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

I ran upstairs.

Xu Siqi closed the bedroom door behind her, leaning against the cold door and breathing heavily. She felt a faint fetal movement in her lower abdomen.

She looked down at the tear stains spreading on her nightgown, and couldn't help but smile.

Five hundred million US dollars!
That guy, he actually wants to build a wafer fab in Singapore!
This is clearly a grand gesture to build a nest for her and her child, and it also creates a very convincing condition for the child's father to visit her and the child in the future.

The thought that she wouldn't have to live alone in this unfamiliar city all year round, and that she might see that big bad guy again every few months, and that her child would receive his love from time to time after he was born, made her secretly happy and brought tears to her eyes.

That's right, she didn't ask for much; she just wanted this tiny bit of concern from the big bad guy to satisfy her.

This at least proves that she didn't love the wrong person.

No matter how humble this love may be.

With her back pressed against the cold door, Xu Siqi wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. She murmured to herself, "Come on, Siqi, you're the best, you can do it... Since that big bad guy has you in his heart, you'll definitely get through this. As for the loneliness that follows..."

I'm choking!
After nearly losing his speech.

She silently shed tears and said, "Who told you to come later... You're the vixen who interfered in other people's marriages."

Finish this sentence.

She felt completely powerless, and her back slid slowly down the cold door...

In the living room, Lu Yang was unaware that his casual remark about investing in a factory in Singapore, with an amount no small matter—an unprecedented figure of around five hundred million US dollars—had caused the pregnant, silly girl who had run away to start overthinking. She attributed all of Lu Yang's impromptu but well-thought-out investment plan to her.

Moved by the unexpected turn of events, I felt much less aggrieved than before.

Facing the possibility of being alone in a foreign country, enduring the discomforts of pregnancy alone, and the heartache of not having the baby's father by her side after the birth, I'm already silently cheering myself on!
Unfortunately, he didn't see it.

Otherwise, they'd say something like, "What a silly, adorable girl."

That's precisely what makes it endearingly silly.

Only Xu Siqi could pry open his heart and make him face the secretary and assistant who had silently accompanied him for four years. Originally, he wanted to keep his distance, even keep his distance, considering his relationship with her aunt, but in the end, he couldn't help but accept this little cabbage.

At this moment, Lu Yang wasn't thinking too much. Xu Siqi had left, and there was no one else around except for him, the company chairman, and Wei Shu, the female president. He took the opportunity to emphasize to her the importance he attached to this cooperation with the Singapore government to invest in and set up a factory in Singapore, as well as certain issues that needed to be guarded against.

Lu Yang, unfazed by Wei Shu's teasing, tapped his index finger on the Jurong Industrial Estate planning map spread across his desk: "Add ASML to the equipment supplier list. The lithography machines for the 8-inch wafer fab must be secured in advance. If the Singaporean government is sincere, they should send someone to join our negotiation team with ASML. They should even handle any interference outside the negotiating table… I need guarantees, not vague verbal promises. We can't break the COCOM embargo and the Wassenaar Arrangement if we build the factory domestically, but it's possible in Singapore. They're not on the embargo list. Our investment plan depends entirely on whether the lithography machine contract can be successfully signed…"

He also had to guard against the Singapore government taking advantage of the situation. If they poured money in, built the factory, but couldn't buy the advanced lithography machines, that would be a huge joke.

Wei Shu naturally understood and nodded silently, "Indeed, if the negotiations on the lithography machine don't go smoothly, then there's no point in us investing in and setting up a factory here. On the contrary, it will increase a lot of unnecessary shipping costs."

shook his head.

The additional costs go far beyond just ocean freight.

There are also bilateral tariffs.

The same chip, produced domestically and produced in Singapore, and then shipped back to China for assembly, are completely different concepts.

The only way to offset the increased costs is through improvements in chip manufacturing processes.

Take this into account.

Wei Shu thought for a moment and decided to test her boss's bottom line: "The lithography machines needed for an eight-inch wafer fab are considered advanced technology even in Europe and America. Although Singapore is not on their embargo list, we are, after all, a wholly-owned company from China. Considering the complexity, I suggest that in the next round of negotiations, we consider introducing some external capital to cooperate in investing in the factory, in order to offset Asml's objection to us being a wholly-owned company from mainland China. Or, if we really can't reach an agreement on an eight-inch wafer fab, a six-inch wafer fab is also an option... Boss, what do you think?"

