Rebirth 99 to become a car giant

Photoresist is a raw material that any chip processing company needs to use.

Although its popularity is far less than that of photolithography machines and other equipment, it is not as famous as wafers.

But the importance is unquestionable.

The United States and Japan imposed a ban on Nanshan Semiconductor, which immediately silenced other semiconductor companies.

Many people feel the crisis.

"Mr. Cao, the photoresist in our joint venture factory can be adjusted according to your needs."

"But I guess there won't be any way to easily buy new materials from the United States and Japan in the future."

Xu Jun first called Cao Yang to express Warwick's attitude.

If the United States and Japan want to block Nanshan Semiconductor this time, they will definitely not leave so many loopholes.

Warwick's chips are mainly handed over to Nanshan Semiconductor, and the production capacity of its own joint venture factory is actually relatively limited.

However, at the critical moment, Xu Jun's attitude was very direct. He supported Nanshan Semiconductor.

Of course, it would be false to say that he was not worried at all.

After all, if Nanshan Semiconductor is really shut down, the impact on Warwick will also be great.

"Thank you, Mr. Xu, for your support. We are now fully committed to promoting independent research and development of photoresist, and the results should be available soon."

"Of course, there is indeed a risk of suspension of subsequent production. Warwick may also consider handing over part of its chip foundry business to other manufacturers."

While others were thinking about themselves, Cao Yang couldn't put the pressure entirely on others' shoulders.

Warwick's chips are either produced in a joint venture factory or are manufactured by Nanshan Semiconductor.

Under this circumstance, the subsequent production of Warwick mobile phones and other products is closely related to the supply of chips.

At this time, let them find other semiconductor companies for OEM. Although the cost may increase, it can at least ensure that there will still be chips available in a few months.

For a large company, a stable supply chain is still very important.

"Mr. Cao, Nanshan Semiconductor should have a certain amount of photoresist in stock, right?"

After hearing Cao Yang's words, Xu Jun did not answer his question directly, but first confirmed the overall situation.

"Yes, it will probably last about three months."

Cao Yang did not hide anything and shared the actual situation with Xu Jun.

"The photoresist has three months of inventory, and the previous chips themselves have half a month to a month's inventory. In addition, the finished products also have about a month's inventory of each link. In fact, we can still support it for about five months. time."

“Can Nanshan Semiconductor complete the independent production of photoresist within 5 months?”

Xu Jun's meaning is still very obvious.

As long as Nanshan Semiconductor is confident that it can handle photoresist, he is willing to continue to support it.

Even if you take some risks.

He had already considered this issue before calling Cao Yang.

Otherwise there would be no need to fight.

"The instruction I gave to Nanshan Chemical is to complete the replacement production of photoresist within 3 months."

"Part of the photoresist was already produced by Nanshan Chemical."

"When the time comes, I will personally lead the team with Lai Yuanhong to tackle technical problems. I am still confident that the product will be produced within three months."

Cao Yang gave his answer with certainty.

You have the system in hand, but are you worried that it won’t work?

This time is a good time to test everyone’s support and see if they are willing to take risks for Nanshan Semiconductor.

Not willing?

That's normal too.

willing?

From now on, Cao Yang will naturally know that those companies are worthy of his vigorous help.

"Mr. Cao, Nanshan Group has gone through more than ten years of ups and downs since its establishment."

"Whether it was sanctions from the United States or market shocks, we have survived them all."

"So far, Nanshan Group is the enterprise with the largest number of patents in China and the enterprise that has won the most National Science and Technology Awards."

“Even the number of academicians is second to none in the country.”

"I believe that under your leadership, Mr. Cao, we will be able to successfully conquer the production and manufacturing of photoresist."

"If you need any help from Warwick, just ask."

"Our chip foundry business has always been produced by Nanshan Semiconductor in the past, present and future, and we have no intention of changing it."

Xu Jun took a deep breath and gave a very courageous reply.

This actually moved Cao Yang.

He himself knew that Nanshan Semiconductor could definitely handle the photoresist, but others didn't know that.

Xu Jun's decision really took a very big risk.

If Nanshan Semiconductor loses its chain by then, Warwick's losses will definitely be huge and even irreparable.

"Mr. Xu, thank you Warwick for your trust and support."

"We speak with facts and won't say any more thanks."

It is meaningless to say thank you more at this point.

So Cao Yang didn't talk nonsense to Xu Jun.

