Reinventing the Millennium

The weather in Shanghai in late March is still a bit cool.

Fang Zhuo pushed the wheelchair and took Jiang Shangzhou for a walk beside the lawn in the sun.

"Go to Building No. [-], where the cherry blossoms are blooming." Jiang Shangzhou pointed in a direction and asked, "Mr. Fang, how are you doing recently?"

"It sounds like I'm quite old, but it's true that few people ask about my physical condition." Fang Zhuo slowly pushed the wheelchair and smiled, "I just had a routine physical examination a while ago, and there were nodules in the thyroid gland. , there are no changes, the bronchus is a bit inflamed, and nothing else. Oh, yes, I didn’t want to do a gastroscopy at first, so I’ll let you do one at home. I don’t want anesthesia, so I’ll wait until I’m free.”

Jiang Shangzhou listened to this, and said leisurely: "Don't wait until you are free, I know you are always busy, and you just came to the hospital today, and you can go back for a gastroscopy. Young people also have to pay attention to their health."

"It's not a problem. People eat whole grains, and a little ailment is not a problem." Fang Zhuo pushed the wheelchair, saw the cherry blossoms blooming outside Building No. [-], and found that many people were taking pictures, so he didn't go forward, only with Dr. Jiang Appreciate from a distance.

"The last time you went to see ASML, how did you feel?" Jiang Shangzhou mentioned his previous trip to Europe.

"Envy, want, headache, do things." Fang Zhuo briefly talked about his mental journey, really envious, really wanting, really headache, really doing things.

Jiang Shangzhou laughed out loud when he heard this, and suddenly he was a little out of breath while smiling.

Fang Zhuo's expression changed when he saw this, and he quickly pushed him back.

"It's okay, it's okay." Jiang Shangzhou calmed down, "I won't die, so don't be nervous."

Fang Zhuo slowed down, still in shock: "Dr. Jiang, pay attention to your emotions."

Jiang Shangzhou smiled and said, "Mr. Fang, I won't let me laugh more at this time. When will I laugh? If I laugh to death, I'm afraid it will be the happiest way to die in the world."

Fang Zhuo nodded: "Yes, yes, you are happy, I can't argue with it."

"Mr. Fang of Bingxin has always been domineering, but this time it's better, he directly killed the chairman of SMIC." Jiang Shangzhou said cheerfully, "This will make the reputation even more powerful."

Fang Zhuo let out a sigh of relief, and his black reputation grew even stronger.

"Hey, what were you trying to say just now? Oh, I was laughing at your mentality. It's really similar to mine these years." Jiang Shangzhou managed his emotions and slowed down his speech, "Who doesn't envy the good things when they see them? What if you don’t want it? If you want it but can’t get it, you’ll have a headache. After you have a headache, you can’t wait, you can only work and do things.”

He smiled and said: "Before, I might have been a little more semiconductor-savvy than you. Now that I'm lying in the hospital and you're enduring it, I'm probably just a little more mature than you."

Fang Zhuo smiled: "It's a little hard, but it's not that hard. Every time I think that the ice core is much stronger than the core, I can be happy at night."

Jiang Shangzhou sat in a wheelchair, pointed at Mr. Fang, and glared: "Are you not afraid that I will get emotional now?"

Fang Zhuo hesitantly continued to push the wheelchair forward.

"I heard that you are currently working on a 4X plan?" Jiang Shangzhou asked.

Fang Zhuo repeated in confusion: "4X plan?"

How do you not know.

Seeing Mr. Fang's expression, Jiang Shangzhou was also surprised, and said, "It's just that someone said that you did it on Huahong Line. Is it a rumor?"

Fang Zhuo thought for a while, and suddenly corrected: "It's not the 4X plan, it's the XXXX plan."

"What's the difference, isn't it just 4 X's? It's the A/B/C comparison line and the spare tire, right?" Jiang Shangzhou confirmed.

"Hua Hong's control line is part of the XXXX plan." Fang Zhuo explained, "This is not an official name, but just our internal name. If one day Ice Core cannot purchase equipment and introduce technology like Hua Hong, then The date of the day and month is the official name of this plan, for example, July 7th, that is the 20 plan, which symbolizes the full activation of this plan.”

Jiang Shangzhou: "..."

After a moment, he commented: "It's pretty fancy."

"Everyone has worked very hard, what's wrong with being fancy, and it doesn't affect the work." Fang Zhuo said disapprovingly, "I think it's very good that the Wafer Alliance proposed it."

"Sure enough, what is good at the top will be worse at the bottom. The style of doing things in your department is similar to yours." Jiang Shangzhou smiled, "I see that Bingxin has made great moves in the past few months."

Fang Zhuo nodded, and said: "Ice Core only established extensive but not close contact in China before. We hope to be closer in the future."

Jiang Shangzhou was surprised and said, "You all forcibly bought the production line from Hua Hong, how can you be tighter?"

Fang Zhuo didn’t finish his sentence: “I also hope that Bingxin can further develop its leading position in the domestic industry.”

