Reinventing the Millennium

Traditional festivals seemed to disappear in just one night for Bing Xin. Fang Zhuo, who was in the factory, still had constant calls. Unlike previous years, this year he responded to the care and comfort of many friends and leaders.

Yike is not having an easy time losing the US market, and the outside world is still counting down the company's future. Some people even set up a website to count the bad news that Yike is encountering.

——On February 5, Yike mobile phones were out of stock through Deutsche Telekom’s online ordering channel.

——On February 6, it was confirmed that the Selfy mobile phone will no longer be sold in Europe, and there are only a small number of products in the Chinese market.

——On February 7, the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Florida, N.D.Fla., accepted the securities fraud case against Yike.

——On February 9, Yike’s market value on Nasdaq fell to US$275 billion, setting another record low.

Because of the authenticity of the news, this website gradually spread on Twitter and was called "KILL YIKE" by many people.

Fang Zhuoyou noticed the existence of this website, but didn't know who created it. However, when Kong Yu called to pay New Year's greetings on the first day of the Lunar New Year, he guessed that it was a test by a short-selling institution.

“KILL YIKE” shares public and undisclosed information in detail. Some of the latter’s sources are not likely to be obtained by personal resources. According to the short positions disclosed by Nasdaq every month, since last year From the end of December to now, there have been an increasing number of short institutions building positions.

The current short positions are not large, but they are indeed growing.

Kong Yu suspected that this method of publicly spreading bad news was used by short-selling institutions to build momentum and observe the situation.

Before November last year, there had been news in Washington claiming that Yike might withdraw from the U.S. market. However, although some short-selling institutions were ready to make a move at that time, not many finally entered the market.

Although several years have passed since the Yike short squeeze case, it left a deep impression on Wall Street. The most fatal factor is the certain connection between Yike and White House.

Before BIS officially kicks Yike out, or even if BIS officially announces it, many institutions are observing whether White House will take action this time. It is precisely because of this concern that the drop in Yike's stock price has only caused some small and medium-sized enterprises to The institution eats some meat.

Today, although Yike's stock price is still falling, it has stabilized. It is even difficult to say whether the current stock price has fully responded to Yike's production capacity difficulties in June.

Therefore, measuring the true value of Yike is related to many real interests, while suppressing Yike's stock price is the pursuit of interests.

Kong Yu asked his boss a key question during his New Year's call: "Mr. Fang, when will the photoresist be ready? Many institutions are paying attention and discussing this matter. If there is an exact time, we can still make money." A lot of pocket money.”

"The problem now is that we can't give an exact time." Fang Zhuoxian answered, and then said, "There is an optimistic but unguaranteed statement in Xinyang recently. There may be hope this year, but if it is not guaranteed, it will be next year or the year after. ”

He thought for a while and continued: "Xinyang has jointly developed it with Bingxin. In addition, the 'core material' originally jointly developed has disclosed all the research and development data in the industry. The University of Science and Technology has also cooperated with Yike. They jointly established the 'Keda Optoelectronic Materials' company, but the one that is most promising to solve the problem now is Xinyang."

If possible, Fang Zhuo hopes to have more weightlifting champions, also to ensure the stability of the supply chain.

Kong Yu was silent for a while and said: "If you can't give an exact time, there are also ways to play. This year or next year, this is a good category. We can try the story of the boy who cried wolf, shout a few more times, and the short-selling institution will always It needs to be observed, and they are also afraid of really making a breakthrough. Didn’t DuPont say that as long as there is a breakthrough in the ice core, it can get the license? "

He mused and said: "Mr. Fang, as long as Xinyang's photoresist can be used, even if the effect is not good, it will be fine. When the breakthrough comes, we will contact DuPont. We will find friends to build a little momentum to return to the US market. We can always make money." Got some money.”

As long as the production capacity is solved or the news of the end of the production capacity dilemma is released, and then friends in Washington are used to exert force, the short sellers can be squeezed out in one fell swoop.

Anyway, friends in Washington are just discussing it without actually implementing it, so they won’t lose anything and can also participate to earn some appearance fees.

No matter how many times the cry of wolf sounds, short sellers will always enter the market once the supply of Yike products is cut off.

Kong Yu doesn't know what photoresist is, and he has no interest in research and development. He is only good at doing what he can in the financial field.

As for why it’s short again…

Kong Yu doesn't know if these institutions still remember what Mr. Fang once said, "Greed is a sin" and "Don't short Yike", or perhaps they have forgotten it a long time ago.

There is nothing new under the sun, and human greed is always uncontrollable.

Fang Zhuo didn't expect that he would hear about Gasoline Man's dirty plan on the first day of the new year. As for the direction of this plan...

Those institutions can't be so bad, can they? You won’t leave after making money, right? You’re not really waiting for Yike to collapse, are you? Don’t you really want to kill them all?

Probably not.