All of this she said is based on the current domestic semiconductor environment. At present, four-inch and five-inch wafer fabs are still the mainstream, and six-inch wafer fabs are already enough to firmly establish themselves as the leader in domestic semiconductor manufacturing technology.

Moreover, the MPEG video decoder chip required inside a VCD player is different from the chip required inside a computer, and it does not require such high precision.

The MPEG video decoder chips used in some low-end VCD products in China require chip manufacturing processes that can be met by some four-inch and five-inch wafer fabs in China. They can cut chips to a precision of 2μm that meets the qualification requirements. For example, the Shenlong chip from Lianxiang Group and the Century chip from Century Group currently use chips with a precision of 2μm.

Even better options include MediaTek from Taiwan, whose exported MPEG video decoder chips have already achieved a precision of 1.0μm. STMicroelectronics, Philips, and other European and American manufacturers are also currently in the process of tape-out production of MPEG video decoder chips with a precision of 1.0μm to 1.5μm.

The CL480 MPEG-1 decoding chip provided by C-Cube Microsystems, the North American company that pioneered this video decoder revolution, can now achieve a precision of 0.8μm, far exceeding any decoder chip manufacturer in the world at the same time.

However, the high cost of manufacturing failed to open up the market for it. Instead, companies like MediaTek, which had relatively lower precision at the time, produced chips with a diameter of about 1.0μm, which became the mainstream chips used in VCDs.

What does it mean?
This means that the decoder chip inside a VCD doesn't need such a high-precision chip. Chips cut from four-inch or five-inch wafer fabs can only be used in low-end VCD products. However, chips cut from six-inch wafer fabs are absolutely sufficient in terms of precision to meet the transcoding requirements of any high-end VCD chip currently on the market.

Moreover, as far as she knows, the chip cutting technology of six-inch wafer fabs is already very mature. Many six-inch wafer fabs around the world have the manufacturing process to cut chips of 0.6μm or even 0.5μm, which can fully meet the company's current strategic needs.

Of course, the newly built six-inch wafer fab may not yet be able to match the manufacturing processes of wafer fabs of the same scale worldwide. Engineers may not be able to cut chips to 0.5μm or 0.6μm. However, as long as they can reach 0.8μm, or even worse, just meet the basic process requirements of a six-inch wafer fab, cutting chips to 1.0μm is not impossible. They can gradually accumulate experience in chip cutting technology based on the existing foundation. Her thinking is not wrong.

Moreover, the cost of investing in and building a six-inch wafer fab is vastly different from that of building an eight-inch wafer fab. A six-inch wafer fab can be started with an initial investment of one or two hundred million US dollars, and the budget after it is put into production is believed to be no more than five hundred million US dollars. However, the initial investment for an eight-inch wafer fab is probably no less than five hundred million US dollars. Given the company's current strength, this is still too much of a burden, unless more partners can be found to join in.

As the female president of Century Group, her opinion was based on her understanding of the company's current financial situation.

However, Lu Yang had more to consider than she did. A six-inch wafer fab was more than just sufficient to meet the process cutting requirements of the MPEG video decoder chip inside a VCD player. From his perspective as a reborn individual, a future six-inch wafer fab would not only be able to cut chips to 0.5μm thickness with mature technology, but even 0.35μm and 0.25μm chips. The limits of chip cutting technology at these two six-inch wafer fabs would be reached in just a few years, perhaps by the end of this century. But what does that mean?

Is this his reason for abandoning the introduction of more advanced lithography machines and investing in building an eight-inch wafer fab in this pearl of the South China Sea, a world free trade port?
If we don't seize this opportunity, the relationship between China and the West is still in a period of ambiguity. Once we enter the new century and the Eastern dragon takes off, the technological bottleneck imposed by Europe and the United States will only become tighter and tighter, making it even more difficult to develop this technology in the future.

We have to grit our teeth and go for it!
Lu Yang said expressionlessly, "Let's not bring this up again for now. Let's start by negotiating the scale of an eight-inch wafer fab. If the negotiations go well, then all the benefits will be realized. The Singaporean government, seeing the $500 million initial investment we promised, will definitely put in a lot of effort. You should also communicate with them more and get them to contribute more. They are close to the West, so maybe it can be done. If it really doesn't work out..."

