Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 246 Carnival Night
After developing the DUV dry lithography machine, Xu Shenxue was in a very good mood. He booked a hotel that evening to entertain all the core R&D personnel.

He could eat as much expensive food as he wanted, such as lobster and abalone; he would not go broke anyway.

After the meal, he took more than a hundred technical backbones to a top-notch bar... Instead of playing things like the Dragon Set that young people play, Boss Xu directly asked someone to book the whole place.

Then the public relations department was asked to arrange for several commercial and performance management companies to bring over one or two hundred models, young actors, anchors and the like to warm up the scene.

We also invited a few famous bands, singers and the like to perform!
You don't even need to use fake wine from the bar. As long as the venue fee is paid, your bar just needs to provide a venue, and the rest will naturally be handled by various professionals.

The company's logistics department directly contacted the wine company and brought over a whole truck of various famous wines, so you can drink as much as you want!
The main point is to have fun!
This grand spectacle shocked a group of core technical backbones who are already considered high-income groups!

They seemed to understand why the people at Zhiyun Microelectronics often said that big bosses are really generous!

As long as you achieve results, the big boss will give you money, face, and even these more empty things.

In the bar, during the interval between singing and dancing, Xu Shenxue took the microphone and went on stage: "I won't say much today, everyone, eat and drink well, and then I will make a promise to everyone: when you have developed the DUV immersion lithography machine, I promise to make every one of you achieve financial freedom!"

"Believe me, I have the ability!"

After saying that, Xu Shenxue simply stepped down from the stage.

Many people in the audience began to applaud enthusiastically, until their palms turned red.

Those of them who work on lithography machines have never received such attention, and have never had such a glorious day like today!

One of them, Fang Hetang, an engineer in his thirties, even had tears in his eyes!

After all, he is a graduate of a top 985 university and a serious doctor. In the eyes of many people, he is already a child of destiny.

But after really working in the lithography industry, you can only get a fixed salary every month, while those doctoral alumni who work in the software industry or financial industry have become winners in life, living in large apartments and having beautiful wives.

But he could only rely on that little salary to get by, and to be honest, he was very unwilling to accept this... He had been studying hard since he was young, and he didn't even have to take the college entrance examination, and was directly admitted to Peking University and Tsinghua University in China, and then graduated with a doctorate.

Before graduation, he was the pride of his parents and was even considered a top student by many primary and secondary school students. When he went to university, a banner was hung in his hometown to commemorate his death.

Since he was a child, he has been the "other people's child" in the mouths of many parents.

But after studying hard for so many years, I can only get such a low salary in the end, which is even less than what my high school classmates who just got a bachelor's degree earn!
The most important thing is that he can't see the future at all... The company he previously worked for seemed to be engaged in lithography machines, but it didn't invest too much money in it. There weren't even a few professional high-end talents. They were all a mess, and no one knew where they came from. They were not even suitable for doing odd jobs!
Such a company is engaged in lithography machines?
Forget about self-development, I can’t even copy!
But he wanted to change jobs but he didn't know where to jump to... At that time, there were only a few companies in China that made lithography machines, and he could hardly find a place to use what he had learned!

At that time, there was no place in the country that was seriously engaged in photolithography machines!

Finally, I had no choice but to go back to school to teach as a lecturer after working for about a year, trying to stay in school.

After studying lithography machine design and development for a lifetime, you should always do something. Even if you can't make a lithography machine, you should pass on your skills and at least keep some spark for the domestic lithography machine industry!
It was not until Xu Shenxue entered the lithography machine industry and founded Gulf Technology that he began to poach people from everywhere.

At this time, his supervisor from his former company called him and said that he had resigned and joined Gulf Technology, and asked him if he wanted to come and give it a try!
Mr. Xu, the richest man in China, has invested generously and provided ample funding for R&D, so you can have whatever you want!
As long as Fang Hetang comes over, according to his ability and qualifications, the basic salary starts at 25,000 yuan, with performance and even options, 16 salaries. As long as he comes over, the household registration problem will be solved, he can live in a high-end talent apartment for free, and if he wants to buy a house, he can also get a housing subsidy, and can apply for an additional housing loan within the company for middle and senior talents.

All treatment is comparable to that of the technical backbones of core projects in Zhiyun headquarters!

This combined revenue is almost several times that of the previous lithography machine company.

The important thing is that the boss of this company is Xu Shenxue, and everyone knows that Xu is the richest man with a lot of money...

If it was any other company, even a big one, or a wealthy person saying they wanted to develop a lithography machine, Fang Hetang would not bother to pay attention to them... This crappy thing is not something that an ordinary company or an ordinary wealthy person can do.

