Chapter 390 SMIC

   On the return car, Ni Lao was still feeling emotional.

   "Boss Qin, you are really generous. You have to invest hundreds of millions without even blinking. If you were in another department, you would not be able to achieve such high efficiency."

"Mr. Ni, you also said that there is a Moore's Law in the chip industry. Eighteen months is a generation. If we delay, then we will be on the verge of falling behind when we introduce it. Therefore, we either don't do it, or we have to do it. Be quick and decisive." Qin Tao said.

   "Yes, our 908 project has just been approved and has not yet built a factory. Even if it is built, it must be behind." When Mr. Ni mentioned this project, his face was full of regret.

  The cumbersome procedures and processes put this originally advanced plan in an embarrassing situation of being four or five generations behind others.

   At that time, the country has seen failure, can it continue to invest in this area?

   "Boss Qin, it's okay for me to lead a team to design chips, but if it's about building a chip factory, I'm afraid I don't have the ability. After all, I haven't been exposed to advanced Western technology." Elder Ni became worried again.

   "Old Ni, do you agree to leave Lxiang and join our Mingzhou Group?" Qin Tao asked with a smile.

"Mr. Qin, you are willing to spend hundreds of millions to develop our chip industry. What else can I say? I must do this project, and after it is completed, we can use our production line to produce it. 0.35 microns This is the most advanced technology in the world."

  Like later generations, many companies can design chips, such as the most famous Huawei, but they do not have the production capacity of chips, so after the design is made, they have to be handed over to a dedicated foundry.

   But now there is no such foundry, and chip companies go through the entire process by themselves, which will be a huge test.

  So, when Qin Tao said that he would invite Mr. Ni to develop advanced processors, Mr. Ni was a little worried, but now, seeing that Qin Tao and Sanxing Electronics have reached a cooperation intention, why is there any hesitation or worry?

   After the design is completed, it can be handed over to the electronics factory under Mingzhou Group for production!

   Moreover, it is the most advanced technology!

Qin Tao smiled: "0.35 micron is nothing at all, and it will be transitioned to 0.18 micron in a short time. After we build the factory, we must seize this hard-won precious opportunity to transition to 0.18 micron as soon as possible. process."

What?

  Old Ni was stunned again, Mr. Qin's ambition is so big?

   "A rare and precious opportunity?"

  Qin Tao nodded: "Yes, taking advantage of the fact that Batumi has been disbanded and a new organization has not yet been established, let's quickly develop the electronics industry during this window of time."

  Although Qin Tao is not very familiar with the electronics industry, he still knows the basics.

During the Cold War, the most famous Batumi organization in the West was used to restrict the export of high technology to certain countries. With the collapse of the Red Empire, the Batumi organization no longer needed to exist. Therefore, in 1994, this The organization is officially disbanded.

   It is because of the disappearance of this organization that the country decided to implement the 909 project in 1995 to vigorously develop electronic technology.

  Why do people in the West have high welfare? Can workers have such a high salary? It is because they occupy the top of the industrial chain, and they can make a lot of profits with just a little activity.

  Their high welfare is of course based on a group of screw-screwing low-end industrial chains in developing countries.

   If you want to develop your country and allow workers in your country to enjoy high welfare, you have to stand at the top of the industrial chain!

  In the field of shipbuilding, with Qin Tao's unremitting efforts, it has been achieved.

   The most high-end natural gas ship, Mingzhou Group has mastered the core technology, so it will not have to hand over all the precious profits to the patent company in the future, and only earn hard work.

   In the field of electronics, it is just the beginning.

Qin Tao's starting point is very simple. For national defense, it is necessary to have advanced electronic capabilities. Using national defense, maintain a chip design and R&D team. When the performance of the chip improves in the future and can compete with world-class products, then Enter the civilian market.

   This road is difficult. Mingzhou Group has to invest a lot of money, but Qin Tao doesn't care. He can make money and spend money at the same time. When a person's wealth reaches a certain level, it is a new beginning.

  Some people will make money for fun, making money continuously, making money, but they never think about how to spend the money. Such a life is bound to fail.

   Only when the money is spent and spent where it should be spent, can such a life be meaningful.

  At this time, Qin Tao's words made Ni Lao a little nervous.

   "A new organization is to be established?"

