Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 131 Zhiyun Microelectronics

Xu Shenxue's semiconductor backup plan was very covert. The entire process was carried out through complex capital operations, and then acquisitions, holdings, and technology purchases were carried out in the form of overseas capital.

Then we will transfer the technology. If possible, we will set up a R&D center or open a factory in China. If that is not possible, we will send Chinese employees to learn there, or we can transfer the technology to some third countries.

If that still doesn't work, or the technology is too sensitive to be suitable... just don't do it at all, and send a foreign employee over with a USB flash drive, copy the data and bring it back. You don't even need to bring a USB flash drive, you can just encrypt the data over the network and be done with it.

What Xu Shenxue wanted was not company shares, but pure technology... Transferring technology in this informal and covert way is much more low-key than purchasing lithography machines in a high-profile manner.

Of course, this approach takes a relatively long time, and the technology involved is too basic. To build a first-class and advanced entire semiconductor manufacturing industry chain requires a long time and subsequent technical integration.

However, the risk of sanctions faced by Zhiyun Technology is getting greater day by day!

Therefore, Xu Shenxue decided to take advantage of the relatively good external environment to set up a chip foundry first and stockpile a batch of advanced DUV lithography machines that can be purchased.

As for EUV, this thing has just been developed by Europe and the United States, and it has not yet been officially delivered to customers... Even if you don't consider the sanctions factor, don't expect to be able to buy it.

Building a chip factory and purchasing lithography machines and other chip manufacturing equipment are not secrets and cannot be concealed, so Xu Shenxue simply did it openly through Zhiyun Technology.

In January of 10, Xu Shenxue, who had a cash flow of more than billion US dollars, met with people from Huaxin International, which was in the midst of a turmoil. He originally wanted to try to control the chip foundry through investment, but finally gave up.

The equity structure is quite complicated, not to mention the competition among multiple factions. In addition, the company is facing various lawsuits from TSMC. Because of the lawsuits, the company has to open up its technical data to TSMC for review at any time...

This technical review is quite interesting. To put it simply, TSMC can check at any time and anywhere what color underwear Central International is wearing, what material the underwear is made of, and whether it is breathable... If it feels that the material infringes on its own patents, it can always bend down and take a closer look and smell it... It's disgusting.

Also because of the patent lawsuit, Huaxin International was forced to transfer a large number of shares to TSMC... In other words, TSMC is actually one of the shareholders of Huaxin International.

After a brief contact, Xu Shenxue gave up the idea. He didn't like to acquire companies with too complicated backgrounds and too many involvements. He liked to acquire simple and pure companies that he could promote according to his own ideas, even if they were just second- or third-rate companies.
Therefore, Xu Shenxue chose to acquire another chip foundry that was originally foreign-invested but eventually decided to withdraw due to operating costs.

By the way, there are actually a lot of foreign investments in China to build a large number of various semiconductor companies. For example, Intel has invested in building an advanced large-scale wafer factory.

However, not all foreign-funded semiconductor factories can prosper. There are always some that perform poorly and are forced to sell.

This is the case with the chip factory acquired by Xu Shenxue.

Although this factory is not very strong, its equipment is not very good, and its process has fallen behind the international mainstream, this is not important. What is important is that there is no complexity and trouble, the equity is single, and after the full acquisition, it can do it according to its own ideas.

Anyway, Xu Shenxue didn't expect to use it right after the acquisition. He just needed to lay a foundation first, and then spend money and manpower to do it slowly.

The acquired chip foundry was officially renamed Zhiyun Microelectronics Co., Ltd. and is wholly owned by Zhiyun Technology.

Immediately afterwards, Zhiyun Microelectronics began to recruit a large number of R&D personnel, and at the same time purchased advanced lithography machines from overseas Nikon and ASML, and various equipment from other semiconductor industry chain manufacturers at home and abroad to build advanced chip production lines!
Zhiyun Technology explained to investors that the investment in Zhiyun Microelectronics is to reduce the cost of some mid- and low-end chips, such as the cost of power management chips...

Because the quantity and cost of various chips purchased by Zhiyun Technology are very large.

