Chapter 302 Do what you can first: There isn't even carbon fiber?

Jiangdong takes the "focus on large enterprises and let go of small ones" approach to state-owned enterprise reform, taking the lead in the country and pioneering an industrial survey to lay the foundation for the entire semiconductor industry.

Because of its relatively small number of state-owned enterprises and the well-known prosperity of township and private enterprises, the neighboring Jiangbei province does not prioritize "focusing on large enterprises and letting go of small ones".

Their approach is to directly assess the situation, and while assessing it, they start planning how people will get to work.

The leaders in Jiangbei believed they had a good understanding of their own limitations. They knew they couldn't get involved in the core equipment, but they could start by making breakthroughs in the basic areas with low barriers to entry and high demand.

On the phone, Vice Mayor Huang spoke with a strong voice: "It's not that it's difficult. Just watch and do nothing. A tall building starts from the ground up. If you don't know how to build a tall building, and you can't make steel, cement, and concrete, then you can start by making bricks."

The bricks selected by Jiangbei Province are cleanroom consumables, such as anti-static gloves and wafer boxes. These products have low added value, but also low technical barriers.

If we had to use an analogy, Vice Mayor Huang would describe this as someone delivering bottled water to the municipal government, trying every possible way to become known to the public.

When he came to Jinning as a representative to negotiate, he specifically met with Wang Xiao first and told him about this matter.

Vice Mayor Huang did not come empty-handed.

I don't know if he heard that Wang Xiao was picking loquats and peaches in the Jiangdong Provincial Government compound, but he specially brought a basket of loquats and emphasized: "The peaches and bayberries will be a couple of days later, I'll bring them to you later."

Wang Xiao smiled and accepted her leader's kindness.

Actually, she wasn't clear on the details of these supporting facilities either, and curiously asked, "What do you mean by antistatic gloves? How exactly do I make them?"

"Hey, it's conductive fiber," Vice Mayor Huang gestured, "to conduct static electricity away."

Before Wang Xiao could speak, Chairman Chen Yanqiu had already washed the loquats brought by the guests and placed them on the fruit plate.

She casually remarked, "Conductive fibers? Xiaoxiao, was that fleece sweater that Director Miao made made with conductive fibers?"

Wang Xiao hesitated and said, "It's a conductive wire."

But she wasn't sure if silk and fiber were the same thing.

But Vice Mayor Huang was already excited, and like someone offering a pillow to someone who's sleepy, he hurriedly urged, "Quickly, Mr. Wang, it's a matter of life and death. We're really worried about how to solve this problem with the conductive fiber."

So Wang Xiao had just peeled the loquat skin and hadn't even tasted the Jiangbei loquat before being forced to call Sister Miao while smelling its sweet aroma.

At this time, Sister Miao had just come out of the factory and didn't need to go back to the research institute, so she simply came over.

Wang Xiao greeted him with a smile, "Okay, come and eat some loquats, they're sweet."

Vice Mayor Huang sighed inwardly, "What does it mean to have vision? This is what it means to be a boss."

Look, even a researcher can use a mobile phone. Forget the cost of buying the phone and the network fee, how many people can afford the monthly phone bill alone?

No wonder the research institute was willing to work for her boss, Mr. Wang.

Sister Miao acted quickly, taking a taxi directly over, and even brought information about conductive fibers.

This is their key project this year because Wang Xiao requires that the new fleece clothing must have anti-static properties so that they can continue to attract customers.

"The cost will increase," Sister Miao sighed. "Using this will increase the cost of fleece by 50 cents per square meter."

Wang Xiao waved his hand: "We should add what needs to be added."

She made a lot of money from fleece; continuous investment was essential.

Vice Mayor Huang didn't see anything wrong with it either. The gloves were only a little big, barely covering a square meter. A pair of anti-static gloves only added two or three cents to the cost, which was negligible compared to the price of twenty yuan.

