Reborn in the red age

"What? No, no, this is too much money. The higher-ups will definitely not agree. If I report it, I'll just get scolded and have to send it back."

Back at Huaxin Building, as soon as Li Qingfeng presented his ideas to Xie Wanmin, Xie Wanmin immediately jumped up from his stool, waving his hands and shaking his head.

Looking at Xie Wanmin's panicked look, Li Qingfeng was not surprised at all.

China is not like foreign countries. It has always been stingy with R&D funds. A company's R&D funds per year are 6 to 7 million US dollars. Is this a joke? How much is the domestic military expenditure?
Last year's defense budget was only over 600 billion, which is only over 70 billion US dollars when converted into US dollars. A company's annual R&D expenses account for % of military expenditure. It sounds like a fantasy. Anyone who dares to report it will be scolded.

Without waiting for Li Qingfeng to speak, Xu Yuanming at the side immediately pulled Xie Wanmin to persuade him, "Look at you, Old Xie, why are you in such a hurry now? Just give it a try, and maybe it will pass if you report it."

Xu Yuanming has always regarded the photolithography plant project as a burden for Huaxin. With so much money invested every year, let alone whether it can be successful, what would happen even if the project succeeds?
With such a huge R&D cost spread out, wouldn’t the cost of building a lithography factory be extremely high?

If you cannot buy advanced foreign lithography machines, choosing TSMC as a foundry is the most cost-effective option. There is no need to set up your own lithography factory.

It's not easy to see that Li Qingfeng is willing to separate the lithography factory project from Huaxin, so why not try to persuade him as soon as possible?

So even if it becomes independent, Huaxin will still need to invest in it, but at least Huaxin will not have to bear the entire R&D expenses, which is a considerable relief for Huaxin.

"It's impossible to pass. The total cost of Project 909 is only billion, and the project period is five years. It is a national key project, which is used to narrow the gap between the domestic integrated circuit industry and foreign countries. It involves many companies, and the billion is the investment of the entire industry."

Xie Wanmin frowned, and refused to give in. He became more and more excited as he spoke, gesticulating with his hands: "One company is going to take up half of the entire industry's investment in a year. How can the higher-ups agree to this? How can the local companies that are waiting for this money to arrive..."

Before Xie Wanmin could finish his words, Li Qingfeng could not help but frown and interrupted him, "Okay, how can we not know if we don't try? So you report our plan first, and then wait for the reply from above to see what they say. If you really don't want to invest, it doesn't matter, as long as you can be given the authority to integrate the resources of the domestic semiconductor research institute, the investment will be borne by Huaxin and Lemon Company."

Ten billion, with a cycle of five years, averages out to only two billion per year, which is more than two hundred million US dollars. Such a small amount of money may be useful in other industries, but it will not make a splash in the semiconductor industry.

Li Qingfeng did not take the investment in Project 909 seriously, nor did he plan to snatch market share from domestic semiconductor companies.

Although Project 909 ultimately failed tactically, it was successful strategically. It successfully promoted domestic technological progress, facilitated the development of the semiconductor industry, and trained a large number of semiconductor industry talents. The billion investment was not wasted.

Li Qingfeng had already said this. Xie Wanming opened his mouth but did not refuse again. He nodded and agreed to compile the situation here into a report and wait for the approval of his superiors.

It can be seen from the fact that the country at that time attached great importance to the semiconductor industry by selling everything it had to build the 909 Project. The materials reported by Xie Wanmin immediately attracted the attention of higher authorities.

Even senior leaders who have experienced many ups and downs could not help but gasp after seeing the annual R&D funding scale written in the materials.

The annual R&D budget is $600 million to $700 million, and initial results are expected to be achieved within three years, with a total budget of $2 billion.

Scary, so scary.

Just to carry out Project 909, the country has already gritted its teeth and carried it out. The total investment budget for such a project far exceeds the investment of the entire Project 909.

After reading the material, no one dared to speak up and make a reply. They could only circle it layer by layer and report it upwards, waiting for the person in charge to make the final decision.

During the few days of waiting for approval, Li Qingfeng did not go to Huaxin, nor did he handle any work. Instead, he wandered around with nothing to do, looking like he didn't want to deal with any official business.

