After acquiring the copyright to Tetris, Zhao Ye immediately instructed Wujiang Microelectronics to expand the scale of its wafer fab.
Handheld game consoles are relatively inexpensive, and it's highly likely that several million, or even tens of millions, of units can be sold each year.
In its previous life, Nintendo's Game Boy sold a total of 190 million units.
Zhao Ye doesn't have high expectations; a small goal is enough.
Once Pokémon becomes a hit, take the opportunity to launch the globally popular Tamagot electronic pet machine.
This one is even more popular, with sales reaching hundreds of millions.
That would require a lot of Kirin 1 chips.
Zhao Ye was secretly delighted. He was walking someone else's path, leaving them with nowhere to go!
Not only can they make money, but they can also develop the domestic semiconductor industry.
This indirectly weakens the semiconductor capabilities of Japan, South Korea, and Western countries.
Western wafer fabs and chip design companies have not generated the profits that should have been theirs, so naturally they lack funds to invest in research and development.
Moreover, Wujiang Microelectronics is now even preparing to sell its BG-101 stepper lithography machine to external customers.
This lithography machine is only one generation behind and is still the mainstream lithography machine today.
However, promoting it is still a bit difficult.
Western companies do not trust Chinese products.
Currently, Canon and Nikon's lithography machines are dominant, offering high-quality products at competitive prices, making them market leaders. As for ASML of the Netherlands, it's still a relative newcomer, roughly on par with Wujiang Microelectronics.
Zhao Ye flew to Shanghai to discuss the promotion and sales of the BG-101 stepper lithography machine with academicians Huang Kun and Ni Annan, while also addressing some issues arising from the expansion of the wafer fab, such as the raw material photoresist.
The quality of domestic lithography machines is poor and cannot meet the requirements of wafer fabs. Currently, Wujiang Microelectronics imports photoresist from Japan.
but……
Ni Annan said angrily, "RB photoresist has gone up in price again. It goes up every six months. If American and European companies also raise prices when buying photoresist, I won't say anything. But it's only us who are being targeted for price increases!"
Huang Kun sighed, "The Japanese don't want us to develop lithography machines. The companies that produce lithography machines and photoresists belong to the same Japanese conglomerate! Although our lithography machines lag behind those of the Japanese, the gap isn't huge, and the price is quite cheap. Japanese lithography machine companies are worried that we will steal their market share, so they are making things difficult for us with photoresists!"
Academician Qin Guogang added with a sneer: "Some time ago, Canon came to our Wujiang Microelectronics Company to recommend a lithography machine. The price was very cheap, which seemed much more cost-effective than us spending a lot of money to develop the lithography machine ourselves. Their purpose was to let us know that 'it is better to buy than to make,' and to give up independent research and development."
Zhao Ye smiled calmly: "The Japanese are really delusional. Not only will we not give up research and development, we will actually increase our efforts!!!"
It's December now, and the yen has appreciated by more than 15% against the dollar. By the end of the month, Zhao Ye will have earned $1 billion! (Borrowing $500 million, using 10x leverage in the foreign exchange market, and achieving a 20% profit)
"By the way, Mr. Ni, how much does our BG-101 stepper lithography machine cost?"
"$200,000!"
Ni Annan paused, then added, "Seven years ago, the 4800DSW produced by the American company GCA had the same performance as our BG-101 stepper lithography machine, but it cost $450,000. Currently, the price of this 4800DSW has dropped to $300,000, and we still have a price advantage selling it for $200,000. RB Canon and Nikon's lithography machines are more advanced, but they are also more expensive, generally exceeding $500,000!"
Zhao Ye asked, "What is the production cost of the BG-101 stepper lithography machine?"
Ni Annan replied, "400,000 RMB!"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Ye clicked his tongue in amazement; the production cost was simply too low.
However, the lithography machines of the 1980s were vastly different from the ASML DuV lithography machines of the past. The latter had more than 100,000 parts, while the current lithography machines do not need so many parts, otherwise the cost would not be so low.
Selling it for $200,000 is equivalent to 600,000 RMB, so the profit is not low.
Are there many customers buying the BG-101 stepper lithography machine?
"A lot!" Ni Annan laughed. "So far, we've already sold nine units..."
"Nine platforms is quite a lot!"
Ni Annan explained with a smile, "Our country never sold a single lithography machine before. Now we've sold nine. How can that not be a lot? Once our BG-101 stepper lithography machine gains a good reputation, orders will definitely keep pouring in!"
At that time, there was no company in the world that specialized in wafer foundry.
Chip companies typically design and manufacture their own chips.
Therefore, there are many companies that purchase lithography machines.
After the wafer fabs were built, their production capacity was not fully developed.
The companies that produce lithography machines made money, while many chip manufacturing companies went bankrupt. It's like the gold miners didn't make money, but the people selling gold mining tools did.
Two years later, TSMC was established, initiating the wafer foundry model, and the global semiconductor landscape and supply chain division of labor became clearer.
Wujiang Microelectronics can also do wafer foundry work, but it is still accumulating technology and can only produce 8-bit chips at present, and cannot manufacture the most advanced 32-bit chips.
Therefore, Zhao Ye does not want to start a wafer foundry business so soon.
Furthermore, he didn't want this great idea to be discovered by others beforehand. Just because Wujiang Microelectronics can't currently produce 32-bit chips doesn't mean other companies can't.
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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