Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 440: Fighting but Not Breaking Competition
After leaving in the car sent by his subordinates to pick him up, Wang Hua turned around and looked in the direction of the airport. Then, after thinking for a while, he opened his Moments and began to delete many of his previous Moments content.

There were a lot of content about him and his ex-girlfriend Elizabeth in his previous Moments. Although they were old content that couldn't be seen for three days, it wasn't a big deal to keep them.

I deleted a lot of content in the circle of friends, and also deleted many photos in the album.

Since Elizabeth is a thing of the past, let her disappear completely!

After dealing with all this, I took a short nap and the car arrived at the basement parking lot of their Strategic Investment Department at the company headquarters. I then took the elevator upstairs and returned to the office.

After arriving at the office, Wang Hua relaxed a little, drank a sip of water brought by his assistant, and took a photo of the seaside park outside the office window.

He immediately opened WeChat and sent a message to Zhao Linyi, informing her that he had returned to the company. He also sent a photo of the seaside scenery that he had taken from a high vantage point.

In just a few seconds, Zhao Yilin replied that he would be home soon.

After the two chatted briefly, Wang Hua put down his phone and started working. He forgot about time as he got busy.

Although he just came back today, he still has a lot to do. He needs to prepare for tomorrow's meeting with several entrepreneurial teams. He needs to understand various information about these entrepreneurial teams in detail. At the same time, he needs to analyze and discuss with others the potential value of these entrepreneurial companies and what new technologies or software ecological help they can bring to the company in the future!
At the same time, how much valuation should be given and how much investment amount should be given.

These are all things that need to be understood in advance and corresponding plans prepared.

After all, the startup company that is able to get to the point where you need to meet with me in person has already been carefully selected, and the startup team that has passed layers of screening has its merits in all aspects.

There are so many related high-tech startups in China, and even a large number of them emerge every day, but there are actually very few startups that can truly enter the vision of Zhiyun Group's strategic investment department.

Most of these startups that come into view will be eliminated in the initial investigation and screening.

In the end, only a small number of companies' investment projects were submitted to Wang Hua, the team leader.

Wang Hua will conduct final inspections and analyses on these companies to determine whether to invest, and will also directly participate in investment negotiations.

So don’t underestimate him as just a team leader. But for many startups and small and medium-sized enterprises in the software and Internet fields that are eager to get investment, Wang Hua may not decide their survival, but he also determines the height of their development!

For a small or medium-sized startup company, the impact of having Zhiyun Group make strategic investments and not having Zhiyun Group make strategic investments is huge.

If you succeed, you will be able to reach the top in one step, obtain funding and support from various other resources of Zhiyun Group, and obtain the protection of Zhiyun Group.

Moreover, as soon as Zhiyun Group makes a strategic investment, countless capitals will come waving checks and try to participate in it, so there will be no shortage of money.

If you fail, then go back to where you came from, continue to muddle along and look for other investments.

For Wang Hua himself, his work performance depends on how much benefit the investment projects he leads can bring to the company, whether it is some good technology or some good ecological content.

You can't spend a lot of money and get nothing in the end...

Therefore, he is actually very cautious about whether to invest or not. Although the money spent is the company's money, as the person in charge of the investment project, he also needs to be responsible for the success of the project.

If there are too many failed projects and the investment funds spent are not proportional to the profits obtained, then we will face a very cruel unemployment crisis!
If the investment project is successful and brings sufficient profits to the company, the bonus will also be a very large number.

Wang Hua was busy until the evening. After reviewing the last report and discussing the next disposal plan with his subordinates, Wang Hua picked up his private mobile phone again and saw that the time was almost six o'clock.

There are several unread messages, and they are all sent by Zhao Linyi.

The first one was a photo sent by Zhao Linyi. It was a photo of the living room facing the balcony, with text saying that she had arrived home.

The living room in this photo appears to be quite large, but the decoration is a bit old-fashioned, and it is obvious that the aesthetic style is that of the older generation of middle-aged people.

Then there were two more messages from Zhao Linyi, which were links to the review pages of two restaurants, saying that the two restaurants were pretty good and asking him which one he liked.

