Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry.

Jincheng.

On his way to the office building, Ren Zhong was stopped by a strange middle-aged man.

This middle-aged man was wearing a well-fitting suit and looked like he was selling insurance.

"You must be Boss Ren, right? I'm from X-Core Company. My name is Tu Baishi. Boss Ren, can we talk for a moment?" the middle-aged man said politely.

Ren Zhong had never expected that someone from the chip industry would come to see him. He was confused and wondered what this person wanted to see him about, and why he was so mysterious.

"Okay, come with me to my office to talk." Ren Zhong was a little curious about what was going on, so he nodded slightly.

The two went up to Ren Zhong's office.

"Boss Ren, excuse me for bothering you. Let me reintroduce myself. I'm Tu Baishi, the marketing director of X-core Company. Tu means Tu, Bai means black and white, and Shi means poetry. I'm in charge of the auction of ZL Semiconductor's bankruptcy equipment. We heard that Boss Ren has also signed up for the auction. May I ask, is Boss Ren's intention of purchasing these equipment to reopen a chip foundry company?" Tu Baishi went straight to the point.

"Mr. Tu, does this problem have any impact on your company?" Ren Zhong asked.

"There is an impact, of course not on future market competition. Boss Ren, we didn't expect that there would be changes in this matter now. Frankly speaking, our X-core is a state-owned enterprise. Before this, we have conducted a lot of communication and coordination work with the creditors of these equipment. Due to procedural compliance, both parties are prepared to complete the transaction through auction. Before Boss Ren joined the auction, we have been making smooth progress. Now the auction has become uncertain with the addition of Boss Ren. We would like to know whether Boss Ren wants to reopen a chip foundry company or has other reasons for participating in this auction?" Tu Baishi did not keep anyone in suspense and directly stated the reason for the matter.

Ren Zhong suddenly realized.

At both ends of this matter, the biggest creditor and the buyer of Tu Baishi's company both have state-owned backgrounds. They reached an agreement to complete the transaction. From the situation behind it, there is nothing wrong with it. After all, they are all state-owned systems. As one of the top chip foundry companies, ZCore can make good use of the production capacity of this equipment, and at the same time it also solves the problem of cashing out for the creditors. I just don't know what price they negotiated?
"I will not enter the chip foundry industry," Ren Zhong shook his head. "I just want to buy these devices and give them to the School of Electronics of Jincheng University of Science and Technology to build a chip processing laboratory."

He did not hide anything from Tu Baishi and told him the reason directly.

When Tu Baishi heard this, his eyes widened. It was a waste to spend such a huge amount of money just to build a laboratory for the School of Electronics.

"Boss Ren, this batch of equipment is a complete set of equipment with an annual output of 36 wafers. It is mainly used for mass production. If we only do small-scale trial production in the laboratory, we don't need so many equipment for mass production." Tu Baishi said, "Frankly speaking, this wastes too much of the equipment's potential production capacity. Building a chip trial production laboratory does not require so many equipment."

Ren Zhong had never thought about such a question. He only knew that this set of equipment could produce 0.13-micron chips, but he had never thought about how big the difference was between mass production equipment and laboratory equipment.

"If I weren't involved, what price would you have agreed to sell this batch of equipment for?" Ren Zhong asked curiously.

This statement is somewhat presumptuous, as it is equivalent to the other party's core business secrets.

Tu Baishi felt a little embarrassed after hearing this, but after a while of silence, perhaps in order to sincerely dissuade Ren Zhong, Tu Baishi gritted her teeth and said softly, "Boss Ren, to be honest, if you were not involved, this batch of equipment would have been sold for 7.8 million. Frankly speaking, we can also buy better equipment on the international market at this price, but you know that the current situation is not smooth for us to purchase equipment, so we picked up this set of equipment to expand the production capacity of our 130nm low-end product line. After all, this batch of equipment is brand new, and its performance is much better than that of equipment that has been used for more than ten years. If Boss Ren plans to build a laboratory for chip trial production, we can help Boss Ren achieve this goal at a lower cost, and we can even provide second-hand equipment with 90nm process."

