The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide

The fact that Guan Jianying was kicked out has always been expected by Zhou Xin, it's just a matter of time.

Because he was kicked out, Alchip was established later. Of course, now that Zhou Xin is operating in the middle, there may not be Alchip.

Zhou Xin kept in touch with Guan Jianying in order to be able to poach people when Guan Jianying was driven away.

The other party was able to take Alchip Semiconductor from the start-up period to 5 people in just ten years, and the market value was NT$90 billion, which was about 20 billion RMB.

In Zhou Xin's view, Guan Jianying in his prime is simply his first choice for CEO after he wants to establish a semiconductor company.

Lin Benjian is very capable, but Zhou Xin hopes that the other party will focus on research and development instead of spending too much energy on routine work.

Guan Jianying is different. With more than 20 years of experience in analog ICs, he has rich engineering experience and management experience at the same time.

In Zhou Xin's mind, Samsung's S-series chip design can be used directly, and it does not require much R\u0026D investment in analog ICs in the early days.

"Mr. Guan has more than 20 years of experience in analog circuit design, and he is a rare practitioner who understands both management and technology.

Because our work in the field of lithography machines is equivalent to starting from scratch. To catch up with the progress of other companies, there is a lot of work to be done in the middle, so I will find him to help you share the management pressure.

It allows you to devote most of your energy to research and development. " Zhou Xin said.

Lin Benjian said: "Newman, thank you for your appreciation, but this matter is still a bit big, I need to go back and discuss it with my wife.

Specifically, can you join your company? May I ask what your name is? "

Zhou Xin said: "Xinxin Technology, Xinxin Technology will set up two semiconductor companies under the name of Xinxin Technology. One is called Xinxin Lithography Machine for lithography machines, and the other is called Xinxin Semiconductor. The latter company specializes in analog IC design. .”

"I invested 1 billion US dollars in research and development expenses in the early stage, all of which were invested in Xinxin lithography machines, and Xinxin Semiconductor will invest additional money in it."

The name still has to be Xinxin Technology, Zhou Xin reserved it for semiconductors.

Lin Benjian nodded: "Understood, so if the R\u0026D center is located in the mainland, which city will you choose in the end?"

Zhou Xin said: "In Shenhai, Shenhai has Shenhai Microelectronics, and they also make lithography machines, so some talents can be hired here.

As a top-ranked coastal city, Shenhai has a large number of suitable college students. We can recruit some of them, find some from the outside, and train some of them ourselves.

In the early stage, I didn't have too high requirements for the progress. In three years, my goal is to make the first lithography machine that can intervene in the production process in three years.

As for whether it can achieve a technological breakthrough, it is ahead of other lithography machine manufacturers, and I do not ask for it.

In the early stage, we mainly need to establish the framework of the company's researchers and build the echelon of researchers. "

After hearing this, Lin Benjian was relieved. The most feared thing about semiconductor entrepreneurship research and development is that investors do not know how to do it, and laymen guide experts. This will give too much pressure and unrealistic assessment indicators.

Zhou Xin's goal is very reasonable, and can even be described as low.

Lin Benjian: "Okay, I will reply to you within a week, because returning to the mainland involves moving the whole family, maybe my two children will not go back with us.

But this is still a major issue involving our family relocation, and I need to discuss it with my wife. "

Zhou Xin nodded: "Okay, waiting for your good news, let's create a career together!"

After chatting with Zhou Xin, the first thing Lin Benjian did was to find his contacts to verify whether it was true that Zhang Rujing returned to China to engage in chip foundry.

As a famous former engineer of Texas Instruments and the founder of Shida Semiconductor, Zhang Rujing is much more famous than Guan Jianying.

The news is easy to find out. Shida Semiconductor was recently acquired by TSMC at a valuation of US$5 billion. Zhang Rujing left TSMC. This is big news in Wanwan.

As for Zhang Rujing's news, Lin Ben firmly believed that Zhou Xin would not lie to him about it.

After meeting Lin Benjian, Zhou Xin found Guan Jianying for dinner the next day: "Uncle Guan, I heard that your life is not going well.

Have you thought about starting a business with me?

I plan to go back to China to set up a semiconductor company recently. "

Zhou Xin and Guan Jianying are already very familiar, so there are not too many twists and turns, and they get straight to the point.

Guan Jianying has been working in the San Francisco Bay Area of ​​California, including the start-up companies behind him in Silicon Valley.

San Francisco is just over an hour away by car.

Guan Jianying asked: "What are you going to do? Analog IC? Unlike Lao Hu, I only know this."

Zhou Xin said: "Analog IC and lithography machine."

Guan Jianying immediately realized: "The research and development investment of lithography machines is not small, and it is difficult to even start without hundreds of millions of dollars."

Zhou Xin asked back, "Do you think I'm short of money?"

"Yes, you really don't need money.

