Reborn 80s

Chapter 1089

"ASML recently announced the official acquisition of Cymer, which is extremely beneficial for accelerating the development of EUV lithography equipment."

To many people, Cymer is an unknown company.

In fact, this company is quite powerful and is the world's leading excimer laser manufacturer.

ASML has previously completed two major acquisitions.

In 2001, it acquired SVGL, a US lithography giant, quickly acquired reflective technology, and rapidly increased its market share.

In 2007, it acquired Brion, a company specializing in computational lithography of integrated circuits.

Until now, the acquisition of Cymer.

These three companies are all American companies.

For many people, they don’t even know the existence of the EUV LLC Alliance.

It was established specifically to develop EUV lithography technology.

The EUV LLC alliance excludes Japanese semiconductor companies.

The United States regards EUV as the core technology for revitalizing the semiconductor industry, and naturally will not allow its rival Japan to join in.

Chen Huaiqing pinched his chin. He had some understanding of ASML's development history.

It is certain that the entire research and development of EUV lithography equipment is difficult.

However, for commercial companies, too much technical cooperation actually drags down efficiency.

Let’s put it this way!

For Cymer, it is not cost-effective to research light sources specifically for ASML.

When conducting a certain technological research and development, the first thing to consider is the market demand for this technology.

It is obvious that the demand for ASML's light sources is not high.

ASML's annual shipment volume is right there.

In the previous life, ASML rose to prominence by seizing the opportunity of immersion lithography machines.

Then, with the support of Itel, ASML shipped large quantities.

Connie's 157nm dry lithography technology was half a step behind, and it took another year to catch up with immersion lithography technology, but it was still too late.

Semiconductor companies simply no longer purchase Connie's products.

From then on, Connie began to fall completely.

But the situation in this life has become different. Mota Microelectronics was the first to develop an immersion lithography machine.

Although Itel also purchased products from Mota Microelectronics, when Connie's products came out, Itel still gave the order to Connie.

When ASML's products come out, they will be given to ASML again.

Itel's intention to support ASML is well known to everyone.

Glancing at the people in the conference room, Chen Huaiqing thought to himself, "ASML's acquisition of Cymer has been brought forward. I remember it was acquired in 2013, but now it's two years ahead of schedule."

It’s early, which doesn’t seem to be a strange thing!

So, what is the progress of ASML's EUV lithography machine research and development?

If Cymer becomes a subsidiary of ASML, then ASML can naturally allow Cymer to develop the light source it needs at any cost.

It’s not that many technologies cannot be done.

But because of what it is made for?
It is easy to simply develop technology, but it is difficult to monetize the technology, that is, to carry out commercial applications.

Generally speaking, it is the market that drives technological research and development.

We develop what the market needs.

This kind of R&D model is a healthy one that can continue to cycle.

No company can afford to simply invest in R&D and develop a large number of technologies that cannot be commercially monetized.

Of course, the shareholders behind the company obviously don't want this to happen.

When investing in a company, shareholders want to gain returns.

If you keep doing this, you will get no profit at all and might even go bankrupt tomorrow.

Throwing your own money into the water...

Even if the money comes from the wind, you won’t spend it like this!

Chen Huaiqing: "How is the development of our EUV lithography machine going?"

In the development of EUV lithography machines, Mota Microelectronics simply cannot purchase parts overseas, as others simply do not sell them to it.

As a result, Motta Microelectronics can only use a small amount of technology for research and development.

ASML relies on the mature cutting-edge industrial system in Europe and the United States.

Since Motta Microelectronics does not have such a mature and cutting-edge industrial system, we can only improve ourselves bit by bit.

Breakthroughs are made through one technology after another!

When there is a technological breakthrough, we quickly find a way to apply the technology to a certain product.

New technology is not something that should be put on the shelf and just said that we have it.

When new technologies emerge, they must be put into production to discover problems and improve the technology during actual use.

Of course, when new technologies are put into production, they cannot be applied immediately after they come out.

This is not okay.

At Motta Holdings, a major technological upgrade is carried out every once in a while.

A major technological upgrade means applying new technologies that have emerged over a period of time to production or products.

The cycle of major technological upgrades varies from industry to industry.

For example, in the case of consumer electronics, technology is updated very quickly, and new technologies must be continuously used in products.

For consumers, new technologies can stimulate their desire to buy.

Time also needs to be controlled.

Generally, one generation of products is launched every year.

If the speed is too fast, consumers will not be able to afford it.

Consumers' wallets are limited. If they are emptied today, it will take some time before their wallets are filled up.

New products are released before consumers even have enough money to buy them!
If consumers have no money to buy, product sales will naturally be greatly affected.

"It is estimated that it will take at least three to five years before the product can be put into production."

Three to five years!

How many years have passed since Mota Microelectronics started developing EUV lithography machines?
The babies who were born have grown up.

It is indeed quite time-consuming.

The technical difficulty of EUV lithography machines is obvious.

The reason why it can be brought out after three to five years is that in the lithography machine industry, there is a leading enterprise, Motta Microelectronics, which has been driving the development of the entire industry.

In the manufacturing of industrial products, the existence of a leading enterprise is extremely important.

As long as there is a leading enterprise, it can lead to a series of enterprises.

Why was Neon so strong back then?

A very important reason is that Neon products are hot-selling all over the world.

Behind these hot-selling products lies the development of neon-related industries.

For example, like a TV!

How many parts does a TV require?
Shell, picture tube, base plate, power supply, high-frequency head, image amplifier, video amplifier, decoding, brightness signal, line field, CPU, high voltage, etc.

How many parts are there?
A component can support an entire enterprise.

The number of lithography machines produced by Mota Microelectronics each year is indeed very small compared to industrial products that cost tens of millions.

However, Motta Microelectronics has high technical requirements for components!
For supporting enterprises, they can produce parts for Mota Microelectronics and apply the technology to other products.

Currently, among Mota Microelectronics' suppliers, domestic companies account for 90%, and the remaining 10% are foreign companies.

Even these 10 percent of foreign companies have lower risks.

In terms of core components, all of Mota Microelectronics' lithography machines are domestically produced.

(End of this chapter)