He immediately demanded that resources be shared, and even flattered Wang Xiao: "President Wang, you see, we're all aiming for the same goal, we're comrades in the same trench, so we should definitely support each other, right?"

Without hesitation, Wang Xiao immediately quoted a price: "500,000 yuan, patent transfer fee."

Vice Mayor Huang countered, "How much money can you make from gloves? Getting into their supply chain is a big problem; there are so many other things to spend money on. They're too expensive. How many pairs of gloves would you need to sell for 500,000?"

In order to sell the patent at a high price, Wang Xiao did not hesitate to add channels for others: "Domestic chip factories can all go there, like Shougang NEC, with such a large investment scale. And Shanghai Belling, their chip production also needs anti-static gloves."

Then she emphasized her advantages, "My LCD factory and chip factory are built. Don't I need anti-static gloves when I start production?"

The two sides argued back and forth for a long time, with Sister Miao constantly chiming in to emphasize how much money they had invested in the research alone, not to mention the subsequent factory testing.

The final transfer fee was reduced to 200,000.

Vice Mayor Huang looked worried: "Oh dear, you'd better give the factory more orders, otherwise you won't even make back the patent fees."

Wang Xiao smiled and said, "As long as your product quality is up to standard, I will definitely use your goods first."

Amidst the joyful atmosphere, the ban was finally lifted, and Ivanov, who could finally eat loquats, looked up and asked in Russian with a puzzled expression, "Can it really be used to produce antistatic gloves?"

Although he was a poor student, and although he had long since returned his math, physics, and chemistry knowledge to his high school and university teachers.

But his intuition told him that things might not be so simple.

Wang Xiao immediately made excuses, looking at Vice Mayor Huang with an innocent expression: "I don't know! What kind of technology do you want?"

Vice Mayor Huang, caught up in the moment, began to regain his composure: "I can't explain it either. Well, let's ask the experts."

Sister Miao was very cautious: "I have never worked with antistatic gloves before, and I am not clear about the standards you are looking for."

So, which other expert can we consult?

Wang Xiao glanced at the time and suggested, "Mayor Huang, why don't we go to the provincial government first? I reckon there will be experts here for a meeting today."

To facilitate time coordination and avoid disrupting normal work, the meeting led by the Jiangdong Provincial Government will begin at 6:30 PM.

Forget about the issue of overtime. In 1994, China had just started implementing alternating weeks of alternating days and weekends; the two-day weekend system hadn't even been implemented yet.

An eight-hour workday is not encouraged in government agencies.

When a task comes up, isn't it normal to work overtime and have a meeting? At least the provincial government prepared dinner for you.

Back in the days when grain coupons were used, you had to pay for this meal yourself with grain coupons.

Wang Xiao and his group arrived relatively early. The setting sun had dyed the loquats the color of bayberries, creating a vibrant red landscape across the motherland.

Secretary Fang had just finished get off work and was thinking of finishing his meal early so he could start the meeting sooner, so he arrived at the canteen early and ran into Wang Xiao and his group.

She joked, "Oh, Mr. Wang, Mayor Huang, the cafeteria is truly honored today."

Wang Xiao casually asked, "Secretary, have the experts arrived yet? We have a question we'd like to ask."

Secretary Fang glanced into the canteen and casually asked, "What's the problem?"

Then the problem arises.

Sister Miao casually replied, "It's about the conductive wire. Mayor Huang said he wants to make anti-static gloves. I wonder if the conductive wire technology we use in our chemical institute for fleece clothing can be used directly?"

As soon as Wang Xiao heard her speak, he knew he was doomed.

Vice Mayor Huang deeply resented that she wasn't his subordinate; otherwise, he would have disregarded the taboo against men and women touching each other and simply covered her mouth!

As expected, Secretary Fang immediately raised his eyebrows: "Mayor Huang, you don't need to trouble yourself with that. We've already started making fleece clothing in Jiangdong. It's just a small matter; making the gloves will suffice."

Vice Mayor Huang objected without hesitation: "What kind of convenient way is this? If it's not convenient, we'll do it."

