Reborn in 2011, 985 missing from two copies

Chapter 625: A big move, overturning the table!

Wang Yi's words were full of helplessness: "Director Qin, the research and development of 10-nanometer technology normally takes 36 months."

"In order to shorten the R&D cycle and surpass Samsung, TSMC has invested thousands of engineers and adopted a 24-hour three-shift model!"

"In addition, TSMC has also selected 500 to 800 top engineers to form the Nighthawk Team to tackle technical problems. They will work in two shifts 24 hours a day in a fully closed mode."

"These 500 top engineers cover areas such as process integration, lithography, thin film, and etching, and all have more than five years of experience in advanced process work."

“It is divided into two shifts. One is the day shift, from 7am to 7pm, which focuses on experimental execution and data analysis.”

"The other shift is the night shift, from 7pm to 7am the next morning, which focuses on equipment commissioning and process verification."

"We hold a half-hour meeting every day before the shift changes, and all the results and the next R&D deployment are fully communicated and handed over between the two shifts."

"In this way, under the 12-hour shift system, we can achieve an extreme R&D mode where people can't stop but the machines can't stop!"

"The biggest benefit of this model is that the 36-nanometer process that originally took 10 months to develop can be developed within 24 months under the two-shift system of the Nighthawk Project!"

“In this way, the 2016-nanometer process will be completed by the middle of 10. With the equipment debugging, the 2016-nanometer risk mass production will be achieved in the fourth quarter of 10!”

Upon hearing this, Director Qin's face changed drastically: "In the second half of 2016, that is, the year after next, TSMC will be able to achieve mass production of 10-nanometer chips? So fast!"

Wang Yi nodded: "It's not just TSMC, the same is true for Samsung. Samsung's 10 nanometer process will also be mass-produced in the fourth quarter of 2016!"

"This..." Director Qin's expression became complicated: "So, the gap we narrowed with great difficulty has widened again so quickly?"

"That's right. We are currently developing the 14nm process. If nothing unexpected happens, we will be able to mass produce it next year. It will be slower than Samsung's 14nm and faster than TSMC's 16nm. But the 10nm process will be surpassed again. We don't have anyone."

"Wait, what did you just say?" Director Qin stood up suddenly, full of disbelief: "Xingyi Semiconductor's 14nm process will be ready for mass production next year? It's faster than TSMC's 16nm process?"

"Yes."

"really?"

"really!"

"Good, good, Xingyi Semiconductor is great, haha, they can catch up with Samsung and lead TSMC in 14nm, that's great!"

Director Qin was very excited: "This is something we dare not even think about. Could it be that you have also given up the 20-nanometer process?"

Wang Yi nodded: "Yes, if we continue with the research and development step by step, we can only mass produce 20 nanometers at most next year, but Samsung and TSMC have achieved 14/16 nanometers, which is meaningless. Our 20 nanometers will still lag behind as soon as it is put into production."

"No one can compete with TSMC if we just follow the routine R&D. We can only develop in leaps and bounds."

"But unfortunately, even if they are slightly ahead of TSMC in 14nm next year, they will be greatly overtaken by TSMC in the subsequent 10nm process. Now they have already started the research and development of 10nm, and while maintaining the normal research and development of 20nm and 16nm, they still selected 10 top engineers to form the Nighthawk Team to work in two shifts to tackle the nm!"

"In comparison, the total number of top engineers at Xingyi Semiconductor is only over 400!"

"Yes, the gap is that big."

"TSMC has about 4 engineers in total, and several thousand engineers working on advanced process technology. We can easily select elite engineers to form a two-shift Nighthawk team."

“而我们星逸半导体先进工艺制程研发工程师总共400人，其中250人在全力研发14纳米。剩下的150人研发10纳米工艺，进度比台积电慢了太多。”

Director Qin's face became serious. "That's right. Even if a team is developing a 10-nanometer process, it would require about 250 people. Your 150 people are indeed not enough, not to mention two teams working on both sides."

