The technological empire begins with polymer materials

SMIC is the one that spends the most energy on the national team. It has spent astronomical amounts of money on it. It is the strongest in China in terms of scale and technical level.

However, SMIC is not the only company in China. Perhaps it was a premonition that the national team has increased its investment in the second front of semiconductor foundry, Huahong Group, in recent years.

On September 17, 2019, Huahong Factory No. 7 successfully put into production in Wuxi.

In 2020, Huahong's 14nm FinFET process was fully integrated, and the SRAM yield rate was 25%. It is currently in the climbing stage of yield rate and is expected to reach 90% yield rate by the end of 2021.

It can be seen that Huahong is one step slower than SMIC. As early as 2019, SMIC’s 14nm yield rate reached 94%. During the same period, Huahong’s 12-inch wafer fab has just started production. .

As for other semiconductor companies such as Unisoc, Changxin, GigaDevice, etc., they all specialize in technology. For example, Yangtze Memory, a subsidiary of Unisoc, makes storage chips, and Hefei Changxin makes memory chips.

SMIC and Huahong are the only domestic semiconductor foundries. Whether Huawei wants to make baseband chips or ZTE wants to make radio frequency chips, just send the design to SMIC and Huahong, and they will be responsible for manufacturing.

If Kunlun Group wants to enter the field of semiconductor manufacturing, it can only cooperate with SMIC or Huahong. Professional semiconductor foundries like Yangtze Memory have poor versatility. After all, their factories are built and the equipment is installed in place just to make solid-state drives. , and have no intention of manufacturing for other companies.

"What? Let Hua Hong go? Does Gao Yuan approve of this plan?" asked the boss on the other end of the phone.

"Well, this was proposed by Gao Yuan himself." Wu Dongming said: "I know Gao Yuan, he is most afraid of trouble. Although Hua Hong's technical level is not as good as SMIC, he can at least be of the same mind as him, and according to Gao Yuan, time It’s too late, and it won’t be long before good news comes from Changchun.”

"With Gao Yuan's impatience, once the lithography machine project is completed, the next step will be to race against time to go online. I think we will give Gao Yuan Huahong's Wuxi Line 7 a toss. That line has just been built and the equipment is brand new." .”

"I understand, you can handle SMIC's problems with peace of mind, and leave Huahong's matters to me." After pondering for a moment, the boss said on the phone.

…

Pan Rongcheng, Huahong's boss, was very depressed.

Most people only know about SMIC, but have not noticed the existence of Huahong at all. Even when Kunlun Group entered the semiconductor industry, they thought of cooperating with SMIC. For this reason, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology specially sent Wu Dongming to SMIC to rectify the situation.

In comparison, Huahong Group has no sense of existence.

Everyone is in the semiconductor industry, so why is there such a big gap?

That day I went to visit Kunlun Group, and Pan Rongcheng also went there. Looking at Plateau's super cutting-edge ternary research institute and the set of top-notch optical lenses, Pan Rongcheng was very excited. Such awesome technology will definitely subvert the entire industry!

As an industry insider, Pan Rongcheng believes that Kunlun Group will definitely be able to make semiconductors, because Gao Yuan's attitude has already explained everything. Since its establishment, Gao Yuan has never failed like a myth, and this time should be no exception.

However, when Gao Yuan excitedly rushed to Jiangnan, he didn't even mention the matter of cooperation.

Pan Rongcheng was depressed. All the good things had gone to SMIC. If he wanted to develop and become bigger and stronger, the fastest way was undoubtedly to hug his thigh. Gao Yuan's thigh was quite thick, but it was a pity that others didn't take a fancy to him at all.

What the hell is this!

Is it possible that the second best person in the industry is so unpopular?

While he was feeling depressed, the phone suddenly rang. When he saw the caller's number clearly, Pan Rongcheng jumped up from his chair as if he had received an electric shock.

It was actually a call from the boss!

Standing at attention and calming down, Pan Rongcheng panicked and pressed the answer button.

"I am Pan Rongcheng."

"Changchun?"

"Kunlun Group?"

"Lithography!?"

"No problem! Absolutely no problem!"

"Don't worry, we will do our best!"

"No need to wait, I will fly to Changchun tonight!"

After hanging up the phone, Pan Rongcheng felt refreshed.

Your opportunity has finally come!

SMIC is in internal strife and is preparing to let Huahong cooperate with Kunlun Group to form a joint venture!

This is a huge opportunity. Maybe, I can still leave my name in history!

