Fight to the third generation

At present, Lin Baojian's team is still independent of ASML, and is controlled by Su Yehao, who also holds about 37% of ASML's equity. The foundation of cooperation is stronger than that of Canon.

……

Chapter 832

The northern district of Gangcheng is next to Pengcheng, separated by a river.

Driving from Pengcheng is no more troublesome than going from Big Wave Bay, and the time is about the same.

On the front and back of the Rolls-Royce Phantom, the license plate of Zhanggang City is hung in advance, with the letters "SU888" written on it, and "A99999" below it. The rear seats have massage functions, so sitting is not tiring.

Just like every time he went to the mainland, no one would suspect Su Yehao of smuggling and lowering his figure to earn those three melons and two dates, especially when going south.

The customs clearance procedure directly brushes the face, and quickly completes the process.

North District in September.

The trees are lush and lush, and there are some small hills in the distance, and there are not many tall buildings in sight.

At first glance, it looks a bit like Silicon Valley. The sky is low and white clouds are blooming. The economic development may not be as good as the city center. The environment looks much more comfortable than places like Kowloon and Yau Tsim Mong.

At the beginning, Su Yehao tried to establish a semiconductor industrial park, but due to various reasons, the plan almost failed.

The three places of Yuen Long, North District and Dapu all expressed their support. In addition, it is more convenient to supply water and electricity from the north, so some money was invested in these three places.

It is cheaper to acquire land in these places, and it doesn’t matter even if you build some staff dormitories. If you switch to other popular areas, in order to reduce supply and maintain high housing prices, a bunch of real estate developers have worked hard. They would rather not care about industrial upgrading and development than their own. Damage to the interests of.

Su Yehao couldn't afford to provoke him, he could afford to hide, and he didn't bother to entangle with those short-sighted guys.

Looking back now, I didn't choose the wrong place.

The wafer foundry under Gangcheng Microelectronics Group has been put into production since July this year. The factories are located in Yuen Long and Dapu respectively, and the North District is mainly a scientific research center.

If it wasn't for the lack of spare money for the time being, Su Yehao actually wanted to buy a science and engineering university similar to Stanford.

It's a pity that the landlord's family has no surplus food for the time being, so he can only cooperate with other schools to open more computer majors and train some talents in the semiconductor industry.

Because Su Yehao's investment scale is large enough, a group of companies from Singapore and Japan have come here to build supporting factories. It is only a few hundred meters away from the Fanling Golf Course with a history of more than 100 years, and several construction sites are under construction.

When he came to the unlisted office building of the research center, a lady at the front desk came to greet him, and said enthusiastically, "Master Su, Dr. Lin greeted me just now, let me take you to the office to rest for a while."

"What is Mr. Lin busy with?" Su Yehao has been here several times before and after, all of which are properties under his own name, and he looks very relaxed.

The front desk lady with ponytails and a shirt and skirt shook her head and replied, "I don't know, it seems that someone from the United States has been busy with meetings these two days."

Hearing this, Su Yehao immediately guessed that it was someone from the ASML American R&D Center.

From last year to this year, ASML shares have been acquired one after another, and the shareholding ratio has quickly surpassed that of other shareholders. For this reason, it has also received a letter from Washington.

In the first half of the year, he brought Nangong Tian and Jiang Yu to live in Washington for more than half a month. He traveled and ran errands, and met many people at parties. Afterwards, it was not a big problem to join ASML.

After all, not many people really care about ASML. It has products like Nikon and Canon in Japan, and they do better than ASML. As a result, its importance is not so high. As long as it promises not to sell out of American semiconductor companies, other issues are fine. easy to say.

This is probably the most money Su Yehao spent on traveling. He burned more than 2000 million US dollars in half a month. He also signed long-term cooperation agreements with several lobbying companies and consulting companies, and recruited some consultants at high prices, and donated them to charitable foundations. Some money.

Fortunately, the trouble of acquiring ASML has been settled, which in his opinion can be called a good deal.

Needless to say about ASML, grandma doesn’t love her uncle, and the management team is busy laying off staff and cutting salaries, eager to find a big financial backer.

