Courtyard House: A Major Power's Heavy Industry, Hand-Crafted Nuclear Fusion

Tokyo Narita Airport.

In the departure hall, announcements were urging passengers bound for San Francisco to board.

Su Zheng held the plane ticket in his hand, his brows furrowed into a deep frown. Standing beside him, Ye Xinyi looked equally grave, clutching a newly received urgent telegram tightly in her hand.

The telegram contained only one short line, yet every word carried immense weight:

"Japan has cut off the supply of JSR photoresist. Inventory is down to only three days' worth. Everything is in dire need."

"It was the Americans who did it."

Ye Xinyi said in a low voice, "Sakura-Korea Synthetic Rubber Company is the world's largest supplier of negative photoresist. They originally signed a five-year supply agreement with us, but yesterday they suddenly unilaterally broke the contract on the grounds of 'force majeure.' Obviously, the Americans saw the sales of Game Boy and Walkman and couldn't sit still."

"Photoresist is the lifeblood of chip manufacturing."

Su Zheng looked out the window at the plane, his voice icy, "Without it, even if we have the best lithography machines and the best blueprints, we can't make a single chip. If the production line in Workshop 701 stops, the international market that has just opened up will collapse instantly."

"What should we do?" Ye Xinyi asked. "The 'Desert Red' poplar photoresist we developed in Chapter 314, although it has high resolution, has a very short shelf life. It can only be stored for 4 hours at room temperature, which makes it unsuitable for large-scale industrial production."

Su Zheng remained silent for a moment.

Then, he slowly tore the plane ticket to San Francisco in two.

"Go to the United States as planned."

Su Zheng threw the shredded paper into the trash can. "The layout in Silicon Valley can't stop, and Huang Renxun and the others can't wait. They need you to oversee things there."

"And what about you?"

"I'm going back to base."

Su Zheng turned around, his gaze fixed on the northwest, the heart of the motherland. "I'm going to become an alchemist for once."

……

Two days later, at Base 001, Workshop 701.

The atmosphere was so oppressive it was suffocating.

Half of the production line had already stopped, and the rest were running at reduced speed. The old factory manager was so anxious that his mouth was covered in blisters, and when he saw Su Zheng return, he almost knelt down.

"Minister Su, you're finally back! If we hadn't run out of glue, we would have had to completely halt production and breach our contract tomorrow!"

Without wasting any words, Su Zheng walked straight into the laboratory.

On the lab bench sits a bottle of deep red liquid. This is the "Desert Red" generation, which was previously developed to test the "hand-made lithography machine".

"Where is the problem?" Su Zheng asked.

"Oxidation".

The materials scientist pointed to the sample under the microscope, "The photosensitive groups in the poplar resin are very active and oxidize and become ineffective as soon as they come into contact with air. We tried all the stabilizers, but they either didn't work or affected the photosensitivity."

"What about the imported stabilizers?"

"They're also banned from import." The technician smiled wryly. "Any chemical with the words 'antioxidant' in its name can't even get through customs now."

"Then we don't need to import them."

Su Zheng took off his coat and put on his lab coat. "Get me a jeep, and... a big pot."

"A big pot?" The technician was stunned.

"Yes, the kind of big iron pot used for cooking in the countryside. Also, prepare a few shovels."

A strange glint flashed in Su Zheng's eyes. "Since the foreigners' chemical reagents won't work, let's use the methods of our ancestors. Let's go to the Gobi Desert!"

……

In August, the Gobi Desert is scorching hot under the sun.

Su Zheng, along with several technicians, drove a jeep through the bumpy desert.

Not a blade of grass grows here, except for clumps of gray, seemingly dead shrubs shivering in the wind.

"parking."

Su Zheng suddenly shouted.

He jumped out of the car and walked to a clump of thorny bushes.

This plant is called "camel thorn," and it's one of the most common plants in the Gobi Desert. Its roots can penetrate dozens of meters deep into the ground, making it incredibly resilient.

"Dig." Su Zheng pointed to the root of the camel thorn.

Although everyone was completely confused, they still picked up their shovels.

Half an hour later, several thick, black snake-like roots were dug out. Su broke off one, and a milky white sap flowed out, which quickly turned dark brown.

"That's it."

Su Zheng opened the "Eye of Truth".

In his view, the molecular structure of this juice is being analyzed layer by layer.

Natural polyphenol polymers...possess extremely strong antioxidant properties...the molecular cage structure can lock in photosensitive groups...

"This is not a weed."

Su Zheng looked at the liquid and smiled, "This is the 'stabilizer' that the Gobi Desert has given us."

……

That evening, a strange scene unfolded in the kitchen of the canteen at Base 001.

A huge iron pot sat on the stove, bubbling away inside, simmering dark, murky medicinal soup.

Su Zheng was like an old Chinese medicine doctor brewing herbal medicine, holding a huge wooden stick and constantly stirring the camel thorn roots in the pot.

"Minister Su... will this work?"

The technicians watching exchanged bewildered glances. They were high-tech professionals, working on micron-sized chips; how did this turn out to be like alchemy?

"Don't underestimate this pot of soup."