Wang Hua replied and said that he was in a meeting and that the second restaurant looked good for dinner.

After thinking about it, I added, I’m almost off work.

Soon, Zhao Linlin replied: "I'll be there now, see you at 6:30."

Wang Hua said: Okay!
Putting down the phone, Wang Hua thought about the short message and a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. Although the two of them just met today and had not spent much time together, he could clearly feel Zhao Linyi's affection for him.

And he also has a good feeling about Zhao Linyi...

In that case, let’s get to know more about it!

----

While Wang Hua was busy with work and still taking time out for dating and romance, in another building not far away, Xu Shenxue was chatting and drinking tea with Ji Chenghe and a few others.

Although it was almost six o'clock, no one said anything about leaving get off work on time.

They are all senior executives of the group, and there is no such thing as going to get off work on time. If there is nothing to do on weekdays, it’s okay if they don’t come to the company. If there is something to do, they have to get up in the middle of the night to deal with it... But even if they don’t come to the company, they are actually busy with a lot of things.

For people like them, including Xu Shenxue, actually all 24 hours a day are working time.

But no one feels tired or bored...Senior management and ordinary employees have completely different attitudes towards work.

Many senior managers actually enjoy their work... If you are respected and flattered by your subordinates every day, someone will open the door for you when you enter the meeting room, and everyone will look at you after you enter, and someone may even stand up and talk to you immediately, while people with lower status can only salute you from the side.

Trust me, you will enjoy working too.

The small group of people chatting in Xu Shenxue’s office are such people.

When people are chatting, they don't talk about their lives, but more about work. However, the overall atmosphere is much more relaxed. They talk about industry trends, the situation of competitors, and the promotion of new businesses.

By the time everyone finished chatting, it was already past eight o'clock in the evening, and everyone went home.

A few days later, Xu Shenxue, accompanied by a group of people, went to Tongcheng, which is Zhiyun Microelectronics under Zhiyun Group.

The purpose of coming here today is very simple, which is to inspect the equivalent seven-nanometer process that has just completed technical certification!
On the outskirts of Tongcheng, a huge integrated semiconductor production base stands out even in Tongcheng, where there are many semiconductor factories.

This is the "Factory 25" built by Zhiyun Microelectronics with an investment of more than 10 billion US dollars.

It is called a factory, but in fact it is a comprehensive semiconductor production base. It has two production lines equivalent to seven-nanometer process, an advanced conventional packaging factory, and an advanced 3D packaging factory that is still in the equipment debugging stage.

This factory is the largest single project investment since the establishment of Zhiyun Group, with more than 14 billion US dollars invested.

The 25th Factory, which cost so much money, is not only technologically advanced, but also covers chip lithography, packaging, testing and other processes. All kinds of raw materials can be directly put in and finished chips can be produced.

The production capacity is also very large. The 1980th plant has two production lines. The first production line uses imported equipment, including ALMS's NXT lithography machine, European, American, Japanese and Korean equipment. This is also the last time that Zhiyun Group imports these key equipment on a large scale.

The first production line composed of these imported equipment has a theoretical peak production capacity of 30,000 wafers per month. Of course, because it uses immersion lithography machines and quadruple exposure technology, its equivalent seven-nanometer process is very complex, so in actual production, its production capacity cannot reach this standard.

The second production line has a designed production capacity of 40,000 pieces per month. This production line adopts a large number of domestically produced equipment and designs, especially the core equipment such as front-end lithography machines, back-end lithography machines, etching machines, and example implantation machines, which are all provided by Gulf Technology under Fairy Mountain Holdings and other subsidiaries. The overall proportion of domestically produced equipment is already quite high.

Mainly because the domestic basic science, especially the fields of materials and precision processing, has developed very rapidly in the past two years. Driven by Xiannvshan Holdings, many companies engaged in the semiconductor manufacturing industry chain have carried out targeted research and development and produced a number of products.

Although many of the equipment are still foreign, foreign equipment or materials are also involved in the manufacturing process of some equipment.

