Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 413 Goal: 'Self-reliance and Controllability of the Entire Industrial Chain'

Cheng Mo presented the Hongtu OS project team in a clear and unhurried manner, which can be summarized in four words.

Great ambitions will unfold!

Lu Qinjian listened and nodded repeatedly. Hongtu had brought too many surprises, and these surprises were not only within this research institute, but also throughout the whole country.

"President Zhai, the new project is also very important, but you must pay attention to the allocation of your energy. Hongtu is in a period of rapid growth, and it was built by you. It has not yet reached its full potential."

Zhai Da probably understood the unspoken message: they were afraid he would mess things up by using two accounts simultaneously.

If he were to act alone, he would indeed face such risks, but...
The strength of the research institute does not lie with him alone.

If you can't manage a team, you'll only get managed by the team.

"Don't worry, Minister Lu. We still have Hongtu to rely on for many things. I understand what you mean."

Lu Qinjian nodded to himself.

"Then, please trouble Mr. Zhai to show us around and let us see that Electric Engine-15000."

"plz follow me."

The group headed towards the northeast corner of the research institute, where they were taken to see the legendary silicon carbide motor.

Inside the laboratory, there are not one, but three "Electric Engine-15000" finished products.

Lu Qinjian was familiar with his appearance, having seen it many times in videos, and leaned forward to take a closer look.

It must be said that the statement "good looks are part of justice" is completely unreasonable.

But it's damn good.

If what's being shown is a rudimentary laboratory motor, for example, without even a casing, just a bunch of parts connected together, then without any explanation, you'd already feel that this thing is close to failing.

But this one in front of me... this is a genuine industrial product!

It gleams silver, fits perfectly, and has neat lines; you can tell at a glance that the technology is quite advanced!

An elderly professor from the Academy of Sciences who had come with them couldn't help but ask, "Is this a prototype? Wasn't it supposed to be handmade?"

Zhai Da quickly waved his hand: "Not entirely. Purely manual work is too troublesome. We should purchase materials if possible. By the way, the design work was completed by Qi Lin from our institute. I will introduce the members of the silicon carbide project team one by one later."

Qi Lin nodded stiffly. Compared to Cheng Mo, who had been going in and out of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for a long time, this was his first time and he was a little nervous.

Zhai Dadao said: "We contacted suppliers to order parts based on the design. Because the quantity was too small, some non-standard parts could only be obtained through secondary processing. I was the one who did this part."

Looking at the highly finished motor, the old professor thought to himself, "Did you do a second round of processing?"
Integrated die casting is more like it!
Lu Qinjian then recalled the information that Zhai Da had participated in projects like the JF-12 as a pure technician.

That makes perfect sense.

The appearance was merely the most insignificant advantage of the device at hand. Zhai Da didn't linger and continued:

"These three models are identical, but with slight improvements. For the second one, we solved the problem of the cooling system not meeting the design target. For the third one, we reduced the noise level by 23% and optimized the torque response speed through data analysis and electronic control system, achieving 0.005 seconds, or 5 milliseconds."

Traditional motors typically have a torque response time of tens of milliseconds, meaning that they cannot keep up with instantaneous load changes. Sometimes, the duration of a fluctuation is only tens of milliseconds.

The faster the response, the more precise the control.

Zhai Da specifically mentioned torque response speed because this indicator is actually very important, even more important than engine speed.

"Lu Bu, the torque response speed comes from the adjustment of the electronic control system, and the adjustment of the electronic control system ultimately comes down to one of the characteristics of silicon carbide power devices: high frequency. In fact, there are many other applications, such as CNC machine tools."

Lu Qinjian raised an eyebrow.

Just a heads-up: almost all applications that "convert electricity into mechanical force" require motors, from small things like microwave oven turntables and new energy generators to large things like high-speed rail traction; they just differ in size and form.

This is why the teacher believes that motor innovation brings about a greater boost to the industry than battery innovation.

