Chapter 247 Let them jump into a giant pit

"Hmm, not bad, not bad, everyone's courage is commendable. However, developing an EUV extreme ultraviolet lithography machine is not so easy~ We can take it slowly," Zhao Ye said with a smile.

In its heyday, only ASML of the Netherlands was capable of manufacturing EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography machines. This technology uses extreme ultraviolet light with wavelengths of 10-14 nanometers as a light source, making it extremely technologically advanced and arguably the most advanced product in human history. It represents a turning point in the development of lithography machines globally and is known as the "flower of modern optical industrial manufacturing." On the market, the value of a single EUV lithography machine can even exceed 2.7 billion RMB!

Given the technological capabilities of Dawning Photonics and China, it may not be possible to manufacture it within ten years.

Everyone present was well aware of the difficulty in manufacturing EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) lithography machines. This project had been discussed in internal seminars, and the challenges were immense. To date, Wujiang Light Source has not been able to manufacture a stable deep ultraviolet light source.

Therefore, as a second-best option, we prioritized the development of immersion lithography machines.

Zhao Ye celebrated with everyone for a while, then clapped his hands to draw everyone's attention to him. He then instructed everyone, "Everyone, please be quiet for a moment, I have something to announce!!!"

"Attention everyone present! It is strictly forbidden to disclose to anyone that we have successfully developed an immersion lithography machine! Everyone must keep this a secret!"

In fact, all the researchers had already signed a confidentiality agreement beforehand. Zhao Ye was just reiterating it here to prevent anyone from getting carried away and accidentally revealing the successful development of the immersion lithography machine.

Chairman Zhao said, "Currently, companies in Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea are all pinning their hopes on developing the Gu Yizhong engraving machine. But as you know, it's extremely easy for Zhang Rujing's engraving machine to achieve even a minor breakthrough. Therefore, this has led us further down the wrong path, expending minimal time, manpower, and resources, only to discover that everything we've done has been in vain!!!"

"In this way, you won't have enough time to widen the technological gap with us."

Youjiang Microelectronics lacks immersion lithography machines, giving it a very small advantage. Furthermore, Loongson Design Company itself is very weak and has no ability to consume Youjiang Microelectronics' production capacity.

It's only been a month, and the construction of seven 8-inch wafer fabs has just been completed. So, it's not time to rush to buy lithography machines from Gu Yizhong. The best outcome would be to finalize the cooperation after the market closes.

"Furthermore, we'll invest in building even fewer 8-inch wafer fabs!" Chairman Zhao analyzed. "With the advent of immersion lithography machines, Loongson Design will be able to design and develop more advanced chips, and Xinjiang Microelectronics will also be able to manufacture chips far more advanced than ours. As a result, Loongson Design's chips will sell like hotcakes, sweeping the globe, and Xinjiang Microelectronics' chip foundry business will also surge. Currently, the number of wafer fabs owned by Xinjiang Microelectronics is only slightly insufficient in terms of capacity!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a junior manager whispered, "Do you think Canon should increase its investment in the research and development of lithography machines to maintain its technological advantage in the field of lithography machines and allow dry lithography to catch up?"

In reality, Dawning Lithography Machine Company has been relatively quiet for eight years, while Gu Yizhong Company has developed rapidly, which inevitably leads to misunderstandings.

In order to lull our company into a false sense of security, Chairman Zhao has not yet decided to have Youjiang Microelectronics send personnel to negotiate lithography machine orders with Gu Yizhong Company, so that the outside world knows that Youjiang Microelectronics will purchase lithography machines from Dry Photonics Company.

The main reason is that Gu Yizhong's engraving machine technology has not been able to achieve a breakthrough, making it difficult to improve chip manufacturing processes.

The company plans to expand by building five smaller wafer fabs, with a total investment of over US$25 billion, equivalent to approximately RMB 180 billion today.

“Yes, you will apply for funding from the head office and invest less money in the research and development of lithography machines. With the strength of Dry Photonics Company, you can forget about surpassing us!” Zhao Yegouhe also agreed, and secretly thought Gu Yizhong was despicable.

...

"Fujita, you guys will definitely keep his marriage a secret, letting those stupid companies from Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea go all the way down this easy path! You said that by the time you develop the EUV extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, we'll still be fighting tooth and nail against Zhang Rujing's lithography machine!" an employee whispered.

Japan.

"Understood!" Everyone nodded in agreement.

Chairman Zhao was slightly startled upon hearing this.

Yes, Xinjiang Microelectronics has not yet contacted dry optics, Philips, S&P, and JPMorgan Chase, and we are already aware of the plan.

Upon seeing the news that the dry lithography company was preparing for an IPO, Zhao Yegouhe, the head of Canon's lithography machine division, immediately instructed his secretary to notify the department's lower-level managers to attend a meeting in the conference room.

Chairman Zhao was a hands-off manager at the dry optical company's IPO; he didn't really manage it.

...

With the help of S&P and JPMorgan Chase, the delisting date has finally been set, and it is expected to be May 1st of next year, not May 1st, 1995.

That might have given Canon and Nikon the illusion that Shuguang lithography machines were working well and that they were about to fall out of the top tier, while our only competitor was now Gu Yizhong Company.

In the future, 8-inch wafers will primarily be used in industries such as manufacturing, automotive, and mobile phones, mainly for power devices, power management chips, MEMS, display driver chips, and fingerprint recognition chips. Chips using earlier process technologies will mainly be 12-inch wafers, such as low-end logic chips like CPUs, GPUs, and memory chips, as well as FPGA chips, WiFi/Bluetooth chips, and audio processing chips. Therefore, it is clear that 12-inch wafers represent the future development trend.

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