This is still not an easy thing to do.

Furthermore, in fact, Xiannvshan Holdings can basically provide a full set of semiconductor equipment and consumables...but in some areas it cannot keep up with the performance of similar foreign products, such as production efficiency, precision that does not meet standards, or the trouble-free time is too short.

There are all kinds of problems, which is why Zhiyun Microelectronics still uses a large number of imported equipment in its domestic equipment production lines.

There are too many devices designed, and each one is difficult to handle. The lithography machine is just one of them, and the other various equipment are also difficult.

Zhiyun Microelectronics and Xiannvshan Holdings have tried to use a production line with a full set of purely domestic equipment. Theoretically, a full set of purely domestic equipment can be used for the 14-nanometer process node, but the production cost will be very high... Among the many links, this link is stuck, and that link is stuck, which eventually leads to a surge in the cost of chips!

For chips in the consumer field, price is very important. If the production efficiency is not up to standard and the yield rate cannot be increased, the price of the final chip will become sky-high, and consumers will not be able to afford it.

Therefore, although Fairy Mountain Holdings has developed very rapidly in recent years, it is still far from being able to provide Zhiyun Microelectronics with a full set of purely domestic equipment, and to be able to achieve the technology to the 14-nanometer process while ensuring the yield rate and production efficiency, and to control the cost of chips to the approximate level of existing chips... It is still impossible to do so.

Of course, even so, it can give Xu Shenxue enough confidence.

Not yet, but in a few years, it will be possible sooner or later.

Even if it is the equivalent of seven nanometers, or even the equivalent of five nanometers in the future, it is the same... As long as he is given a certain amount of time, it won't even take too long, he will always be able to do it.

And thus avoid various threats of being strangled!

As for now, there is mutual concern between Zhiyun Group and those American consortiums in the field of semiconductors and the extension of semiconductors in the fields of smart terminal devices and artificial intelligence... At the same time, they need each other, and finally they have reached such a balance.

If the other party completely cuts off supply to Zhiyun Group now, especially the supply of consumables, then Zhiyun Microelectronics will be in a very difficult situation. At least, it will not be able to expand its production capacity equivalent to the seven-nanometer process for a long time.

The existing 10-14 nanometer production lines can continue to expand with the help of a full set of domestic equipment, but the cost is unacceptable, so it is difficult to expand production capacity in the short term. However, we can wait a few years before expanding... In the next few years, we can only use existing equipment for production.

There is no need to worry about the equipment becoming unusable after the supplier stops providing maintenance. The technical level of Fairy Mountain Holdings is still quite good. It is capable of maintaining and servicing these existing imported top-level equipment and maintaining existing production capacity.

There is also the issue of consumables, which was a big problem in the past, but is not so big of a problem now… Many consumables infringe on the patents of foreign companies, and now they cannot be used openly. But if they are blocked, then there is no need to worry too much and you can just use them directly.

The problem is not big.

However, not only Zhiyun Group will feel uncomfortable. If you cut off supply and I also cut off supply to you, the other party will also feel uncomfortable!
For example, various computing chips will be completely cut off from supply, and a large number of high-tech companies in the United States will not be able to obtain APO graphics cards. They will most likely be forced to use AMD computing graphics cards, which are immature, have a poor development ecosystem, and have very low computing power.

The situation in the field of computing chips used in smart terminals is even more serious. There are currently no substitutes for computing chips used in various smart terminals, such as those used in the automotive field, worldwide... Zhiyun Group's degree of monopoly in the field of terminal computing chips is actually higher than that of server GPUs.

If the two sides fight in the semiconductor field, the basic outcome will be that you cut off my equipment and I cut off your chips... Of course, if each side is given a few years of development time, then both sides will be able to make up for their own shortcomings.

As for Xiannvshan Holdings, if they are given three to five years, it will not be a problem for them to obtain a full set of domestic equipment and consumables equivalent to seven-nanometer process or even five-nanometer process... Xu Shenxue has the confidence in this. At worst, he can stop doing research and development in other fields for the time being and concentrate his efforts on getting more SS-level scientific research quotas, and then get a lot of S-level and A-level scientific research quotas to invest in the semiconductor field.

