Rebirth 1984: Starting with the development of Hanka

After buying the copyright of "Tetris", Zhao Ye immediately asked Wujiang Microelectronics to expand the scale of the wafer factory.

The price of handheld game consoles is relatively cheap, and it is very possible to sell millions of consoles a year, or even tens of millions of them.

In its previous life, Nintendo’s Gameboy sold a total of 1.9 million units.

Zhao Ye doesn't have high requirements, just a small goal.

When "Pokemon" becomes popular, we will take the opportunity to launch the Tamagotchi electronic pet machine that has taken the world by storm.

This game is even more popular, with hundreds of millions of sales.

How many Kirin 1 chips will be used?

Zhao Ye secretly rejoiced in his heart, taking other people's path and leaving others with no way to go!

Not only make money, but also develop the domestic semiconductor industry.

In disguise, it weakens the semiconductor strength of Japan, South Korea and Western countries.

Wafer fabs and chip design companies in Western countries have not created these benefits that originally belong to them, so naturally there is a lack of funds to invest in research and development.

Not only that, Wujiang Microelectronics has even sold the BG-101 stepper lithography machine to the outside world.

This lithography machine is only one generation behind, and is actually still a mainstream lithography machine today.

But how to promote it is still a bit difficult.

Western companies don’t trust Chinese products very much.

At present, RB Canon and Nikon's photolithography machines are relatively strong, high-quality and low-priced, and have become the dominant players in the market. As for ASML of the Netherlands, they are still just the younger brother, and they are about the same size as Wujiang Microelectronics.

Zhao Ye flew to Shanghai at this time to discuss with Huang Kun, Ni Annan and other academicians about promoting and selling the BG-101 stepper lithography machine, and at the same time solving some problems after the expansion of the wafer factory, such as raw material lithography glue.

The quality of domestic photolithography machines is poor and cannot meet the requirements of wafer fabs. Currently, Wujiang Microelectronics imports photoresist from RB.

but……

Ni Guangnan said angrily: "The price of RB photoresist has increased again, once every six months. If American and European companies also increase the price when they purchase photoresist, then I won't say anything, but the price increase is only for us!"

Huang Kun sighed: "RB people don't want us to develop photolithography machines. Their photolithography machine and photoresist companies belong to the same RB consortium! Although our photolithography machines lag behind RB, the gap is not big, and the price is It’s quite cheap, and RB photolithography machine companies are worried that we will steal their market, so they are making things difficult for us on the photoresist!”

Academician Qin Guogang added with a sneer: "Some time ago, RB Canon came to our Wujiang Microelectronics Company to recommend lithography machines. The price is very cheap. It seems to be much more cost-effective than spending a lot of money to develop lithography machines ourselves. The purpose is to let us know 'It's better to buy than to make' and give up independent research and development."

Zhao Ye smiled calmly: "RB people are really wishful thinking. Not only will we not give up on research and development, but we will also increase our research and development efforts!!!"

It is now early December, and the Japanese yen has increased by more than 12% against the US dollar. By the end of the month, the Japanese yen will appreciate again. In just three months, with an increase of 15.4%, Zhao Ye will earn US$20 billion! (Loan of US$10 million, using 5 times leverage in the foreign exchange market, 10% profit)

"By the way, Mr. Ni, how much does our BG-101 stepper lithography machine cost?"

"$20 million!"

Ni Guangnan paused and added, "Seven years ago, the 7DSW produced by the American GCA company had the same performance as our BG-4800 stepper lithography machine, but the price was US$101. The current price of this 45DSW It has dropped to 4800 US dollars, and we still have a price advantage when selling it for 30 US dollars. RB Canon and Nikon's photolithography machines are more advanced, but the prices are also more expensive, basically exceeding 20 US dollars!"

Zhao Ye asked: "What is the production cost of the BG-101 stepper lithography machine?"

Ni Guangnan replied: "40 yuan!"

Zhao Ye couldn't help but click his tongue when he heard this. The production cost was too low.

However, the lithography machines of the 80s are very different from the ASML DUV lithography machines of the previous generation. The latter had more than 10 spare parts alone. However, the current lithography machines do not require so many spare parts, otherwise the cost It can't be that low.

Selling for US$20, converted into RMB is 60, the profit is not low.

"Are there many customers buying the BG-101 stepper lithography machine?"

"Many!" Ni Guangnan smiled, "So far, we have sold 9 units..."

"Nine platforms are quite a lot!"

Ni Guangnan explained with a smile: "In the past, our country has never sold a single lithography machine. Now we can sell 9 units. Why is it not too much? Waiting for our BG-101 stepper lithography machine With the word-of-mouth spread, orders will surely come in a steady stream!”

During this period, there was no company in the world that specialized in foundry manufacturing.

Chip companies generally design and produce their own chips.

Therefore, there are many companies buying photolithography machines.

After the wafer fab was established, the productivity was not fully developed.

Companies that produce photolithography machines have made money, but many companies that produce chips have gone bankrupt. This is like gold mining companies not making money, but people selling gold mining tools making money.

In the next two years, [TSMC] will emerge as the times require and launch the wafer foundry model. The global semiconductor landscape and industry chain division of labor will become clearer.

Wujiang Microelectronics can also do wafer OEM, but it is still accumulating technology. Currently it can only produce 8-bit chips and cannot OEM the most advanced 32-bit chips.

In view of this, Zhao Ye does not want to start wafer foundry so early.

In addition, he didn’t want this good idea to be discovered by others in advance. Wujiang Microelectronics currently cannot produce 32-bit chips, but it does not mean that other companies cannot produce them either.

TSMC can purchase the most advanced photolithography machines and other production equipment, so it can produce 32-bit chips.

If the idea of ​​wafer foundry is exposed, it will only benefit others.

TSMC was founded in 1987, so Wujiang Microelectronics can still have one or two years of development time.

By then, with Wujiang Microelectronics' technology and scale, it will have far more advantages than TSMC in wafer foundry.

In addition, EDA chip design software is closely related to the wafer factory. The data provided by the fab is the key to designing and developing EDA. The more and more detailed the data, the higher the EDA simulation efficiency will be.

"Academician Huang, I am here mainly to solve the photoresist problem!"

Zhao Ye then turned his attention to the old academician Huang Kun, "Since the RB people are frequently raising prices for us, then we will simply develop our own photoresist. Although the quality of domestic photoresist is not good, at least we have a foundation. I believe that as long as we increase the price With large investment in R&D, we will definitely achieve breakthroughs! Therefore, I plan to invest in Wujiang Group just like we established Wujiang Microelectronics Company, mobilize scientific research institutions across the country to study photoresist, and jointly establish Wujiang Photoresist Co., Ltd.!"

Wujiang Group has so much money on its books, rather than putting it in the bank to earn a little interest, it is better to use it immediately.

As soon as the words fell, everyone present was shocked and happy.

The success of Wujiang Microelectronics Company proves that the combination of national scientific research institutions and private capital is feasible.

"Boss Zhao, this is a great kindness!"

“There is finally hope for China’s photoresist!!!”

Huang Kun, Qin Guogang, Wang Shouwu, Wang Wei, Ni Guangnan and others couldn't help but praise and expressed that they would vigorously promote this matter!