In addition, Zhiyun Technology has also gradually entered the field of more types of smart terminal devices, such as notebooks, smart watches, smart homes and other series of smart terminals.

And these products require a large number of various chips with medium and low performance.

Designing and producing these mid- and low-end chips by ourselves can effectively reduce costs and reduce supply security risks.

This logic is actually very common in business, especially for giant companies... they always try to control the entire industrial chain and make more profits.

Investors expressed their understanding... Zhiyun Technology's investors have a very high tolerance for Xu Shenxue, at least so far...

Everyone is counting on Xu Shenxue to develop all kinds of black technologies, so messing with the chip factory is just a piece of cake.

As long as I can make money, that’s fine!
Investors are all pure and extremely idealistic. They only want money and they want money desperately... They are the easiest group to deal with in the world. As long as you let them make money, everything will be fine!

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At the end of January, Xu Shenxue, who had been very low-key recently, avoiding the media and various meetings and basically not disclosing his whereabouts to the public, suddenly appeared in Tongcheng, the location of Zhiyun Microelectronics.

But even though Xu Shenxue was very low-key, when he arrived in Tongcheng, he was still blocked as soon as he got off the plane...

After the locals learned that the famous Zhiyun Technology had quickly acquired a local foreign-funded chip foundry, they had been waiting for Xu Shenxue to come.

It cost more than 1 billion to acquire these assets, and according to news reports, more investment will be made in the future to build a chip factory to supply various types of mid- and low-end chips within the group. It is estimated that the total investment will be at least tens of billions.

With such a huge investment, the big boss Xu Shenxue would definitely have to take a look...

After waiting for a while, Xu Shenxue came!
For this new world's richest man, the local government is also thinking of holding on to Zhiyun Technology, this super thigh, and then building a world-class advanced semiconductor production base.

Of course, they are more worried that after Zhiyun Technology takes over, it will directly transfer the core industries of Zhiyun Microelectronics away, leaving only an empty shell in the local area.

Xu Shenxue was blocked and had no choice but to have a brief chat with the local representatives, expressing his confidence in the local area, and then said that not only would the industry not be relocated, but investment would be increased. After hearing Xu Shenxue's promise, the locals breathed a sigh of relief!

Then, we look forward to the bright prospects of Zhiyun Technology's increased investment in the local area... An investment of tens of billions and a world-class semiconductor manufacturing base, just hearing the title makes many people swallow their saliva!

After resolving these issues, Xu Shenxue went to Zhiyun Microelectronics and saw the chip factory that cost him more than 1 billion yuan.

To be honest, judging from the appearance alone, this factory has a very high-tech image...it doesn't look backward at all.

After all, even if it is a chip factory that lags behind the international mainstream, it is still a serious high-tech factory and has all the decent things it should have.

At first glance, it looks quite high-tech!
Of course, the bright appearance cannot conceal the fact that its technology is backward, especially the very critical process technology has lagged behind by a lot!

Ding Chengjun, the general manager of Zhiyun Microelectronics, who was transferred from Zhiyun Group headquarters, was introducing to Xu Shenxue: "At present, with our equipment and technical reserves, we have begun to try to solve the 90-nanometer process, but the yield rate is not high and lacks market competitiveness."

"Currently, the company's main revenue still comes from the foundry business of the two mature processes, namely 130nm and 150nm, which maintains its revenue."

"The revenue in the year before we took over was only over 400 million, and the profit was only tens of millions, and it was mainly maintained by low-end chip orders from the foreign parent company. After we took over the company, these orders have disappeared. Currently, we are receiving some low-end chip foundry orders provided by the group headquarters."

"We are in contact with a foreign company for 90-nanometer process technology, trying to introduce relevant technology, strive to improve it as soon as possible and increase the yield rate!"

Xu Shenxue simply listened and then flipped through a lot of technical information to take a look... The technology of Zhiyun Microelectronics is too backward, and it is several generations behind the mainstream.

For example, the OMAP3640 chip from Texas Instruments currently used in Zhiyun mobile phones adopts a -nanometer process technology.

