Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 158 Sixty-five Nanotechnology

In late July, Xu Shenxue, who had been very low-key in the eyes of the outside world in the past year and could basically only be seen at new product launches, once again appeared at Tongcheng Airport on his private plane.

Then he inspected Zhiyun Microelectronics in a low-key manner.

The semiconductor backup plan planned by Xu Shenxue consists of two parts... One part is his current secret personal investment and acquisition of some basic semiconductor industries, various types of semiconductor equipment and materials, and is responsible for the underlying basic technology.

Part of it is undertaken by Zhiyun Technology, which is responsible for various obvious mid- and downstream products.

The design of various types of chips, the development and support of various types of professional chip design software...this part is undertaken by Zhiyun Semiconductor.

Then there is the chip manufacturing field, including front-end production, back-end packaging, etc. This part is undertaken by Zhiyun Microelectronics.

Among them, the chip design field is the least difficult, and the overall progress is relatively fast, so there are no major problems.

As for the chip manufacturing field, it adopts the approach of purchasing large quantities of a series of lithography machines, materials and other equipment that are currently allowed to be exported abroad, and then building advanced chip foundries, following the traditional route of many contemporary domestic chip foundries.

In Zhiyun Microelectronics, the company's general manager Ding Chengjun introduced the achievements of the past six months to Xu Shenxue.

"We have purchased a large amount of industrial land near the company and are preparing to build a large-scale advanced chip factory and R&D center!"

"We are also planning to build a new chip factory in Shenzhen!"

“In addition to these two future investment factories, we will also upgrade and renovate the existing factories!”

"In response to the upgrade and renovation of the existing factory and the equipment needs of the two new factories in the future, we have placed a large number of equipment orders with many equipment manufacturers at home and abroad!"

"Forty-three core DUV lithography machines have been ordered, including some DUV dry lithography machines and the more advanced DUV immersion lithography machines. We are also continuing to purchase more advanced DUV immersion lithography machines."

Xu Shenxue said: "Equipment is the foundation of the production line. It is a good thing to buy more advanced equipment. You have done a good job in this regard. You don't have to worry about the funds. The head office will continue to provide financial support!"

An advanced immersion lithography machine costs tens of millions of US dollars. You can’t afford it if you don’t have money... Even if they don’t blockade or sanction you now, you still have to spend real money to buy it.

Xu Shenxue asked Zhiyun Microelectronics to purchase a large number of advanced immersion lithography machines in case even this type of lithography machine is not sold in a few years due to sanctions... So no matter whether the factory is built or not, there is nothing wrong in placing an order first and then stocking up.

Fortunately, at this point in time, Europe and the United States are not so vigilant against China. In the field of lithography machines, only EUV lithography machines are not for sale, but DUV immersion lithography machines are open for sale.

Ding Chengjun continued: "The purchase of lithography machines and other equipment is not a big problem for the time being, but the technical difficulty of the process is still relatively large!"

"Our neighbor SMIC has also purchased a large number of DUV immersion lithography machines... However, their current process node is still at 65 nanometers, and it is not very smooth. The process that mainly produces and generates revenue is still at 90 nanometers!"

"After half a year of advancement in our process technology, especially after Professor Wu Deyi and his team joined our company, our process progress has been greatly improved!"

"We are now able to stably mass-produce 90-nanometer technology with a very high yield rate. We have begun to fully undertake the production of a large number of mid- and low-end chips under the group company!"

"At the same time, our 65-nanometer process is also progressing very rapidly. Although the yield rate is still slightly lower, overall it is not much worse than that of SMIC next door!"

"We expect to completely solve the yield rate problem of the 65nm process this fall and start manufacturing mid-range chips for the group!"

"As for the higher 45 nanometers, since our company does not have a DUV immersion lithography machine at the moment, we are unable to make any practical progress for the time being and can only carry out preliminary theoretical research!"

"But our first batch of DUV immersion lithography machines are expected to arrive in September and then be installed directly in the existing factory!"

