Reinventing the Millennium

The calls from the electronics department of the ministry and the Luzhou local government were not the only voices coming from the administrative level.

Ice Core's acquisition of 65nm risk trial production has attracted much greater attention than Fang Zhuo imagined.

From 3:30 in the afternoon until the evening, there were continuous calls coming in to mobile phones and landlines. Some of them had met in Beijing, some had heard of their names, some had not even heard of their names, and some had already taken a back seat.

Most of the people on the other side of the phone spoke softly, with praise and encouragement, while a few were relatively taciturn and just listened to Fang Zhuo's description of the ice core development process.

Fang Zhuo repeatedly reported on the establishment of the ice core breakthrough of 65nm and even earlier many times. Although his mouth was dry, he also heard many stories about the past decisions of semiconductors.

As of now, even though SMIC and Ice Core are already talking about 90nm and 65nm, and world-class Taiwanese reporters and UMC have conquered 40/45nm, other mainland manufacturers are still trapped outside the boundaries of 130nm.

As for the call Fang Zhuo received from Jiang Qi before, his company Huahong was the third largest semiconductor company in the country.

However, Huahong's process is currently 180nm or 150nm, and it will not be easy to see the ability to break through 130nm for quite some time.

Such a process technology that lags behind the mainstream level can only force Huahong to give up logic chips and choose the power semiconductor field that does not have such high process requirements in an attempt to misplace competition.

According to Fang Zhuo's estimate, Huahong will probably need at least three or four years to break through 130nm for "quite a while."

Bingxin is building a wafer service alliance and knows the reality of domestic equipment best. The localization of Lin'an No. 2 Factory and Shencheng No. 3 Factory is about 5%, and according to the current development trend, this number can increase to 10% in the next 10 years. % is gratifying enough.

Under such circumstances, Huahong can only wait for the desensitization and elimination of related foreign equipment, and can only continue to specialize in power semiconductors. It is expected that this field will explode in the future, such as the electronics and intelligence of automobiles.

Otherwise, in a few years' time, the world's mainstream wafer fabs will probably be heading toward 28nm, making it impossible to catch up.

Since the establishment of SMIC in 2000, looking forward to 2010, there are only two mainland-based companies, SMIC and Bingxin, with 130nm production capacity.

This is an important reason why ice core has received great support and is unimpeded in many aspects. It has its own industry temple moat.

Now, the ice core has changed from the only one to the only one.

If all goes well, Ice Core will become the only wafer fab in mainland China with 65nm production capacity in the third quarter.

Such importance and significance was verified by many phone calls this evening before mass production came.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, Fang Zhuo's voice became hoarse, and the calls finally became sparse.

He moved his arms, which were a little stiff because he had been on the phone for a while. Seeing that no new ringtones were ringing, he planned to put away the phone and go home to celebrate the Lantern Festival.

Just as I was leaving, my phone rang again.

Fang Zhuo glanced at it, smiled, and pressed connect.

"Mr. Fang, I regret it now, I regret it very much." The caller came from the old leader Qiu Lanhua, who was full of emotions.

Fang Zhuo was not polite: "Didn't we discuss this issue? Shencheng couldn't offer better conditions at that time."

"Of course I know! But seeing Ice Core getting stronger and stronger, I still can't help but regret it. I wish I had tied you to the new district." Qiu Lanhua was talking about the location selection when Ice Core was established.

Fang Zhuo respected the old leader very much and tried hard to persuade him: "Lao Qiu, think about it, if Shanghai, which owns SMIC, regrets it so much, how will other cities that also participated in the site selection regret it?"

Huh?

Qiu Lanhua suddenly felt much better and sighed: "Fang always speaks."

He added: "Mr. Fang, I have to say it seriously, congratulations, congratulations. I just found out about you after a meeting in the city. Boss Zheng and I were in a car, so I gave him the phone. "

Soon, the person talking was replaced by Zheng Danrui.

Fang Zhuo was more casual with his old boss, but more serious with his brother.

Zheng Danrui has taken on more responsibilities since the end of last year and is more careful about what he says and does.

He first congratulated, then explained the significance of the semiconductor industry, and finally asked about the production line that Bingxin cooperated with Sony in Shanghai.

Regarding this production line, there were various reports when it landed in Shanghai.

Fang Zhuo didn't think Brother Zheng was unclear about the situation. He thought for a few seconds and replied: "This is a CMOS sensor production line. It has been decided to use the 90nm process. Although the process does not use 65nm, in fact, 90nm is more than enough. This is This is a result that I have repeatedly confirmed with Stringer, the head of Sony.”

"CMOS has a bright future in mobile phones. If Yike mobile phones can make a name for themselves this time, I believe it will also drive the further application and research and development of CMOS."

"Whether it is the demand trend for smartphones, Sony's technical strength in this field, or its competitor Canon does not seem to have strategic preparations to focus on mobile devices, I personally think this cooperation is something to look forward to."

Zheng Danrui was satisfied with this answer and said with a smile: "When Yike mobile phone is launched, I will definitely support it."