After hanging up the phone, I went directly to Nanshan Chemical.

"Mr. Cao, we are currently developing many types of photoresists, and we should be able to finish most of them within 3 months."

"But EUV photoresist is the most difficult and full of uncertainties."

Lai Yuanhong is also under great pressure now. He has to remove all the stuck photoresist within three months. He feels that he will not be able to sleep well in the next three months.

"EUV photoresist?"

"Yes, EUV photoresist is the brightest pearl in the crown of semiconductor materials. It has an important impact and value on the chip manufacturing process."

Lai Yuanhong explained the relevant situation while watching Cao Yang's reaction, "Currently, the two largest suppliers of EUV photoresist are JSR and Tokyo Oka Industry, accounting for about 75% of the market share."

"Both companies are traditional photoresist manufacturers with many years of technology accumulation and market experience, and can provide chemically amplified photoresists specifically for EUV lithography."

"These Japanese companies are not only leading in technology, but also in terms of price, thus making huge profits."

"According to the current market price, one liter of EUV photoresist costs more than 10,000 yuan."

"Even so, they won't sell it now."

"As long as we can figure out EUV photoresist, then no photoresist will be able to hold us back in the future."

For Lai Yuanhong, the biggest worry is whether EUV photoresist can be produced.

He has no confidence in this aspect.

"Those companies in Japan are currently using traditional wet photoresist, but I think we can break out of their circle and directly study dry photoresist?"

Cao Yang specially prepared dry photoresist prepared by Lam Research Company in the United States for the 5-nanometer chip process.

As long as we get it right, we can basically use this photoresist to achieve 5 nanometers or even 2 nanometers in the future.

It can be said that it saves a lot of time in the development of photoresist.

"Dry photoresist?"

Lai Yuanhong's scalp was numb, and he felt more pressure on his shoulders.

"Yes, it's dry photoresist."

"This type of photoresist has higher absorptivity because it is a densely deposited metal that does not mix with many other chemicals."

"This allows the metal photoresist to act solely as an absorber, thereby increasing exposure efficiency."

"And because metal photoresists can absorb more incident photons, exposure dose and time can be reduced, resulting in higher throughput and lower costs."

"At the same time, because dry photoresists are also developed using a dry process, problems such as pattern collapse, residue, and holes that may occur in wet development can be avoided, maintaining sharper and smoother line edges."

"Then another is that because the dry photoresist has better adhesion and matching with the underlying material, it can resist various interferences and changes."

"Higher absorbance, higher sensitivity, higher resolution, higher stability."

"I will take everyone together to study this new dry photoresist based on the information the company has obtained from other channels."

Cao Yang knew that it was unrealistic to directly ask Lai Yuanhong to lead the team to study dry photoresist from scratch when time was so tight.

So he took over this task.

This actually made Lai Yuanhong breathe a sigh of relief.

And Cao Yang kept his word. For the next few days, he directed a group of people to start various types of experiments in the Nanshan Chemical laboratory.

With a clear purpose in mind, all content is naturally being advanced at a high speed.

However, people outside are unaware of these developments of Nanshan Semiconductor and are still waiting to see the joke.

Among them, Samsung is the happiest.

"Chai Hang, during this period, you specially arranged for people to keep an eye on Nanshan Semiconductor and try every means to confirm the source of the photoresist at Nanshan Semiconductor."

"Now is the best time for us to suppress Nanshan Semiconductor and Honor Technology."

"As long as Nanshan Semiconductor cannot obtain enough photoresist, it will have no choice but to stop production. Whether it is Honor Technology's mobile phones or computers, almost all chips are produced by Nanshan Semiconductor."

"No matter how competitive HONOR4 is by then, there will be no way to produce it without chips, and the final sales volume will be zero."

Li Zailin is in a happy mood now.

In his view, the United States and Japan have suppressed Nanshan Semiconductor on photoresist, and Samsung China has benefited the most.

According to the current development trend, in the field of smartphones, Honor Technology is already the well-deserved king in the Chinese market.

Even if Samsung mobile phones add feature phone business, it is now a little unable to suppress Honor Technology.

This situation is definitely not what Li Zailin wants to see.

Fortunately, such a good opportunity came. He felt that Samsung mobile phones were going to be developed in China.

He knew that not only Honor Technology's chips were supplied by Nanshan Semiconductor, but most of the chips for Warwick mobile phones were also produced by Nanshan Semiconductor.