At this time, Professor Wu Deyi said, "As long as the equipment is in place, the 45-nanometer process will not be a big problem. I will be able to lead my team to develop it by the middle of next year at the latest!"

"It's just..." Wu Deyi said with some concern, "It's just that this 45-nanometer process may lead to some patent issues. The process technology I plan to use may conflict with the process patents of TSMC and STMicroelectronics!"

He said with a hint of embarrassment: "After all, there are only a few technical routes. The ones I have been exposed to before are either from TSMC or STMicroelectronics. It is very difficult to bypass them!"

Xu Shenxue said: "Patent, this is a problem!"

Xu Shenxue thought for a moment and said, "Regarding the patent issue, we can circumvent it if we can, and modify it if we can. If it really doesn't work, we don't have to worry too much, just use it directly, and pay attention to keeping the technology confidential. It doesn't matter even if it is discovered in the end."

"You want to trust the company's legal team!"

Zhiyun Technology is not SMIC...it can even lose a lawsuit in its home country.

Speaking of lawsuits... Zhiyun Technology has never been afraid of anyone so far... In patent lawsuits like this, what matters is the binding of interests and funds.

Unfortunately, Zhiyun Technology has a group of people with vested interests in most countries around the world, even in the United States... Among Zhiyun Technology's shareholders are large American consortiums, and the big bosses of those consortiums are counting on Xu Shenxue to develop various black technologies, and want Xu Shenxue to lead them to live longer.

Zhiyun Technology's investors are still very supportive of Xu Shenxue. They basically pretend not to see any decisions Xu Shenxue makes, even those that obviously favor domestic suppliers.

The huge success of the S series and C series mobile phones, coupled with the success of Yun Book in the spring, have given investors confidence.

The most important thing is that Xu Shenxue has successively launched various black technology research and development plans that a group of investors are concerned about, including artificial intelligence, drones, driverless cars, brain-computer interfaces, intelligent robots, etc. Research and development projects have already been started.

Even in the field of life sciences that many wealthy people are looking forward to the most, Xu Shenxue has already quietly established an overseas offshore company and then set up R&D institutions in many places around the world to carry out research and development.

Many wealthy investors also very low-key invested a total of 3.2 billion US dollars in angel round investment in this company called "Galaxy Life Sciences"! The establishment of Galaxy Life and the acceptance of the angel round were completely secretive, and the outside world could not even find any public information.

Because this company, to put it bluntly, is a group of top rich people on earth who are afraid of death. They want to rely on Xu Shenxue, who, although he himself does not understand technology, has magical powers in the field of scientific development, can always find precise points, and continuously create miracles in the field of science and technology to lead them in anti-aging technology...

The purpose is very simple, these wealthy people want to live longer.

There is no need to let the public know about this kind of thing...

Otherwise, the angel round investment of 3.2 billion US dollars is enough to shock the world!

And investors generally do not ask for any shares, but only a symbolic small number of shares and then obtain priority use rights for new technologies.

This thing is not a regular investment. It is purely for the purpose of living longer. Moreover, there are still unknowns. God knows when the money to buy life can be successfully developed.

By the way, investment in technological research and development in the medical field, especially in the field of life extension, is basically supported by these wealthy people.

They spend money without blinking an eye...Galaxy Life is just one of the many investments in the life and health fields by these wealthy people.

Even Xu Shenxue, introduced by this group of wealthy people, invested some money in another company in the United States that was engaged in similar technology. It was a pure investment without seeking any return on shares.

Investing in the field of life sciences is a common hobby of the world's wealthy people!
In addition to some interest ties with capital consortiums, Zhiyun Technology also has strategic partnerships with several operators, Google and Microsoft, and is a major customer of Qualcomm and Texas Instruments.

Putting aside the so-called blockade concept of later generations, looking at it purely from a business perspective, Zhiyun Technology is actually deeply tied to European and American capital and is a relatively typical multinational company.

It’s just that most of Zhiyun’s tax revenue and employment are in the country!

This is the case in the United States, not to mention China... This is Zhiyun's home turf, and Zhiyun has never lost in any patent lawsuit between domestic Zhiyun and foreign manufacturers!
Some things have nothing to do with right or wrong, but only with interests.