"It may be slower in China because we need to wait for the reform of six operators and the issuance of 3G licenses." Fang Zhuo provided estimated information, "Our mobile phones will be launched at the end of this year. It is estimated that it will be about the first half of the year slower in China, and it is still It is quite difficult to negotiate cooperation conditions with operators, and Yike has already encountered this difficulty abroad."

Zheng Danrui heard the meaning and pondered for a moment: "This time the operator reform..."

The changes to China Telecom, China Unicom, China Netcom, China Satcom, Railcom and China Mobile are relatively complicated this time because they involve four listed companies and are led by three powerful departments.

As it happens, Zheng Danrui was born in one of the reform organizations and had heard about the general changes.

He turned his thoughts. Mr. Fang had dealt with the National Development and Reform Commission a lot just regarding the ice core. He might be more familiar with it than he was now, but he still said, "Let me ask for you."

"I don't know why when I heard what Brother Zheng said, I immediately felt relieved. Thank you, Brother Zheng." Fang Zhuo smiled and made a clear request, "Brother Zheng can ask about the situation of China Unicom."

If nothing unexpected happens, China Unicom will adopt the WCDMA standard, which is more mature. T-Mobile is also talking about this standard in the United States.

Zheng Danrui: "...Okay."

Okay, I took over the task assigned by Mr. Fang.

The half-brothers chatted for a few more words before ending the call.

Fang Zhuo waited for a few minutes in a good mood, but saw no new calls coming in. He considered calling Qiu Ciyun but decided to let the other party rest.

Lantern Festival.

By the time Fang Zhuo started to drive home, night had fallen in Shanghai, and the city's neon lights were very beautiful.

He knew that there must be many people in the industry sitting around the dinner table tonight eating glutinous rice balls and talking about the 65nm of ice cores, the gap between ice cores and the international market, the progress of catching up, the past history, and the current situation of the industry.

Fang Zhuo sighed leisurely.

He was not that emotional at first, because he knew that the ice core was still far from perfect, but with so many phone calls, the progress of a work was given extra meaning.

As the car was about to arrive at the community, a call appeared on the phone again. This time it was a reporter from CCTV Finance who had left his number.

Fang Zhuo calmed down and focused on the research and development process that he had talked about many times in the afternoon.

However, the reporter's question made him stunned: "Mr. Fang, can I do a simple interview with you?"

When the answer was given, the reporter continued to ask: "What do you think of the early termination of the cooperation between Tesco and Penguin? What are your expectations for the new social platform Weibo?"

Well, it’s not about semiconductors.

Oh, yes, this is far from a hot spot right now. The Internet is the hottest thing.

Fang Zhuo could understand the situation, but his emotions were suddenly brought back, and he commented: "Yigou is innocent."

As an e-commerce platform, E-commerce has always done normal business promotion. This time it was a disaster, and Penguin Portal directly ended its advertising.

The reporter asked: "Will Tesco sue Penguin for breach of contract?"

Fang Zhuo was slightly startled. You, you, you... are not good, are you? Sorry?

He said euphemistically: "This will be evaluated by Tesco. Tesco is a leading B2C e-commerce company in China and has always been committed to providing quality services to customers. Some disturbances will not affect its development."

"As for Weibo, I hope it can bring a new social option to the Internet."

"The Internet should be rich and colorful, including blogs, Zhihu, BBS, friend networks, dating sites, Weibo, and major portals. I am very happy to see more and more choices available to netizens."

The reporter asked again: "Mr. Fang, what do you think about the phenomenon of friends.com users calling on you to regain lost ground after Weibo went online?"

Some users on Friends.com called for regaining lost ground?

The problem is that Penguin has already given money, and even though it has paid 600 million, it is still unwilling to sell it again.

Fang Zhuo didn't want to hurt the users' hearts and said slowly: "Is there a possibility that they can try to come to Weibo to have fun?"

If you can’t buy it back, come here!

People will lose their land, but both people and land will survive!

The reporter was surprised for a few seconds by Mr. Fang's answer. It was really possible.

He quickly extracted the elements in his mind, and Mr. Fang said that he was waiting for you on Weibo.

"Mr. Fang, are you confident that Weibo can defeat dating sites?" the reporter's last question.

"I can only say that Weibo has confidence in Weibo itself. Dating.com is the largest acquaintance social platform in China. If it loses in the future, it will only be lost to itself." Fang Zhuo said this sincerely.

Putting competition aside, he has always been curious about whether Penguin can handle the problem of the national social stage.

The reporter is still extracting the factors in his mind, and Mr. Fang is confident.

A simple interview is over.

Fang Zhuo blessed Pony in his heart. After all, he was quite angry that day.

Domestic Internet people look up and down, but there is no need to do so. Pony is not a young person like Wang Xing, so there is no need to be so popular.

At seven o'clock in the evening, Fang Zhuo had a meal of glutinous rice balls with his family. Occasionally, he still received phone calls from people in the industry, all of which were congratulations and blessings.