In this way, it will be equivalent to Samsung's two main competitors in China falling directly because of chip problems.

The remaining companies such as Lenovo are no match for Samsung at all.

"Mr. Li, we have specifically contacted the relevant consulting companies and asked them to help us find a solution."

"At the same time, we are also looking for people from Nanshan Semiconductor through some headhunters, hoping that someone can provide us with some useful information."

“This time I heard that Intel, TI, ASML and other manufacturers jointly promoted the plan to suppress Nanshan Semiconductor.”

"I believe they should also take this matter very seriously."

Chaihang has also realized that it seems that time is about to turn around.

After suffering for several years, I finally started to turn over.

He really wanted to open a bottle of champagne now to celebrate.

"Nanshan Semiconductor, Nanshan Equipment, Honor Technology and other companies are not without competitors in China."

"You can also find ways to contact your competitors' personnel and exchange information about each other's purchase of photoresist."

"Anyway, no matter what method is adopted, Nanshan Semiconductor must be prevented from obtaining photoresist through other methods of circumventing sanctions."

"We must shut down their factories."

"Those photoresist companies in Japan have also been formally warned and should not dare to violate the regulations at will."

The way Li Zailin gritted his teeth made Chai Hang feel frightened.

It seems that his resentment towards Nanshan Semiconductor is deeper than his own.

…

Just as happy as Samsung, it’s Apple.

"Lin Rong, we just had a meeting with the headquarters. President KUKA specifically emphasized that we should pay attention to the news of Nanshan Semiconductor and Honor Technology."

"This time, the headquarters has also made great efforts to deal with Nanshan Semiconductor, along with Intel and other companies."

“If the expected effect is not achieved due to lax implementation, it will definitely be something that no one wants to see.”

As soon as Wang Ziming returned to the office, he started arranging tasks for Lin Rong.

Although Apple mobile phones are still unable to be sold in China, other products such as Apple computers can still be sold normally.

Not to mention the global competition between Honor phones and Apple phones, the impact that Honor computers have had on Apple computers in the Chinese market is enough to make Wang Ziming hate Honor technology to the core.

Now that he had the opportunity to push Honor Technology into the abyss, he was naturally very willing to contribute some effort.

After all, the stage has been set up with help, and now it’s just waiting for everyone to perform.

"I will contact various dealers, chip agents and other partners later to ask them to help us pay attention to relevant news."

"Now that so many companies are eyeing Nanshan Semiconductor, I guess it will be difficult for them to make any more troubles."

Lin Rong felt that Nanshan Semiconductor would definitely be in trouble this time.

Even if the King of Heaven comes, I can't save it.

"There are many domestic semiconductor companies, and they still have the opportunity to purchase related photoresists."

"We must prevent these companies from buying excessive amounts of photoresist and then selling it to Nanshan Semiconductor to circumvent sanctions."

"Especially those companies that are close to Nanshan Group, we should be more careful."

Wang Ziming felt that he could not take things lightly now and had to do things well.

As long as Nanshan Semiconductor does not stop production, he will not relax.

"When you say that, I think we should really keep an eye on those manufacturers that are closely related to Nanshan Equipment and Nanshan Semiconductor."

"For example, Modu Microelectronics, their post-process photolithography machines also need to use photoresist."

"If Nanshan Semiconductor turns around and purchases photoresist through these methods, then the purpose of the blockade will not be achieved."

"I think we can ask the headquarters to remind the relevant photoresist manufacturers and ask them to strictly review the whereabouts of the products they sell."

"They are also asked to strictly monitor changes in the order quantities of each supplier."

Lin Rong felt that although the current encirclement and suppression plan was a bit harsh, it had many loopholes.

As long as one of these loopholes is exploited by Nanshan Semiconductor, the encirclement and suppression will fail.

Apple China certainly does not want to see the encirclement and suppression fail.

That means it will be difficult for Apple China to quickly expand its market share.

"I think it would be very difficult to simply rely on the consciousness of those suppliers."

"After all, for them, they can make money no matter who buys the photoresist."

"They are not particularly concerned about the competitive relationship between semiconductor companies such as Nanshan Semiconductor and Intel."

"Even once they have excess production capacity, they may turn a blind eye and respond to the relevant policies of the United States and Japan."

"Deliberately giving Nanshan Semiconductor an opportunity to exploit loopholes."

Wang Ziming maliciously speculated on what the photoresist manufacturers were doing.

