಗೆ, ಮಠಾಧಿಪತಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಇರುವ ಗೌರವ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನದು. ಹಾಗೆಯೆ ಹೆಚ್ಚಿನ ಹಣ, ಜನಪ್ರಿಯತೆ ಗಳಿಸದೆ ಇದ್ದರೂ, ಮಕ್ಕಳನ್ನು ತಿದ್ದುವ ಮೇಷ್ಟ್ರುಗಳಿಗೆ ಸಮಾಜದ ಮನ್ನಣೆ ಇದೆ. ಹಾಗೆಯೆ ಗಡಿ ಕಾಯುವ ಸೈನಿಕ ಪ್ರಾಣ ತೆತ್ತಾಗ ಅವನ ಅಂತ್ಯ ಸಂಸ್ಕಾರಕ್ಕೆ ಇಡೀ ಊರಿನ ಜನ ಬಂದು ಗೌರವ ಕೊಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಅವರೆಲ್ಲ ನಿಸ್ಸಂದೇಹವಾಗಿ ಗುಡಿ ಸೇರುವ ಹೂಗಳು.

 

ಬ್ಯಾಂಕ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾಲ ಮಂಜೂರು ಮಾಡುವ ಆಫೀಸರ್ ಗಳು, ಡಿ.ಸಿ. ಆಫೀಸಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಕ್ಲರ್ಕುಗಳು ಗುಡಿ ಸೇರದೆ ಇದ್ದರೂ ಅವಶ್ಯಕತೆ ಇರುವವರ ಮುಡಿ ಸೇರುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಪ್ರತಿ ದಿನ ಬೇರೆ ಬೇರೆಯವರ ಮುಡಿ ಸೇರಿ ಕೃತಜ್ಞರಾಗುತ್ತಾರೆ.

 

ಇನ್ನು ಕೆಲವು ಜನರ ಸೇವೆ ಯಾರ ಕಣ್ಣಿಗೂ ಗೌರವ ಕೊಡುವ ಹಾಗೆ ಕಾಣುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಹೋಟೆಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ತಿಂಡಿ ತಂದು ಕೊಡುವ ಸಪ್ಲಾಯಿರ್ಗಳು, ರಸ್ತೆ ಕಸ ಗುಡಿಸುವ, ಚರಂಡಿ ಸ್ವಚ್ಛಗೊಳಿಸುವ ಪೌರ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರು, ಸ್ಮಶಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಕುಣಿ ತೊಡುವವರು ಅವರುಗಳ ಕೆಲಸ ಯಾರಿಗೂ ಮಹತ್ವದ್ದು ಅನಿಸುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಅವರುಗಳು ಗುಡಿ ಸೇರದ, ಮುಡಿ ಏರದ, ಕಡೆಗಾಣಿಸೋ ಹೂಗಳು.

 

ಮನುಷ್ಯ ಸಂಘ ಜೀವಿ. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಬ್ಬರಿಗೂ ತಮ್ಮ ಜೀವನ ಮಹತ್ವದ್ದು ಎಂದು ಅನಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಇರಾದೆ ಇದ್ದೆ ಇರುತ್ತದೆ. ಆದರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಸಮಾಜ ಕೆಲವರನ್ನು ಗುಡಿ ಸೇರಿಸಿ, ಕೆಲವರನ್ನು ಮುಡಿಗೇರಿಸಿ ಉಳಿದೆಲ್ಲರನ್ನು ಯಾವುದೇ ಮುಲಾಜು ಇಲ್ಲದೆ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥಿತವಾಗಿ ತುಳಿದು ಹಾಕುತ್ತದೆ. ಅವರುಗಳು ತಮ್ಮ ಜೀವನದ ಸಾರ್ಥಕತೆ ಕಂಡು ಕೊಳ್ಳಲು ಪ್ರತಿ ದಿನ ಹೋರಾಡಬೇಕು. ಹೋರಾಡುವುದರಲ್ಲೇ ಅವರ ಸಾರ್ಥಕತೆ ಅಡಗಿದೆ ಏನೋ?

