Return to 88: Starting from Marrying My Sister-in-law

The last rays of the setting sun streamed through the tall French windows, casting long, warm patches of light on the cashmere carpet in the luxurious master bedroom.

The air was filled with the languid scent of passion and the faint aroma of food.

Wrapped in a soft velvet sheet, Xu Siqi nestled in Lu Yang's arms like a contented cat, her cheeks still flushed and her eyes hazy.

She was so tired that she didn't even want to move a finger. She just opened her mouth slightly and obediently accepted the sweet porridge that Lu Yang fed her with a silver spoon.

"Sweetie, have one more bite."

Lu Yang's voice was deep and gentle, with a hint of barely perceptible indulgence.

His movements were meticulous, as if feeding was the most important thing in the world at that moment.

Xu Siqi blushed, closed her eyes, and mumbled an "Mmm" before obediently swallowing the porridge. This feeling of being cherished and cared for temporarily dispelled her anxiety about being in a foreign land and her uncertainty about the future.

She even wished this moment could be frozen in time.

Just as the silver spoon was brought to her lips again, a sudden and shrill cell phone ringtone pierced through the veil of warmth like an icicle.

The sound came from Lu Yang's private phone, which was on the bedside table, and it sounded particularly loud in the quiet room.

Xu Siqi's body stiffened almost imperceptibly, her long eyelashes trembled as she opened her eyes, and her watery eyes instantly filled with tension and a hint of guilt.

She instinctively grabbed the velvet blanket that had slipped down to her waist, pulling it up to level with her smooth shoulders, her voice hoarse and uneasy from the exercise.

"Is...is this Sister-in-law Mingyue?"

What she feared most was that Yin Mingyue would call at this moment, as if she could catch her in the "evidence" of her secretly enjoying happiness across thousands of miles.

Lu Yang frowned slightly, glanced at the number on the caller ID, and the gentleness in his eyes quickly faded, replaced by a hint of displeasure at being disturbed and a scrutinizing look.

He gently patted Xu Siqi's exposed shoulder to comfort her, and shook his head, saying, "No, it's from the company."

He still held the bowl of porridge in one hand, picked up his phone with the other, swiped to answer, and said with an impatient tone, "This is Lu Yang. What do you want at this hour? I remember I'm on vacation."

He specifically emphasized the word "vacation".

Surprisingly, the voice on the other end of the phone belonged to Wei Shu, the company's female president. She was usually calm and capable, but now there was a hint of seriousness in her voice: "Boss, I'm sorry to disturb your rest, but there is something I must report to you immediately. Mr. Li Xianlong, the Secretary for Trade and Industry of Singapore, has just contacted the group headquarters through official channels and expressed his urgent desire to meet with you as soon as possible."

“Li Xianlong?” Lu Yang repeated the name, his fingers gripping the phone tightening suddenly, his pupils contracting sharply.

The surprise in my heart was like a stone thrown into a deep pool, creating huge ripples.

He certainly didn't recognize the current Li Xianlong, but the image that flashed through his mind in an instant was that of a powerful figure who would take charge of Singapore for the next twenty years and propel it to the pinnacle of global technology and finance!

That name will be a household name in the business and political spheres in the future, especially in Asia!
"Yes, Director Li Xianlong, boss... do you know him?"

Wei Shu clearly sensed something from the unusual tone in Lu Yang's voice.

"No... I don't know him." Lu Yang quickly suppressed the turmoil in his heart, but a trace of disbelief still lingered in his voice. "I've only... heard of this name."

He was filled with doubts: he had only been in Singapore with Siqi for less than a day, and although he had not deliberately hidden his whereabouts, he was by no means ostentatious. Why would this future political giant, the current Director of the National Industrial Division who held real power, come to him so precisely and urgently?
Suppress the doubts in your heart.

He thought for a moment, then said, "Let's meet him. Can you arrange an appointment with this Director Li Xianlong for me? Also, find out what projects he's been leading recently... that could be related to us..."

"OK……"

Wei Shufei quickly jotted down Lu Yang's requirements for the meeting location and time.

She was able to communicate with the other party on behalf of the company headquarters.

"Any thing else?"

After everything was settled, Lu Yang hung up the phone.

He bent down, carefully scooped a spoonful of porridge with a silver spoon, scraped away the excess porridge around the spoon, and with a gentle smile, held it to the silly girl's lips, "Here, have another small bite..."