As for the 9-nanometer process, the technology is already a bit outdated. For example, the WDMA version and CDMA2000 version of the S8250 phone use Qualcomm's QSD8650/65 series chips, which adopt a 9-nanometer process, resulting in higher power consumption and greater heat generation. This is also the main reason that forces the S phone to use an L-shaped battery to increase battery life and optimize the internal space design to maintain heat dissipation.

Of course, the heat dissipation and battery life of the mobile version are not very good. Although the OMAP3640 chip adopts a -nanometer process, there is still a gap in chip design compared to Qualcomm. In addition, the integration is not high. Zhiyun Technology also needs to plug in a lot of additional chips, such as communication baseband, so it is quite difficult to do it as a whole.

In general, the current advanced mobile phone SOC chip processes are mainly concentrated in 45 nanometers and 65 nanometers.

As for ninety nanometers...it no longer has room for survival in the mobile phone SOC field, which represents the top manufacturing technology today.

Of course, the 90-nanometer process is not very suitable for mobile phone SOC chips, but it can still be used for some chips with low process requirements.

Many low-end and mid-range chips are still using a process of more than 130 nanometers... In a sense, even Zhiyun Microelectronics' current mature -nanometer process is already an advanced process for the contemporary Chinese semiconductor industry...

Even so, most of them are actually foreign-funded chip factories, such as chip factories invested by Intel, TSMC and other companies, as well as the current Huaxin International, most of the shares are in the hands of foreign capital.

As for advanced chip factories controlled by domestic capital, I’m sorry, there is not a single one... Zhiyun Microelectronics is the first one.

After a moment of contemplation, Xu Shenxue said, "Don't worry about the order. You know the size of Zhiyun Technology. Many of its products require a large number of mid- and low-end chips, and Weiku Electronics also needs a lot of low-end chips."

"We have also acquired several chip design companies before, and have more than ten types of low-end chip businesses. At the same time, Zhiyun Semiconductor has designed a variety of special-purpose chips on its own. As long as you can control the cost and quality well, these orders will definitely be given priority to our own subsidiaries!"

"However, the orders given by the group are not for you to just sit back and enjoy. You are from the company headquarters, so you should understand that Zhiyun is a company driven by technological innovation."

"Advanced technology is our core lifeline. Only with technology can we have Zhiyun Technology."

"The same is true in the field of chip design and manufacturing. In terms of chip design, we set up Zhiyun Semiconductor and acquired several small and medium-sized chip design companies. In terms of chip manufacturing, we acquired this factory and established Zhiyun Microelectronics!"

"What you need to do now is to appease the existing team and complete the current low-process chip production tasks... Then, do everything you can to improve the technical level. I hope that when I come to inspect again in a few months, I can hear the good news that you have solved the 90-nanometer process yield rate!"

"Of course, you don't have to worry about funding and equipment. The headquarters will continue to inject large sums of money into Zhiyun Microelectronics. I will set a small standard. The initial investment in the next year will not be less than 5 billion, and we will strive to invest 10 billion within three years."

"We will use this money to purchase all the equipment that should be purchased and can be purchased. If there are any problems with equipment procurement, we will report them to the group headquarters in a timely manner. We will contact the various partner companies and investors to negotiate a solution!"

"As for detailed technical research and development, I hope you will take the initiative and not just muddle through. When it comes to research and development, attitude is the most important thing!"

"The existing R&D team is understaffed, so we should increase our recruitment efforts and poach people when necessary... Never mind, I'll ask Lao Luo to make a talent introduction plan for you later. Lao Luo is still reliable in this regard!"

When it comes to poaching talent, Luo Yinian is the best!

The human resources talents in some other subsidiaries are not very good.

Xu Shenxue listened as he walked, and also took a look at the production status of 90-nanometer chips.

It has to be said that although the process speed is low at 90 nanometers, the entire production process still appears to be high-tech and full of high technology everywhere.

It was also the first time for Xu Shenxue to see this kind of most sophisticated chip production in the true industrial field, which was an eye-opener.

Well, although he didn’t understand it, he was shocked!
(End of this chapter)