Seeing that the atmosphere between the two leaders was becoming strained, Wang Xiao quickly sought help, waving frantically: "Professor, Professor, over here, over here!"

Who is it? It's Mr. Zheng.

After leaving Shanghai, Professor Zheng returned to Wuhan to apply for a leave of absence without pay.

But the university won't let them go.

Since Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour in 1992, more and more researchers have left universities and research institutions to go into business.

This was also a significant blow to their original employers.

As we all know, the quality of faculty is an important indicator of a university's level.

Professor Zheng is considered a core member of the school's workforce.

What do you mean by taking a leave of absence without pay? You want to go to Shanghai to do research? Fine, the company will send you there; consider it a collaboration.

In this way, the graduate students you supervise will at least have a clear title and won't have to be transferred to another supervisor according to regulations.

Professor Zheng couldn't let go of his students and chose to accept the school's suggestion.

What could Wang Xiao do? He could only grit his teeth and accept it.

Anyway, she didn't care about the many lice or the many debts. After discovering that lithography machines were far more difficult to manufacture than she had imagined, she became more at peace with herself and stopped insisting on doing things a certain way.

Now, Professor Zheng left his graduate students who were about to take their final exams and flew from Wuhan to Jinning to attend a meeting. Wang Xiao quickly pulled someone over to act as a mediator: "Professor, could you please tell the two leaders about the technology of the conductive wire in the gold shop gloves and fleece clothing?"

Fearing that this would cause a stir, Vice Mayor Huang quickly added, "You're making things difficult for me, Mr. Wang. Professor Zheng specializes in lithography machines. Antistatic gloves are just a part of the set."

But Professor Zheng didn't back down. He simply asked, "What is fleece? And what about conductive wires?"

He didn't ask about antistatic gloves because he actually knew what they were.

Since the 1980s, when the lithography machine project he participated in was forced to stop due to various factors, he devoted all his spare time outside of teaching to collecting relevant information on the domestic and international semiconductor industry.

Perhaps due to objective limitations, China is currently unable to develop them.

But the Chinese people must know that the world has developed to this point, and these things already exist in the world.

We must never be narrow-minded or arrogant.

As for fleece clothing, it was outside his area of ​​interest and a blind spot in his knowledge; he would ask questions if he didn't understand.

Sister Miao belatedly realized that she seemed to have stirred up trouble. Finally, someone came to divert attention, so she quickly took out the information to show him: "Sir, fleece is a new type of fabric. Synthetic fiber products are prone to static electricity, so we added conductive fibers to it to remove the static electricity."

Since it was inconvenient to stand while reading the materials, Secretary Fang personally led Professor Zheng to an empty dining table in the private room and even poured him a cup of tea.

This made Vice Mayor Huang regret his actions so much that he wished he had acted sooner.

If Jiangdong also snatches the antistatic glove project, he feels there's no point in him returning to Xiaozhou.

What a spendthrift! I can't accept this humiliation!

However, after reading it, Mr. Zheng shook his head directly: "The application of conductive fibers in semiconductors and clothing is an adaptive evolution of the same physical principle under different precision requirements, and they cannot be confused."

He took out a pen from his pocket and listed the differences between the two directly on the blank space on the back of the document.

First, there is the issue of electrostatic hazards. Antistatic gloves address the adsorption of microparticles on the wafer surface (particles smaller than 1μm can cause short circuits).

For fleece clothing, the problem is dealing with dust, hair, or the sensation of electric shocks.

Secondly, there is the objective of charge control. Antistatic gloves must have their surface resistance stability strictly controlled, with fluctuations limited to ±10%.

However, when used in clothing, the requirements are not so high. The documentation states that it is sufficient to reduce the degree of electrostatic adsorption, and surface resistance fluctuations of ±30% are allowed.

Not to mention, the conductive paths between the two are also quite different.

Antistatic gloves form a closed-loop conductive path: human body → glove → equipment grounding system.

