It suddenly occurred to me that Toshiba was the first to propose the concept of flash memory, but didn't take it seriously. Toshiba itself bet its fortunes on DRAM, the mainstream semiconductor memory at the time—after all, it was a business that could bring Toshiba 200 million yen a day at its peak.

In 1984, Fujio Masuoka's team published a paper on NOR flash memory at the IEEE International Conference on Electronic Components. The new invention immediately caught Intel's attention. They quickly contacted Toshiba and Masuoka and were the first to mass-produce NOR flash memory chips in 1988.

The concept of flash memory originated in Toshiba, but the pioneer of the flash memory industry was Intel, located across the ocean.

This really infuriated Fujio Masuoka, and from then on he became determined to go all the way with flash memory.

The neglect of NOR flash memory did not deter Fujio Masuoka from his research direction. In 1986, unwilling to give up, Masuoka once again surpassed his peers by inventing cheaper NAND flash memory, the kind that was used in mobile phones in the past.

"This is a rare opportunity. Since Toshiba doesn't value flash memory technology, it seems like I can seize this chance to acquire the Masuoka Fuji team and their NAND flash memory technology!!!"

Zhao Ye became more and more excited as he thought about it, and this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Missing out on NAND flash memory technology would be a huge loss.

Thinking of this, Zhao Ye immediately picked up the phone and called Rex Eden, a negotiation and acquisition expert. During the call, Zhao Ye talked with him for a long time, expressing his importance to the Masuoka Fuji team and NAND flash memory technology, and demanding that he must buy the entire team and NAND technology.

Toshiba didn't value NAND flash memory technology at all; as the inventor, Fuji Masuoka was only awarded a few hundred dollars in prize money by Toshiba.

At this time, in Japan.

Toshiba Corporation.

Masuoka Fujio touched several hundred dollars, his face extremely grim.

He went through countless hardships to lead his team in developing NAND flash memory technology, but the company only rewarded him with a few hundred dollars. He was also ridiculed by company executives.

“Matsuoka Fujio, consider these few hundred dollars a reward for your hard work over the past few years. To be frank, the NAND flash memory your team developed is practically useless. While the NAND structure can achieve higher storage density and faster write/erase speeds, its transfer speed is only 1/1000th that of NOR flash memory. How can it be commercialized?” A Toshiba executive shook his head, clearly disappointed with Masuoka Fujioka.

"Moreover, Toshiba's main focus is on developing semiconductor memory DRAM, and it is not only uninterested in NOR flash memory, but also completely uninterested in the NADN flash memory developed by your team."

The company will no longer provide your team with R&D funding. You should abandon NAND development and instead develop DRAM chips!

Fujio Masuoka stubbornly stated, "NAND has a future. I hope the leadership can understand. As long as we have time to refine it, we will definitely be able to develop commercially viable NAND flash memory technology!!!"

The leader shook his head and waved for Masuoka Fujio to leave.

Masuoka Fujio left his boss's office dejectedly, looking utterly dejected.

Reske Aiden put down the phone, stood up, and shouted to his assistant not far away, "Lorraine, immediately gather information on Toshiba's NAND R&D team. The boss has issued an order requiring us to acquire the NAND development team and NAND technology at all costs!"

“Okay, Mr. Aiden, I’ll go collect the data right away!” A stunning blonde Caucasian woman with long, wavy hair and a black office lady outfit immediately said to Reske Aiden, then turned and walked out of the office.

...

Preparation is key to success; lack of preparation leads to failure.

Rex Eden would definitely conduct a thorough investigation before taking any action.

Therefore, the preliminary preparation work will take a little longer.

Shanghai, Wujiang Microelectronics Co., Ltd.

With the completion of the EPROM chip development and the upcoming acquisition of NAND flash memory technology, Wujiang Microelectronics' production tasks will be further increased.

In addition, expanding production capacity also requires more chips.

Zhao Ye made a special trip to Wujiang Microelectronics Company to inspect and learn about the situation. Zhang Rujing accompanied him and showed him several wafer production lines.

Zhang Rujing walked up to Zhao Ye and introduced, "Currently, Wujiang Microelectronics has four wafer production lines that have been successfully put into operation! In addition, four more production lines are under construction!"

Wujiang Group is doing incredibly well; its products are selling so well, and the demand for chips is increasing daily. To meet Wujiang Group's chip needs, Wujiang Microelectronics has no choice but to aggressively expand production and add more wafer production lines!

At this time, the domestic semiconductor industry chain received orders for various production equipment and raw materials due to Wujiang Microelectronics' frantic expansion. These companies made money and not only did not decline, but also had surplus funds for research and development.

Wujiang Microelectronics is investing heavily in developing more advanced lithography machines and building an 8-inch wafer fab. They have also communicated with and maintained close contact with the supporting companies in the production chain to conduct joint research and development. If they do not make progress and develop better technology products, they will probably find it difficult to obtain orders from Wujiang Microelectronics in the future.

It can be said that many domestic semiconductor companies were forced to develop by Wujiang Microelectronics.

The money earned shouldn't be squandered on extravagance, but rather used for research and development; it's a bittersweet experience.

After visiting the wafer fab, Zhao Ye then went to the lithography machine laboratory.

Huang Kun, along with several tech leaders including Qin Guogang, Wang Shouwu, and Wang Wei, came to greet them.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!