Dutch airport.
Wu Changfeng and Liu Tiao got off the plane.
This is Willow's first time abroad, and everything is new and exciting to her.
In this era, despite the Netherlands' small land area, it was far smaller than the mainland.
However, its economic development still lags far behind that of the mainland.
It is a jewel of Europe.
Philips is one of the most famous companies in the Netherlands.
Philips holds a prominent position globally in the manufacture of home appliances and engineering equipment during this era.
It has received high praise from customers.
It can compete with companies like Siemens from Germany, Panasonic from Japan, and Samsung from South Korea.
However, after the mainland opened up, television sets, which were the mainland's most competitive export product, caused domestic enterprises in Europe to suffer heavy losses.
There's no other reason than that; the "price killer" isn't just a name; he's practically a figure that strikes fear into the hearts of European television manufacturers.
Durable and damn cheap, who can you reason with?
Therefore, in mid-1991, Europe announced punitive tariffs in an attempt to curb imports of goods from the continent and save its domestic manufacturing enterprises.
This decision plunged mainland television manufacturers into a harsh winter.
In the years when television sales couldn't keep up with demand, almost every province in mainland China had several television manufacturers.
Most of them rely on the exit for their livelihood.
After the punitive tariffs were imposed, there was widespread lamentation on the mainland, and the television industry was in dire straits.
This could even trigger a major reshuffle in the television industry. But that's a story for another time.
Now.
Philips in the Netherlands couldn't hold on any longer.
Philips owns numerous factories, and televisions are one of them.
It's almost bankrupt due to the impact of the mainland's television industry.
Therefore, in order to ensure profits and revenue, Philips made a decision that would make people sigh decades later: divest ASML!
ASML is just a small joint venture under Philips. The entire company, including the boss and 31 employees, has to work in a temporary prefabricated building next to Philips headquarters.
As soon as you step outside, you can see a huge trash can next to the prefabricated house.
When they go out to sell, they can only operate under the name of the parent company, appearing weak, pitiful, and helpless in comparison to their competitors.
At that time, the semiconductor industry had not yet achieved sufficient development.
ASML's competitors are Nikon and Canon.
In fact, Nikon's technology far surpasses that of ASML.
However, as the "crown jewel" of the semiconductor industry, the essence of a lithography machine is actually similar to a projector plus a camera, using light as a knife to project the designed circuit diagram onto a silicon wafer.
Back when chip manufacturing processes were still at the micrometer level, there were at least dozens of companies that could make lithography machines. Nikon, with its accumulated experience from the camera era, was an undisputed giant in that era of the full-scale rise of Japan's semiconductor industry.
At this point in time, Philips was not very optimistic about the lithography machine project, and at one point considered it a burden that dragged down the company.
After ASML developed a prototype of stepper scanning lithography technology in its laboratory, Philips, considering the cost issue, planned to invite other companies to cooperate.
The ideal partner is a large American company with both technology and capital. However, American companies are not optimistic about this project because Nikon has already launched a commercially available stepper repeatable lithography machine.
ASML is only producing a prototype, while those island nations are already using it commercially. You're far behind, and you still want us Americans to be your suckers?
At this point, a Dutch company came forward and offered its services; this was ASM International, ASML's former parent company.
At the time, ASM International was a semiconductor equipment distributor and did not involve the technology field. Philips was not very satisfied with it, but after observing for a year without finding a large company to cooperate with, it finally reached a cooperation agreement with ASM International.
As a result, Philips and ASM International each invested US$2.1 million to jointly establish ASML, thus beginning ASML's story.
It is worth mentioning that Philips had already abandoned the plan at that time, and brought ASM International on board in the hope of sharing the losses. Philips was even unwilling to provide the project with a decent office.
As you can see, ASML was valued at only $2.1 million when it was founded!
Fortunately, ASML produced a stepper scanning lithography machine (model PAS2000) within a year of its founding.
Unfortunately, the market began to pursue more sophisticated lithography machines, and although ASML made a breakthrough, it did not become the best.
At this time, ASML's condition was not very good.
The semiconductor industry is monopolized by island nations.
Of course, producing chips requires more collaboration and cooperation across the entire industry chain.
For example, in later generations, ASML became a supplier of lithography machines, while wafers were provided by island nations, design technology and raw materials were controlled by the United States, and production was supported by TSMC and Samsung.
At this time, ASML was not doing well overall. It was not until the new century, after the emergence of Lin Benjian, who was despised by the entire industry, that ASML seized the opportunity and completely dominated the high-end lithography equipment supplier market.
Wu Changfeng's arrival in the Netherlands at this juncture was aimed at injecting capital into ASML, thereby securing priority ordering rights for lithography machines.
Later, ASML also experienced a break in its funding chain, with its former owners ASM International and Philips successively withdrawing or reducing their funding, which almost led to ASML's bankruptcy.
Leaving aside technological research and development, just producing a single piece of equipment would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, which is too much to bear!
Wu Changfeng's timing was perfect, coinciding precisely when ASML was short of funds.
If we wait until ASML recovers, especially if Intel persuades the White House to form an organization called "Extreme Ultraviolet LLC (EUVLLC)," which includes companies such as Intel, Motorola, and AMD, as well as the three major U.S. national laboratories, it will have both technology and funding.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
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