Zhai Da walked up to the "first-generation machine," which had already been dissected. He lifted the inverter cover and pointed to the silicon carbide power module inside.

"Silicon Carbide-1".

They started early, so they used the most aggressive and direct name.

"A response speed of 5 milliseconds is not the limit for silicon carbide, but it directly reaches the limit of 'servo motors' commonly used in CNC machine tools on the market. This means that the tool head can have a faster response speed, a smoother surface finish, and more precise position adjustment during ultra-high-speed machining."

"Of course, this is only one aspect of CNC machine tool specifications, but it is at least helpful. The silicon carbide-1 module can even better support servo systems. If domestic CNC machine tool research institutes or enterprises are interested, we are willing to provide the necessary assistance."

"So next, I'll introduce the real core of the entire project: the silicon carbide power module."

Ge Qiaoqiao walked over carrying an uninstalled "Silicon Carbide-1" and then left awkwardly.

Zhai Da held up the white ceramic base, a flat box about half the size of a palm:

"This is the core technology of silicon carbide motors, silicon carbide-1. However, you may not be able to tell the difference at first glance, so let's run the motor directly to demonstrate."

In front of everyone, Zhai Da started up and ran an "Electric Engine-15000", and the electronic control system backend displayed the data from various sensors.

Amidst that mysterious and distant buzzing sound, as if a UFO had descended, Lu Qinjian stared at the screen for a long time and discussed several questions with the experts behind him.

Up until fifteen minutes later, the motor operated without any problems; the temperature, speed, and power were all quite stable and adjustable.

It must be said that even if this is a laboratory product, it is still a fairly mature laboratory creation.

Lu Qinjian asked the most important question: "What is the cost of mass production?"

This is the core of everything.

Yes, right now, there is probably another motor in the world with similar or even stronger specifications, locked away in a meaningless place as a way to show off.

It's easy to create monsters in a lab regardless of cost, but only mass production at a cost acceptable to the market has industrial value.

Zhai Da reported a series of figures: "Roughly calculated, the cost after mass production will start at 150,000. It will decrease for each additional order of magnitude. Theoretically, without technological innovation and only focusing on scaling up, the cost could be as low as 80,000. If we combine technological innovation with this, we plan to reduce the cost of a motor of this power to below 30,000 within three years."

Thirty thousand for a high-performance motor—this was a resounding blow to those in the relevant industries, instantly sobering them up and filling them with excitement.

"If we only consider the modules, the initial mass production cost is about 4 yuan, and the future target cost is below 5000 yuan. If we only consider a single core, the future target is below 200 yuan."

At this moment, the professor from the Academy of Sciences suddenly spoke up: "Young man, in silicon carbide semiconductors, the cost of the substrate accounts for more than 40%. As far as I know, this is an Infineon substrate, which costs more than 20,000 yuan per piece. How can you compress the cost to such an exaggerated degree?"

His tone carried a hint of "I'm an expert, you can't fool me."

He didn't mean any harm; it was just a work requirement.

Lu Bu brought him all the way here as a technical expert to "give guidance," but all the results exceeded his expectations, leaving him unable to get a word in edgewise. This won't do!
Wouldn't that make me look like a fake expert?
He was quite knowledgeable in the field, and when the conversation turned to costs, he finally found an opportunity:

"This is no longer a problem that can be solved by mass production capacity, not to mention the cost of the equipment used needs to be spread out, plus the high costs of debugging and maintenance."

Zhai Da smiled and thanked him for helping with the script.

“You’re right. If we’re dependent on others for substrate preparation and key equipment, we can’t achieve the ultimate cost reduction. We can only reduce costs if the supply chain lowers them, and we have to raise them if they raise them. In fact, we’ll die if they cut off our supply chain.”

"So from the very beginning, our goal has been to achieve 'self-reliance and control over the entire industrial chain.' Otherwise, why would we say it would take three years? Building a factory wouldn't even take that long."