Then, Zhiyun Technology is also very rich...it can afford to hire various large legal teams. A small half of some of the top domestic legal teams engaged in international law are now supported by Zhiyun.

The top five law firms in the world are all strategic partners of Zhiyun Technology!
Do you think that when Zhiyun was sued in the United States, he would foolishly ignore it or just hire an ordinary lawyer to defend himself?
That’s right... Zhiyun Technology will directly pull out a top team of lawyers to respond to the lawsuit, and then find various excuses to sue the other party, and by the way, throw in a huge amount of document garbage.

In the end, the lawsuit was a mess... For some complicated patent cases, it would take at least three to five years for the other party's legal team to review all the documents and materials provided by the Zhiyun legal team.

Of course, the other party actually did the same thing, and that’s how big companies handle lawsuits!
Therefore, when a company of the level of Zhiyun Technology files a lawsuit, it often ends up being a time-consuming and lengthy litigation battle.

Up to now, Zhiyun Technology has been fighting various patents all over the world... For example, Zhiyun is currently engaged in a complicated and lengthy patent war with Fruit for various appearance designs and other functional patents... The scope of the lawsuit ranges from China to North America and then to Europe...

Then Zhiyun sued Fourstar, saying that the other party violated its patent for flat round buttons... Well, Fruit also sued Fourstar, saying that this flat round button is highly similar to their round button patent...

Well, actually, when the eldest and the second were fighting, they looked to the side and saw the third one suddenly appeared, and then they tacitly picked up the patent stick to start a lawsuit!
Then Zhiyun Technology also has some other patent disputes with many companies.

So Zhiyun Technology is actually now involved in lawsuits all over the world, and there are more than thirty lawsuits of various kinds in Europe alone.

In the past year, Zhiyun Technology has been involved in many lawsuits at home and abroad. It has won more domestically than it has lost, but it is hard to say about foreign ones… For example, in the lawsuit against Sixin in South Korea, they lost everything and paid tens of millions of US dollars. It’s disgusting!

However, Zhiyun took Sixing to court in China and forced the other party to pay more than 50 million US dollars as a settlement.

It's as if no one knows how to play at home.

Then the patent war between Four Star and Zhiyun was probably evenly matched in Europe and North America... There is no result yet, but it will most likely end in a settlement in the future.

Similar to the patent war over fruit, Zhiyun lost miserably in North America. Many cases can only be delayed by money now...

But in domestic cases, we have never lost a single time... But the other party is also dragging its feet, filing various lawsuits all the way up.

In the end, after all the trouble, the two sides still had to reach a settlement. Otherwise, Zhiyun phones would have to withdraw from the US market, and then Fruit phones would also withdraw from the Chinese market because of losing the lawsuit.

It does no good to either party!

How to describe the various lawsuits involving Zhiyun Technology? It can probably be described with two data: in the past year, Zhiyun Technology obtained approximately 300 million US dollars in compensation or settlement through lawsuits; at the same time, it also spent more than 200 million US dollars in fines or settlement expenses due to lawsuits.

All in all, he actually made tens of millions of dollars... Of course, a considerable portion of it was used to pay various legal fees, so in the end there wasn't much left.

Then there are a lot of lawsuits where either the parties are at a disadvantage, so they are dragged on... and some are where the other party is at a disadvantage, so they are also dragging their feet... So there are a lot of lawsuits that are still ongoing.

Various lawsuits are normal for multinational giants such as Zhiyun Technology, Fruit, and Sixing...

There are lawsuits almost every day of the year, 365 days a year!
So Xu Shenxue said: "If the various patents used do infringe on the patents of TSMC and STMicroelectronics, then the worst that can happen is a lawsuit. It will take three to five years, and even if we lose in the end, we will just have to pay some money!"

Wu Deyi secretly swallowed his saliva at Xu Shenxue's attitude, thinking to himself: I finally got to see the confidence of a multinational giant...

People don't take the lawsuit seriously at all.

(End of this chapter)