Book Review: Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson

This book begins with a description about maternal grandparents of Elon Musk, their private planes and their risk taking habits. Then it moves on to the early childhood of Elon with this father who was an abusive person (toxic would be a better description) which built many insecurities into Elon's life at the childhood and made him a crazy person like his father. But Elon's mother worked in two shifts a day to make ends meet and provide for her kids.

After childhood, Elon along with his brother and mother moves to Canada seeking a better life. There he goes to college and hones his skills of developing computer games. There after they move to the US. It is his hunger for knowledge and a quest to solve problems in creative ways begin to show up there. His start-up to convert a Yellow Pages directory into an online portal gives him money he needed. There on he moves on to building a payment platform. When that is sold, Elon gets his first million dollars and his passions start to flare encouraging him to take bigger and bolder risks.

After reading several manuals on the rockets and his failed attempts to buy used Russian rockets for his project to reach Mars, he starts his own company SpaceX to build rockets. Though the first 3 attempts to launch rockets fail, the fourth one becomes successful. His attitude of questioning everything and novel ways to look for alternate ways to get things done helps him build rockets at a fraction of the cost NASA builds rockets and in a lesser timer horizon than them as well.

When he is pitched for investments into Tesla to build electric vehicles, he not only invests but becomes a founder of the company and eventually it's CEO. He takes on the entire Auto industry and builds an efficient electric car which becomes a commercial success too. And the valuation of Tesla makes Elon Musk not only a billionaire but the richest person in the world.

He has many other side projects which became businesses like The Boring company, Neuralink. His investments in Open AI does not serve the purpose he had in mind, so he gets into building a new AI company himself. His interest in turning around Twitter consumes his bandwidth and many billion dollars also.

When all of this was happening, his personal life too went through many ups and downs. Multiple marriages and divorces follow. There were many failed relationships too. And in the businesses he had managed he fired many people at all levels. Many good people left him as they did not agree with him and they could not tolerate his abrasive behavior.

Elon is a no regular person in any measure. He has built many businesses and scaled them successfully that needed talent, grit and hard work. But the qualities that brought him success came bundled with  craziness as well. Only a person who is crazy enough to think he can change the world will be able to change the world. That is Elon Musk for you. 

This biographical book has 95 chapters and 670 pages long. It took me almost a month to read. Though author of this books has several biographical works to his credit, this book captures the vivid, crazy and drama filled life of a person as lively as possible.

The big fat wedding & the times to come

The senior Ambani, Dhirubai, was not a shy person. He had political connections for obvious persons. He had even sponsored Cricket World Cup. But that was to promote his business. It was less of a show-off and he did not go overboard with it. The parties he threw did not have too many cricketers and Bollywood stars. He meant business most of the times.

He had two sons. One was quite, introverted and seemed to be busy in his own world. The younger son, Anil, was flashy, had married a Bollywood star and was seeking attention everywhere he went. For right or wrong reasons, this younger son of Dhirubhai did not make right decisions in the world of business. The empire he had inherited disappeared into thin air in just matter of a decade.

The quite elder son Mukesh did well and multiplied the wealth he had inherited. His children are grown-up now and getting married now. And he wants his children to do well in their respective businesses. Just like his father was not equally lucky with his both children, a similar fate might be awaiting for children of Mukesh as well. Here are the reasons which makes me think so.

Mukesh looking at the type of person he is, he is not fond of movie stars or cricketers. It is his wife who owns a IPL team. It is Nita, Mukesh's wife who wants Bollywood stars in the parties she throws. And the wedding in their family shows to what extent Nita is willing to spend her husband's money. Though Mukesh would not mind losing 0.1% of wealth he has amassed, there is a problem with the attitude of his family now.

All these movie stars, cricketers are there at Mukesh's house for money, connections and to be in the good books. That power is given by the wealth of Mukesh and not the enterprising attitude of Nita, she only wants to be in the limelight. When Mukesh is going step away from the businesses he owns, his children will come into front. If they too get attracted by the flashy world their mother is attracted to and fail to make shrewd business decisions, the empire their father has built will quickly disappear. Much faster than their uncle Anil had lost money. While it might be early to expect what would happen, children siding with their mother and taking pride to be with movie stars and cricketers is really concerning. 

All is well until Mukesh is at the helm. But whatever he has done can be quickly undone too. And what would cause that is being shown on media these days. A trailer of what would come in the future.