I had nothing to do on the weekend, so I took my two children, Chuyi and Shiwu, who were on vacation, to have a picnic in the Summer Palace.

"Dad, your phone is ringing, do you want to answer it?"

Li Qingfeng, who had found a lawn in the Summer Palace and was grilling on a barbecue grill, did not give up the skewers he was grilling when he heard Chuyi's voice. Instead, he said casually, "I'm busy grilling skewers, so I don't have time to answer the phone. Why don't you answer the phone for Dad and ask what's going on?"

"okay"

After Chuyi responded, he casually pressed the answer button, put the microphone to his ear, and asked casually: "Who is it? What do you want to talk to my dad about?"

He Guangqin on the other end of the phone was stunned for a moment, then he smiled and asked, "Is that Chuyi? I'm your brother Guangqin."

"Stop, what Brother Guangqin? Stop pretending to be young. You are not young anymore. You are Uncle Guangqin now." Chuyi wrinkled her nose and said playfully.

"When I picked you up from school before, didn't you call me brother?"

"How dare you say that? You used to look like a Hong Kong or Taiwan star, but what about now? Look at your big belly. If someone calls you brother, would you agree?"

"."

This made He Guangqin feel a little amused and helpless. He subconsciously touched his bulging belly. It had only been a few years, and the little girl who used to call him brother had now changed her name to call him uncle.

I'm thinking that I can't eat big fish and meat in the future. I'd rather eat some high-protein and low-fat seafood, such as salmon. Not only are they nutritious, but you won't gain weight no matter how much you eat them.

"Hey, why aren't you talking? Is there something you want to talk to my dad about?"

He Guangqin, who was lost in thought, was brought back to reality by Chuyi's urging. He hurriedly said, "Chuyi, uncle has something important to talk to your father about. Is Teacher Li with you now?"

"My dad is busy grilling for us. Just tell me if you have any questions." Chuyi turned around and looked at Li Qingfeng who was concentrating on grilling skewers, and said with a pat on his chest.

"It's a big matter. You can't make the decision now. Give the phone to Teacher Li first. If you want to make the decision, you have to wait for more than ten years."

"Okay then, I'll give the phone to my dad now."

As he said that, Chuyi skipped over to Li Qingfeng and handed him the phone: "Dad, Uncle Guangqin said the matter is too serious, you have to answer it in person."

He took a look at the skewers that were almost done, called Hu Jiabao to take over and continue grilling, while he picked up the phone and walked aside.

"Tell me, what is it that my daughter can't make the decision on and must come to me."

He Guangqin on the other end of the phone couldn't help but complain in his heart, your daughter is the boss, how old is your daughter this year, she is only thirteen or fourteen years old, what is she doing? She can't even be the boss of herself.

Although he was complaining in his heart, he still said respectfully: "It's still about Huaxin. In the past two days, in addition to Morgan, some other financial groups from Wall Street have come and requested to meet with you."

"What the hell, no one from Wall Street will see them, just let them go back to where they came from"

When Qingfeng Li heard the word "Wall Street", he wanted to get angry. The last Morgan incident almost pissed him off.

One or two of them dare to threaten him. Do they really think that Li Qingfeng is made of mud?
From that day on, Li Qingfeng would rather give up the American market and sell everything he had to develop his own products, rather than sit down with those people on Wall Street to discuss globalization regarding the Huaxin issue.

"Teacher Li, Morgan's Reed has already apologized to us. Besides, there are so many financial giants. If we don't give them face, they will definitely make things difficult for us," He Guangqin said cautiously with an embarrassed look on his face.

Li Qingfeng snorted coldly: "Apologize? I have to accept his apology? Let him trip me up if he wants. Besides the technical blockade and prohibition of our entry into the American market, what other obstacles can he use?"

"Well, the American market is the world's largest market and the most important territory in the commercial market. We won't ban it, but we will do something about tariffs, just like we did with Japanese companies. That way our profits will be much less, and it may even affect Lemon Company." Facing the angry Li Qingfeng, He Guangqin tried to persuade him carefully again.