Jiang Shangzhou was surprised and said: "Mr. Fang, now that you Bing Xin is the leader of the alliance, how do you want to lead?"

Fang Zhuo turned the wheelchair and feigned anger: "Can we still talk? If we can't talk, I'll push you back."

"Chat, chat, chat for a while." Jiang Shangzhou said with a smile, "Look, Mr. Fang, your Bingxin's current status in the country is what you are now, and you can always grasp the direction of the industry. I and the majority of colleagues feel the same way."

But he then said: "Your side has great powers, you can see more, and Ice Core has a technical team like Hu and Liang. Your judgment must be better than ours. If you are willing to continue to increase your leadership, you can dominate. I I won't stop you."

Fang Zhuo pretended to be proud and said, "I hope you can stop me."

Jiang Shangzhou laughed: "Yes, I know how good you are."

He stretched out his hand and pointed forward to the corridor: "The sun is shining on your eyes. Come and sit in the corridor."

Fang Zhuo pushed his wheelchair to the corridor, letting the sun shine on Dr. Jiang's back and his eyes in the shadows. Then he sat down and talked about this trip to Europe and the current progress of EUV technology.

Jiang Shangzhou took a breath and listened quietly to the most cutting-edge changes.

To be honest, SMIC does not pay attention to this area now. Compared with Ice Core, it is still catching up with the process that was interrupted before. It is not that it does not have the dream of laying out the next generation of technology, but it has no spare capacity.

As for Jiang Shangzhou himself, his illness has relapsed in the past two years, and the only energy left is to balance the internal situation of SMIC, so he can't pay attention to these.

Now listening to Mr. Fang talk about cutting-edge, ASML and Nikon, the numerical aperture of the optical system, the overlay accuracy of the photolithography machine, and the increase in the threshold of light source power, there is a kind of... vitality of competition in front of us.

"Nikon's failure is not entirely a technical problem. Although EUV is almost approaching the limits of physics, materials science and precision manufacturing, there is a chance in Japan." Fang Zhuo shook his head and said, "Nikon cannot join the EUV LLC alliance. The more extreme geopolitical factors, the more difficult it is.”

The EUV LLC alliance was led by Intel and American Energy to verify the feasibility of EUV lithography machines, and includes members such as Motorola, AMD, IBM, Lawrence Livermore, Sandia, and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories.

Intel once strongly invited Nikon to join, but because of the obstruction of the United States, it was finally excluded.

"Nikon wants to build lithography machines, and ice cores need to be bought, and the degree is different." Jiang Shangzhou said slowly, "But it is better to buy early than to buy late. The closer the ice core manufacturing process is to the advanced level, the harder it is to buy this EUV. .”

Fang Zhuo nodded slightly: "That's right."

ASML still hopes to have an additional market for the EUV produced by ASML, so it "once" accepted SMIC's order, but this is not all due to market factors, and SMIC's EUV has not been able to arrive for a long time.

For the same reason, ice cores are difficult to buy, but the relationship between different periods will have different window periods, just like when SMIC was established and obtained the license to purchase equipment and introduce technology from the United States, it became the only one in the mainland. Equally difficult.

Fang Zhuo hoped that some kind of karma meeting would appear, and he was also trying to promote such a karma meeting to see if he could get a window period.

In addition to ASML's unconventional means, Japan's mine-explosion research and technical slicing, he is still thinking about whether such an opportunity can fall on some friends in the United States. After all, ice cores have not yet been listed.

Once the ice core is close to the market, it is not too much to come to the good news to help rejoice.

"If your XXXX plan is really activated, I'm afraid there will be a lot of labor pain." Jiang Shangzhou said again.

"That's right." Fang Zhuo nodded again.

"This close connection and dominant position is also stepping up preparations." After Jiang Shangzhou finished speaking, he raised his voice, and said in unison, "That's right."

He said angrily, "I was eloquent just now, why is it so concise all of a sudden."

Fang Zhuo got up and pushed the wheelchair: "We've been chatting for a long time, you, you'd better take care of yourself, there will be more chats in the future, don't be in a hurry."

He noticed that after chatting for a while, Dr. Jiang's tiredness could be clearly seen on his face.

Jiang Shangzhou didn't refuse to be pushed back, but just said: "Don't rush away, I'm just fighting for the day, I have to rush this moment, you told me, and I won't let you out."

"I didn't say anything, I'll push it away, you just listen to me." Fang Zhuo slowly pushed the wheelchair, organized the conversation, and talked about the activities of the Wafer Alliance in China and the scale of the ice core. expansion.

As the ice core is working on the control line, as he said just now, the dominant position of the ice core in the industry has become more and more substantial, but this has made many people very painful.

In other words, suffer and be happy.

The purpose of the control line is to learn from the advanced. However, going from backward to advanced requires hard work and price. This price is not only the self, but also the interference from the ice core.

For example, mergers and acquisitions.

