Reinventing the Millennium

The rumored ice core restrictions have become a reality.

This made everyone inside the ice core feel solemn. Everyone is more or less aware of the importance of EUV. Even if it is only experimental in nature now, it undoubtedly symbolizes a ticket to advanced manufacturing processes.

Now, that ticket appears to be in shreds.

Also, this restriction has made many people who have switched jobs feel nervous. Will the intensity on Ice Core be intensified in the future?

Qiu Ciyun made a joke about this when reporting the situation on the front line during an online meeting.

"It's okay. If Bing Xin is further restricted in the future, Zhong Xin is still there and Zhong Xin is not restricted. We can jump back."

SMIC's orthodoxy is in Bingxin... version update, Bingxin's orthodoxy is in SMIC?

This joke somewhat diluted the worries among the top management, but for the middle and grassroots levels, the 10% annual profit conversion option gradually implemented by Bingxin is more realistic. According to this year's profit estimate, at least an additional 400 million Huaxia coins will enter the employees' income. pocket.

As for whether the options can be cashed in, they cannot be listed in the United States, but they can always be listed in China.

The restrictions have been lifted, but work still needs to continue. Currently, there is mass production of 32nm with the second-generation HKMG process, risk trial production of 28nm, and day-and-night research on 14nm that introduces FinFET technology.

It is inevitable that there will be some ideological baggage, and it will inevitably become a topic of conversation in the cafeteria, but life and work must move forward.

On the whole, Bingxin and Yike are relatively calm, but there are more shocks from the outside world.

Especially in China, the number one question on Zhihu’s hot list quickly became – “Will this be the Waterloo that Fang Zhuo encountered?”

Ice cores are suspended from the market, and ice cores are subject to restrictions...

And, with many reports from foreign media...

The potential losses of tens of billions of dollars, the close relationship between core components, the barriers to the advancement of advanced processes, etc. After reports and popular science, many people’s understanding is summarized with an example from a media that Ice Core may become the second Toshiba.

In the past, Toshiba was a victim of the semiconductor competition between the United States and Japan. Now Toshiba is in an irreversible decline after the financial fraud incident. Such examples have also given the industry another name for this incident.

Ice core is experiencing a "Toshiba moment"!

Not only is the industry quite pessimistic, but since the restrictions were introduced, Fang Zhuo has been receiving nervous calls from domestic administrative departments on his mobile phone, asking about the situation and discussing countermeasures.

Possible restrictions and real restrictions are two different things. If something happens, the level must be raised.

As one of the parties involved, Bingxin has issued a statement stating that it is "deeply shocked" and believes that Bingxin's operations are in compliance with regulations and does not accept so-called "safety" issues. Criticizing this move is completely contrary to its proper position.

Fang Zhuo was calm in the face of calls from above to local authorities in China. In fact, he had done a lot of things that needed to be done. Now and in the future, it just depends on how to implement it. This is not magic and can be conjured up all at once.

On the last day of July, and the fourth day since ice cores were officially restricted, the Yike Silicon Valley Research Center welcomed visitors.

Austin, a close friend of the shadow shareholders, comes to visit.

Fang Zhuo was relatively indifferent to this person's arrival.

Austin was not offended. Mr. Fang was definitely not happy when the ice core was finally blocked. This was understandable, but he was not happy either.

Fang Zhuo briefly expressed his attitude, and then directly talked about the opinions from the MIGA Fund, saying: "The current situation of Bingxin is unclear, its prospects are unclear, its listing is unknown, and the money from several funds..."

He paused before continuing: "In order to prevent further deterioration, Mr. Kong will look for opportunities to sell out his shares first, so as not to lose money."

The Gasoline Man switched institutional vests and entered Bingxin after making profits from the financial crisis. In addition to holding shares, there are also some corporate bonds, which effectively supported part of Bingxin's capital operation.

As the immediate prospects deteriorate, it is natural to protect the interests of shadow shareholders.

But Austin discouraged this approach without hesitation: "Mr. Fang, there is no need to deal with it, just leave it there and don't move it."

Fang Zhuo frowned and said: "There are always risks, and now there is a better place to go."

"Although the ice core is not on the market this time, it is not too far away from the market." Austin continued to dissuade, "The risk is controllable, Mr. Fang, the risk is controllable."

Fang Zhuo shook his head slightly and directly took out the handling opinions submitted by the gasoline man, talking about the possibility of further deterioration of competition.

Austin only looked at it twice before smiling, and said directly: "Hey, Mr. Fang, keep it. What do you feel guilty about?"

Fang Zhuo has been in the world for more than ten years, but he was also asked by this sentence... What do I feel guilty about?