"It doesn't matter. Isn't our Counter-Strike about to be released? Let's release it as soon as possible. If they increase tariffs, we will raise the price. Tariffs are not a big deal. After all, only our Huaxin chips can run this game."

Seeing that Li Qingfeng had made up his mind, He Guangqin could no longer persuade him: "Okay."

Yes, the reason why Qingfeng Li is not afraid of offending Wall Street is mainly because he has confidence in the upcoming release of Counter-Strike.

This game became popular all over the world in later generations, so there is no reason why it would not be well received if it was released a few years earlier.

Although the popularity of Counter-Strike took advantage of the rise of the Internet cafe industry, advertising can also have the same effect.

It's nothing more than spending a little more money to let more people know about this game.

As long as the game can become popular all over the world, that little advertising fee will be nothing but a drizzle compared to the huge profits brought by the game and the increase in graphics card sales.

Once the combination of games and graphics cards is launched, Li Qingfeng will not be afraid of them at all, even if Wall Street, the troublemaker, is doing bad things behind the scenes.

After hanging up the phone and lighting a cigarette, Li Qingfeng stood by the lake in the Summer Palace in silence for a long time. He then threw the cigarette butt into the lake, returned to the barbecue grill, and continued to make barbecue skewers for the children.

"Qingfeng, what happened just now? Is there something that Secretary He wants to talk to you about?" Seeing Li Qingfeng coming back, Hu Jiabao put down the lamb skewers he was grilling and asked with concern.

Li Qingfeng smiled and waved his hand, brushing it off casually, not wanting to disturb his family's weekend because of the company's trivial matters.

"Dad, you said that both the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace were burned down, so why rebuild the Summer Palace instead of the Old Summer Palace?"

On the way back after the picnic, Fifteen curiously asked about the questions he had after visiting the Old Summer Palace.

Before Li Qingfeng could answer, Hu Jiabao in the co-pilot's seat spoke up first, "That's because the Old Summer Palace carries more of a humiliating historical memory. Preserving its ruins after being destroyed has made future generations realize that falling behind means being beaten, and has inspired generations of Chinese people to work hard to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."

If Qingfeng Li had not been driving at the moment and needed to hold the steering wheel with one hand, he would have stretched out both hands to cheer for Hu Jiabao.

It is not easy to remember the standard history textbook speeches after so many years.

Seeing Fifteen's confused expression through the rearview mirror, Li Qingfeng did not explain the real reason, but followed Hu Jiabao's words and cultivated Fifteen's patriotic education.

After a review process lasting half a month, the materials submitted by Xie Wanmin were finally approved and received a response.

Li Qingfeng and the people from Huaxin felt mixed emotions when they received the approved reply.

Although there was no financial support and the state did not hold a share in it, it was undoubtedly a major breakthrough that Huaxin agreed to invest in the lithography company, help coordinate domestic semiconductor resources, and use all patents free of charge.

Li Qingfeng was not at all surprised by this conclusion. In fact, the country had not allocated any resources to the field of lithography machines for many years.

Both Project 908 and Project 909 only involve the introduction of production lines and chip technology, and there is no investment in the research and development of lithography machines.

At present, the research and development of lithography machines in China is at a standstill.

Throughout the 90s, the only domestic achievements in lithography machines were the lithography machine successfully developed by Xu Yuyi in the late 94s and the G-line 0.8-micron step-by-step projection lithography machine released in .

The one in 94 was an optimization and improvement based on the step-by-step projection lithography machine developed in 85.

After Xu Eyi, China never developed a true lithography machine again, and this phenomenon continued until 2007.

Sensing that the atmosphere in the office was a little subtle, Xu Yuanming, who had successfully separated the lithography plant from Huaxin, was in a good mood and said, "Although there is no capital injection, it is a blessing in disguise to be able to coordinate resources."

"Mr. Xu is right. This means that it will be smoother for us to integrate the strength of domestic semiconductor research institutes. With the technical and talent support from all parties, the lithography plant project will have more chances of success." Xie Wanmin also laughed.

Li Qingfeng glanced at the two of them, stuffed the documents into the drawer, and then said, "How about this, doesn't the higher-ups want us to go public? I think we can't not give face to the leaders, so after the new company is registered, let this new company go public."

"what?"

"."(End of this chapter)