I, Yan Jiefang, will live to 2025 in this courtyard house.

While 130-nanometer chips are still the mainstream cutting-edge chips, according to his information, several global semiconductor giants have made key progress in the race for 90-nanometer (nm) chips, only their pace and results differ.

The most cutting-edge companies include TSMC, UMC, IBM, Fujitsu, and Texas Instruments.

As one of the world's top-ranked wafer foundries, it naturally couldn't fall behind.

However, there's no need to go out and beg for alms this time, since the wafer fabs now contain some of the most advanced equipment in the world.

These devices all have the potential to be upgraded to 90 nanometers.

Depending on the type of light source, mainstream KrF (248nm) devices can be extended to the 90nm node through technological upgrades.

The more advanced ArF dry (193nm) equipment can theoretically reach 28nm through multiple exposures!

Of course, this would be extremely challenging in terms of cost and yield; the cost is so high that almost no one would do it.

Yan Jiefang would naturally not do that.

His plan is to improve the process technology to 90 nanometers through several months of effort, and then use the transition period of a few years to produce his own advanced lithography machine.

...

Due to the delays caused by the pandemic, it took Yan Jiefang more than three months to lead the company's engineers to upgrade the chip manufacturing process to 90 nanometers.

This time, his research and development speed finally caught up with other countries on Earth, and he became the first to start shipping in large quantities.

It has left companies like TSMC and IBM far behind.

At this point, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

When they rested at night, Liu Ruyan lay on top of him and asked in a consultative tone:

"Jiefang, I'm going to buy a ranch to raise dairy cows. What do you think?"

Yan Jiefang looked down into her alluring eyes:

"Oh? Why did you suddenly have this idea?"

Liu Ruyan rested her head on her husband's chest, her voice slightly slurred:

"I actually had this idea a long time ago. In recent years, our family has been adding new members, and the children have been drinking mostly milk powder."

Although our child drinks the most expensive imported milk powder, who can guarantee that foreign milk powder is not toxic?

How many milk powder scandals have occurred in China! We've also heard of tainted milk incidents in other countries like the US, Japan, Germany, and France.

Therefore, I want to buy a ranch so that I can raise my own cows and get milk for my children to drink, and then I will feel at ease.

After all, it's food we know very well.

"Okay, I'll call the investment company in Hong Kong tomorrow and ask them to handle it. They'll find a professional team to evaluate it."

To avoid being ripped off and then helping others count their money, even though we're not short of money, we can't let others laugh at us.

Then, Yan Jiefang patted her on the shoulder:

"As for you, you can just hold the position of general manager at the ranch. You can visit the ranch whenever you have time."

If the mood strikes, you can also bring the elderly and children to experience ranch life firsthand.

Upon hearing this suggestion, Liu Ruyan smiled:

"You know a bit about business, so let's do it your way."

But you'd better hurry, I can't wait to get to the ranch!

"About half a month, but forget about the ones in the north, they're too far. This time we'll find a ranch not far from here, and you can have the driver take you there in your spare time."

"Okay, it's settled then!"

With Yan Jiefang's intervention, the matter progressed quickly.

The ranch was bought in just one week.

Located in Guangming Subdistrict, Bao'an District, it was originally a private ranch that had been established for less than 10 years.

The company dispatched professionals to legally and compliantly acquire the land, and then, with the relevant authorities, extended the remaining term of the land lease to its current limit.

(Note: According to the data, as of now (2026), there is only one dairy farm left in Shenzhen, namely "Xinbeitou Dairy Farm" located in Guangming District.)

It is also known as "Shenzhen's last dairy farm".

However, in 2003, Bright Dairy (then part of Bao'an District) was the most important dairy source base in Shenzhen and even South China, with "seven major dairy farms."

Due to a lack of funds and poor management, the ranch is in a rather bad state.

However, none of these issues are a problem for the company.

They directly recruited experienced professionals to manage the ranch in a standardized manner.

First, a comprehensive overhaul and disinfection of the entire ranch was carried out, and all the old, weak, sick and disabled cattle and outdated equipment were abandoned.

Then, breeders were introduced from regular provincial-level breeding farms.

All the imported cattle are Holstein dairy cows and young replacement cattle that have undergone quarantine.

They must undergo quarantine for 45 days before being introduced.

...

...

After nearly half a year of renovations, the ranch has finally been transformed and can now produce the best milk available.

The children's basic food needs are now met.

During the ranch renovation process, Liu Ruyan and Xiao Youzi also took the time to learn to drive and both obtained C1 driver's licenses.

Unlike her daughters-in-law, who preferred Tianxuan's sleek lines and beautiful appearance, Liu Ruyan actually liked driving big trucks.

So Yan Jiefang arranged for her to drive a "Tian Shu" ordinary off-road vehicle and a "Zuo Fu" military off-road vehicle alternately.

Currently, all the cars produced by Qixing Company are automatic, so they are not difficult for women to drive. In addition, they are all physically strong, so everyone lets them drive.

...

In July, the first generating unit of the Three Gorges Project, Unit 2, successfully connected to the grid and began generating electricity.

The No. 2 unit has an installed capacity of 70 kilowatts and an operating load of 53 kilowatts when it is connected to the grid.

It was the world's largest and most powerful hydroelectric generator unit in operation at that time, with a generator runner diameter of 10.2 meters!

After being connected to the grid, this unit can output more than 1290 million kilowatt-hours of electricity to the Central China, East China and South China power grids every day.

Of course, even if a lot of electricity is generated, very little of it remains in Central China.

The vast majority of electricity was sent to more economically developed regions such as East and South China.

This is a national-level electricity allocation plan. Locals can only watch and smell the "fragrance of broth" while others take away the "meat and broth".

Fortunately, with the strong support of the municipal government and his own large-scale investment, there were basically no power outages in the past few years, which allowed his two wafer fabs to operate smoothly.

The special economic zone also suffers from a long-term power shortage.

Emergency measures had to be taken, such as purchasing electricity from Hong Kong, encouraging businesses to generate their own electricity, and striving to increase the power supply from the provincial grid.

The situation is similar in neighboring Dongguan, and sometimes even more severe.

As a businessman, Yan Jiefang saw that there was no profit to be made, so he stopped paying too much attention to the matter and went to Dongguan instead.