Even if there was a small opinion, it was settled by a purchase order amounting to more than 8000 million US dollars. About 22% of the equity was acquired from the market and shareholders, and the remaining 15% of ASML equity came from Stock rights financing...

After Lin Baojian had a meeting with a group of foreigners, he came to the office to find Su Yehao.

These foreigners all know that ASML has changed to a new owner, and there are some people who come to say hello. People who know the world are common everywhere, and those who focus on scientific research and don’t want to get promoted and raise their salaries are only a minority after all.

now.

Dr. Lin Baojian took off his glasses, squeezed the space between his eyebrows, and told:

"The theoretical part has made great progress. The reason why I asked Mr. Su to meet with you is to talk to you about the test prototype. The total cost is likely to be much higher than expected. Many parts can only be developed and customized. The cost is huge, and you need to be mentally prepared."

Su Yehao knew these things before that the research and demonstration work of EUV lithography machine is more difficult than reaching the sky. After Lin Baojian cooperated with ASML, he re-studied adding a layer of water between the lens and the photoresist. After the refraction of water, the The light wavelength is changed from 193nm to 132nm.

The progress of this project is easier than understanding the EUV lithography machine. After cooperating with Canon, some foundations have been obtained, and some actual verification work is still needed.

Investment finally sees some hope, and it is good to make some progress without seeking to reach the sky in one step.

In the past six months, more than 1 million US dollars have been burned, and most of the Jinmao Tower was almost burned by Lin Baojian and his team. Even Su Yehao felt a little stressed.

At this time, Su Yehao asked nervously: "How sure are you of the immersion lithography machine you and ASML are developing? How much more money do you need to invest?"

"...It's hard to say for the time being. The theoretical part has basically been realized. Some things have not been practically operated. I dare not say 55%. I discussed with ASML. In order to join the EUV LLC organization, they promised to purchase more than 8000% of zero in the United States. Components and raw materials, fortunately, this technology is mainly ours, and it is no problem to make a prototype here, and it will cost about [-] million US dollars."

Hearing this number, Su Yehao breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile:

"That's okay. Nikon and Canon have developed 157nm lithography machines, and they have burned several times the money. We have already saved money here."

Lin Baojian was a little worried at first, but when he heard the words, he immediately relaxed and said with a smile:

"The technology is in our hands. If it proves feasible and produces a lithography machine that can be mass-produced, ASML will pay us a patent fee for every product sold by ASML in the future. Besides, you are still its major shareholder, and both sides will make money. Think It is estimated that the cost will be paid back very quickly. I feel that this time there will be no problem, and it will probably take four to five months to have the final result."

"No problem, I'm still young and can afford to wait."

"..."

Lin Baojian tapped his finger on the table, hesitated for a moment and added: "President Su, I feel that we have been tricked by others. The immersion technology can work, but before Canon has been guiding us to the direction of the extreme ultraviolet light source, if it is not for the cooperation of the extreme ultraviolet It is likely that the results of the project will appear a year ago."

Su Yehao was astonished.

At first I thought it was unreasonable, but then I thought that the immersion technology patent was in my own hands from the very beginning, and Canon had already invested more than [-] million US dollars to improve their lithography machines.

When he thought of this, his face almost turned green. It is really possible that he was fooled and brought into the pit on purpose.

……

Chapter 833 What's the Use of Incompetent Fury?

Markets are like battlefields.

When it comes to conflicts of interests, there are many examples of life and death, and it is not uncommon to use all kinds of methods.

Relying on his foresight, Su Yehao has pushed all the way so far. He has many high-quality assets in his hands. It is not as easy for others to do business as he is.

It is obviously possible to be plotted by someone. Su Yehao used to work hard on the construction site, so he didn't know high technology such as lithography machine technology. He just read some related news and had a superficial understanding.

Sitting across the desk, he asked seriously, "Dr. Lin, why do you think so?"

Lin Baojian replied:

"Some links were previously handed over to their people. I recently re-did the research, and the results were different. At that time, they said no, the theoretical data could not be realized in the laboratory. I also thought that there was something wrong with me. As a result, this road is blocked, but after cooperating with ASML, the road is very smooth, and the test of shortening the wavelength of 193 nanometers to 132 nanometers has been completed. At present, it is only a matter of integrating a prototype and mass production."