"Yes, if this continues, our 10nm process will lag behind TSMC by two years. The progress we have finally caught up with will quickly disappear." Wang Yi was melancholy.

"Alas!" Director Qin sighed: "The key is the talent gap. The mainland is in great need of semiconductor talent."

"Yes, although we dug some, it is still not enough, far from enough."

"Then is it possible to transfer people from universities or other research institutes?" Director Qin asked.

Wang Yi shook his head: "It's difficult, very difficult. The research and development of 10 nanometer technology does not require ordinary semiconductor talents, but top semiconductor talents with advanced processes."

"The 500 members of the Nighthawk team selected by TSMC are not ordinary semiconductor talents, but elites with more than five years of advanced process R&D experience. It can be said that each of them is a top engineer in the semiconductor field!"

"The simplest thing is that these 28 people have participated in TSMC's 20nm R&D, 16nm R&D, and even nm R&D for more than five years!"

“Only top engineers of this level can participate in the core technology breakthrough of the 10-nanometer process.”

"In addition to these 2500 top engineers responsible for technical breakthroughs, TSMC has also invested 1000 key engineers to cooperate with R&D. There are also 2000- outstanding engineers as a support team responsible for equipment debugging, material R&D, design collaboration and other tasks."

"As for the elites in mainland universities or other research institutes, to put it bluntly, the processes they develop are all 90 nanometers, 120 nanometers, or even micrometer processes, which are all outdated stuff."

"These people are good enough for 55-nanometer research and development, but 40-nanometer research and development is a hassle, let alone 10-nanometer research and development."

"You could say that what they learned was the automobile of the steam age."

"We want to build a modern supercar, which is not from the same era at all. Their experience, theoretical system and technology are of no use to us."

"These people can hardly form a 500-person R&D team, let alone a 2500-person attack team for the Nighthawk Project. Many of them can only serve as a support team."

"This..." Director Qin was silent, shocked: "The most advanced semiconductor research institutes and universities in the mainland have already fallen so far behind?"

"To be frank, it is true. Except for special fields, such as military semiconductors and Beihang's aerospace semiconductors, the reliability of chips in these fields is the most important, and the manufacturing process is not important. Even 90 nanometers or 120 nanometers can be used."

"But our consumer electronics field is different. The iPhone 6 series in the second half of this year will use 20-nanometer chips, 14-nanometer chips next year, and 10-nanometer chips the year after. Those outdated things will not be used."

"Not only that, the things taught in mainland universities are also outdated and outdated."

"So the semiconductor graduates from 985 prestigious universities recruited by Xingyi Semiconductor in the mainland are useless. After joining the company, they have to learn the theoretical system of advanced processes from scratch. It often takes one to two years to become a qualified first-level R&D engineer."

As Wang Yi said this, Director Qin's expression became more serious: "I understand. There is something wrong with our training system. The instructors at mainland universities are great, but they themselves don't understand those advanced processes, so what they teach students is naturally outdated. So even if they graduate with a doctorate, they can't use it, and they have to learn and train again from scratch."

"Yes, that's why we at Xingyi Semiconductor can't recruit enough engineers. We can only poach people from TSMC, Samsung, and Intel, but it's getting harder and harder to poach people, and there are too few of them."

Wang Yi said: "TSMC has more than 40,000 engineers, Samsung has nearly 30,000, Intel has more than 50,000, and even SMIC has 10,000 engineers."

"We at Xingyi Semiconductor started too late. Even if we offer higher salaries, we can't compare to other giants that have accumulated decades of experience. Currently, we have only more than 1,000 engineers, and only about 400 advanced process R&D engineers. There is a huge gap."

"According to my estimate, the number of engineers at Xingyi Semiconductor will reach at least 8000, of which will be R&D engineers!"

“We need to have 1500 core R&D engineers for advanced processes, but we are still short of 1000!”

Wang Yi's estimate is considered conservative.