Lu Qinjian looked up in surprise.

It seems to be saying: Are you serious?
Achieving complete self-sufficiency and control over the entire industrial chain is extremely difficult, far more difficult than achieving one or two breakthroughs.

Here, we need to first explain the difference between localization and self-reliance.

Localization: The lowest standard, only considering the production location in China. For example, using the technology of foreign companies, but the main production process is in China, can still be called localization.

Leaving aside genuine domestic production for the moment, let's just talk about those technologies that rely on overseas sources. These countries can leave, and they can also terminate technology licensing. However, from a general business perspective, there's no need to cut off one's own arm.

The constraints come from the national level and business logic, which involve exchanging market access and money for the right to use technology. The most typical example is joint venture car companies.

Self-reliance: Based on domestic production, core technologies are mastered by ourselves and do not depend on external technologies.

However, self-reliance only emphasizes autonomy. In terms of production equipment and non-core technologies, it is unlikely that we can get rid of overseas companies. For example, although we have our own technology, we may rely on or need to import equipment.

If we can go even further, that would be what Zhai Da meant by "self-reliance and control over the entire industrial chain".

In summary: the technology should be proprietary, the equipment should be manufactured in-house (or in cooperation with domestic companies), and ideally, the raw materials should also be controlled.

His neck is thicker than his thigh; no one can hold him down.

Of course, for less important parts, overseas procurement is not excluded due to cost considerations.

Some might say, "Look, we still need to use foreign products."

This is a result of globalization. No technology company in the world can be "100% pure," not even in China or the United States, unless it produces something extremely low-end, like ballpoint pen refills.

As for saying you "can't manufacture" when importing, criticizing "the core technology belongs to others" when producing domestically, criticizing "your equipment is from such-and-such country" after achieving self-sufficiency, and then saying "you only have it because others open source it" when you also develop your own equipment, this is just the kind of talk made by public intellectuals who have dug up their ancestral graves, put their brains in, and then covered them up again.

When Lu Qinjian heard the phrase "self-reliant and controllable entire industrial chain," he felt it was an enormous undertaking.
If the difficulty and scale of establishing a silicon carbide module manufacturing plant is "1".

The difficulty and scale of achieving "full-chain self-reliance and control" for this third-generation semiconductor is at least "5".

The old professor opened his mouth and said, "Do you also want to do substrate preparation?"

Zhai Da shook his head and said, "There's still no progress on the substrate."

After all, I've never "touched" it.

The old professor had just breathed a sigh of relief.

"But there has been some progress in epitaxial devices."

Zhai Da said to Lu Qinjian, "Minister Lu, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to change into your cleanroom suit. Let me show you some immature little things."

　Since people will be discussing this in the comments section, I'll add some information about the market and technology situation in 09 to let everyone know where the main character is at.

　　The development over the past decade or so has been incredibly rapid, giving people the illusion that any project now involves investments of tens of billions. However, it wasn't that exaggerated in 09. For example, the JF-12 was completed with an investment of only 4600 million. (I've been asked about this several times; some people say, "What can you do with that kind of money?")
　　In addition, Tencent's annual revenue in 09 was only around 120 billion yuan, yet it was already the top internet company in China and one of the top three internet companies in the world in terms of market value.

　　Money was very valuable back then, so the research institute's revenue is not low now.

　　Another point to mention is "silicon carbide substrates". In 2009, Infineon was the first overseas company to mass-produce six-inch substrates, but the yield was only 60%. The situation was even worse in China, where only four-inch substrates could be produced in laboratories, with no mass production records. According to the information I found, six-inch substrates were only mass-produced independently in February 2018 by BJ Century Golden Light.

　　Of course, the pace of progress in this field is not as rapid as that of silicon-based logic chips. With the rise of new energy, the lagging parts have been rapidly caught up. I personally think that the development of silicon carbide semiconductors still has great potential.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)