While stirring, Su Zheng controlled the heat, explaining, "To survive in the Gobi Desert, camel thorn has evolved an extremely strong water-locking and oxygen-resistant mechanism. Its sap contains a special alkaloid that can 'encapsulate' unstable photosensitive molecules. Only under strong ultraviolet radiation will this encapsulation break down."

"This is called... targeted release."

Su Zheng suddenly increased the intensity, "Add acid! Adjust the pH to 4.5!"

"yes!"

As a bucket of acetic acid was poured in, the black liquid in the pot began to boil and gradually turned into a clear golden yellow.

A faint herbal aroma filled the air.

"Filter! Extract!"

Three hours later.

laboratory.

Su Zheng held a bottle of golden liquid in his hand and carefully dripped it into the bottle of unstable "Desert Red" resin.

A miraculous scene unfolded.

The originally deep red resin quickly stabilized in color upon contact with the golden liquid, turning into a deep amber color.

"Use the glue applicator," Su Zheng ordered.

Ten minutes later.

The first wafer coated with the "new type of photoresist" was fed into the lithography machine.

Exposure, development, etching.

When the wafer was sent out and imaged under a microscope, everyone held their breath.

"How is it?" The old factory manager's palms were sweating with nervousness.

"The lines...are perfect!"

The inspector's voice trembled, "The edge sharpness is even higher than imported JSR photoresist! And... and the adhesion is extremely strong, not a single bit has peeled off!"

"Conduct aging tests!" Su Zheng remained calm.

"yes!"

Twenty-four hours later.

When the photoresist mixed with "camel thorn extract" was left in an open environment for a whole day and still maintained perfect photosensitivity, the entire laboratory was in an uproar.

"Amazing! Absolutely amazing!"

The technician excitedly hugged the bottle of glue. "Minister Su, what's this called? Camel glue?"

"That's so outdated."

Looking at the amber liquid, Su Zheng thought of the tenacious lives on the Gobi Desert.

"Let's call it... 'Poplar-2'."

Su Zheng said calmly, "Tell the production line to resume full-speed operation. Also, classify this formula as top secret. From now on, our chips will only use our own adhesive."

"The foreigners thought that if they cut off our food supply, we would starve to death."

Su Zheng sneered, "They don't know that on this land, even a blade of grass can be a life-saving medicine."

……

One week later, in the United States, JSR (United States) branch.

One of the executives nearly popped his eyes out when he saw the intelligence that had just been sent to him.

"What? The Chinese factories haven't stopped production?"

He roared, "This is impossible! Our intelligence shows their stockpile is long gone! Where did they get the photoresist? Was it supplied by the Russians?"

No...no.

The intelligence officer wiped his sweat. "I heard... they made it themselves."

"Brewing it? What's used to brew it? Witchcraft?"

The executive felt his worldview had collapsed.

He certainly didn't know that this was indeed a form of "witchcraft".

It is a form of witchcraft called "Chinese Wisdom." It is a witchcraft that perfectly combines "traditional methods" with "molecular engineering."

What devastated him even more was that a few days later, news came from the market:

Hongxing Electronics' chip yield rate has actually increased by 3 percentage points thanks to the use of this new type of photoresist!

Moreover, the cost... is only one-tenth of the original.

"Fuck!"

The executive slammed his coffee cup on the floor. "Are we helping them cut costs?!"

……

San Francisco International Airport.

When Su Zheng set foot on this land again, it was already early September.

Although he was a week late, what he brought was not only a stable rear, but also a more determined heart.

At the arrival gate, Ye Xinyi was waiting for him in a second-hand Ford sedan.

"All done?" Ye Xinyi looked at Su Zheng, who looked travel-worn.

"nailed it."

Su Zheng opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat. "Even if the whole world cuts off the supply, we can still produce chips. We have enough camel thorn in the Gobi Desert to dig for a hundred years."

"That's good."

Ye Xinyi handed him a document. "Take a look at this. Huang Renxun has been found."

Su Zheng took the document; it was a resume.

Huang Renxun in the photo is still very young, even somewhat green. But the topic he is researching—"Parallel Computing Architecture Based on Graphics Processing"—impresses Su Zheng.

Where is he?

"I worked as a chip designer at a small company called LSI Logic."

Ye Xinyi started the car. "I heard he's been really frustrated lately because his design concepts are too advanced; the boss just can't understand them."

"That's right, you don't understand it."

Su closed the file and looked out the window at the view of Silicon Valley.

This is Silicon Valley in 1979.

Garage companies are springing up everywhere, and the air is thick with the scent of money and dreams.

Steve Jobs' Apple had just gone public, while Bill Gates was still writing the DOS system for IBM.

This is an era that produces many heroes.

It was also an era of unbridled growth.

"Walk."

Su Zheng pointed ahead, "Let's go see this future 'Godfather of Graphics Cards'. Tell him that someone who understands him has traveled halfway around the world to find him."

"in addition……"

Su Zheng touched the small amber-colored sample of "Populus euphratica-2" in his pocket.

"It's time to show these Silicon Valley geniuses what a materials science miracle from the East really is."

……