The car giant started by marrying the daughter of the king

Although the introduction of GSM has entered the fast lane, it is obviously unrealistic to achieve it overnight.

It is naturally impossible for Jiang Hui to keep his attention here all the time.

Lingnan Semiconductor, which has been busy expanding its production capacity and improving its technology, has finally received good news.

"Director, our 1.8-micron chip factory has completed the installation and debugging of various equipment and is ready for formal mass production."

Zhang Shaohua's hair is whiter than before.

After coming to Lingnan Semiconductor, his work became many times busier than when he was at Factory 742.

But he enjoyed it.

That kind of sense of accomplishment is not something that my previous job could bring me.

Especially as he has been deeply involved in the domestic semiconductor industry for decades, he is very clear about what has happened in the domestic semiconductor industry in the past decade.

At a time when the gap between the entire industry level and the international advanced level is widening, Lingnan Semiconductor is going against the trend.

The chip processing level of 1.8-micron process is not leading in the world.

But considering that even the lithography machines have been domestically produced, the meaning is very different.

To a certain extent, the cooperation between Lingnan Semiconductor and Nanshan Equipment has put China's semiconductor industry on a completely different path.

In the future, all semiconductor factories in China will be able to quickly implement 1.8-micron process technology. After Nanshan Equipment receives a large number of orders, it will also be very beneficial for the research and development of a new generation of lithography machines.

In just a few years, Lingnan Semiconductor will be able to enter the nano era.

"How does the performance of our lithography machine compare to ASML and Nikon's?"

As the core equipment in the chip processing industry, the importance of lithography machines is unquestionable.

It will obviously be very difficult for Lingnan Semiconductor to purchase advanced lithography equipment from international markets in the future.

In the future we will have to rely on the efforts of Nanshan Equipment.

Therefore, the level of equipment developed by Nanshan Equipment is very critical.

Nanshan Equipment itself said that the data in this regard is not very convincing.

The most important thing is to get good reviews from users of Lingnan Semiconductor.

"From what we have learned so far, Nanshan Equipment's lithography machines are no worse than those of Nikon and Canon."

"ASML may be better in some aspects of performance, but its yield rate is not better than ours."

"The key is that the price of our equipment is half the price of similar products from ASML."

"If the technological level of lithography machines continues to improve in the future, we will definitely have a chance to catch up with the international advanced level."

Zhang Shaohua's words made Jiang Hui feel relieved.

He does not seek to become an internationally leading semiconductor company in a short period of time.

It will be enough to catch up slowly and become an international leading company before 2010.

There is still quite enough time left for him.

"ASML's lithography machines follow a different technical path from Nikon and Canon."

"Personally, I am more optimistic about ASML's route."

"Even though some technologies are not particularly mature yet, the yield rate is not particularly ideal."

“But once some key issues are resolved, the situation will be completely different.”

Historically, ASML gradually surpassed Canon and Nikon to become a true lithography machine giant after chip process technology entered the nano era in the 1990s.

Not every semiconductor company is optimistic about its technology route now.

"Well, Nanshan Equipment also has the same opinion at the moment."

"We will work closely with them to put the 1-micron process lithography machine into factory production as soon as possible."

"We will strive to develop a 500-nanometer lithography machine in the next five years so that we can also produce advanced computer CPUs and other products."

Zhang Shaohua is now very confident about future development.

The company boss is willing to invest money and can also provide some guidance on the direction of technological development.

The most important thing is that the company is not short of money, which is really rare.

"I don't plan to publicize the start of production of our 1.8-micron chip factory on a large scale."

"The several factories we expanded previously were all 3-micron process factories. I guess many competitors thought that ours was also a 3-micron process factory this time."

"Although we can't keep it completely confidential in the end, it won't hurt for us to delay it for a while longer."

Although large-scale publicity of Lingnan Semiconductor's achievements is definitely a good thing for Zhang Shaohua.

But he still had a clear mind and knew it was better to keep a low profile at this time.