For example, TSMC directly invested 10 engineers, including 5000 top engineers, to develop 500-nanometer technology.

It’s almost the same on Samsung’s side, at least 4000 people!
Why has SMIC's 28nm process been delayed?

There are just too few people.

Especially there are too few core R&D engineers for advanced processes.

Although Xingyi Semiconductor has a small number of people, it has the team brought by Mr. Hu, and through subsequent recruitment and spending money to poach people, it has built an advanced process team of more than 400 people.

With the presence of such a great expert like Mr. Hu, we were able to develop 40 nanometers and 28 nanometers in one fell swoop.

It can be said that although there are few people in Xingyi Semiconductor, each of them is an elite in advanced processes.

For example, the more than 40 people that Mr. Hu brought with him at the beginning were all top elites. They had previously participated in 28-nanometer and even -nanometer processes and had rich experience.

Therefore, Xingyi Technology's 40nm and 28nm processes are progressing smoothly.

With these experiences, the development of 14nm was also smooth.

But it is different for SMIC's engineers. Only a very small number of them have participated in the 40nm and 28nm research and development of Samsung, TSMC, and Intel and then jumped to join SMIC.

The rest is hard to describe in a few words.

The key is not how many R&D engineers there are, but how many engineers have experience in advanced process R&D.

Wang Yi continued to complain: "With such a big gap, poaching is not enough. We can only train people ourselves, but the current system of our mainland universities cannot train people. This is difficult to deal with!"

"If this problem cannot be solved, the mainland will continue to be in a serious shortage of semiconductor talent, and we will always be at a disadvantage in the competition with TSMC and Samsung."

Wang Yi analyzed every word clearly.

Director Qin nodded repeatedly, his expression becoming more serious: "This is indeed a big problem. Director Wang, do you have any solution?"

"Have."

"How to deal with it?"

"Integration of industry and academia, targeted training!"

Wang Yi opened the folder and explained it in detail to Director Qin.

Director Qin nodded repeatedly: "This is a good strategy. We will lay the foundation in one year, and start to learn the advanced process theory system in the second year, and directly train advanced process engineers!"

"Okay, great, this is indeed the best solution. It can completely shorten the cultivation time."

"I totally agree. Additional enrollment is not a problem. It is also not a problem for other top universities to cooperate!"

"This matter should be dealt with as soon as possible. Leave the documents to me and I will contact the higher-ups right away. We will start training the first batch of targeted talents in September this year."

Wang Yi was in a good mood. Since Director Qin said so, the matter was basically settled.

"Director Qin, thank you. I have a new suggestion."

"You say." "Even if we start recruiting students in September this year, and we are exposed to the advanced process theory system in September next year, the internship will not start until the year after next, which still takes three years. This is too slow."

Director Qin nodded, that was indeed the case.

"So I was thinking, in addition to the targeted training starting from the freshman year, could we directly select some of the most elite students from the existing undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students from prestigious universities with relevant majors, let them graduate early, and directly sign contracts to intern at Xingyi Semiconductor. This way, next year, they will be able to stand on their own."

Director Qin was thoughtful: "The existing undergraduates, masters and doctoral students have studied for several years and have a certain professional foundation. They can graduate early and enter Xingyi Semiconductor to do internships directly and get in touch with mature processes. They will become qualified engineers next year."

"Yes, and these people are still young! They can definitely grow better."

At present, it is simply not enough to only recruit semiconductor graduates from prestigious universities.

Wang Yi plans to target non-fresh graduates as well.

Instead of continuing to learn some outdated processes in school, it is better to drop out directly, join Xingyi Semiconductor, get in touch with advanced processes, and grow rapidly.

As for academic qualifications? Diploma?
This is not important anymore.

After all, the purpose of going to school is to find a job. Going directly into Xingyi Semiconductor is already the best job. What else do you need?

Moreover, the semiconductor industry values ​​R&D capabilities, not academic qualifications.

Especially academic qualifications in outdated technology are truly worthless.

