Reinventing the Millennium

Zhang Rujing's work in Shanghai was not smooth.

For several days, even though he had made his words very clear and conveyed the attitude that this was a good opportunity for domestic enterprises, several photoresist companies still hesitated.

In fact, Zhang Rujing also understood everyone's considerations, one was a dream and the other was reality.

The reality is that there is a big gap between domestic photoresists and international advanced levels. Not to mention ArF photoresists, even the self-sufficiency rate of g-line and I-line photoresists is less than 20%, and KrF photoresists are less than 5%.

Based on this situation, companies such as Nanjing University Optoelectronics and Jingrui Electric Materials are unwilling to invest more energy and resources, and it is understandable that they want to focus on g-line, I-line, and KrF photoresists.

But... looking at the research and development progress of "core materials" in the past two years, there is really no chance. Even if it may not be a breakthrough in the near future, there will be great achievements in the medium and long term.

Yike system is not short of money. Once Amei's stress test comes, it will naturally set off a new round of research and development to check for deficiencies and make up for the gaps.

It would be a pity not to make good use of such an opportunity.

Of course, the best thing is to make a breakthrough in the near future, which would be of great help.

With such a mood, Zhang Rujing talked to each manufacturer and each person in charge, but he still couldn't get a positive statement until he held another meeting on March 5.

On the afternoon of the 5th, he received a call from Luzhou and was notified by the Wafer Manufacturing Alliance that he could go to Qindao.

In other words, the plan on the core material side has been changed.

Zhang Rujing put down his mobile phone and could only shake his head. He had contact with Mr. Fang and employees of Bingxin and the Wafer Manufacturing Alliance. Mr. Fang was optimistic, but other people who could be contacted were very serious and anxious recently.

The time for development and confrontation that Bingxin's 16nm process has won for it is extremely precious. At this time, if there is an opportunity to promote development in all aspects, it is difficult for it to stop and wait.

Things have come to this point, so forget it.

Zhang Rujing's next destination is Qindao, and he is urging the connection between large silicon wafers and Bingxin, which is also a raw material job.

At 4:30 in the evening, the core material company held a meeting as scheduled.

Zhang Rujing walked into the meeting room this time and was much gentler. He also listened with interest to a celebrity comment from Douyin, which was Mr. Fang’s old friend Li Guoqing.

“Hey, to be honest, I’m afraid Yi Ke will be in trouble this time. Mr. Fang is now experiencing the biggest competition in his life.”

“Yi Ke did create the world’s first Mars last year. 8.8, but this does not mean that Yike can rest easy from now on. On the contrary, the competition in the consumer electronics market is extremely fierce. Yike's two important rivals in the global market, Apple and Samsung, will not miss this excellent opportunity to fight back. "

"Looking at the domestic market, you say, can Alibaba, which has received a lot of money and started to burn it wildly since the beginning of the year, ignore such an opportunity? Can Penguin, which has been deprived of its mobile communications dominance, not take the opportunity to fight back? And Duji, which has been suppressed and weakened, can it not struggle to survive? "

"Let's not talk about the domestic mobile phone companies. As for the ones I mentioned, these are all strong players!"

"These strong players probably don't need to communicate, and they will also attack Yike based on their own interests. What is this? This is what everyone wants to kill!"

"But, Lao Li, to be honest, the interests are real, and commercial competition is like this. "

"That is Yike Thick blood means Mr. Fang has a high rank. Look, the money burned by taxi-hailing apps in the past two years is not as much as Mr. Fang's daily loss. "

"However, no matter how thick Yike's blood is, it still has blood. No matter how high Mr. Fang's rank is, he is still at the rank. I, Lao Li, make a bold prediction. Hey, let me first say that I am not hoping that Yike will not be good. I predict based on the current situation that it will be difficult for Mr. Fang to compromise under the restriction of Bingxin. But if he does not compromise, Yike will have to face a more severe situation. "

"As for the future..."

"As Mr. Fang said, great companies always have to go through life and death."

"Look, I have sent this sentence to him through Yixin, and he replied to me. Hey, Lao Li and Mr. Fang still have a competitive friendship. What is competitive friendship? It means competing with each other and appreciating each other..."

In the short video, Li Guoqing talks a lot, analyzes, and brags.

But Zhang Rujing and others watch it with great interest, and this short video has a lot of likes.

"Mr. Zhang, do you think Mr. Fang will let Yike cooperate with Taiji and Samsung?" Wu Yanjie of Jingrui Electronic Materials turned off the video and looked up to ask Zhang Rujing.