There are so many things involved behind it, and so many basic technology fields that need to be tackled.

Not to mention a few hundred million, even if tens of billions were thrown in, you would only be able to hear a sound.

However, the one who is talking about developing lithography machines is Xu Shenxue. Xu Shenxue is super rich. Others invest hundreds of millions, but Xu Shenxue can invest tens of billions or even hundreds of billions.

In terms of financial security, it is completely different concept!
What makes professionals like Fang Hetang even more excited is that Xu Shenxue is not only rich, but also has a large industrial chain that requires the use of lithography machines.

Zhiyun Technology needs various chips, so Zhiyun has a chip design department, and then a chip manufacturing department!
The chip manufacturing sector needs various equipment such as lithography machines...

This means that Xu Shenxue has a strong demand for this thing and also has application scenarios.

Even if the performance of the lithography machine is worse, the cost is higher, and the efficiency is lower, it can still be sold and used in practice, and then a certain cost can be recovered and continued to be invested in a new round of lithography machine research and development.

And this point is even more important to him!

So after some consideration, Fang Hetang chose to join Gulf Technology to continue working on lithography machines!

It is not just Fang Hetang that values ​​these. Many people who come here with passion and ideals mostly come here for these two points.

Xu Shenxue is not short of money and has strong demand!
These two points also affect the judgment of many people!
If an ordinary rich person comes out and says that he wants to make the semiconductor industry chain independent, and then talks about policies and talents, and mobilizes thousands of companies and one or two hundred research institutes to cooperate with you in technological research, even if you give him money... people will slap you in the face and send you into the Pacific Ocean trench.

Do you really think I've never seen the world and don't know you're bragging?
Do you think you can handle the semiconductor industry chain? Don’t you know your own weight?

But... here comes the key point. If Xu Shenxue puts forward the same words and the same request, it will be different!

Special meetings were held one after another. During the meetings, Xu Shenxue's impressive resume was reviewed. Finally, after looking at the dazzling achievements, he gritted his teeth and said: I'll follow!
Success will benefit the country for generations to come.

If you fail, what else is there to say? Those who should retire should retire, and those who should resign should resign!

This matter is much more serious than making a fake chip to get subsidies!

The subsidy is not even something that can be brought to the table. Xu Shenxue is very rich and he doesn't even bother to ask for your small subsidies.

But what Xu Shenxue wanted was even more important... He wanted the cooperation of more than a thousand supporting enterprises, hundreds of research institutes, and dozens of universities!
Simply put, Xu Shenxue wants talents, not one hundred or one thousand talents, but tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of top-notch scientific research talents to revolve around the semiconductor industry chain he leads.

Anyone else who says these things will be kicked out!

But Xu Shenxue said...in the end they agreed.

Of course, this is also closely related to the fact that Xu Shenxue directly took AI to demonstrate what "high technology and the future" means!
Xu Shenxue allowed many people to truly see for the first time what the high-tech of the future is, and realized the importance of AI chips and the series of semiconductor industry chains behind them.

Chips are not just small things in consumer electronic products, but indispensable core components in countless devices and industries.

The semiconductor industry chain is the foundation of all modern high-tech societies!
Through the efforts of Xu Shenxue and many others, a series of talent channels were finally opened.

Otherwise, no matter how rich Gulf Technology is, it would be impossible to develop a DUV dry lithography machine in such a short time.

On the surface, it is only led by one company, Gulf Technology, and then there are dozens of subsystem supporting companies controlled by Xu Shenxue, with a total of no more than 10,000 R&D personnel involved.

But in fact, there are at least more than a thousand companies or institutions behind it, with a total of more than 100,000 R&D personnel indirectly involved!
Although up to now, most of them do not know that the material research and development and process research and development they are doing are ultimately aimed at supporting the lithography machine project!

For example, the ion beam polishing equipment is actually a large project. Many of the supporting enterprises or research institutes under it only know that they are responsible for the research and development of a small project, but they don’t know what this thing is used for before it is assembled.

The ion beam polisher is just a sub-project of the objective lens system... It is just one of the devices for manufacturing ultra-high precision objective lenses.

The research and development of lithography machines is not just about making a design drawing, but it has to be broken down into subsystems, each subsystem is further broken down into various components, and each component requires some high-precision equipment or new materials for manufacturing.

The above are what Xu Shenxue directly controls under the control of the subordinate enterprises in the three major systems of Xiannvshan, Zhiyun and Liuhe... They are responsible for the integration of subsystems, the research and development and manufacturing of some core components.

But a good cook cannot cook without rice... After all, Xu Shenxue was only involved in the semiconductor industry chain, not an entire industrial system.