"Okay, then let's do a low-key mass production."

"Let those competitors be confused for a while longer."

Jiang Hui naturally had no objection to Zhang Shaohua's proposal.

The BMW Group already has so many honors and does not need this achievement to enhance its influence.

However, even though they did not carry out large-scale publicity, it would obviously be difficult to prevent the news from spreading at all.

"Mr. Wang, I received a message from the ministry yesterday that Lingnan Semiconductor seems to have made a breakthrough in 1.8-micron chip processing technology."

"Their new factory in Shenzhen has become the first factory in China with 1.8-micron process technology."

As the chief engineer of the United Microelectronics Corporation, Zhao Dongfang has always maintained a high level of attention to technological developments at home and abroad.

This year, their factory has just introduced a chip factory with a 3-micron process technology.

I originally thought that we had finally become a first-tier manufacturer in China.

I didn’t expect that just as the new factory started mass production, Lingnan Semiconductor is about to take the lead again.

Don’t think that it is just a change from 3-micron process to 1.8-micron process.

But this span is actually not small at all.

Most of the equipment cannot be used interchangeably, and we need to invest in new factories.

“Are their key equipment, such as lithography machines, purchased domestically or imported from abroad?”

Wang Honggui immediately got to the point.

For domestic semiconductor companies, the ability to purchase the latest production equipment in a timely manner is often the key to technological upgrading.

Previously, Lingnan Semiconductor boasted that it had achieved the localization of key equipment, and also used the power of ministries and commissions to promote Nanshan Equipment's lithography machines and other products to other domestic semiconductor companies.

It was under this situation that United Microelectronics started to cooperate with Nanshan Equipment.

"It is most likely purchased from Nanshan Equipment. I have just communicated directly with Nanshan Equipment."

"The other party didn't answer the question directly, but I think that not answering it is actually answering it."

"I just don't know what other plans they have this time. There is no large-scale publicity."

Wang Honggui still agreed with Zhao Dongfang's statement.

"I'll have someone arrange it. We'll find a time to go to Nanshan Equipment to have a discussion."

"If they really have mastered the 1.8-micron process lithography machine, then we can also start considering importing it." "Lingnan Semiconductor is ahead of us, but we also need to find a way to stay ahead of other domestic semiconductor companies."

"Otherwise we will fall behind every time and the ministry will be dissatisfied with our performance."

Wang Honggui no longer has the idea of ​​being number one, he would be lucky enough to be able to hold the second place.

In the future, if I continue to follow Lingnan Semiconductor and improve my technical level, I should be able to make a name for myself in China.

"Well, I will also inquire about the specific situation to see if there is any difference in the information."

……

"Mr. Zhang, I just received a message from Intel that Lingnan Semiconductor has invited their expert team to inspect the 1.8-micron process technology."

After Zeng Fanchen said this, Zhang Zhong immediately became nervous.

The 1.8-micron process chip foundry business is currently the core business of their company.

Previously, a lot of the 3-micron process foundry business was snatched away by Lingnan Semiconductor. If the 1.8-micron process orders are also snatched away, this will definitely be bad news for TSMC.

“I haven’t seen any news about this recently.”

"Normally, if Lingnan Semiconductor has a breakthrough in new technology, it should publicize it on a large scale, right?"

As one of the two major chip foundries in the world, TSMC has always arranged special personnel to keep an eye on Lingnan Semiconductor.

In the past two years, Lingnan Semiconductor's production capacity has expanded rapidly.

In terms of scale, it is not much smaller than TSMC.

However, Lingnan Semiconductor focuses on the 3-micron process, which is a relatively backward technology.

TSMC has already mastered the latest 1-micron process technology.

"Indeed, after I got this information, I also specifically confirmed it and there was no report on this."

"But Intel's news is definitely accurate. Lingnan Semiconductor has definitely mastered the 1.8-micron process technology."

“It’s just not clear whether they have already used this technology in new factories or are ready to invest in new factories.”