Xu Siqi fell asleep after she finished eating.

Lu Yang got up, grabbed his phone and briefcase, and went to the study next door.

As the city lights begin to twinkle...

Another long-distance call came in from China.

"Boss, we've found it..."

“Jurong Industrial Estate… Wafer Manufacturing Park… Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, Philips, GlobalFoundries… I see, I understand.”

All of the above are related to the chip manufacturing industry.

After listening, Lu Yang wrote down all the nouns he had just read on a piece of paper with a pen, then connected them with a red thread, and finally had a clear understanding of them.

This Li Xianlong must have invited me to his place to win me over and get me to invest in building a wafer fab in Singapore.

Should I agree or not?
Is investing in and building a wafer fab in Singapore beneficial or detrimental to my business? What are the advantages compared to building a fab in China?

above……

These are all issues that require in-depth consideration.

Century Core.

Century Group spent three years, each year investing at least 30% of the company's revenue, to build it up with all its might.

The total cost was at least 10 billion yuan.

This is over a billion yuan in the early 90s, during the first 10 years of reform and opening up. In an era when the average annual wage for human resources was no more than 300 yuan, to dare to spend 10 billion yuan on research and development is an enormous sum.
Fortunately, the final result was encouraging, and the research and development funds were not wasted. Thanks to the hard work of the research and development team led by Liu Guangnan, who worked overtime late into the night for more than 1000 days and nights, they broke through from 0 to 1 and successfully created an MPEG format video decoding chip that can be used in VCDs.

While in terms of the chip's design framework, it may indeed be inferior to the advanced MPEG format video decoding chips that established foreign manufacturers are currently preparing to launch or have already launched.

But the actual gap isn't as big as you might imagine.

So why is it that Century Chip, a product of Century Group itself, can only be used in basic VCD players under Century Group's own brand?
Why do upgraded and flagship models still use the same expensive imported chips as before?

The problem lies in the technological blockade imposed on the mainland by Western and other developed countries.

To give an example, the most advanced semiconductor process in China can achieve a precision of about 2.0 micrometers, while most foreign semiconductor foundries can already produce 8-inch wafers and etch chips with a precision of 0.5μm to 0.35μm. They are not even in the same level of precision.

Unless Century Chip outsources its manufacturing to overseas foundries, entrusting its lifeline to foreign chip factories capable of producing eight-inch wafers and etching 0.5μm~0.35μm chips, and instead manufactures them domestically, its limit would be a crudely made chip with an accuracy of 2.0μm. This was the prevailing situation throughout the 90s.

There's no way around it; the commissioning of a high-precision wafer fab involves many aspects of absolutely advanced semiconductor technologies, such as ultrapure water systems, ultra-clean chemical gas supplies, and dust-free environments that are thousands of times more demanding than those required for hospital operating rooms. It also involves building and maintaining a huge, vibration-controlled, temperature and humidity-controlled cleanroom.

Once all these basic prerequisites are met, then the main event begins.

A standard wafer fab requires at least 10 different types of lithography machines, such as etching, thin film deposition, ion implantation, chemical mechanical polishing, etc. Depending on the high-resolution of each lithography machine, the market price ranges from US$5 million to US$10 million. These 10 lithography machines would cost at least US$100 million.

The key issue is that there's demand but no market for it.

If you want to set up a factory in mainland China with this money, the stringent and demanding technology blockade imposed by Western countries will prevent you from buying high-precision lithography machines with a resolution of 2.0μm or higher...

that's all.

But if...

Why not invest in building a wafer fab in Singapore?

Does this mean we can bypass these so-called technological blockades imposed by Western countries?

This is a problem.

This needs to be discussed thoroughly.

In addition, according to existing information, Singapore is currently working to build a national electronics industrial park and a wafer manufacturing park, and is striving to improve the factory cluster required for semiconductor supporting facilities. At present, many international giants such as Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics have set up 8-inch wafer fabs in Singapore, with each company investing in the billions of US dollars.

These investments are not only corporate actions, but also reflect Singapore's strategic determination at the national level. This shows that Singapore's investment environment has been recognized internationally, and fully demonstrates that its semiconductor supporting facilities can meet the daily production needs of an eight-inch wafer fab. If a wafer fab invested by Century Group can also be built here, would it also mean a new milestone for the company in the chip field?