Zhang Rujing knew the answer, but just said: "Sometimes it depends on whether Taiji and Samsung are willing to cooperate."

Wu Yanjie was surprised: "Yike has so many orders. As long as Yike is willing, who can refuse Yike?"

"Samsung is in direct competition with mobile phones. If you were Taiji, would you be willing to let Yike maintain its competitiveness and then give blood transfusion to Bingxin? Moreover, it depends on whether Taiji's production capacity lacks orders. It has not yet released 16nm. When it is mass-produced, it will definitely give priority to old customers. Can Yike accept it?" Zhang Rujing said a few simple sentences.

Wu Yanjie wanted to ask more, but seeing that Mr. Zhang did not want to talk about this, he stopped talking about it and prepared to continue listening to the long speech of old Zhang today.

However, to his surprise and to the surprise of others in the conference room, Mr. Zhang suddenly became gentle.

He did not talk about the previous rapid progress, R\u0026D and factory construction, but only talked about the opportunities of photoresist in the domestic market and the replacement space of mid-to-high-end products.

"The situation faced by Bingxin this time will not be an isolated case. There will be more and more in the future. In other words, Bingxin and Zhongxin are just the products that have seized the rare development window. The situation faced by our industry has never been easy." Zhang Rujing had many feelings after some encouragement, "Looking back at the past ten years, Zhongxin seized the opportunity in the first half, and Bingxin seized the opportunity in the second half. No matter what the future holds, with these two companies driving the development of the industry, everyone will have more opportunities."

"Our domestic ownership rate of photoresist is too low, g-line, I-line, KrF, ArF, let's do it step by step."

"In fact, you are the real insiders, I am an outsider, but I sincerely hope that everyone will get better and better."

"Okay, let's stop here, I'm also very hungry now."

Zhang Rujing ended his conference speech in a different style.

Everyone in the conference room always felt something was wrong, but they couldn't put their finger on it for a while. But since it was time for dinner, they would solve the problem of food and clothing first.

The group discussed for a few more sentences, and then went to dinner in twos and threes.

Wu Yanjie of Jingrui Electric Materials felt more and more strange. He was cautious and didn't go to dinner immediately. Instead, he paid attention to Mr. Zhang's movements. When he saw Mr. Zhang's car arrived at the door, he immediately verified his guess and stopped Mr. Zhang at a trot.

"Hey, hey, Mr. Zhang, where are you going if you don't eat?" Wu Yanjie pulled the car door, and his mood suddenly became urgent.

"I have to go to Qindao. My company is still there." Zhang Rujing replied.

"Mr. Zhang, you, you... No, we haven't said anything about this yet!" Wu Yanjie felt sweat on his forehead.

Zhang Rujing looked at the man in front of him. He was one of the R\u0026D leaders seconded by Core Materials and also represented the position of Jingrui Electric Materials.

"Mr. Wu, we have already said something. If you all don't want to, then forget it." Zhang Rujing shook his head.

"No, Mr. Zhang, what do you mean by forget it? What about the core material? What about our next round of pilot production? We still have to talk about building the factory!" Wu Yanjie said in astonishment, "You are only halfway through the discussion, why, why are you leaving!"

Zhang Rujing said seriously: "Mr. Wu, there is no point for me to be here. Bingxin has chosen a new partner and decided to conduct a new round of research and development on ArF photoresist. There is no need to talk anymore."

Wu Yanjie widened his eyes: "Mr. Zhang, it's only been a few days! New partner, who... is this?"

It has only been a week since Mr. Zhang came here, and two days ago, representatives of major companies were still saying that they had to discuss with the company. How could Bingxin make a decision so quickly on such a big matter? ?

This is unreasonable!

Zhang Rujing sighed, "Mr. Wu, you are willing to wait, but Bingxin can't. Xincai is originally led by Bingxin. Now they have decided to re-join forces with Xinyang as a subsidiary, based on the current research and development of Xincai, to further promote the breakthrough of photoresist."

Wu Yanjie was stunned: "Xinyang? Shencheng Xinyang? They didn't say anything!"

Shencheng Xinyang also has R\u0026D personnel stationed at Xincai, but they haven't said anything in the past few days.

Zhang Rujing said, "They probably don't know either. The top leaders of both sides quickly negotiated. Maybe Luzhou has already started to lay the foundation. Mr. Wu, Bingxin can't wait. In this case, everyone should do their work well. I believe Jingrui Electric Materials can also find its own way in domestic photoresist."