In what capacity am I involved in this venture? "Guan Jianying realized that Zhou Xin is a person with tens of billions of dollars in his hands, and he almost said that I have money on his face, so he started to ask other questions.

Zhou Xin said: "CEO, I am not very good at specific business management.

I am only responsible for grasping the strategic direction and part of the research and development work, and the daily operation and management of the enterprise are all entrusted to you.

I have already found a R\u0026D supervisor, Lin Benjian, for the lithography machine. That is to say, there are only two people in this company, Lin Benjian and me. "

Zhou Xin believes that Lin Benjian will definitely agree to his conditions. The first contact between TSMC and Lin Benjian was in April 2000.

Participating in the establishment of Xinxin lithography machine, for Lin Benjian, the sale of shares after Xinxin lithography machine is listed in the future is directly a class leap.

With Zhou Xin's continuous R\u0026D investment and his trust in his own ability, Lin Benjian has strong confidence in the operation of Xinxin lithography machine to the market.

Zhou Xin believes that no one can offer better conditions than him.

Guan Jianying thought for a while: "Boss, this old pass is coming to an end, the main thing is that I have no place to go now.

In addition, I can't bear to go back to work in the previous company. I am very grateful that you can give me this opportunity.

We are now in the working state. Since we are going to be a lithography machine, I will recommend a few more people to you.

The lithography machine is much more difficult than the analog IC. We have to dig people, and we have to quickly dig people to build the shelf.

Yan Taonan and Lin Jinxiang are mainly responsible for chip imaging and photomask.

It's important for us to have them on board. "

Zhou Xin thought he heard a familiar name again. Yan Taonan later became the global vice president of ASML, and also made great contributions to the breakthrough of lithography machines.

As for Lin Jinxiang, Zhou Xin didn't know much about it.

Since Guan Jianying compared these two people, then Lin Jinxiang must have the same excellence.

Guan Jianying went on to say: "Both these two people are the R\u0026D directors of TSMC, Lin Jinxiang is in charge of overall technology control, and Yan Taonan is in charge of photomask technology.

I will make a list, and we need to dig out the members on the list one by one. "

"Most of them are engineers from TSMC, and I can't guarantee that they can be hired.

But recently I got news that because Zhang Rujing plans to return to the mainland to build a factory, many TSMC engineers plan to return to the mainland with Zhang Rujing.

Now is the time for people to change their minds, and there is a certain probability that we will poach people.

But we need to seize this moment. "

Lithography machine research and development is not a good business, and chip foundry is also not a good business. The downstream of the chip industry depends on the sky.

Building a factory is a big cost, and the annual equipment update is another big cost. Whether it can be started depends on the chip design company's eyes and the specific situation of global demand.

Zhou Xin thought to himself, if Zhang Zhongmou knew about poaching so many people from TSMC, he might not give me a good face when we had a meeting at CAAS.

But doing things is to make yourself look down. Originally, Zhang Zhongmou was asked to join CAAS to poach TSMC.

"Uncle Guan, what you need to do is to set up a salary framework first, and then go to recruit people.

The company we want to establish is Xinxin Technology, which has two companies, Xinxin Semiconductor and Xinxin Lithography Machine.

Then I plan to put the company in Shenhai. After you go to Shenhai, contact Wu Shiqiang, who is responsible for helping me manage the investment business there.

You first set up the human resources department, and then find a senior foreign company hr to set up the salary system. During the process of building the salary system, you will dig people. "

Guan Jianying thought he was setting up a company in Silicon Valley, but he did not expect to return to the mainland, "For research on lithography machines, the accumulation of talents in this area is very weak in mainland China.

Including analog IC design, the mainland's talent accumulation is also weak.

If we put the company in Silicon Valley, there are a lot of talents that can be recruited by us.

IBM and Bell Labs have many engineers who have been engaged in lithography research before. After failing to compete with neon manufacturers such as Nikon and Canon, they also changed directions one after another.

But their experience in the field of lithography machines is still there.

If we set up the company in Shenhai, we can only find Chinese engineers, and they must be Chinese engineers who are willing to return to Shenhai.

Of course, there are a small number of engineers from other ethnic groups who are willing to go to Shenhai, but the number of such people is negligible. "

Zhou Xin nodded: "I understand, but it doesn't matter if Silicon Valley has one more lithography machine company or one less lithography machine company.

It is very important to have one more lithography machine company in the mainland.

Zhang Rujing would rather give up TSMC's stock and go back to the mainland to build a factory. We don't need to give up anything when we go back to the mainland to establish Xinxin Technology, but there will be some difficulties in the process of recruiting talents.

When I was chatting with Lin Benjian before, I told him that in three years, I expect the lithography machine to produce results in three years, and the results do not need to catch up with the peers, just need to be able to enter the production process for verification.

We have time, energy, and resources to dig a group of people and train a group of people.

The mainland lacks everything in the field of integrated circuits, but there is no shortage of talents that can be cultivated. "