After all, from the perspective of people's hearts, there is absolutely no problem with this speculation.

"If this is going to be the case, it would be best for the United States and Japan to arrange personnel to go to the relevant photoresist manufacturers for fixed-point inspections in the past six months."

"Ensure that all photoresist sales do not violate relevant policies."

Lin Rong quickly came up with a new idea.

Soon, Wang Ziming communicated with Apple headquarters again and reminded them of some precautions they had thought of.

And the United States has become more ruthless this time, and must kill Nanshan Semiconductor.

So there were various follow-up actions soon, which made Nanshan Semiconductor also feel the pressure.

"Mr. Zhang, it's not that we at SMIC don't help, it's actually the photoresist manufacturers who are keeping a close eye on this."

"Even next week, the photoresist manufacturer in Japan will arrange personnel to come over to supervise our use of photoresist."

"So whether it's moving inventory or ordering additional photoresists, it's very difficult."

Wang Anguo, CEO of SMIC, called Zhang Jing and told him about his difficulties.

Obviously, Zhang Jing mentioned to Cao Yang that he would find relevant semiconductor companies to purchase photoresist in their inventory, and now he is going to implement it in person.

But the situation is obviously not that optimistic.

As the domestic semiconductor company second only to Nanshan Semiconductor, SMIC has the largest photoresist consumption.

And they use relatively many types of high-end photoresists, which have a relatively high degree of overlap with Nanshan Semiconductor.

If SMIC is really willing to help, then there is no problem in allowing Nanshan Semiconductor to produce for one more month.

However, Wang Anguo obviously had no intention of taking this risk.

In his opinion, he was very kind by not adding insult to injury.

Originally, SMIC had been the domestic semiconductor leader for many years, but now it has been pulled down by Nanshan Semiconductor. It must be unhappy.

However, Nanshan Semiconductor is so popular in China that SMIC dare not say anything even if it has objections, and can only hold it in its heart.

Well, now, although Nanshan Semiconductor has taken the lead in developing 14-nanometer chip technology, this has also angered traditional international chip giants.

What followed was that the United States and Japan simultaneously banned the sale of photoresist to Nanshan Semiconductor.

And this time the action there was very big, closing all possible loopholes.

Wang Anguo just went along with the flow and expressed his embarrassment.

"Understood, this time the United States and Japan join forces, and they definitely don't want to give up halfway."

“But if it’s difficult to free up all the photoresist in the inventory, wouldn’t it be so easy for the other party to take advantage of half of it?”

"After all, the other party is not very clear about the past inventory situation. We can definitely say that the latest inventory is like that."

Although Zhang Jing felt a little aggrieved, he still didn't want to give up his efforts so easily.

After all, he had no confidence that Nanshan Chemical could produce all the photoresists within three months.

At this time, it is definitely necessary to stock up more inventory for the company, so stock up more.

It doesn't matter even if the price is higher.

Just like when the supply of chips is tight around 2021 and 2022 in later generations, in order to grab chips, many car companies paid high prices to buy them from the market.

A chip that usually only costs 10 yuan can be sold for hundreds of yuan and people want it.

That scene simply subverted everyone's understanding.

Now Nanshan Semiconductor is facing a similar situation.

As long as SMIC is willing to transfer the relevant photoresist to Nanshan Semiconductor, even if the original price of 10,000 yuan per liter becomes 100,000 yuan per liter, Zhang Jing will immediately agree to purchase it.

But now they don't want to sell it at all.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Zhang, it's not that we don't want to help, it's just that we can't do anything."

"The company's inventory management is all managed in the system, and all shipments and warehousing are traceable with data."

"Once the Japanese manufacturers know that we are violating the regulations, it is very likely that we will not be able to continue to purchase photoresist in the future."

"We really can't bear this risk."

Wang Anguo's answer disappointed Zhang Jing.

But he also understood the other party's approach.

After all, we are not relatives, but we are also competitors.

He was just a little unwilling and wanted to work hard.

"Mr. Wang, we are willing to pay ten times the price to buy the photoresist you have in stock. If you only need to sell us half of it, your purchase cost of photoresist this year will almost be recovered."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Zhang, I have an important meeting later. I'll contact you later."

After Wang Anguo said this, he hung up the phone.

Zhang Jing was left listening to the "beep beep" sound in his ears, looking a little lonely.

Can Nanshan Semiconductor survive this hurdle?