"That's right, think about it, there is only so much food, we want to rise up and compete with others for food, will others watch? Those who eat meat will definitely unite and block the way for us to eat meat "Qin Tao said: "We can only look for opportunities, and once there is a gap, we will squeeze in and have a bite."

"Mr. Qin, back to the topic just now, we want to build the most advanced eight-inch wafer fab and engage in 0.35-micron technology. We don't have relevant talents in China at all. Those people from South China may not be sincere to us. , Even if the equipment is provided and the factory is established, we may not be able to start the production line."

  Qin Tao smiled: "That's for sure, so we definitely need professionals in related fields."

   "President Qin already has a candidate?"

   "That's right, Mr. Ni, do you want to go to Texas with me?"

  This Texas, of course, is not the Texas that sells grilled chicken, but Texas in the United States. Here, there is a famous semiconductor giant: Texas Instruments.

Many laymen have never heard of this company, but in fact, for a long time, it has been the third largest semiconductor company in the world after Intel and Sanxing Electronics. It mainly develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductors. And computer technology, for example, it is the world's largest DSP manufacturer. Even in the Aegis system, many DSP chips are imported from Texas Instruments through special channels.

   At this time, Qin Tao is going to take Mr. Ni to Dezhou, which makes Mr. Ni excited immediately: "Are you going to poach people? Who are you poaching?"

"you guess."

  Old Ni shook his head, he didn't know.

  "Zhang Rujin." Qin Tao said the name of this giant. It can be said that he is a key figure who has raised China's semiconductor manufacturing level to the world-class level by himself.

At that time, the 908 project was in its seventh year, and it was four or five generations behind the technology of the West. After repeated tossing, they finally reached the level of monthly production of 800 pieces. Zhang Rujin was invited, and it took several months to make the The production line was completed, and finally realized profitability that year.

   Then, Zhang Rujin decided to build a chip factory in Huating, but no one had money or equipment.

   There was no one, so he went around to give speeches, brought back more than 100 Chinese in the United States, returned to his motherland, and brought back more than 300 backbones from the opposite side to support the factory.

  Without money, he lobbied everywhere, emphasizing that his company is an international company and has nothing to do with the government. He took a fancy to Huating's labor cost advantages and the Eastern market, and fooled others into investing money. If you invest a sum of money today, you will have a large market of more than one billion people tomorrow!

  So, within a year, he raised one billion dollars in funds, which was close to the 909 Project, which has the power of the whole country.

  There was no equipment, and Zhang Rujin did not compromise. He just relied on his own strength to pry open a hole in the "Wassenaar Agreement".

  Now, since Qin Tao has decided to enter this project, of course he will invite Zhang Rujin, a great god, over here.

  I am not convincing by myself, so I have to take Mr. Ni with me.

When he heard Qin Tao's names, Mr. Ni immediately became excited. They were all in the same industry. Of course, he was familiar with these people, but he couldn't believe that Qin Tao could call such people. People at the same level are dug over.

"Boss Qin, this Zhang Rujin is an expert in factory construction. He understands all the processes of chip production. If he is there, as long as the factory is established and the equipment is installed in place, it will be able to complete debugging and put into production in a month or two. "Old Ni said: "But, are you sure you can bring him back?"

   "Yes, I'm sure. Before we do that, though, we need to find someone."

"who?"

   "The mother of semiconductors in China, Mr. Xie, please write a letter to her."

At that time, when New China was just established, a lot of waste was waiting to be rejuvenated. A large number of Chinese scientists broke through many obstacles and returned to the motherland. made outstanding contributions.

For example, Mr. Xie, a Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, returned to the motherland with semiconductor technology. At that time, there were many obstructions. Her luggage was searched. Except for the letters with her lover, there was nothing in it. In Xie Lao's mind.

  After she came back, she made outstanding contributions in the field of semiconductors, including the semiconductor textbooks used in universities, all of which were written by Mr. Xie. A few years ago, she was still the president of Huating University, the first president of a prestigious university in the motherland.

  Mr. Xie has been contributing to the semiconductor industry of the motherland all his life. Now, Qin Tao and Mr. Ni are visiting Mr. Xie for the new development of the semiconductor industry of the motherland.

  Mr. Xie's mental state is not bad. She has retired and lives in the family courtyard of Huating University. When Qin Tao and Mr. Ni passed by, there were a group of chattering children in Mr. Xie's room.