When the financial crisis broke out in 08, many small and medium-sized semiconductor companies in China were squeezed together, but at that time many people had no choice. It is somewhat unacceptable for Bingxin to reveal its intentions now.

And, when state-owned assets are involved, the situation is even more complicated.

"So, as I said just now, the ice core had extensive but not close connections before. If you want to get closer, you have to intervene deeply. This is quite annoying." Fang Zhuo concluded, "Especially, without strong external pressure At that time, it took a lot of work to do.”

Jiang Shangzhou replied: "According to what you said, the XXXX plan is launched, and the external pressure can force the inside to be screwed together at once?"

Fang Zhuo said flatly: "Objectively speaking, I always think this is quite obvious, and it can be regarded as a benefit."

He suddenly smiled again and said, "We are all in labor pains together. Thinking about it this way, it doesn't seem that painful anymore."

The two returned to the ward.

Jiang Shangzhou sat back on the bed, and his son who rushed in waved his hand, indicating that he wanted to chat for a while.

"Dr. Jiang, rest more, I won't bother you today, that is, I didn't see you during the Chinese New Year, and I want to wish you a happy old age." Fang Zhuo got up, intending to leave.

Jiang Shangzhou stretched out his right hand.

Fang Zhuo also stretched out his hand.

Jiang Shangzhou held Fang Zhuo's hand, exerting all his strength but not much strength, his attitude was very firm: "Sit down, seize the day."

Fang Zhuo had no choice but to sit down again and continue chatting for a while.

"Mr. Fang, you are already a very dynamic team." Jiang Shangzhou took a breath, "I am very happy to see you today and to hear what you said. You must have considered a lot of things internally. Not much to say."

Fang Zhuo frowned slightly, only to feel that Dr. Jiang looked weaker than before, he smiled and said confidently: "Don't worry, when we are working on 32nm in the third quarter, you come to visit, I will let Liang The doctor will give you a lecture."

Jiang Shangzhou shook his head, the meaning was obvious, but he didn't say that, he just said: "I also met a few old friends in the capital during the Chinese New Year. You left a phone number. If you really encounter difficulties, just call them. Don't be afraid of trouble. Don't be afraid of favors."

Fang Zhuo nodded: "I always use my best in everything I do."

"In these years, I have been busy with SMIC, hoping that it will develop, but unfortunately..." Jiang Shangzhou paused and said with regret, "Unfortunately, Mr. Zhang is definitely not willing to give in, but there is nothing we can do about it. , we will always encounter some setbacks that we can think of and things we can’t think of.”

What he was talking about was the fact that Zhang Rujing had no choice but to leave SMIC.

Jiang Shangzhou slowly took a breath: "SMIC will hold a shareholder meeting in June, and I, the chairman, will not be able to fulfill my responsibilities. I have already negotiated with my old classmate Zhang Wenyi to let him join the board of directors and then take over as the director. Chief, he is a very safe choice.”

Fang Zhuo knows that Zhang Wenyi, who once worked in the electronics industry and was the head of Huahong, has deep qualifications and rich experience in the industry.

"I've talked about it in the company, the SMIC in the future..." Jiang Shangzhou thought about the efforts of these years, and said with some regret, "Boss Fang said that we are in the same breath, and I listened seriously. Xin, there is a technical problem, and I hope Bing Xin can help me."

Fang Zhuo patted Dr. Jiang's arm lightly, and said with a smile, "You are entrusting the SMIC to me, don't worry."

"It's entrusted to the alliance leader." Jiang Shangzhou smiled, "Liu Bei left Baidi City to Zhuge Liang, and I am similar. If you don't think SMIC can do it, just give it to the leader closely."

"Okay, got it, rest, I will take you to Luzhou in the third quarter." Fang Zhuo agreed.

Jiang Shangzhou looked at Mr. Fang firmly, nodded slightly, watched him stand up and suddenly said: "Mr. Fang, I really like the "Beginning of the Autumn Wind" that you gave me last time. You can send me a few more words today." Let's watch it in the ward."

Fang Zhuo had previously written "The First Smell of the Autumn Wind" by Liu Yuxi and gave it to Dr. Jiang.

Hearing this, he looked left and right: "This can't be used..."

Jiang Shangzhou had a smile on his face.

Fang Zhuo is not a conscientious person. Seeing Dr. Jiang's unconcealable weakness, he took out a pen and a tissue from the table: "I'll write casually today, and I'll give you a formal one when you recuperate."

He pondered for a moment, then picked up the pen and started writing. Without any hesitation, he directly wrote ten words on a tissue and gave them to Dr. Jiang.

Jiang Shangzhou took the tissue and saw the writing on it.

——Despite the heroic spirit of death, I am not ashamed of being a hero in the world.

"Good words." Jiang Shangzhou looked at the words carefully, "Hey, match me, I am not ashamed of being a hero in the world."

Fang Zhuo smiled and said, "Wait until you get to Luzhou."

Jiang Shangzhou nodded slowly: "Okay, let's meet in Luzhou."