Gao Yuan is currently working on the final work on the lithography machine in Changchun. Once the work is completed, the machine will be shipped to Huahong's Line 7 in Wuxi for tape-out.

If this tape-out is successful...

Pan Rongcheng's heart was pounding and he simply didn't dare to think about it.

The significance is too great. After all, it is a domestic lithography machine. You no longer have to worry about being stuck!

Pan Rongcheng immediately picked up the phone and first called the technical director, asking him to immediately lead a team to Wuxi Line 7 to prepare to receive domestic lithography machines from Changchun.

The second call was to the secretary and he booked the earliest flight to Changchun.

He wants to witness the birth of domestic lithography machines with his own eyes!

…

It was past midnight, but there was a commotion in the underground laboratory of the Changchun Institute of Optics and Mechanics.

"Going in! Actually going in!"

"Great job! The position adjustment is really accurate!"

"Yes, there was no delay, just one step! These Kunlun Group engineers are really skilled in their skills!"

"No, seniors, do you know what you were talking about just now?"

"Of course I'm talking about the Kunlun Group's lens. It was installed successfully."

"Are you really talking about lenses? Not driving?"

"Haha, young man, you should watch less of things like the Tiger's Den ranking list in the future. It's not good for your health."

This set of lenses from Kunlun Group is prepared for high-power lithography machines, so it is larger and heavier.

As a last resort, the engineers had to modify the machine. This process wasted a lot of time, but fortunately, the modification was successful and the new lens was installed in one go.

Next, the engineers will conduct a number of tests. After the tests are completed, they will try to release the film. If the film is successfully produced, they will have to move it to the assembly line in Wuxi.

After all, the intensity of wafer production in the laboratory is too low. It takes several hours or even days to produce a 12-inch wafer.

The production line is different. With a daily output of hundreds or thousands of wafers, if the machine can withstand the pressure and succeed in actual operations, then it will be considered a real success.

Gao Yuan glanced at the time. It was past one in the morning. The test would be completed and the film would be released early tomorrow morning at least. Do you want to rest for a few hours?

After all, there will be no time to rest when the film and experiment are released tomorrow, and even if she can withstand it, Chu Luoluo can't. She is still young and is still growing.

"Boss Gao!"

Gao Yuan was about to urge Chu Luoluo to go to sleep, when he suddenly heard someone calling him from behind.

When I turned around, I saw that it was Pan Rongcheng, the boss of Huahong. After a phone call, he arrived overnight, with a look of sincerity and fear on his face.

This is the difference. Thinking about Zhang Jiangliang's face, and looking at Pan Rongcheng's attitude, the last doubt in Gao Yuan's heart disappeared.

When it comes to cooperation, attitude is very important. Only when everyone is comfortable together can we get things done.

Forget it, even if Huahong lags behind SMIC by almost two or three years, at least they have a correct attitude and they should pay more attention to bring Huahong's level up. Just think of it as cultivating partners.

At this moment, Gao Yuan stretched out his hand and said with a smile: "Mr. Pan, you have worked hard all the way. Luoluo, go get a bottle of drink."

Chu Luoluo obeyed and went to get mineral water, swaying her long hair behind her back.

Pan Rongcheng was shocked on the spot. He never expected that Gao Yuan would recognize him and be so polite to him.

After receiving the mineral water from Chu Luoluo, Pan Rongcheng felt a warm current in his heart.

Let's cooperate well from now on. No matter what, we must hold on to the thick thigh of Kunlun Group. Whether Huahong can achieve a decisive comeback depends on this time.

Gao Yuan enthusiastically introduced to Pan Rongcheng that the machine had just been refitted, and after debugging, he would try to produce a film. Is Huahong ready?

"We have absolutely no problem!" Pan Rongcheng vowed: "The technical director has gone to Wuxi Line 7 overnight, bringing with him the most elite people in our company."

Gao Yuan nodded slightly, "Well, very good, we can test the machine in a few hours here."

In fact, it is not what everyone thinks. I am 1.75 meters tall, weigh 126 pounds, have well-defined muscles, can push up to 90 kilograms of barbell, and can run as far as a half marathon.

The reason why I don't eat is that I have strict requirements on myself and like to use all kinds of perverted methods to hone my willpower. The so-called "looking for trouble when nothing happens" is probably what I am.

According to cutting-edge research in life sciences, the most effective way to fight aging is through calorie control. The Nobel Prize-winning theory of autophagy can also be activated by severe hunger.

Anyway, it means eating less can lead to a longer life, so I followed it, but I never thought that eating less would make me stupid.