Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry.

"Hello, Dean Liu and professors. I'm sorry to come here today for no other reason than to have an immature idea that I'd like to discuss with Dean Liu and you to see if it works." Ren Zhong didn't want to beat around the bush with everyone. His schedule was very tight both in the main world and the world of Bright Sword, and he didn't have time to beat around the bush.

"I heard that there is an unfinished semiconductor project equipment in a certain place that is going to be auctioned. The project that this batch of semiconductor equipment is based on has been unfinished for almost ten years, and now it has to go bankrupt and liquidate."

"According to the information I have obtained, this batch of semiconductor equipment uses 8-inch 0.13 micron (μm) technology, and can produce 8-inch wafer chips after completion. From the original design, they mainly provide foundry services for power control, liquid crystal drive, flash memory, computer and communication chips."

"This batch of equipment mainly includes a number of i-line lithography machines (mainly Nikon equipment), photoresist coaters (TEL/SVG, etc.), dry etchers (LAM, etc.), physical vapor deposition machines (AMAT, etc.), chemical vapor deposition machines (AMAT, etc.), etc. From the perspective of the equipment status, it is very unsatisfactory. This batch of equipment has been in disrepair for a long time and lacks maintenance for many years. Most of the equipment may not be able to be used directly. The metal surface of some of the shells is even rusty. However, according to the latest technical evaluation, they can still be used after renovation and adjustment."

"My idea is that I will invest in purchasing this batch of equipment, and the School of Electronics will provide the venue and technical personnel. Together, we will build a large laboratory for chip processing learning and research and trial production. If this model works, our School of Electronics will have its own chip foundry. On my side, mainly some things will need this factory to conduct trial production when the time comes. In addition, for these equipment, I hope that our school can organize experts to conduct comprehensive research and renovation, and give me an electronic copy of all the information."

Ren Zhong simply expressed his thoughts.

After listening to this, Liu Xueren and several professors looked at each other in bewilderment. After a moment of silence, Professor Liu Xueren spoke up, "Mr. Ren, you said you would buy that batch of equipment for us to build a laboratory together. Who will own the ownership of this batch of equipment in the future?"

“Of course it’s the School of Electronics. I’m going to donate this batch of equipment directly to the School of Electronics.” Ren Zhong said without hesitation.

The eyes of several professors lit up. Although these devices were outdated products ten years ago, they were already very good things for the School of Electronics. Even though they had not yet inquired about how much these devices were worth, when it came to semiconductor processing, even a 0.13-micron process would still be a huge investment of hundreds of millions.

Even though these devices are not in good condition now, everyone here is an expert in this industry, and there will be no problem in finding someone to refurbish them and get the production line running.

You have to know that they are chip designers. If they want to do tape-out tests, if they really find an outside foundry to do it, even the cheapest ASIC tape-out cost will be hundreds of thousands per time. If they have a complete production line in their own hands, the chip design tape-out costs of these professors will be greatly reduced. According to the consumables and labor costs during the tape-out, maybe tens of thousands per time will be enough!

This is a great thing.

Everyone looked at Professor Liu Xueren eagerly.

"Okay, thank you Mr. Ren for your generosity. I personally think there is nothing wrong with this lab." Professor Liu Xueren suppressed his excitement and said, "As for the requirements Mr. Ren mentioned, we have no problem with them at all. If Mr. Ren has any questions about chips, our School of Electronics will solve them without reservation. As long as it is within our capabilities, we will do our best to solve them."

Professor Liu Xueren did not say anything about the laboratory rooms. For him, it makes sense that he could not find a place to put the equipment worth hundreds of millions for free. If this matter is implemented, he will immediately find the school to start the project and turn the microelectronics processing laboratory into the largest laboratory in a western university!
Although the 0.13-micron process technology is a little behind, these devices will not be updated in the future. According to current conditions, if a wealthy person donates an immersion DUV in the future, it may not be impossible to upgrade the process technology directly to 65nm or above, especially for wealthy people like Ren Zhong. If he continues to be interested in this thing, maybe he can also cover the subsequent upgrades.

A second-hand DUV with 65nm process technology costs about million yuan, which is very expensive for a school, but for a wealthy man like Ren Zhong, it is nothing. He can just buy a few fewer luxury cars and the money will come out.

Therefore, there was no need for Professor Liu Xueren to object to Ren Zhong's request, and he even hoped that Ren Zhong would have a stronger interest in this area.

