想成为亚洲公司就是大逆不道？

十年前(2002年)的一个12月天，笔者曾与当时的EETimes美国版总编辑Brian Fuller并肩坐在英国伦敦某家酒店宴会厅，听那时候的英飞凌(Infineon)CEO Ulrich Schumacher谈论一个不可思议的话题；他是在响应一个感觉有点呆、像是醉话，又或许是个陷阱的问题：“英飞凌可能将总部迁出慕尼黑吗？” Schumacher 慢慢地从英飞凌如何成为一家跨国公司说起，指该公司在全球各地拥有数个制造据点，会计团队则设置在葡萄牙；然后他话锋一转表示，英飞凌因为总部位于德国而背负比部分竞争对手沉重许多的赋税压力，这种差别待遇是让人难以接受的，而为了减轻成本，该公司会采取必要措施。 当在场听众对Schumacher的激烈反应大感惊愕时，他又平静地说，以上都是不成熟的想法：“我们会搬到别的地方去吗？这并不是一个可以轻率做成的决定。”后来有报导指出，瑞士与新加坡都可能是英飞凌重新选择总部据点的候选地。 笔者事后诸葛的猜想是，英飞凌董监事会应该对Schumacher的谈话内容不太高兴，这可能也为他最后离开英飞凌埋下伏笔。英飞凌是在1999年4月1日 成立，并在2000年3月首次公开上市(IPO)；而最具代表性的德国公司之一西门子(Siemens)，当时仍是英飞凌的大股东，在其董事会中应该也有主导权。 Schumacher后来又在英飞凌待了15个月，直到2004年3月无预警辞职；在那个时候，德国IG Metall工会指责Schumacher试图挑起劳工政策争议，而且说他公开谈论企业总部可能移往亚洲的话题，是“破坏形象”。而在十年之后，有数家公司丝毫不讳言它们“基本上”是亚洲企业，或是如何积极地进军中国芯片与电子设备市场；那些公司的高层应该也不认为会因为这样的言论而丢饭碗。 恩智浦(NXP Semiconductors)CEO Rick Clemmer最近就很开心地表示，NXP“实际上是一家中国公司”； 不过他并没有说要把总部迁出荷兰，而且指出：“我们至今仍然是一家荷兰公司的唯一理由，是因为我们仍享受着荷兰的税收减免优惠。”多年来，为了节省赋税， 有越来越多企业流行在某地设置空壳公司；就连苹果(Apple)这样的大公司也会积极寻找节税方法，他们也不是唯一会这么做的企业。 Schumacher在离开英飞凌之后，曾前往中国担任晶圆代工业者宏力半导体(Grace Semiconductor)的CEO，因此在某种层面上，他可以说是实践了他的理想…说不定他是未卜先知呢？ 编译：Judith Cheng 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 参考英文原文：Move Infineon to Asia? Who said that?，by Peter Clarke

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{pagination} Move Infineon to Asia? Who said that? Peter Clarke I was sat alongside Brian Fuller, who was then EE Times editor-in-chief, in the ballroom of a London hotel as I heard Ulrich Schumacher, then CEO of Infineon Technologies AG, talk about the unthinkable. It was December 2002 and I remember the frisson that went through me as I realized what Schumacher was saying. He was responding to a question that seemed to be either idiotic, alcoholic or planted. "Would Infineon move its headquarters from Munich?" Schumacher started off slowly by talking about how much Infineon was already an international company with manufacturing at various locations around the world and teams of accountants in Portugal doing the bean counting. Then he warmed to his task. Schumacher said that the tax regime his company experienced was some 18 percent worse than that enjoyed by some competitors and that this difference was unacceptable. He added that by being based in Germany, Infineon was battling against an unacceptable tax burden and was prepared to do, "whatever is necessary" to alleviate the cost Having floated this radical idea Schumacher then calmed things down by saying that such talk was premature. "Would we go somewhere else? It's not something we would do lightly," Schumacher concluded. In subsequent reporting Switzerland and Singapore emerged as leading candidates for a relocated Infineon. I reckon the Infineon supervisory board didn't like that kind of talk and with hindsight it seems like it was the beginning of the end for Schumacher at Infineon. Although Infineon had been formed on April 1, 1999, and conducted an IPO in March 2000, that most German of companies Siemens was still a substantial shareholder and probably dominated the board. Schumacher lasted another 15 months until March 2004 when he unexpectedly resigned amidst a disagreement over strategy. At the time the IG Metall union blamed the controversy on tough labor policies Schumacher was trying to bring in and "image-damaging discussion of the dislocation of the company's headquarters to Asia." Well here we are 10 years later and now several companies are only too eager to say how they are basically far-eastern companies and well plugged into the greater China chip and equipment manufacturing nexus. They certainly don't expect to lose their jobs for such talk. Rick Clemmer, CEO of NXP Semiconductors NV was recently happy to describe NXP as being practically a Chinese company. However, that did not mean Clemmer was proposing to move NXP's headquarters from Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Quite the contrary: "The only reason we are still a Dutch company is because we enjoy our tax breaks in the Netherlands," he said. And ten years on talk about corporate tax rates is also back in vogue with the number of companies setting up shell companies to move revenue streams about seemingly on the increase. Apple is attracting a lot of anger for the way it has set itself to minimize its tax liabilities but it is certainly not the only company. After leaving Infineon Schumacher took a position leading Chinese foundry Grace Semiconductor so at one level he practiced what he preached. Perhaps he was an executive ahead of his time?