At 8:30, a call from Qualcomm Vice President Anderson surprised him.

"Mr. Fang, I heard that ice core has made a substantial breakthrough in the 65nm process?" Anderson and Mr. Fang are very familiar with each other and confirmed the news straight away.

"What happened yesterday, your Qualcomm news is too well-informed, right?" Fang Zhuo asked with a smile.

Anderson congratulated first, and then said: "Qualcomm has always been paying attention to potential partners. Ice Core's 65nm trial production is good news. In fact, we were still talking to reporters last week about 65nm in the third and fourth quarters. Capacity orders.”

"Now, I think we can officially include ice cores in the conversation."

He knew that the ice core had just completed risky trial production and the yield rate would not be high, but it was like it was not easy for a student to improve from 95 points to 99 points, but it was much easier to improve from 20 points to 70 points.

No matter what the final mass production yield of the ice core is, as long as there is Taiwan's price pressure, it will only have to come up with a competitive price. As for whether it will lose money, that is not what Qualcomm cares about. .

Fang Zhuo suddenly thought about the order and asked, "What's the price of the wafers that Taiji gave you?"

"Taiwan's prices are transparent in the industry." Anderson smiled.

Taiwan’s external quotation is US$5,000 per wafer.

Fang Zhuo knew this, but insisted: "What about you?"

"Haha, Mr. Fang, I'm not responsible for this. I really don't know the specific situation." How can Anderson say this? If there is an agreement between the two parties later, the price will have to be negotiated. This cannot be announced blindly.

Fang Zhuo felt a little regretful and said, "Where's the V dealer? How was the negotiation?"

"There is still not much progress." Anderson is also very distressed. Yike's affiliated companies have made process breakthroughs, but the V business is still like a lump on the elm.

"Just hang up, I'm afraid Deyi will misunderstand." Fang Zhuo sighed.

Anderson smiled bitterly and said: "Even if V vendors cannot cooperate, we can still cooperate on chips. Even if we cannot cooperate on chips, we can also cooperate on 65nm production capacity."

65nm is a first-line mature technology in the world, and neither Taiwan Notebook nor UMC has launched 40/45nm production capacity.

Of course, it won’t be certain when ice core can be mass-produced, but Qualcomm’s 3G chips must use 65nm, and it is impossible to directly use 40/45nm without gaps.

"When I get to Silicon Valley, there won't be much time left for Qualcomm." Fang Zhuo said.

It's March now, Yike mobile phone will be released in June, time is quite tight.

Anderson couldn't help but sigh again, but he still asked about the itinerary and arranged a meeting as soon as possible.

Fang Zhuoneng can feel that Qualcomm's attitude has changed even more now that Ice Core is about to have 65nm mass production capabilities.

…

The mainland semiconductor industry is delighted with the ice core breakthrough, while Qualcomm in the United States is considering production capacity arrangements and related changes.

Baodao's reporter also heard the news soon and was extremely shocked.

During the Lantern Festival, at 10:30 in the evening, the station secretary held an impromptu meeting.

The first topic, how are ice cores made?

Cai Lixing, the new head of Taiwan Journal, was puzzled: "How did Bingxin develop so fast?"

Vice President of Technology Luo Weiren said: "They skipped 90nm directly. It was a serious gamble. I heard that some of our employees have gone there, including Hu Zhengming, who also joined Ice Core to lead the technical team."

Cai Lixing knew this and shook his head slightly: "Hu Zhengming is very powerful, but he was not very clear about the development of 65nm when he left us. This speed... is somewhat surprisingly fast."

"Could it be that SMIC and Bingxin conducted part of the joint research and development? After all, Hu Zhengming's team took the lead in the follow-up of Bingxin." Luo Weiren made a reasonable guess.

Just like the four companies of Chartered Semiconductor formed a research and development alliance, these two companies in the mainland may have merged.

Cai Lixing nodded slowly. SMIC should be not far from 65nm. In this case, it is also possible.

At this time, Director Secretary Fang Shuhua suddenly said: "We lost a very capable Liang Mengsong. Could it be that he helped?"

Cai Lixing just read the internal report two days ago and said: "Liang Mengsong is now working in an American university and has established a design company. He has only been to the mainland once. However, there is news that Intel is contacting him."

Fang Shuhua thought for a while and didn't raise any objection. Liang Mengsong probably looked down on the previous ice core.

No matter how the ice core achieves a breakthrough, the reality is this, and we can only accept it.

The second issue is, what countermeasures should Taiwan journalists take?

From the perspective of market competition, there is one more 65nm production capacity that can compete head-on.

From the perspective of competition between the two places, Taiwanese reporters are unwilling to see the rise of semiconductors there.

After discussion among several core executives, they still believed that a secret alliance between SMIC and Bingxin was more likely. If they could not take any action against Bingxin for the time being, they would still increase their efforts against SMIC, which was in litigation.

Joint research and development, no matter which side is weakened, will always be severely damaged and slow down the progress.