"President Liu, if this is the case, then we have no disagreement in principle. Next, let's discuss and determine the specific construction plan for this laboratory. I see that the auction time for this batch of equipment has been basically determined, in November. I hope that after the equipment is purchased, it will be shipped back to our School of Electronics, where we will have enough manpower to refurbish and repair it, and organize the relevant manuals and materials, so that the equipment can be put into operation as soon as possible. I also hope that you can help me make some chips. Of course, I will reimburse the cost of consumables in full." Ren Zhong was very satisfied with Professor Liu Xueren's attitude.

He hopes that the cooperation between the two sides will be more pleasant. After all, in the future, it will still depend on these old professors to produce as detailed information as possible about all the things on this production line.

At that time, Ren Zhong can take advantage of the situation and guide these old professors to think about developing their own alternatives, instead of just buying, buying and buying.

0.13微米在光刻机的历史上是一个微妙的技术关口。是依托248nm波长的KrF光源开发的第一代干式DUV，从原理上来说，最大可以升级到65nm制程，从0.13微米演化到0.1微米，然后进一步到90nm、80nm和65nm这是一个技术路线的。

After that, it is necessary to replace the light source and use the ArF light source with a shorter wavelength of 193nm. In terms of light wavelength, the ArF light source lithography machine can be developed into a 90nm to 45nm lithography machine, which is already the highest level of the University of Tokyo at present.

After all, the next technical route is to replace it with an immersion lithography machine, and replace the refractive medium with water to change the wavelength to 134nm. Only in this way can we break through the process below 45nm and reach a maximum of 7nm.

According to the information Ren Zhong had learned, if the School of Electronics could find a way to upgrade this 0.13-micron lithography machine to 90nm, it would be a remarkable achievement. However, this technical barrier is not completely impossible. After all, the School of Electronics is the leader in this discipline at Southeast University. After mobilizing domestic resources to work together, they have stronger schools and research institutions to support them in terms of light sources, dual worktable systems, photoresists, and optical lens systems. If the funding supply is guaranteed, they have the ability to mobilize these resources.

However, Ren Zhong would not be stupid enough to bring up these things at the beginning.

Now, it is already a great thing to take down the equipment of this unfinished project and hand it over to the School of Electronics to thoroughly understand and run it.

"Mr. Ren, we have no problem with what you said. Next, we will directly connect with each other. After the equipment is settled, we will prepare the venue and personnel in advance. According to the relevant laboratory construction process, we will also apply to the school to build a chip processing and manufacturing test center." Professor Liu Xueren said, "Mr. Ren, regarding the auction of equipment, do you think you can select two professors from our college to assist you in your work and conduct corresponding evaluations of these auction equipment? Including the age of the equipment, valuation and so on, our professors are more proficient in these, so that it will be convenient for us to bid during the auction."

When the professors present heard this, their ears perked up.

They all understood what Professor Liu Xueren meant. The best way to verify whether Ren Zhong was joking was to send two people to follow him.

"Is this appropriate? If it doesn't interfere with the work of the professors, then it's good. To be honest, I don't know much about chips, but I have a team working in this area, so I know a little bit." Ren Zhong didn't think too much about it. He was determined to win this, so no matter what the equipment was like, Ren Zhong would definitely buy it. Anyway, he looked at the valuation and found that this was much cheaper than building a chip processing plant.

According to the information released by the mortgagee's creditors, the total original purchase value of this batch of equipment was approximately US$3.5 million. However, due to being stranded in Haiguang for ten years, some items cannot be used directly. Fortunately, the items are all packaged and are not damaged.

That is, some places may be rusty or lack lubrication, resulting in problems such as lack of sensitivity.

Therefore, in terms of auction valuation, the creditor proposed a reference reserve price of 9 million local currency. Compared with the original purchase price, it is now about 4% off. After all, the exchange rate was about 6 yuan ten years ago.

This is not the first auction. Since no one raised a bid in the last auction, the reserve price for this auction may be lowered.

Because the current economic situation is different from the last auction, the overcapacity of 0.13-micron process equipment is more obvious, and many second- and third-tier chip foundries are already insufficiently saturated. Judging from the trend, the production lines that need to be invested in now are mainly above 65nm. In fact, in terms of the market share of chip foundry, more than 68% of the market sales are concentrated on mid-to-high-end production lines such as 65nm.

Moreover, the share of advanced processes above 28nm is getting larger and larger. Processes such as 65nm are basically withdrawing from the mainstream chip manufacturing category. That is, there is still room for survival of 0.13 microns in common products such as industrial control chips, power chips and low-end memory chips.