Fang Zhuo agreed to Gasoline Man's "Wolf Crying" proposal.

Again, if people don’t harm me, I won’t necessarily harm others.

Fang Zhuo has no energy to do these things. Now he is fully focused on the crisis response of Yike and Bingxin. But since the gasoline man is willing, it is not bad to earn some pocket money and give some appearance fees to friends.

Of course, he also gave some small thoughts to the gasoline man: "Since you want to tell a story of the wolf coming, then Yike will hide some chips. Once Xinyang has a breakthrough, we will contact DuPont and supply them to the market while letting Washington release vague news. This may have a better effect."

If Yike products really have to be suspended for a period of time, then the products reproduced with the news of supply chain breakthroughs will inevitably bring greater impact, both for the story of "the wolf is coming" and to tell DuPont with facts and urge its actions.

Kong Yu was stunned on the other end of the phone, and said "um" in admiration: "Okay, Mr. Fang!"

Good Mr. Fang, you are born to do this kind of thing!

Fang Zhuo and the gasoline man briefly communicated the relevant situation again to ensure that the entire framework is feasible. As for how much can be gained, it depends on the short positions disclosed by Nasdaq in the following months.

Gasoline man is very familiar with this kind of thing, so there will be no mistakes.

Fang Zhuo ended the call with Kong Yu, and for a moment he felt a little emotional. Sometimes hard solution is not enough, so soft solution can make up for it.

He didn't take this matter too seriously. While walking at the gate of Bingxin Factory, he called to care about other work in the industry.

Just as "Xingcai" Company shared the results of the joint research and development of photoresist, China Wafer Manufacturing Service Alliance is committed to exerting such effects in more links in the hope of promoting the rapid development of the entire industry.

This is open source within a certain range, try not to be self-sufficient, first raise the level, and share the market of foreign manufacturers.

Fang Zhuo walked from Fab1-1 to Fab1-6 along Yuhu Road. After a morning of calls, the other end of the phone was just a few words - it still takes time.

He stood at the gate of Fab1-6, the world's most advanced wafer manufacturing plant, and looked back at Yuhu Road. It was completely different from what it looked like when he was pulled here by the leader.

Some people call this place "Bingxin City" because the semiconductor companies here are radiating outward layer by layer with Bingxin as the center. Some people call it "Sand District", and semiconductors are playing with sand.

Of course, its official positioning is a national high-tech industrial development zone, a national independent innovation demonstration zone, and a new strategic highland for the national integrated circuit industry.

Fang Zhuo retracted his gaze. It is precisely because time is needed, so the contradictions cannot be concentrated, but unfolded layer by layer, so that there will be continuous strategic development space.

Photoresist is the focus of the current stage. Dr. Liang has continued to develop 10nm on SMIC's platform. If everything goes well, SMIC's 10nm will not be the world's first, but it will not lag behind too much time. After all, there is already a research and development foundation for Bingxin.

It has been confirmed that Intel's 10nm and Taiji's 10nm will not use EUV. They will be introduced at the next node at the earliest, and the 7nm node will be at least 2018 or even 2019.

In this way, Bingxin can still maintain its excellent competitiveness in process technology for 3-4 years, and then focus more on improving the level of the mainland industry.

By then, it will be another scene.

Fang Zhuo stood at the factory gate and received a lot of attention. Just as he was about to go to the cafeteria, he saw a call from Liang Mengsong on his mobile phone.

"Hello, Mr. Fang, why don't you call me and say Happy New Year to me?" Liang Mengsong said on the other end of the phone.

Fang Zhuo almost thought that the person on the other side was not Dr. Liang. He was stunned for a few seconds and said, "Dr. Liang, I was afraid of disturbing you, so I sent you a text message last night."

"Yeah, I saw it." Liang Mengsong said, "Just kidding you."

Fang Zhuo felt that the joke was a bit stiff, but he noticed that the other side seemed to be in a good mood, and Dr. Liang himself was a workaholic. He smiled and said, "Is the progress in R\u0026D good?"

"Many of SMIC's equipment are indeed more advanced than ours. It's a pity to put them here." Liang Mengsong's tone returned to calm. "I called you just to tell you that we do have difficulties using SAQP quadruple exposure technology. The most difficult part is how to maintain low resistance and high mobility under small line width. We encountered many problems when introducing Co materials for interconnection."

Fang Zhuo asked a little strangely, "Isn't the most difficult thing to solve the improvement of global transistor density by DTCO technology? By applying SDG, reducing the traditional Dummy The use of gates increases the number of transistors that can be accommodated per unit area. "

Liang Mengsong was silent on the phone for a while, and said lightly: "Mr. Fang, don't parrot others, otherwise, you can come here to lead the research and development."

Fang Zhuo was a little embarrassed: "You say, you say."