However, the use of conductive fibers in the textile industry is an open-loop leakage process, where the fabric is exposed to the air and depends on the ambient humidity.

Professor Zheng took into full consideration that his audience was not students and lacked relevant basic knowledge, so he used an analogy: "It's like the brakes on a car. Cars use anti-lock braking systems, while bicycles can just use the handbrake."

He shook his head. "The technical difficulty between the two is two to three orders of magnitude different, and they are not comparable."

Sister Miao's eyes widened, and she exclaimed in surprise, "Two to three orders of magnitude!"

She has a background in chemical engineering, so she wasn't very involved in the conductive fiber project.

However, she was well aware of what a difference of two to three orders of magnitude in technical difficulty meant.

To put it bluntly, it's roughly equivalent to the difference in difficulty between manufacturing a bicycle and manufacturing a car.

Vice Mayor Huang, being young, reacted faster than Secretary Fang, speaking first: "So how can we make antistatic gloves? Where can we get the technology?"

Mr. Zheng shook his head directly: "We can't get the technology; there's no such technology in China."

Everyone at the table was dumbfounded. Secretary Sun, who had come to serve the leaders, experts, and investors, exclaimed in disbelief, "It's just a glove, and we can't even make it?"

“It can’t be made.” Professor Zheng shook his head. “To solve even a simple resistance problem, we would need carbon fiber technology.”

Vice Mayor Huang asked in confusion, "We should have carbon fiber technology, right? I seem to remember it being around since the 1960s?"

Yes, he remembered seeing relevant information before.

However, Professor Zheng still shook his head: "You are talking about the results of laboratory research. Large-scale industrial applications are something our country still cannot achieve."

Well, the lab has products, but industrial production can't proceed. To put it bluntly, the development of the engineering team hasn't kept up.

It's clear that when it comes to the electronics industry, the topic of engineers is always unavoidable.

As the host, Secretary Fang quickly urged everyone to eat first: "Eat, eat, let's chat while we eat."

The cold noodles at the provincial government canteen are exceptional; Wang Xiao grabbed a bowl and started eating.

She knew her limitations; this wasn't her forte. Although she wasn't able to successfully license the patent, she didn't force the issue.

Even though she was focused on eating and even shared her secrets for learning the formula with Ivanov, she was still singled out by Secretary Fang.

Because Secretary Fang directly asked Professor Zheng, "Then tell me, where can we find mature industrial technology for carbon fiber now?"

Professor Zheng gave an example: "Toray Industries of Japan and Hertz of the United States have monopolized the carbon fiber market for grades T300 and above."

As he spoke, he sighed, "Toray is a long-established textile company, but it no longer relies on the traditional textile industry to survive."

His words reminded Secretary Fang, who suddenly realized, "Hey, Mr. Wang, did you import your fleece technology from Toray Industries?"

Wang Xiao could only nod: "Yes, that's right."

The leader pressed on, saying, "Could we also introduce carbon fiber technology? Coordinating Committee has already been dissolved."

Wang Xiao quickly swallowed the cold noodles in his mouth and shook his head vigorously: "This thing probably has no chance."

She explained, "I've seen Toray's information. Carbon fiber is their trump card, and it's used in aircraft. Even if they wanted to transfer it, Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry would never allow it."

Are you kidding me? If it can be used on airplanes, then it falls under the category of military industry.

Mr. Zheng shook his head: "Even if they are willing to transfer the technology, where would we find companies to take it over?"

He couldn't confront his superiors directly, but he really wanted to say that over the years, how many pieces of equipment that had cost a fortune to import had been left to gather dust and sit idle?

So he sighed and concluded, "Besides, Toray wouldn't intentionally create competitors for itself."

Seeing that the atmosphere at the dinner table was becoming dull again, Wang Xiao simply stopped insisting on discussing carbon fiber and asked, "If we don't use carbon fiber, are there any other ways to produce antistatic gloves?"