Zhang Zhong must also agree with Zeng Fanchen's statement.

This matter really needs to be taken seriously.

"You can also communicate with ASML, Nikon and Canon later."

"See if they have heard any news about this, or if they have sold 1.8-micron process lithography equipment to Lingnan Semiconductor."

To master the 1.8-micron chip processing technology, the lithography equipment must be updated.

Unless Nanshan Equipment has mastered this technology, Lingnan Semiconductor can only purchase it from manufacturers such as ASML.

Zhang Zhong asked Zeng Fanchen to communicate with those manufacturers, which actually had two purposes.

On the one hand, it is to confirm whether the other party has sold lithography machines to Lingnan Semiconductor, and on the other hand, it is to tell the other party that Nanshan Equipment has developed 1.8-micron process lithography machines.

Anyway, it must be one of these two possibilities.

TSMC's core plan has always been to use this method to trip up Nanshan Equipment and Lingnan Semiconductor.

……

"Christopher, is this information accurate?"

"Nanshan Equipment has developed a 1.8-micron process lithography machine so quickly?"

"Unlike the 3-micron process lithography machine they developed before, they don't have a ready-made 1.8-micron process lithography machine to copy."

Schmidt looked at Christoph in surprise.

The other party brought him bad news today.

ASML has always set its goal to catch up with or even surpass Canon and Nikon in Japan.

But as I chased after him, I found a Nanshan Equipment company behind me.

Although there is still some gap between the other party and himself, this gap is constantly shrinking.

This made Schmidt feel a sense of crisis.

That is why we have severed our cooperation with Lingnan Semiconductor on advanced process lithography machines in the past two years.

"I also find it a bit strange. Where exactly do their technologies come from?"

"But judging from the information shared by TSMC, neither Canon nor Nikon sold lithography machines to Lingnan Semiconductor."

“We are the only three companies that have the capability to mass-produce products with this process.”

"Lingnan Semiconductor is not purchasing from any of our three companies now, so we can only do it within our group."

Christoph's news made Schmidt very sad.

I have made various arrangements, so why can't I stop the rise of Nanshan Equipment?
"Hasn't our office in Hong Kong sent back any relevant news?"

"Normally, when Chinese companies achieve major technological breakthroughs, wouldn't they publicize it on a large scale?"

When Schmidt asked this, Christoph immediately replied: "I have also confirmed this matter. I have indeed not heard any news about this."

"I have also confirmed this with people from TSMC and Samsung Electronics, and everyone's situation is similar."

"Nanshan Equipment and Lingnan Semiconductor did not promote this time, but they contacted Intel and other customers in a low-key manner, hoping to obtain more orders."

“This is a big deal.”

Christophe has come into contact with so many clients over the years and has his own judgment on many things in the industry.

His ability to quickly develop ASML's situation was inseparable from not only the improvement of the company's internal technical level, but also his personal efforts.

"After they mastered the 3-micron process lithography equipment technology, they began to promote it on a large scale in China."

“I already felt their ambition at that time.”

"This time, the breakthrough in the 1.8-micron process is probably not the end."

"I am concerned that they will soon have breakthroughs in 1-micron technology, or even 0.8-micron and 0.5-micron technology."

"Combined with Huaxia's cost competitiveness, our situation will be very passive."

Although Schmidt had never been to China, he had some knowledge of the wage levels of workers there.

In this regard, ASML obviously has no advantages at all.

“I’ll see if we can unite some companies to block the technological breakthroughs of Nanshan Equipment and Lingnan Semiconductor.”

“We can’t let them develop freely.”

In business competition, all possible means must be used together.

Anyway, as long as the opponent is killed, it will be fine.

The victor cannot be blamed.

Schmidt naturally had no objection to Christoph's idea.

The current atmosphere of cooperation between the West and China as a whole is completely different from what it was a few years ago.

He felt that this plan was still very feasible. (End of this chapter)