"That's it..." Liang Mengsong said two words and suddenly got stuck. After a moment, he said helplessly, "There are many problems, but I am confident that I can try tape-out by the end of the year, and the fastest mass production is the first quarter of next year."

Fang Zhuo kept it simple this time: "Okay."

Liang Mengsong waited for a few seconds, but did not wait for more compliments.

He sorted out his thoughts and continued to talk about the second important thing he wanted to talk about on this phone call: "There is still room for development in the 10nm process. Simply put, the performance can be improved by relaxing the size, adding additional Gate Pitch options in the FinFET transistor part, reducing impedance, increasing the drain, and improving channel mobility. In other words, continue to build sub-generation process technology, which will be a good choice for us."

Fang Zhuo was concise to the end: "I believe you."

"Do you understand what I mean?" Liang Mengsong asked uncertainly.

"It is equivalent to building the next generation of 10nm under this generation of 10nm process, improving performance and approaching 7nm, right?" Fang Zhuo guessed.

Liang Mengsong praised: "Mr. Fang, you are not just a parrot."

Fang Zhuo felt honored.

"In short, our process is guaranteed to a certain extent, but it still depends on the stability of the supply chain. Otherwise, SMIC's process will repeat the same mistakes, and then tens of millions of chips will be out of stock again." Liang Mengsong said a few more words.

"Yes, I will let everyone carefully understand Academician Liang's instructions." Fang Zhuo said seriously.

Liang Mengsong heard the teasing and ended the New Year call with his boss with a "hmm". He felt that the news he gave was a good New Year gift.

In fact, Fang Zhuo was already happy after hanging up the phone... He ate two more bowls of rice in the cafeteria!

Science and technology are the primary productive forces!

When he was in a good mood, he could also get some attention from his peers.

Yike discontinued the Selfy series, controlled the supply of the Mars series, and postponed the first half of the press conference. These are all extremely obvious signals. The company's production capacity is indeed constrained by the impact of BIS and has to give up part of the market.

In the past, Yike was China's Nokia and the largest player in the mid-to-high-end market. Now... this blank space has made domestic and foreign competitors eager to rush up.

For example, OPPO, which has always been hovering in the entry-level and mid-range markets, held a new product launch conference in advance on February 14, launching an upgraded processor equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 822, using the 16nm process of HKMG, which is said to be comparable to the second-generation 16nm of Bingxin.

Liu Zuohu, senior vice president of Oji, came on stage to introduce the product to the guests, promoted the global product strength of the Snapdragon flagship, and directly compared it with the performance of its competitors.

When he finished the press conference and accepted media interviews, he also mentioned the problem of his own chip supply, saying that the supply was sufficient and there would be no shortage.

However, many people were disgusted by his words.

Liu Zuohu said on Weibo quite aggrievedly: It was the reporter who asked me if there was a shortage of chips, and I told the truth. Should I be criticized even for telling the truth? I admit that the chips of our competitors are excellent, but they are not so overbearing. The speaker has no intention, but the listener has intention. I objectively evaluate that our flagship this time is definitely at the top level.

Oji's flagship this time needs a benchmark, and Mars, which is now limited in production capacity, is undoubtedly the best target.

Fang Zhuo met the needs of competitors and generously praised the progress of Chinese domestic manufacturers in the circle of friends: BIS cannot cut off the development of excellent Chinese brands. Oji also has the best products in the world. It may follow the development path of Yike and become part of promoting the development of semiconductors in the mainland.

The unexpected behavior of Yike's leader surprised and puzzled OJ and the outside world. Even Fang, who has a wide influence, has admitted the level of his competitors...

However, after only a few days, OJ found that it had seriously underestimated Fang's wide influence. As a person at the forefront of the storm, every word he said at this stage is extremely easy to be analyzed, including by overseas institutions...

I don't know what BIS thinks. They even brought OJ's product performance to the conference table for discussion.

Although it was just a discussion, OJ's management was really scared. Even Yike's size and influence could not withstand the restrictions of BIS. What if...

Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of one!

Don't praise, Fang, don't praise...

OJ's leader Chen Mingyong flew to Luzhou overnight to visit Fang and express his sincere apologies.

"Hey, don't worry, BIS won't do that. You use Qualcomm chips. You think too much. What do you think of me as?" Fang Zhuo responded so frankly to Chen's humble attitude.

Chen Mingyong apologized again and again, and said sincerely: "Mr. Fang, our domestic brands are in the same camp. Yike is the leader. We are following Yike to fight for more market share of Apple and Samsung."

"Who said it's not true?" Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "Well, the situation is special now. Maybe I didn't mean it, but the listener took it seriously. I will pay attention."

Chen Mingyong finally toasted and tactfully expressed his support for the transfer and appointment of the company's senior management.

Fang Zhuo didn't react much to this. It's not his company's business. It's up to you.

Alas, the speaker didn't mean it, but the listener took it seriously. Hey, I said your name and scared you.