Professor Zheng ate liangpi (cold skin noodles). He quickly finished the rest of the liangpi in his bowl, wiped his mouth, and frowned slightly: "Difficult, extremely difficult, and it's not just a matter of carbon fiber."

He counted the number of people at the table on his fingers, "First of all, to produce antistatic gloves, you need a cleanroom."

Then everyone, including Ivanov who had heard the translation, turned their attention to Wang Xiao.

The former is anticipation, the latter is nervousness.

"What a joke!" Wang Xiao thought to herself. She spent a lot of money building the factory to produce chips and LCD screens, not to do good deeds like Lei Feng by leaving space to make anti-static gloves for others.

She shook her head without hesitation: "I can't afford to waste time."

Vice Mayor Huang also thought it was unreliable; he was hoping the chip factory would start production as soon as possible.

But how much would it cost to build a clean production plant on its own? And how many antistatic gloves would it take to make a profit?

Professor Zheng shook his head: "So, doing this isn't something you can achieve by trying to break through on your own. The college entrance exam is just around the corner. If you didn't learn well in elementary and middle school, doing countless practice exam questions won't solve the problem."

The plum juice was served, its sweet and sour flavor mingling with the melting ice, releasing a refreshing coolness.

Someone came over to greet Secretary Fang and casually asked, "Oh, whose child is taking the college entrance exam and needs tutoring? It's getting a bit late."

Even if the college entrance exam was in July 1994, it was already too late.

Secretary Fang sighed, "Let's not talk about the college entrance examination, let's talk about cleanrooms. It's really not easy to build a cleanroom these days."

Unexpectedly, the visitor immediately perked up: "Speaking of this cleanroom, Secretary, I was just about to report to you about it."

Secretary Sun immediately pulled up a stool for him: "Director Feng, please sit down, don't stand."

Secretary Fang became alert: "You want a clean room? Let me tell you the unpleasant truth first, the province is short of money right now, and every penny must be spent wisely."

Director Feng quickly waved his hand: "No, no, I just know we're short of money, that's why I had to report to you. I went to Shenzhen for an inspection this time, didn't I? I went to visit the SEG Group with Lao Zhou. Hey, Lao Zhou, come here."

Another middle-aged man with a Mediterranean-style nose and glasses, carrying a plate, was forced to come over.

He ate a large bowl of braised pork intestine noodles, which stood out from the crowd at the table who were eating cold rice noodles, cold skin noodles, cold rice vermicelli, or plain porridge with steamed buns.

He was embarrassed himself.

Fortunately, Secretary Fang never thought that what one eats had anything to do with one's character; he only asked the important question: "What were the results of your inspection of the SEG Group?"

"Cleanroom!" Director Feng nudged his deputy. "Old Zhou, you're quick-witted and have a good memory. Tell the Party Secretary, isn't their cleanroom renovation plan incredibly brilliant? One-fifth of it!"

He spread out his five fingers, held them up, and shook them back and forth. "According to the imported plan, it would cost several million, while the renovation plan for the SEG Electronics factory would cost 800,000."

Everyone became interested and pressed for an answer: "How exactly did it happen?"

"The filter cotton is made of domestically produced 40-mesh filter cotton to replace the imported high-efficiency air filter HEPA. The pore size of the filter cotton is 40 microns, which cannot reach the 0.3-micron interception rate of HEPA. However, it is cheaper and can meet the production needs of Class 10000 consumer electronics through multi-layer stacking and high-density filling."

Fearing that the leader might not understand the technical terms, Lao Zhou specially explained again, "Class 10000 means that 10,000 particles ≥ 0.5 micrometers are allowed per cubic meter."

While everyone was still appreciating the significance of this cleanroom, Mr. Zheng frowned and asked, "Is there anything else?"

Old Zhou's memory wasn't wasted after all that hair he lost; it's really good: "And then there's their air shower design. They use angle steel frames to build the air shower tunnels, replacing the traditional stainless steel structure. By optimizing the airflow direction, using a top-supply and bottom-return air system, combined with our own centrifugal fans, they achieved a wind speed standard of 30m/s, thus achieving the effect of personnel purification."