"It stands to reason that when the two parties cooperated at that time, I never thought that I would be misled, but various examples showed that something was wrong. They repeatedly guided me to study the extreme ultraviolet field, and refused to allow me to participate in certain experiments in the name of commercial privacy. , just tell me that the result is not good.”

"The same experiment, but the conclusions of the two sides are different. Since the data on my side can't lie, it can only mean that they lied before. I suspect that they didn't do a lot of work, and made up a random data for me. Deliberately slowing down our research progress, if you hadn’t bought ASML, Mr. Su, maybe we would still be struggling with extreme ultraviolet..."

If it was just a suspicion just now, after listening to Dr. Lin Baojian's words, Su Yehao was basically sure.

The thought of being fooled, not only wasting a lot of manpower and financial resources, but also wasting precious time, made his teeth itch with hatred.

After thinking about it again, this conspiracy is too clever, and there is no way to even pursue their faults. After all, extreme ultraviolet light sources have unparalleled advantages. Otherwise, companies like Intel would not set up EUV LLC institutions and plan to smash this field. .

Su Yehao also knew that the EUV lithography machine was indeed manufactured in later generations, and he stuck Huawei's neck with his backhand, cutting off the production and supply of high-end chips, so he never doubted anything, gritted his teeth and gave up a certain For these immediate benefits, spend money on the research and development team led by Dr. Lin Baojian.

Thinking about it carefully, at the beginning, I really planned to make an immersion lithography machine, and then unknowingly turned into developing an EUV lithography machine using an extreme ultraviolet light source. Su Yehao even prepared to fight a big battle for this. Five to $100 billion in preparation.

to be honest.

The EUV lithography machine is a bit far away, it is a theoretical cutting-edge equipment in the future, and it is just a big pie for the time being.

According to the recent attempts by Dr. Lin Baojian and the ASML team, only some changes are needed to shorten the existing mature light source, break the limitations of 193nm and 157nm, and push the technology to 132nm in one fell swoop.

The 132nm lithography machine can theoretically produce 45nm chips, and it can be improved on this basis, and even lower.

Su Yehao was silent for a few seconds, trying to figure out the key point.

Maybe Canon was desperate and really wanted to cooperate, but with the progress of their own 157nm research, they have invested too much money, so they naturally don't want to see the success here.

The 157nm lithography machine technology belongs to them, and they have every chance to monopolize the market. However, if they cooperate with this company, even if the product is actually produced, most of the benefits will belong to Su Yehao. This is the difference.

Leading Lin Baojian's team to research the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine is too difficult, and there will be no progress in the short term. From a commercial point of view, it is really beneficial to Canon, which is about to enter the mass production stage after breaking through the 157-nanometer technology. It involves tens, Tens of billions of dollars in benefits.

It’s no wonder that before Su Yehao became a shareholder of ASML, Canon immediately let go. They probably thought that since ASML joined the EUV Alliance, they would continue to fight to the end. They had killed the so-called immersion lithography machine technology, and they were too lazy to spend manpower to accompany the acting delay. time.

It's a pity that Dr. Lin Baojian hit the south wall, went around and back to the discarded project, and got the support of the ASML R&D team to do the research work again, only to find that something was wrong.

Su Yehao took a few deep breaths, but he still couldn't hold back, and said, "Damn...this matter will never end!"

Dr. Lin Baojian was a little nervous. The reason he waited until now to report was because he was worried that Su Yehao would be angry, so he hurriedly asked:

"What are you going to do? It is still unknown whether I will be able to mass-produce at that time. I can only say that I have a relatively high chance of success. Mr. Su, you have invested so much money in the field of wafer foundry. If you get stuck, buy If the lithography machine is less than 157nm, the whole business will have problems, so it is better to wait until I am sure of the conclusion, which is better."