In the end, Lu Yang did not make his statement completely.

There is nothing I can do.

Lack of confidence.

An 8-inch wafer fab is the best option, while a 6-inch wafer fab is a second-best choice. Of course, there is an even better option: directly acquire C-Cube Microsystems in North America, which already possesses a relatively mature 0.8μm MegaL video decoder chip manufacturing process...

But it was at this very moment.

He grabbed the vibrating satellite phone, glanced at the screen, and suddenly raised his hand to signal for silence.

"Xiao Jun?"

Lu Yang pressed the answer button and walked to the balcony, where the glass door blocked out the cold air from the room.

Wei Shu keenly noticed his suddenly tense shoulder line.

The North American roadshow team is currently battling it out in New York. According to local time, it should be late at night, so the call is definitely unusual.

For a moment, I was filled with curiosity.

He couldn't help but stretch his neck, his eyes following Lu Yang's walking posture.

Xiao Jun's hoarse voice came from the other end of the phone: "Brother Lu, Sun Yansheng of C-Cube refuses to budge. That old bastard claims to be financially independent and has no intention of selling the company. He tells us to stop trying to take advantage of him."

They even said that we were deliberately suppressing their company's chips by joining forces, which was malicious suppression. They claimed that even if we lost the mainland market, they would never sell the company, much less sell it to us...

This old guy is really arrogant… It concerns the MPEG technology patent pool, and he even said he already has a new design concept, a new MPEG 2.0 chip is about to be released, and we'll have to beg him to buy it.”

Lu Yang gripped the railing tightly, the tropical night breeze carrying the smell of the sea hitting his face.

The chess game between North America and Singapore collided with a thunderous roar at this moment!
"Son of a bitch!"

At this moment, he realized that he had miscalculated. If he hadn't taken over the 20% equity of Wanyan Company from Sun Yansheng, which was supposed to go bankrupt and be liquidated at the end of the century, giving the old man a large sum of cash that was enough to get through the current crisis, the old man would never have been so assertive.

Could it be that every sip and every bite was preordained?
Wan Yan Company holds the copyright to the basic VCD technology. It is Lu Yang's patent fortress used to counterbalance Western technology giants' early launch of the DVD video format, and it is also his last source of confidence. If he can't beat them, he can still license the technology to each other.

Now that Wan Yan Company has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lu Yang, under the leadership of Jiang Wanli, the team has begun to work closely with Lu Yang's instructions, disregarding losses, to develop a more advanced DVD format player.

The goal is not to achieve a complete victory, but to break through one or two patents and circumvent the opponent's overall bottleneck strategy.

The MPEG 2 video decoder that Xiao Jun just mentioned on the phone happens to be a mainstream core chip in the DVD player era. Its creation, together with the Dolby Digital/MPEG audio solution, defined the audio-visual experience of the DVD era.

Lu Yang was eager to acquire C-Cube because he wanted to control everything. If he could master the technology patent for the MPEG2.0 format video decoder, the ultimate secret to DVD's creation, and combine it with the existing VCD playback format basic invention patent, then he would have integrated VCD and DVD technology invention patents, including chip manufacturing process invention patents, enough to set standards.

Conversely, he could then strangle the West and even collect a small patent fee if they wanted to produce DVDs.

Unfortunately, it seems that this path is not feasible at present.

Lu Yang's face was very ugly, partly because his expectations were too high, but after uttering that phrase about national essence, he punched the balcony again, having vented most of his anger.

The remaining ones weren't too disappointed. Instead, they told Xiao Jun on the phone that since this path was blocked, they shouldn't waste their energy on it. They should be decisive, complete the roadshow properly, and strive to get the little prodigy listed on the New York Stock Exchange as soon as possible.

Turning back, Lu Yang stood on the balcony and looked at Wei Shu, who was looking at him with worry, and said, "Do your best. There's no other way."

They could have been even more assertive, but now, having some options is actually quite good.

Wei Shu asked worriedly, "Is your hand alright? Should I get some iodine to clean it and bandage it?"

She was certain that Lu Yang's hand was injured from that punch. (End of Chapter)