If we work hard in the field of semiconductor equipment and consumables, there is a high probability that we will succeed.

If the computing chips of the American consortiums are sanctioned, they can also use AMD, Qualcomm, Intel and other chip manufacturers under their control, as well as TSMC and Quad Core to carry out replacement plans.

It would certainly be very uncomfortable at first to use their own chips, but if they grit their teeth and persevere for a few years, they could actually develop various computing chips with a certain technical level within three to five years... At most, their performance would not be as good as Zhiyun Group's computing chips, it would be a little worse but at least they could be used!

Finally, the two sides will form a new round of balance!

The most important thing is that in this process, both sides gained nothing except killing one thousand enemies and losing eight hundred of their own.

As for relying on this sanction to severely attack the other party, or even cut off their foundation, it is not such a good thing even in dreams.

Whether it was Xu Shenxue's side or the other side's consortium, they were all world-class top consortiums. It was impossible to expect to bring them down with such a small sanction...

If you want to bring down a consortium of this level... other means are not very reliable. You have to start a world war to have this possibility!
This was also an important factor in Xu Shenxue and the other consortium finally reaching a settlement in the semiconductor field.

It’s not that the two sides can’t live without each other, but there is nothing to be gained by leaving each other, and there is no way to inflict any actual major blow to the other side.

At most, they will each suffer for a few years, and then suddenly transform themselves and be resurrected with full health!
In that case, why bother fighting? Let’s just continue cooperating while arguing.

At the same time, each side is trying to make up for its shortcomings: Xu Shenxue continues to focus on the field of semiconductor equipment and consumables; the other side continues to focus on computing chips and artificial intelligence.

No one wants to be strangled by the other side!

At the same time, conventional commercial competition continues.

This is a kind of competition in which one fights but does not break!
As the competition between Zhiyun Group and the opposing consortiums becomes increasingly fierce, it has also directly promoted the continued rapid development of technology... Only when there is competition will there be pressure, and only when there is pressure will there be technological progress!

Using DUV immersion lithography equipment to develop an equivalent seven-nanometer process is the result of this kind of competition!

While the advanced EUV lithography machines have not yet been put into commercial mass production, Zhiyun Microelectronics and TSMC have managed to come up with an equivalent seven-nanometer process.

If it were a different time point and there wasn't such fierce commercial competition, neither of these two companies would have been able to use DUV immersion lithography machines to produce this process node. Not only would the investment be extremely expensive, but the chip yield would also be too low, and the overall chip cost-effectiveness would be very poor.

Wait two more years and you can easily use EUV lithography machines to complete it. There is no need to work hard now...

But now... both sides have to bite the bullet and do it. If you don’t do it, the other side will, and then you will fall behind... Once the technology lags behind, will you still want the series of commercial markets that follow?

In order to seize the initiative and be able to use the equivalent seven-nanometer process as soon as possible, Zhiyun Group will use it in mobile phone SOCs, computer CPUs, server GPUs, and terminal computing chips.

The 25th Factory even built two production lines at once, with a theoretical design capacity of 70,000 pieces per month, and spent huge amounts of money on this.

Such a huge production capacity equivalent to the seven-nanometer process can not only reduce the average cost through large-scale mass production, but more importantly, it can take advantage of the advantages of advanced chips to seize the chip market and the smart terminal, computer, and server markets behind the chips on a large scale.

The equivalent seven-nanometer process of the 25th Factory is directly related to the success or failure of the core products of Zhiyun Group and some other sister companies in the next few years, including the core projects of some secret R&D projects!
For such an important project, Xu Shenxue would naturally come to inspect it in person!
Then, he saw the top chip S903, which had just completed technical verification and was also the first in human history to be manufactured using an equivalent seven-nanometer process and had a transistor density of more than million per square millimeter!

Looking at this tiny chip that is only the size of a fingernail, it is hard for ordinary people to imagine that Zhiyun Group has already invested more than 10 billion US dollars in order to produce it!

(End of this chapter)