Su Yehao shook his head and said:

"What's the use of incompetence and rage? Come on, break through the 132nm lithography machine. At that time, I will be in the market and make Nikon and Canon cry. Isn't it claimed to invest billions of dollars? It is best to let They are in vain, this is the best revenge. Remember to build technical patent barriers, no matter whether it can be realized or not, as long as there is a chance to be broken by them, apply for a patent first, and I will enter the old American camp , can also make a bunch of Japanese semiconductor companies go against the sky? If they dare to infringe, I will sue them and directly apply for a sales ban."

What's the use of standing up and shouting?

It will only make others laugh, take the initiative to slap yourself in the face, and end up being even more embarrassing.

Therefore, Su ye's arrogance returned.

After suffering a dumb loss, I finally endured it for the time being.

No matter what, so much money was invested, although it took a lot of time, it still gave him hope of success.

Once the 132nm lithography machine is actually mass-produced, there will be ways to make competitors cry. This is the most painful revenge.

Lin Baojian nodded and said with emotion:

"I'm mainly to blame for this. It's too easy to trust them, but I can't say it's a complete waste of time. After studying the technology of the Extreme Ultraviolet Alliance and demonstrating it with our results, I have some new ideas. When Moore's Law goes deep , it is difficult to bypass the extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, and it should save a little investment in the future.”

Su Yehao replied:

"Funds are available at any time. Just tell me what you lack. It doesn't matter if you have money or not. It's the feeling of being cheated. Let's talk about it later. It's important to be busy with business."

It really doesn't matter if it's money or not. Nasdaq has bottomed out and is not far from recovery.

If you think of a way to increase your holdings of ASML stocks, you may be able to earn a fortune. When the lithography machine is successfully manufactured, the Internet, smart terminal, and semiconductor industries will inevitably rise sharply, and breakthroughs will be made in many industries. .

Not to mention anything else, if the initial output is eaten up, the foundries on the island will definitely take a breath away, and many big customers will have a chance to be won by Su Yehao.

End of questioning.

Knowing that under the premise of sufficient funds, the probability of success of the 132nm immersion lithography machine can be about [-]%, which sounds very confident.

Su Yehao understood that Dr. Lin Baojian was quite mature and steady.

It's worth taking a gamble, a lot of preparatory work, you can try to carry out ahead of time...

Chapter 834

In order to create a prototype of an immersion lithography machine as soon as possible.

Su Yehao did not hesitate to add an additional investment and approved an additional budget of 3000 million US dollars, so that Dr. Lin Baojian arranged to communicate with ASML and go to MIT, Caltech and other universities and institutions to find personnel to help, so as to shorten the time-consuming as much as possible, so as not to delay time again , was taken away by Nikon and Canon.

As for the efficiency of ASML in the Netherlands, he, the current major shareholder, really can't compliment him.

Whether it is the R&D center of the Netherlands headquarters or the R&D center of the American branch, it is impossible for those people to work overtime.

If the mainland has the scientific research strength and talents, it can at least double the research and development time. Maybe the theoretical work is just finished, and the mass production will start the next day.

But now, they can only rely on spending money and increasing manpower to help with the work.

ASML just laid off one-third of its employees last year. With the achievements of Lin Baojian's team, Su Yehao easily persuaded other board members of the company to decide to recruit a group of cutting-edge talents and expand the R&D team as soon as possible.

For the sake of confidentiality, Su Yehao also specially greeted Jobs and seconded people from Apple to act as consultants.

Anyway, he is the largest shareholder of Apple, so he still has some face.

Looking at the world, the only competitors of ASML are the two companies in Japan. It is already obvious who to guard against.

It's about a lot of money, and there's nothing wrong with being careful...

In the wafer foundries in Gangcheng and Pengcheng, the previous projects have not yet been completed, and a new round of expansion plans continues to be launched.

Su Yehao walked around specifically to assist Gangcheng Microelectronics Group in issuing a corporate bond with a total amount of one billion US dollars, first using the money for expansion.

In the past two years, there has not been much large amount of income, and too much money has been invested. Even if the book wealth has increased, after all, I have not seen the money back, and it will not be able to quench my thirst.

The income of these two wafer foundry companies is not high, and it is a bit disadvantageous to go public. Issuing corporate bonds is the best option at the moment, which is much better than squeezing out cash flow.

The issue of bonds did not cause much repercussions, and no one thought that Su Yehao would be out of money.