"We are not afraid of compensation, Mr. Fang, and you don't have to be afraid." Austin is not here on his own behalf.

Fang Zhuo sighed: "The restriction is right in front of us, how can we not think more about it?"

"Mr. Fang, don't be afraid, after dark there will be dawn." Austin became artistic.

Fang Zhuo felt that Austin might have flown here not from Washington but from China, and the country told him the same thing.

Who kidnapped whom?

Did he kidnap the shadow shareholders?

No, it is the shadow shareholders who want to kidnap themselves.

Fang Zhuo and Austin exchanged clear opinions, and he felt more at ease. EUV will take time after all, and there is still room for maneuver, and with this clear restriction, the domestic industry chain will only be further strengthened.

With this trip to Austin, there is no need to fly to Washington again for the rest of the trip.

There is one more thing that needs to be arranged right now.

It is now clear that both Taiwan Journal and Samsung have obtained experimental models of ASML. Judging from the current situation of ice cores, the window period for obtaining EUV is extremely close to closing.

Although Austin stated that the situation will not worsen in the future, the restrictions that have been given may be difficult to remove.

Because EUV, which is not yet commercially available, harms long-term process goals, the data supporting the launch of ice cores and market performance are not affected by this restriction. When the impact actually comes, all the shares that should be sold have been sold.

Therefore, the Ice Core Microelectronics Center has prioritized double exposure technology and is talking to Intel to look for process breakthroughs that this process can bring.

In addition, SMIC, which was not affected this time, may be able to do something more.

In response to this limited discussion, Fang Zhuo, Qiu Ciyun and others believed that SMIC Curve could work harder. The "Huali Phase I" currently under construction has Bingxin as the major shareholder in terms of equity.

If the equity continues to be dispersed in the future, introducing SMIC as the major shareholder and operator may be able to promote the purchase of EUV, and then acquire the equity back. Anyway, the relationship will have broken down by then.

This is a path, and we still need to see changes.

Putting aside the domestic response, Bingxin and Yike have indeed picked up a lot of technology and teams since the Japanese company's fraud scandal. In particular, Lin'an Storage has taken over the semiconductor department that was abolished by Toshiba.

However, Nikon has not been affected too much this time, only a small number of layoffs as the environment fluctuates, which is not very satisfactory.

The Ice Core Microelectronics Center has already conducted cooperative research with Shanghai Microelectronics, and the relevant teams are waiting for help. There is currently a wave of enthusiasm for EUV in the industry, which is perfect for promoting Nikon's EUV research and development.

Fang Zhuo hopes to use this advocacy to let investment institutions explore the possibility of promoting the department's independent listing, and finally expose its PPT research and development to see if they can pick up some technology.

IDG is world-famous, and Xiong Xiaoge is experienced in doing things, which may be useful.

The same is true for IDC, which has been quite authoritative when it comes to Japanese companies' fraud before.

This move is considered a casual move. It works well or not. Fang Zhuo plans to talk to Lao Xiong after returning to China to see if he can help with this small favor.

On the first day of August, Fang Zhuo had a phone call with Yu Hong and talked about his itinerary. He planned to take a detour to Europe to inspect the ice core factory in Germany, and then go to Crolle in France to discuss the establishment of the second overseas factory. .

The restrictions on America's side have been established, and there is nothing to talk about with Texas. The right way is to directly speed up the negotiation with Crowler. Qiu Ciyun has already flown over first.

"Aren't you here to watch Apple's press conference?" Yu Hong asked.

"I stopped reading. After all, it was limited. Although I had expected it, I was still a little uninterested." Fang Zhuo sighed, "After working for these years, I seem to be doing more and more things, and I have to keep up with the development of ice cores."

Yu Hong pondered for a moment and said: "A gentleman hides his weapon in his body and waits for the time to move."

Fang Zhuo smiled and said, "I have to go back and make a sharper one."

"Go back and check on the younger ones first. We all have to work together to deal with sharp weapons," Yu Hong said.

This is also one of the reasons why Fang Zhuo returned to China.

He briefly talked about the competition for new phones this year, and had no intention of going to New York again. Mr. Yu will increase his office hours in Shanghai this year, so he can see him when he goes back.

However, there is some good news this month. The Samsung flagship, which was released just a few days ago, does not seem to be as popular as expected. It has ditched Qualcomm chips for the first time in the global market, and consumers are not so convinced.

Or, consumers are also waiting for Apple in August and Yike in September.

This year's Yike Mars has some new features, and coupled with the strong growth in the local market, sales are expected.

On the second and third days of August, Fang Zhuo's main job in Silicon Valley was still to make phone calls and listen to the concerns, concerns and suggestions of more relevant people.

On the fourth day, we made an appointment with the French side and set off on the 7th.