This is a statement that has some sincerity.

Ren Zhong was silent for a while. "Mr. Tu, can I tell the professors at the School of Electronics what we talked about today? After all, I have promised them that I will get this equipment to build a laboratory. If I withdraw, it will be like going back on my word."

"No problem, Boss Ren. To be honest, we have very close ties with the School of Electronics. More than half of our core employees come from them. We are very familiar with Dean Liu Xueren, Professor Chen Shude, and Professor Sun Shanhe. We even have many collaborative research projects." Tu Baishi replied.

Obviously there are quite a few connections between them.

"Well, if it's convenient for Mr. Tu, let's go to the School of Electronics to discuss with Dean Liu, Professor Chen, and Professor Sun how to deal with the next things. Mr. Tu, to be honest, I just want to build a complete chip production line for the School of Electronics for teaching research and small-scale chip production. At the same time, I am also very interested in chip production and hope to get all the technical information of this production line, because I am very curious about the details of the chip manufacturing process, and I especially hope to understand all the details." Ren Zhong said after thinking for a while.

Such a thing suddenly popped up. Ren Zhong looked at Tu Baishi and didn't think what she said was made up. He didn't intend to interfere in the transaction between the two state-owned enterprises, but the chip laboratory must be done. As one of the top chip foundry companies in China, Z-Core would not lie about such a thing.

School of Electronics, Jincheng University of Science and Technology.

Dean Liu Xueren and Tu Baishi actually knew each other. After a brief communication, the two quickly understood each other's demands.

"Mr. Ren, given what happened, it seems that it is not appropriate to buy this set of equipment. How about we turn to the second plan and purchase a second-hand equipment according to demand?" Professor Liu Xueren knew the importance of Z Core in Dongda. Such an asset transfer arrangement was indeed in the best interests of Dongda. The value of this set of equipment would be much greater in the hands of Z Core. After all, their business volume could feed this production line, and if the school got this set of equipment, it would be idle most of the time.

"I have no problem. As for the purchase funds, I have discussed with Professor Sun, and there is no problem as long as it does not exceed 9 million. However, I would like to donate equipment instead of cash, and hope to have this equipment operational in the school soon." Ren Zhong did not care where to buy it from. He was more concerned about time. "It would be best if it is within a year. However, I will review the rationality of the combination of production lines in advance." Ren Zhong did not have any special opinion on this matter. Although he did not expect the twists and turns in between, since the other party came to him to explain this matter, it was reasonable for Ren Zhong to stand in their way.

However, for the realization of his investment, Ren Zhong will not give money to the school and let them purchase. In this regard, Ren Zhong has learned too many lessons from his predecessors. If he gives the money out, he cannot guarantee whether it will be invested in these chip equipment.

"No problem, Mr. Ren, don't worry. We are more anxious to build the production line than you." Professor Liu Xueren said happily, "I'm sure Mr. Tu will also help us build it as soon as possible."

"We have no problem. I have told Boss Ren before that we at Z Core will spare no effort to support this. We have a 90nm DUV. Now due to overload operation, the failure rate is a bit high. It was basically used in the processing of 0.13-micron products before. If new equipment is available after completing this equipment transaction, we can consider retiring this old equipment and transfer it to the School of Electronics for research and small-scale trial production. The price can be comparable to that of the 0.13-micron lithography machine. As for the other supporting dry etchers, physical vapor deposition machines, and chemical vapor deposition machines, we will also find a way to retire a batch of old equipment for school experiments. The price will not be higher than this batch of equipment. What do you think, Boss Ren?" said Tu Baishi.

Z core has a history of more than 20 years in Dongda, and naturally there are a lot of old equipment for chip production. After adding a new production line, a batch of old equipment were retired to complete the assembly of a production line. Although there is difficulty, it is not great.