However, the semiconductor industry chain needs to be supported by an entire industrial system and requires support from more grassroots equipment, materials, and processes.

However, many underlying manufacturing equipment are not available or their performance is not up to standard, and technical research and development and improvement are needed...sometimes it is even necessary to penetrate several layers downwards!

The things in these links are what more than a thousand companies and more than a hundred research institutes do!

In this way, one thing leads to another, and finally it becomes a super project, involving almost the entire industrial system. In this system, most people are actually doing their own work quietly, and then maybe one day after seeing the news and thinking carefully, they will suddenly realize that the project they worked on every night before was to match the lithography machine, and then they will smile: the success of the domestic advanced lithography machine is also due to my efforts!

Precisely because lithography machines and other core semiconductor equipment are so troublesome and complicated, we either have to wait for the technological advancement of the entire industrial system to achieve a spiral upward, or naturally wait for breakthroughs in basic technologies in all aspects before carrying out technological integration, which will take a very long time.

This was also the previous technical route taken by European and American countries.

Or they can do what Xu Shenxue did, creating demand on their own and investing large sums of money to force the operation of the entire project, which can then be passed down layer by layer through the operation of the project to conduct a comprehensive survey of the technology.

Then promote the research and development of certain technology or materials in a targeted manner.

This can greatly shorten the time, but of course the investment is also huge... Money is a small matter, the most important thing is that you have to get so many companies and research institutes to cooperate with you!

Apart from investing money, Xu Shenxue’s main job is to do this!

It’s just that most people don’t notice these things, and Xu Shenxue doesn’t care about them, so tonight is a carnival night for these core technical backbones.

Xu Shenxue didn't stay with them for too long and left early after ten o'clock. When they returned home, Lin Yaxian took his coat and sniffed it before asking, "Did you drink today?"

Lin Yaxian knew that although Xu Shenxue was not a teetotaler, he did not drink on weekdays. Even when he occasionally had dinner with the group of senior executives in the company, he did not drink.

Xu Shenxue: "Well, something happy happened today, so I had a couple of drinks with my colleagues!"

Lin Yaxian picked up Xu Shenxue's coat and handed it to the middle-aged woman beside him, saying, "Aunt Zhao, please make some tea and send it upstairs to warm his stomach!"

Aunt Zhao said, "Okay, your mother brought a can of good tea a few days ago, I opened it and brewed it!"

Lin Yaxian accompanied Xu Shenxue upstairs: "What makes you so happy? I even let you drink!"

Xu Shenxue said: "Gulf Technology has developed a DUV dry lithography machine. It was tested today and the test results are quite perfect. I estimate that by the end of the year, Zhiyun Microelectronics will be able to use our own DUV dry lithography machine!"

After hearing this, Lin Yaxian also had a happy look on her face: "This is a great event, it's worth having a few drinks!"

Although Lin Yaxian studied art, which has nothing to do with science and engineering such as chips and semiconductors, her husband is engaged in high-tech, so she would learn some corresponding common sense on weekdays.

Naturally, she also knows the importance of lithography machines, and she is even more aware of the importance her husband places on lithography machines and the entire semiconductor industry chain!
So when she heard Xu Shenxue say that there had been a breakthrough in lithography technology, she immediately knew what this meant to Zhiyun Technology and Xu Shenxue.

After chatting for a while, Lin Yaxian started talking about family matters again: "Tonight I heard from the logistics office that Xiao Chen is planning to sell his house recently. I asked around and heard that his mother is sick and needs a major operation. I'm afraid he's a little short of money!"

"Xiao Chen?" Xu Shenxue said after hearing this: "No wonder he took leave and didn't come to work a few days ago. I didn't hear him talk about such a big thing!"

"He saved enough money to buy this house last year, and he just moved in."

Lin Yaxian said: "Can I tell you everything?"

After hearing this, Xu Shenxue took out his cell phone and asked the person in the logistics office for a few questions. Then he found Xiao Chen's phone number and asked after a few simple words, "Which hospital is your mother in now?"

"Oh, that hospital is okay, it's a big hospital, what did the doctor say."

"Don't worry, medicine is very advanced nowadays. If you need to be transferred to another hospital, tell me. I have more connections than you anyway!"

"Also, don't sell this house yet. It would be a big loss to sell it now. The housing prices in Shenzhen are rising fast. You don't have to worry about the cost of your mother's treatment. Just spend as much as you need."

"You've been working around the clock with me for the past few years, without a break during holidays, and you haven't been able to go home for the New Year for several years. It's also your fault that the finance department was careless and didn't pay you overtime. I asked the finance department to calculate your overtime pay for these years and pay it to you in one lump sum!"