   "The parents of these children are all teachers in the university, and some have to do experiments in the laboratory. If there is no way to take care of the children, I will help take care of them." Xie Lao said with a smile.

   "It is really a blessing to have you as an enlightenment for children. Among them, there will be scientists in the future." Qin Tao said with emotion.

   "You two came to see me, what's the matter?" Old Xie asked with a smile.

"Mr. Xie, we ask you for a letter to invite someone to return to China to build our own semiconductor factory." Qin Tao said, "You should probably know that our current situation is the same as when you returned to China. prosper."

  After the opening of the country, the country was surprised to find that its own semiconductor industry was regarded as a manual workshop, and the annual output of all chips in the country was less than the monthly output of a company in the island country.

   Once there is a gap, I start to chase and make up for it, but this gap is getting bigger and bigger.

  The situation is really similar to when Mr. Xie returned to China.

  Hearing Qin Tao's words, Mr. Xie's expression became serious: "Will inviting one person back change the plight of our semiconductor industry?"

   "It's not enough to have only one person, but a single spark can start a prairie fire, and this person is the seed of fire."

"Let me tell the story." Mr. Ni couldn't wait to tell Qin Tao's plan. When he heard that a Mingzhou group was going to invest 500 million US dollars to build an advanced semiconductor factory that was synchronized with the world, Mr. Xie's eyes were full of expected.

"Okay, I can help write the letter. However, this letter is just an introduction. Whether this young man can come back depends on your persuasion. Also, if you contact in private, it may attract the attention of some people. It’s better to go there openly.”

  Qin Tao nodded.

   One day later.

  Dallas, the third largest city in Texas.

   There are tall buildings everywhere, and the light reflected by the glass curtain wall hurts people's eyes. This city looks so dazzling and modern.

  In comparison, Texas Instruments is unremarkable. Its main building is just a long strip of six-story building, but many advanced technologies have been born here.

The first commercial transistor was produced in 1954, the first integrated circuit was invented by TI engineer Jack Kilby in 1958, the handheld electronic calculator was invented in 1967, the single-chip microcomputer was invented in 1971, and the single-chip commercial digital signal processor was launched in 1982. In 1996, DSP introduced the Timeline technology of 0.18 micron process, which can integrate 125 million transistors on a single chip.

  In the field of chips, this is a powerful company. Such a company, for example, cannot do without many skilled people.

   For example, Zhang Rujin.

Jingle Bell!

  When the phone on the desk rang, Zhang Rujin was staring at the world map on the wall in a daze. He picked up the phone, and a voice came from inside.

"Hey, Mister Zhang, there is a delegation from the East who wants to inspect our electronics industry and has the intention of introducing technology for cooperation. You can speak Chinese, and you know technology and management. Would you like to be theirs?" The host? If you don't want to..."

   "I am willing." Zhang Rujin replied, "Where are they?"

   "It will be here in fifteen minutes. You just came back from a business trip, so the company notified you temporarily."

"okay, got it."

   Fifteen minutes later, Zhang Rujin stood at the door of the company, watching several people getting off the car.

   One old and one young, with a few followers behind him, the old man looked familiar.

   "Old Ni?"

  Zhang Rujin was pleasantly surprised: "A few years ago, you invented the Chinese card and successfully achieved the purpose of allowing computers to input Chinese characters. You have made great contributions to the popularization of computers in our country!"

  Qin Tao's mood suddenly relaxed. It seems that it is still beneficial to deceive Mr. Ni. As long as he has made outstanding contributions to the country, he will always be remembered.

  Computers were invented by foreigners. At the same time, letters can be easily stored in computers. Therefore, the earliest computers were all in English.

If you want to popularize computers, you have to input your native language. As early as 1974, Mr. Ni, as a representative of the Computing Institute, participated in the 748 Project Conference, the country’s first Chinese character information processing project hosted by the Ministry of Electronics. In 1979, Mr. Ni He led the input group to develop the "Handwritten Character Recognition Machine" and "111 Chinese Character Information Processing Experimental System". In 1985, the Institute of Computer Science established a computer company, and Mr. Ni, as the chief engineer, put Hanka technology into practical use, which became the flagship product of Lxiang.