So from a trend perspective, the value of this batch of equipment will become lower and lower over time.

Finally, Professor Chen Shude and Professor Sun Shanhe from the School of Electronics volunteered to serve as auction consultants for Renzhong.

They set to work with great vigor and energy.

Ren Zhong also directly deposited the auction deposit of 1 million yuan into the account of the Property Rights Trading Center.

Professor Chen Shude and Professor Sun Shanhe soon saw the equipment. The results of their on-site observations were not much different from the information published. Since these were precision electronic products, the goods were now stored in Haiguan’s warehouse. They had not even cleared the import tariffs, so part of the auction price was used to offset the tariffs.

Earlier in the chip boom, the major shareholder who was ambitious to invest 46 billion to build this chip foundry actually invested less than 36 billion in capital. The land and factory buildings were provided by the local government and were nominally temporarily leased. After the production capacity exploded, this chip factory was expected to produce 8 1000-inch wafers annually, and the foundry fee was as high as 3.6 US dollars, equivalent to an annual output value of 40 million US dollars. At that time, the gross profit margin was as high as 10%, which meant that the annual gross profit was 2 billion local currency, which means that the entire investment could be recovered in five or six years. For the major shareholder, it would take less than years to get back the money!

This kind of business is like robbing money, so at that time a lot of capital rushed into this field to make money. Of course, we now know that the era of huge profits in the entire chip foundry industry has quickly passed, and only leaders like TSMC remain. The rest of the small and medium-sized foundry companies are basically in a mess, and most of them have disappeared or even went bankrupt before they could even go into production!

three days later.

The two-person inspection team returned to Jincheng, and Sun Shanhe met Ren Zhong on behalf of the inspection team.

"Mr. Ren, the packaging of the equipment is very intact. Although some iron parts of the equipment are indeed rusted through the packaging, it will not affect our subsequent use. These problems can be solved by removing the rust and repainting the equipment after receiving it." Professor Sun Shanhe said to Ren Zhong.

"We have investigated the market price of this batch of second-hand equipment through insiders. If it is second-hand equipment, it can be obtained for 6-8 million yuan now. Therefore, in terms of quotation, the current valuation of the auction house is a bit inflated. I estimate that some potential buyers will ask for a lower auction reserve price, otherwise the auction will fail again. However, now that Mr. Ren, an outsider, has come in, the auction house may also insist on the original price and not lower it. We suggest that Mr. Ren should not pay more than 9 million yuan to buy this batch of equipment, otherwise it will be too disadvantageous."

Ren Zhong was stunned for a moment, not understanding Sun Shanhe's suggestion. If that was the case, then the purchase would not be possible.

"It's like this, Mr. Ren. In the past few days, we have mobilized students from various majors to conduct a survey of the low-end production lines in the industry. Even if we don't participate in this auction, we can buy similar products from outside for less money. So if we want to build our chip processing and manufacturing test center, we don't need to fight hard in this auction. On the one hand, we can save money, and on the other hand, we can also form a better production line by purchasing second-hand equipment." Professor Sun Shanhe saw Ren Zhong's surprised expression and hurriedly explained.

Ren Zhong suddenly realized that this college was worthy of being the one that produced the most semiconductor talents in China. Its connections were truly amazing. In just a few days, he had mastered all the products of this production line.

Ren Zhong was amazed by such execution and intelligence capabilities.

"Thank you, Professor Sun. I understand that there is no problem with that." Ren Zhong said, "I will set a maximum limit of 9 million this time. If we don't win this batch of goods at the auction, the million will still be used to pay for the second-hand equipment you purchased."

Ren Zhong felt it was OK that the task could be accomplished within 1 billion yuan, but it would be more convenient for him to buy the complete set of equipment at the auction. After all, this was the easiest way and could save a lot of time.

Although Professor Sun and his colleagues have the channels to collect a set of second-hand equipment themselves, but with so many people running around and so many gossips, Ren Zhong is afraid that they may not be able to complete the task in two or three years. After all, there are a lot of equipment to be purchased, and these equipment cannot be bought anytime and anywhere.

After the Electronics College re-evaluated the product's quality, Ren Zhong felt it would be more reliable to buy this set of inventory that had been stored for more than ten years.

After all, you have to pick up the good ones when you pick up the junk. Otherwise, if you follow the DIY style, you can pick up a scrapped E5 2660 chip from ten years ago and pretend it is a current I9-level performance chip. Who can bear that the chip processing production line that you have built with a little over one billion yuan has become a real junk production line? (End of this chapter)