"Technological blockade..."

"Then I'll take a shortcut to overtake."

"Let's see if we can start from Singapore and gradually transfer mature semiconductor wafer manufacturing processes to China..."

"Yes, future talent reserves can also be trained here."

"Oh, and C-Cube Microsystems. I wonder how Xiao Jun's talks with Sun Yansheng went. Is there any possibility that the other party will sell the company? If so, can it get approval from the US Department of Commerce?"

"No matter what, we have to give it a try!"

"It's always better to walk on two legs than one. Success in either area is of great significance to me, to the company as a whole, and even to the whole of China..."

Lu Yang barely slept that night.

I've been organizing these materials in my study, thinking about these issues, considering what I should say to Li Xianlong during tomorrow's meeting, and what aspects I should work on to explore the possibility of cooperation with the project.

To avoid being caught off guard later.

And so, the next day, Lu Yang, with his bloodshot eyes, met with Li Xianlong as promised.

It was pretty much as he expected.

Lee Sian Long got straight to the point, expressing the Singapore government's strong desire to attract investment in high-tech manufacturing, especially semiconductor wafer manufacturing.

He highly praised Lu Yang's breakthroughs in the field of semiconductor design in the country.

Century Chip successfully completed the 2.0-micron tape-out.

It also provided a detailed introduction to the planning, policy incentives such as tax breaks, land and talent recruitment, superior geographical location and stable business environment of the "Wafer Manufacturing Park" that Singapore is building.

He explicitly stated his hope that Century Group would consider locating its advanced wafer manufacturing operations in its Singapore campus, placing it alongside international giants.

The report mentioned Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, Philips, and GlobalFoundries.

This fully demonstrates the advantages of setting up a factory in Singapore and the confidence in persuading Lu Yang to invest and build a factory in Singapore.

"It seems that the other party has also done a lot of preparation work in advance."

"They were very sincere towards me too."

Lu Yang pondered.

In addition, the factory construction plan that Li Xianlong vaguely mentioned during the meeting also shocked him.

Singapore's open environment and close ties with the West could indeed serve as a springboard for breaking through the European and American blockade of high-end chip manufacturing technology against China.

His chip design capabilities in China are limited by the country's backward manufacturing processes and cannot be transformed into product competitiveness.

However, if a factory is built in Singapore, theoretically more advanced equipment and technical personnel can be directly introduced, enabling "Century Chip" to achieve a leap in manufacturing processes.

how to say?

This proposal was incredibly appealing to Lu Yang's technological blueprint, almost a perfect solution to the current biggest bottleneck.

Unless he has a better solution.

For example, they could directly acquire C-Cube Microsystems, a North American company owned by Sun Yansheng, and take over all the mature chip manufacturing processes and technical talent, gradually transferring them to China.

However, this is clearly unrealistic. Even so, the existing technological blockade in China still exists, and we still cannot purchase high-tech precision instruments, especially lithography machines that cannot be manufactured independently.

The problem will then return to square one.

However, investing in and building a wafer fab in Singapore also carries significant risks.

Huge investment: Wafer fabs are extremely money-consuming "money-devouring beasts," posing a huge challenge to Century Group's cash flow.

It would cost at least five hundred million US dollars to get started, right?
Without $500 million, this thing simply can't be made; we can't even surpass the current 2.0μm wafer technology in China, let alone the 1.0μm wafer technology.

Technological dependence: Singapore may still be subject to Western control over core equipment and some materials, and it cannot completely avoid this dependence.

If this happens, then it's all over; it will be the same as before, ultimately causing the potential investment of hundreds of millions of dollars to go down the drain.

Management and Control: How to effectively manage and control core overseas assets when located far from headquarters?

This is definitely a very crucial issue.

Do we have such talent on our hands?

Who will be assigned to manage it then?

We can't just make such an important decision on a whim.

After much deliberation, Lu Yang did not immediately agree during the meeting.

Instead, they made a request.

Li Xianlong, representing Singapore and the wafer manufacturing industrial park, must provide more detailed plans and policy commitments.

Meanwhile, he needed to return to China for high-level communication and instruct Wei Shu to assemble a team to conduct in-depth research and feasibility analysis, assess risks, and raise funds. (End of Chapter)