Wu Yanjie: "..."

He couldn't accept it for a while. It was too fast! Too fast!

"I have to catch a plane. Let's talk next time." Zhang Rujing was about to get in the car.

Wu Yanjie subconsciously grabbed Mr. Zhang's arm and said in a tone that he couldn't tell what he was feeling: "Mr. Zhang, this can't be done this way. We can still talk about it..."

"Mr. Wu, isn't this what everyone wants?" Zhang Rujing asked back, pushed Wu Yanjie's arm away, and got into the car.

Wu Yanjie couldn't answer this question. He watched Mr. Zhang roll down the window, saw him wave at him, and then drove to the airport.

Did he get what he wanted?

His company continued to steadily make g-line, i-line, and KfR, and Bingxin was looking for someone to tackle AfR...

He suddenly felt inexplicably depressed, but before he could regret it, he immediately took out his mobile phone and looked for the latest news in the industry.

As expected, there are so many people doing this in the industry, and you can still ask for news.

Shencheng Xinyang did have a new factory plan in Luzhou. It is said that the site is behind the Bingxin 1-3 factory area. The initial investment is 1 billion yuan, covering an area of ​​50 acres. It also needs to rebuild the ArF photoresist verification platform consisting of ArF photolithography machine and glue coating and developing machine...

However, this new factory, this subsidiary, has no investment from Bingxin, and it will be funded and provided by large funds, local state-owned assets, and local administration...

This is probably to avoid problems in equipment procurement.

Wu Yanjie had such a guess in his mind, and walked back in a daze. ArF photoresist is difficult... There are many uncertain factors... The industry foundation is very weak...

But, that is Bingxin...

That is really the world's number one Bingxin...

At this time, he suddenly realized that he had neglected a lot. In the past few days, Bingxin has been regarded as an object of severe restrictions. However, it is restricted precisely because of its strong strength.

Moreover, Yike system is also strong, and Mr. Fang is determined.

Now, I have personally experienced Mr. Fang's knife-like determination...

"Hey, Mr. Wu, where is Mr. Zhang?" Li Yalei of Nanjing Optoelectronics came over after dinner and asked casually.

"He went to Qindao." Wu Yanjie answered woodenly.

"Huh? What's going on in Qindao? Isn't there a meeting tomorrow?" Li Yalei asked curiously.

Wu Yanjie was silent for a few seconds and said, "Bingxin is going to start a new business. It is said that it has reached a cooperation with Xinyang in building a factory and R\u0026D."

Li Yalei was shocked by the news and stood still. After a while, he said, "Ah? This..."

The two looked at each other, and their hearts were filled with regret until this moment. Perhaps, they should try it with Bingxin...

Zhang Rujing, who was driving to the airport, had no time to consider the mood of the various manufacturers on the core material side. While he was calling to inquire more about the situation, he was thinking about whether this matter was a new sample under the new situation.

Just like those people said, the research and development of ArF is difficult. Since everyone thinks it is difficult and everyone is making excuses, there is nothing to say. Bingxin will find someone to do it.

In the past two years, the core material has indeed developed some things. It is nothing more than continuing to move forward in the direction.

The direction is right. Whether it is tortuous or not, we will try it.

Zhang Rujing knew that this was an optimistic and helpless choice. He thought carefully. There are too many things in the entire industry chain. Bingxin can't do it anyway. In the next few years, it will probably work in two directions. Either Bingxin will set up a team or the manufacturer will seize the opportunity to turn the spare tire into a regular one.

The car arrived at the airport, and more information about Xinyang's subsidiaries was transmitted to his ears.

Zhang Rujing listened and suddenly had a deeper idea.

In the past, Bingxin relied on the global market, mainland support, and supply chain division of labor, and convened well-known international investment institutions to share profits, so as to seize the development window. Similarly, SMIC is similar.

But this model is no longer viable. The more severe situation requires Bingxin to be more deeply bound. Therefore, Xinyang Subsidiary has no money from foreign investment institutions this time, which is exactly what Mr. Fang was good at in the past.

Perhaps, the money from Bingxin or Yike will flow in through intervals, but the form has changed.

Zhang Rujing rubbed his face, put aside his involuntary thoughts, and returned his attention to the work at hand. Now as a consultant of Bingxin, this time it has a more imperial flavor.

I am evaluating, the wafer manufacturing alliance is evaluating, Bingxin is evaluating, and Mr. Fang is also evaluating. Time is precious, and the decision must be both decisive and rough.

Core material is the first, but it will never be the last.