What's more, the salary at Xingyi Semiconductor is high. After earning money for a few years, when you can't work anymore, you can just retire and live a happy life with the money.

It’s much better than being a slave in other companies!
Director Qin took a deep breath and said, "I personally support this, but it involves dropping out of school and finding a job directly. It requires the students to volunteer, and the school also needs to be informed. It's not easy, but I'll do my best!"

Wang Yi knew that it was indeed very difficult.

The simplest thing is that this matter is equivalent to directly negating all training in related majors in many universities in the mainland!
The deans, tutors, big names and small names of the School of Electronic Engineering, School of Microelectronics, School of Integrated Circuits and other schools were all denied!
It is like pointing at their faces and saying, you are all out of date, what you teach is outdated, you can’t keep up with the times, why don’t you let the students go and stop delaying their growth…

This is equivalent to flipping the table!

It’s strange that those people are willing to do that!

Maybe we can gather Mars Semiconductor!

If Director Qin steps forward, he will also be in big trouble!
Wang Yi also realized this and quickly said, "Director Qin, my idea for this matter is a bit too radical and cannot be promoted on a large scale. We should proceed steadily and select a few of the top students first."

Director Qin smiled and patted Wang Yi on the shoulder: "You are more stable now."

"Haha, it's all about human relationships and social skills." Wang Yi said meaningfully.

"We can advance slowly, but you can also try advancing on a small scale. I'll handle it."

"it is good."

With Director Qin in charge, the integration of industry and academia won't be a big problem.

But it is a bit difficult to let students graduate early.

Too many people's cakes were touched.

Even the industry-university integration model has touched the pie of many people.

The simplest thing is that once this policy is implemented, students who originally planned to apply for traditional semiconductor majors will all sign up for the Xingyi class and listen to the lectures of Xingyi Semiconductor's senior engineers.

It is difficult to recruit people for the traditional semiconductor major, and not many people listen to the lectures of those old professors, big names, and young experts.

This is a big problem.

The subsequent series of chain reactions will also have far-reaching impacts.

Just like many years later in the previous life, a famous postgraduate entrance examination teacher criticized liberal arts majors, saying that liberal arts majors are mostly service jobs and that traditional media is a sunset industry...

As a result, the parents and students understood.

When applying for admission, they gave up on liberal arts and focused on science and engineering.

That would have been fine, but the following year, many schools cut a large number of liberal arts majors.

Some schools have cut dozens of liberal arts majors at once, saying they are temporarily suspending admissions, but everyone knows that the suspension may be permanent.

One can imagine how far-reaching the impact is.

As for those professors and department heads of related majors, they should all be cursed.

The major has stopped recruiting students, so why keep them here?
There is a high probability that after sending all existing students away, all relevant teachers will face dismissal.

Similarly, Wang Yi's shot in the semiconductor field will also directly kill many professors in the semiconductor field, both big names and small names...

Before, they were the big names and small names in the semiconductor field. They caught up with the fast train of the semiconductor era, and enjoyed great success, with many students all over the world.

Suddenly, he became an outdated professor, and what he had been teaching for a lifetime became outdated theory. No one would be interested in him in the next few years, and he might even be kicked out.

That's a huge gap.

However, being radical is not an option, so Xingyi Semiconductor can start from within, disintegrate from within, and start a talent training program.

Through indirect means, they entice the top students in school to voluntarily join Xingyi Semiconductor, or voluntarily drop out or take a leave of absence.

With this in mind, Wang Yi convened a high-level meeting of Xingyi Semiconductor the next day:

"TSMC and Samsung have already started the 10-nanometer R&D competition. TSMC has invested 10 engineers in the R&D of -nanometer technology, and Samsung has invested engineers."

"But we at Xingyi Semiconductor don't have that many people. We simply can't afford that many people."

"The shortage of engineers is our biggest problem right now!"

"To this end, we need to launch a comprehensive talent training program."