"I guess you'll have to keep working with me, so I'll just give you the overtime pay for the next few years in advance all at once!"

"It will probably be deposited into your salary card tomorrow!"

"Hey, you are a real man, why are you crying? A man has to be upright in the world, your family is counting on you!"

"During this time, you can focus on taking care of the elderly and don't have to worry about work. I will give you another month's vacation. If it's not enough, I will extend the vacation. Come back to work when your mother gets better!"

After hanging up the phone, Lin Yaxian said, "I'll ask Aunt Zhao to bring some fruit to the hospital tomorrow!"

Xu Shenxue said: "Well, we should go and have a look!"

Driver Xiao Chen is not only Xu Shenxue's driver, but also Xu Shenxue's personal security guard. He follows Xu Shenxue wherever he goes.

An ordinary driver cannot afford to buy a house in Shenzhen after working for a few years!

After talking about this, Lin Yaxian then brought up the matter. There were some new executives arriving recently, so she was planning to organize a family dinner and invite the wives and children of some of the executives in the company to organize some activities so that everyone could have fun and help them quickly integrate into life in Shenzhen.

Xu Shenxue said: "Well, you can arrange it yourself, but you have to be tactful and not make them feel uncomfortable. It's not good to make them feel that the husband is controlled by me and the wife is also controlled by you!"

Lin Yaxian said: "Don't worry, I know my limits. I'm not a fool!"

"Besides, I'm not some rich lady who can't humble myself!"

"It's just an ordinary family dinner, and then I'll see if there are any problems, such as the children's schooling, etc. to help solve one or two."

Xu Shenxue nodded. He was still reassured about Lin Yaxian.

For a super large enterprise like Zhiyun Technology, senior personnel management is also a very complicated matter. Sometimes taking the wife route can play a certain role... Of course, it is not very useful.

----

In the following days, Xu Shenxue visited Gulf Technology again and looked at several other test items of the DUV dry lithography machine. The test results were quite good. Although there were still a lot of problems, it was generally usable.

"This is almost done. I will ask the people from Zhiyun Microelectronics to come over and get a few units to test and adjust together. We will try to solve the remaining problems as soon as possible and put them into mass production as soon as possible!"

"The 65-nanometer and 90-nanometer process nodes are also important technology nodes in our chip manufacturing department. This DUV dry lithography machine is very useful!"

Wang Daolin said: "It is much better to have the foundry cooperate with us to carry out various tests and improvements than to guess blindly on our own!"

Taking advantage of this time, Xu Shenxue looked at the research and development of core equipment such as ion implanters and etchers. These projects are both fast and slow. The fast ones are expected to produce a new generation of prototypes this year to meet the needs of the 65-nanometer industrial line, while the slow ones may have to wait until next year or even the year after.

Many devices are not well-known and seem not as difficult as lithography machines at first glance, but in fact, every one of them is high-tech and sophisticated equipment with extremely high technical difficulty, and the difficulty of research and development is also very great.

The photolithography machine is just simply famous!

Among so many core equipment, the only technologically advanced one that Gulf Technology can produce is the back-end lithography machine.

The technology behind this is relatively simple. Gulf Technology's back-end lithography machines have been supplied to Zhiyun Microelectronics on a large scale and are used in the most advanced 32-nanometer production lines. Even the 28-nanometer production lines that are being prepared will use self-produced back-end lithography machines.

Relying on its cost advantage, it has begun to supply large quantities to the outside world and has begun to enter the production lines of many overseas wafer fabs.

This back-end lithography machine is also the only core equipment in Gulf Technology's semiconductor industry chain that is currently competitive in the global market and can generate stable and considerable profits.

Unlike other projects, most of them rely on forced transfusions from Zhiyun Microelectronics for support, and a small number of them have certain competitiveness in the low-end market, but the profits are not large.

For example, the I-line lithography machine and the Krf lithography machine have only been able to win orders from some domestic wafer factories by relying on their price advantage. These orders are for maintaining production and cultivating and accumulating technical talents, and they are not very profitable in themselves.

This is not easy... because this requires snatching orders from the three major lithography machine manufacturers, and the technology of their own equipment has no advantages, so they can only rely on pure price advantages to compete for orders. Many wafer fabs are very concerned about this.

In the current field of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, it is not easy for Gulf Technology, as a latecomer, to catch up.

After leaving Gulf Technology, Xu Shenxue returned to Zhiyun Technology to lead a new round of meetings to discuss the product launch and listing of the C5 series, A12 series and S12X series in August.

(End of this chapter)