(There are a lot of articles smearing Mr. Ni, the Chinese card is so easy, many people have invented it, these articles deliberately missed the time, in 1985, L thought the Chinese card came out, those 88 years, even It only came out in 1990, so I have the nerve to say that I invented it myself?)

Mr. Ni had a smile on his face: "These are all things I should do. By the way, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Qin from Mingzhou Group. He came to Texas Instruments for inspection and wanted to introduce advanced electronic technology from here. Build an electronics factory."

  Mingzhou Group, President Qin?

  Zhang Rujin thought about it for a long time, but he didn't think of any electronic technology in this Mingzhou Group. It doesn't seem to be in this industry, right?

   "Excuse me, Mr. Qin, what electronic products do you produce?"

"Mr. Zhang, you are really straightforward, and you didn't say you have long admired your name." Qin Tao said with a smile: "We are shipbuilders, and now the group has diversified operations. We want to build a modern group, a multi-industry group like the Sanxing Group A large integrated group."

   Shipbuilding!

  Zhang Rujin looked at Qin Tao with complicated eyes.

   "Boss Qin, this industry is different from shipbuilding. It is a high-tech industry. If you don't have experience, it is easy to lose all your money after investing a lot of money."

"Yes, we know that it is high technology, so we will set out in this field. Only in this way can our group grow and become our new profit growth point. We are already the strongest in the shipbuilding field. There have to be new challenges."

   "Are you the strongest?"

  Zhang Rujin is a little unbelievable, isn't this bragging?

   "Yes, in terms of warships, we can build aircraft carriers, and in terms of civilian ships, we can build natural gas ships, and we can build whatever is difficult. In the future, when we set foot in the semiconductor industry, we will become the strongest in this field."

  Can aircraft carriers and natural gas ships be built?

   Want to become the strongest in the semiconductor industry?

  Zhang Rujin opened his eyes wide in surprise, looking at Qin Tao.

   "Let's go, let's go and see your production line first. By the way, are there any good Chinese restaurants nearby? I'm not used to Western food."

   "Of course, I will take you there after the investigation is over."

Afterwards, both Qin Tao and Mr. Ni were like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden. They felt fresh and curious about everything here. Even Mr. Ni had never seen many equipments. When I saw the silicon wafer, I was shocked by its size.

  This is the end of the one-day inspection.

   That night, Xiaoxiong Sichuan Restaurant.

   "This restaurant is very famous. It was featured in the Wall Street Journal in the past. Although many dishes have been adapted to the Romans, the taste of the husband and wife's lung slices and mapo tofu is quite authentic."

  Zhang Rujin smiled and introduced the dishes on the table.

   "No matter how good the food here is, it is still not from my hometown. Mr. Zhang, do you want to eat authentic Chinese food every day?" Qin Tao asked.

  Zhang Rujin's hand stopped.

  Qin Tao's words obviously have ulterior motives.

   "Mr. Zhang, I have a letter here. I'm sorry to hand it to you here. It may affect your mood when eating."

   "Who wrote the letter?" Zhang Rujin's breath became short of breath.

   "The Motherland of Semiconductors."

  Zhang Rujin took the letter solemnly, and read it carefully from front to back.

   After reading it once, he went back to read it for the second time, until he saw it for the third time, and then put it down.

   "President Qin, the domestic semiconductor industry is indeed quite backward. Even if you are willing to invest, there will still be many problems waiting, especially the problem of talents."

"The issue of talents is all placed on Mr. Zhang." Qin Tao said: "You have great influence in the Chinese circle, so we hope you can call a group of Chinese experts to return to China to jointly develop our The motherland's semiconductor business."

"Currently, we are negotiating with Sanhang Electronics. We plan to introduce an eight-inch wafer production line and a 0.35-micron production process to produce 64 megabytes of memory. This is just the beginning of our business. In the future, our branch will become an important It produces chips for chip design companies all over the world." Qin Tao said: "Today, I told you that we want to become the strongest in this field, I am not lying, your technology, our financial resources, It is enough to support us to carry out this project. Moreover, I have already thought of the name of this company, which is called SMIC."

  China's chips take an international route. The word SMIC has a lot of meaning.

  When Zhang Rujin heard this name, his mind moved, but he still couldn't nod immediately.

   "It is impossible to connect with the world and become the strongest in this field. When the company becomes stronger, it will face the siege of technology giants."

   In this regard, Zhang Rujin is still very sober.

  (end of this chapter)