"The previous plan of using the old to guide the new will continue to be promoted and will be fully expanded."

"From now on, every master will be deeply bound to the apprentices they have taught, and the apprentices' growth and achievements will be directly included in the master's assessment and rewards!"

"Every time the apprentice is promoted and achieves a huge breakthrough, the master will also receive corresponding promotion rewards and incentives. And it is not a one-time deal, but a long-term reward!"

"For example, senior engineer Zhang is leading intern engineer Xiao Li."

"Mr. Zhang taught very well. Half a year later, Xiao Li was promoted to first-level engineer. As his mentor, Mr. Zhang gave him a one-time reward of 16 yuan! Later, Xiao Li was promoted to second-level engineer, and Mr. Zhang gave him another reward of 32 yuan. Xiao Li was promoted to third-level engineer, and Mr. Zhang gave him 64 yuan. And so on. Fourth-level engineers were rewarded yuan, fifth-level engineers were rewarded yuan, sixth-level engineers were rewarded yuan, and so on."

"If Mr. Zhang trains Xiao Li from an intern engineer to a level 126 engineer, he will receive six bonuses, a total of million!"

"If Lao Zhang trains Xiao Li to become a level 254 engineer and a senior engineer, then Lao Zhang's seven bonuses will total million!"

"It can be said that the more apprentices you have, the faster they grow and the more bonuses you get. There is no upper limit!"

Hearing this, everyone's expressions became complicated.

Everyone understood what Wang Yi meant, which is to fully encourage the old to bring in the new, using real money as an incentive.

There's nothing you can do about it, everyone has selfish desires.

Without such incentives, senior engineers will often hold back and may even be too lazy to teach their apprentices the real skills.

Even if the company calls on them again and again, they will not really teach them, for fear that teaching the apprentice will starve them to death!
But now, Xingyi Semiconductor is directly investing money!

As long as you teach your apprentice sincerely, the apprentice will be promoted and the master will win the prize!

Get promoted to level one and get the first-level grand prize, get promoted to level six with a total of 126 million, and get promoted to level seven with 254 million!
Even senior engineers couldn't remain calm under the temptation of such a huge bonus.

There is no way, it’s just too much!

And there is more than just one apprentice. A senior engineering master can have three apprentices: an intern engineer, a junior engineer, and a mid-level engineer.

Experienced mid-level engineers can also take two apprentices, one intern and one junior.

As long as you lead your disciples well and they grow up, the bonus alone will be a huge sum of money.

In this way, those senior engineers will no longer hide their knowledge. Instead, they will personally train apprentices, and they can't wait for their apprentices to be promoted as soon as possible. At that time, the masters will not only be proud, but also accumulate hundreds of thousands or even millions of bonuses!
As for the type who don't want a million-dollar bonus, are still worried about their disciples starving them to death, and are still hiding things, Wang Yi thinks there are not many of them.

No one can resist money, especially a huge bonus of more than one or two million.

What's more, the subsequent promotion of apprentices will also be included in the master's KPI assessment.

"This incentive system will be implemented immediately," Wang Yi made the final decision.
"In addition, this year we will fully expand the recruitment of semiconductor engineers. Not only experienced engineers, but also a large number of students, to start the seed program!"

“The seed program targets not only master’s and doctoral students, but also a large number of undergraduates.”

“Not only fresh graduates, but also outstanding first-year and second-year graduate students, first-year and second-year doctoral students!”

"As long as you are good enough and willing to join Xingyi Semiconductor and pass the assessment, you can directly sign a long-term contract and enter the Xingyi Semiconductor Seed Training Program, directly receive advanced theoretical system training, and become an advanced process semiconductor engineer. As for the school, you can apply for a leave of absence or drop out!"

Since the school is asked to cooperate with outstanding students to drop out and directly join Xingyi Semiconductor, it is very difficult.

Then Wang Yi would not go through the school, but would directly seduce outstanding students!

No, initiate an offer!

(End of this chapter)