But on the 5th, Fang Zhuo received a visit from another guest at the Yike R\u0026D Center, Microsoft's Executive Vice President Lu Qi.

This is the CEO who was said to be in the running for Microsoft before. After Ballmer stepped down, he became the global executive vice president, responsible for the entire application software department and in charge of a series of important products such as Office, Bing, and Skype. He is already the first Chinese to hold the position in the U.S. technology industry. top management positions.

Lu Qi's visit this time was private.

Yesterday, he passed by Yike R\u0026D Center after doing business and had the intention of meeting Mr. Fang, so he made an appointment to see if he could meet the famous and mysterious man.

Lu Qi was very curious after entering the Yike R\u0026D Center, especially when he stopped outside the Siri team office for a long time, thinking that after meeting him, he could always come back inside to talk about future directions.

As a giant executive, Lu Qi has also paid attention to the ice core crisis recently.

Although he does not agree with the "major setback" exaggerated by the Wall Street Journal and other media, he also feels that it is indeed a bit tricky now. Ice core is more important to Yike than Samsung wafer manufacturing to Samsung Electronics.

Once the ice core's path forward is continuously restricted, I'm afraid Yike will immediately face a dilemma.

However, when Lu Qi walked into the office and saw Mr. Fang for the first time, he didn't see any trace of fatigue or depression as he imagined. It was as if the roar and tsunami from the outside world had not affected this man at all.

"Hi, Mr. Lu, how do you feel about our Yike R\u0026D Center?" Fang Zhuo doesn't really want to meet outsiders recently, but because Lu Qi is Chinese, he is willing to meet him.

“It’s like I’ve arrived at the engine that drives changes in the global smartphone market.” Lu Qi smiled. “When I entered the office just now, I saw the camera on the door. It seemed to be facial recognition. I heard that the fingerprint recognition on Yike’s mobile phone was first used. Trying it out in Mr. Fang’s office, isn’t it that we are not far away from mature facial recognition?”

"If nothing else happens, we will launch this independently developed facial recognition solution next year." Fang Zhuo answered this person's curiosity and said, "Have you watched Samsung's press conference this year?"

Lu Qi nodded. It was precisely because he saw it that he said it was "mature facial recognition."

This year, Samsung wanted to impress Trump with its new phone launch in July. However, the success rate of facial recognition demonstrated on the spot was not high, which may be one of the reasons for the sluggish sales.

"We really didn't know that Samsung would use facial recognition before, and we have been hesitating, but we still feel that we can't be new just for the sake of being new." Fang Zhuo stood up and showed Lu Qi the facial recognition at the door.

As a result, it was successful eight out of ten times, which was higher than Samsung's on-stage demonstration.

Fang Zhuo asked Lu Qi to input it and try again, and he succeeded seven times out of ten.

"I'm really looking forward to next year's Mars." Lu Qi said with praise after trying out this facial recognition system for himself.

"It still needs to be optimized. The light from our angle is very good, so the success rate is very high." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "I also hope to bring excellent experience to consumers next year."

Lu Qi sat down again, and this time he talked about artificial intelligence. He was very interested in the operation behind Siri, and also mentioned Microsoft's development of conversational programs.

Fang Zhuo felt that this person was optimistic about artificial intelligence, and suddenly remembered that he seemed to focus on this aspect after coming to Baidu.

"Does Mr. Lu have any plans to return to China? Ballmer has gone to play football, and his position at Microsoft may have reached its ceiling." Fang Zhuo asked.

Lu Qi hesitated for a moment and did not answer directly: "There doesn't seem to be a good place to go in China. I like Yike's current style very much, but... can Yike be the CEO when I get there?"

This one must be a talent.

but……

Fang Zhuo thought briefly.

Seeing this, Lu Qi said semi-seriously: "If you don't want to be CEO, you can just step back a little bit."

With his position at Microsoft, he would have to be the number two figure when he returns to China.

Fang Zhuo smiled and listed: "Yike has co-founders, Mr. Yu, who is also developing the market, Mr. Qi, who has worked hard in Europe and built up the system ecosystem, and Mr. Liu, who has led the strong growth of the Chinese market... Even if we are ranked Here, it doesn’t seem to be ‘later’ anymore.”

Even if Lu Qi is the global executive vice president of Microsoft, these people will not be convinced if he is parachuted to Yike as the second person.

Lu Qi sighed and joked: "The interview failed."

Fang Zhuo thought for a while and said, "In this way, when you really want to return to China, remember to find me and I will help you introduce a job."

Lu Qi was a little dumbfounded. It wasn't that difficult to find a job by himself. He smiled and said, "Okay, Mr. Fang, it's a deal."