Mr. Zheng could not hide his disappointment: "This won't do, it doesn't meet the production requirements for semiconductors."

Director Feng and Lao Zhou had just returned from a business trip and hadn't attended the provincial meeting, so both of them looked blank: "We were talking about consumer electronics."

Look, Shenzhen is indeed leading the country, combining local and modern approaches—it's so practical.

Frankly speaking, given the current situation in China, instead of fantasizing about comprehensive technological breakthroughs, it would be better to focus on practical innovation, which is clearly of greater strategic value.

Vice Mayor Huang was equally disappointed and sighed, "But we need to produce anti-static gloves to support the semiconductor industry, and this cleanroom doesn't seem to meet the standards."

Old Zhou muttered to himself, "Making anti-static gloves for semiconductor factories? Is there even a market for that in China? How many orders could we get? We might as well focus on consumer electronics first."

Wang Xiao suddenly remembered: "By the way, I'd like to ask if these anti-static gloves are also used in the production process of consumer electronics?"

"Of course." Old Zhou was indeed a semi-expert, and immediately emphasized, "In the past, the quality of our electronic products was poor, largely because they were disorganized. The dirty and chaotic environment of the production workshop had to be transformed into an orderly state. Otherwise, even if we could make refrigerators and color TVs, it would be useless, as the quality would never keep up."

Wang Xiao stroked his chin and made a decisive decision: "Don't rush to make anti-static gloves for Shougang Electric. Let's start by making gloves for consumer electronics like refrigerators and color TVs, and proceed step by step."

Her reasoning was very simple.

For any factory to grow, the first thing it needs to do is survive. Without a market and profits, where will the funds come from to continuously update its technology?

Moreover, the next ten years or so will be a golden age for home appliances. Even after the 2008 financial crisis, the government launched the "Home Appliances to the Countryside" program to stimulate economic development.

It can be said that before the rise of the real estate economy, the place where ordinary people were most willing to spend money, besides education and medical care, was home appliances.

Her initial decision to make LCD screens was based on her belief in the booming future of LCD TVs and laptops.

The same applies to making antistatic gloves for consumer electronics manufacturers.

She further explained, "Currently, our domestic semiconductor market is relatively small. Shougang NEC has access to Japanese anti-static gloves. If we compete with mature industries like theirs, our advantage is very small. It's better to compete in a different area first. By providing supporting services to consumer electronics companies, we can continuously improve our technology."

With a "slap!", Director Feng clasped his hands together and enthusiastically declared, "That's right, you can't get fat in one bite. We'll take it one step at a time, down-to-earth."

He traveled to Shenzhen in the sweltering heat to investigate, and finally learned their true skills. Of course, he wanted to actively promote and use them in Jiangdong.

Now that someone is willing to support his idea, it would be strange if he didn't hurry up and make it happen.

Once the cleanroom was renovated and put into production, that was his real achievement.

Secretary Fang nodded reluctantly: "Alright, let's do this first."

Vice Mayor Huang nodded in agreement: "Alright, let's do what we can first."

The consumer electronics market is so huge that there are more refrigerator and color TV factories across the country than you can count on your fingers.

Let's make gloves for them, everyone can do what they can.

Seeing that the harmonious atmosphere at the dining table was about to be restored, Mr. Zheng really couldn't understand: "Well, leaders, it's not like you can produce antistatic gloves just by having a clean room."

Sigh, he really didn't know what to say.

If you're making antistatic gloves, even just for refrigerator and TV factories, don't you need raw materials?

What's the use of having land without seeds? Gloves can't grow in a cleanroom on their own!

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Yes, the combination of domestic and foreign elements was the mainstream back then. Ajin once saw a saying: the micro-epic of China's industry going from "poor and blank" to "the world's factory" - there were no miracles, only countless accumulations and perseverance of "making do and modifying to make it usable".