What's more, now that there is someone like Ren Zhong who looks rich and stupid to pay for it, Tu Baishi starts to promote her company's second-hand goods very hard.

In terms of quality, these things are definitely usable, but if you say there is no problem with the failure rate after being used for more than ten or twenty years, basically no one will believe it. However, it is certain that there will be no problem with small-scale production after some repairs.

"It's okay. We can also choose some retired equipment from other manufacturers to form this production line." Professor Liu Xueren was of course very clear about this. Although he also wanted to get this matter done as soon as possible, he would not allow Tu Baishi to sell all the junk to him.

He has no objection to replacing the main lithography machines with 90nm lithography machines with high failure rates. However, if the dry etcher, physical vapor deposition machine, and chemical vapor deposition machine are all junk that need to be repaired at any time, Professor Liu Xueren would be unhappy about it. He would rather buy them from other second-hand dealers.

Ren Zhong didn't want to bother with these twists and turns. In his mind, it didn't matter if it was a little broken. Instead, there would be more opportunities to repair the analysis equipment, and he would get more detailed information about the equipment.

Ren Zhong even wished that the professors from the School of Electronics would dismantle all these machines and equipment from start to finish and reinstall them, so that Ren Zhong would have a more detailed set of information.

You will have a more intuitive understanding of the composition, size, and material of these components.

A full set of imaging equipment for repairing these devices will obviously be more beneficial for the world of Bright Sword to imitate and learn from.

But it doesn’t matter if you buy new ones, as new ones have better performance, and it’s a better opportunity for Ren Zhong who is trying to copy the main world equipment.

The auction of the equipment went on as scheduled, and Ren Zhong saw that the reserve price had been lowered to 7 million yuan.

After several symbolic bids from trustees, the final bid was soon made by Z Core Company at 7.8 million yuan.

Ren Zhong stood there motionless throughout the entire event, like a spectator who had paid a deposit of 100 million to enter the venue.

Anyway, he had already received Tu Baishi's promise that he would be given a complete electronic version of all the manuals for this equipment. He would even be given a set of video materials of the maintenance and debugging of the production line to satisfy Ren Zhong's curiosity in learning chip manufacturing and processing.

Anyway, this set of equipment is already outdated. For a company like Z-Core, confidentiality is for business rivals. Ren Zhong, who is obviously an outsider, is just entertaining himself with this information and will not really get involved in this industry, which requires extremely high entry capital.

So these production process information may be a treasure to competitors, but to a third-party expert like Ren Zhong, it is just some jokes.

On the other hand, the School of Electronics regards laboratory construction as a top priority.

Therefore, Professor Liu Xueren personally served as the leader of the construction team to coordinate various matters, including the application for laboratory projects in the school. After all, this laboratory needs supporting hardware equipment, software, laboratory plant and staffing. Not to mention, a long line requires at least 100 to professional staff to operate this production line, and a commercial production line requires more than people to achieve high-intensity full-load production.

Although chip processing has a high degree of automation, it also involves many links, and many places require human supervision to ensure the performance and quality of the entire production line.

After Ren Zhong confirmed that he would basically be responsible for the purchase of the equipment, the laboratory staffing was immediately put on track. In addition to recruiting from outside, more doctoral and master's students who graduated this year could be retained to work in this laboratory.

The equipment list was quickly confirmed by all parties. Z Core provided more than half of the equipment this time. Except for the 90nm process lithography machine with a high failure rate, the School of Electronics required the rest of the equipment to be stable. Equipment that was working well one day and breaking down the next day was not allowed!
Based on the principles of insurance period and reliable quality, we choose to purchase excess equipment from domestic chip foundry companies that have retired to the second line.

The chip foundry business is very competitive right now, and many small and medium-sized chip foundries are having a hard time. Some old redundant equipment has to be sold off to make a living. When it comes to picking up bargains, these professors from the School of Electronics are really not bragging, as they all know where to find bargains in the domestic chip industry!

, (End of this chapter)