Chapter 294 Lithography Factory

"Plan C?"

This noun was easy to understand and had never been heard of before, which immediately perked up Liang Mengsong.

"How come I've never heard of a Plan C before?"

“For key technologies such as the chip industry, we have never thought of putting all our eggs in one basket.

Although Plan A and Plan B appear to be two baskets, they are actually one basket.

The former relies on foreign suppliers such as Dow Chemical and Sumitomo Chemical and faces the risk of being disconnected at any time.

The latter relies on domestic private enterprises. Although it is impossible for them to disconnect and they will do their best because of the carrot dangling, there is still a risk of being manipulated.

It’s not that they are incapable, but their attributes determine that they are easily manipulated. Although they seem to be under control, they are actually very easy to lose control.

It is difficult to get them to develop along the planned path, but it is easy to get them off track.

Our opponents simply used poaching to derail them.

So there has always been a plan C under my nose." The helplessness just now disappeared, and Chen Yuanguang's expression seemed to tell the other party that everything was under control.

"Yuan Guang, you are still a visionary, so what is Plan C?" Liang Mengsong said.

"The photolithography factory, from the first day I came to Mianyang, the photolithography factories here started simultaneously."

From the day Chen Yuanguang arrived in Mianyang, there were only two projects in the 150 square kilometers of high-tech park planned for him, one was room-temperature superconductivity and the other was a photolithography plant.

It is only because of the emergence of topological semimetals that the lithography factory has become Plan C.

But the plan never stopped.

"Next to the production base of topological semimetals is a lithography factory that is managed by Professor Zhao Ming of Shuimu University and has recruited people from various fields to participate.

If the disconnect hadn’t happened, the lithography plant project might never have been formalized.”

Essentially, the reason why the lithography factory has not been able to become a regular company is that topological semimetal is a better chip material than silicon-based, which is obviously a more promising technology route.

Without the help of new photoresists, it would be impossible to record topological semimetals using traditional silicon-based light sources.

Therefore, if lithography factories want to be applied in the field of topological semimetals, they still need to use new photoresists. This is an area where technological breakthroughs will be achieved sooner or later.

The two parties have been cooperating before, so there is no need to pull out the lithography factory.

Another reason is that, although photolithography plants may seem promising, they actually require a lot of electricity and there must be massive demand for them to be effective.

The proactive disconnection by European and American semiconductor manufacturers has given China hope.

First, use the photolithography factory to survive the period before the new photoresist is successfully developed. Once the new photoresist is successfully developed, topological semimetals will be responsible for high-end chips, and conventional silicon-based chips will be responsible for the mid- and low-end, walking on two legs.

Liang Mengsong knew that China had plans for a photolithography factory. This was not just media hype. He had heard in the industry about Professor Zhao Ming's departure from Shuimu University after the project was launched.

Colleagues who talked about this matter were not there to laugh at the joke. They simply felt that Professor Zhao Ming was overestimating his own abilities by pursuing a lithography factory project that sounded impossible to succeed.

SSMB is not that easy to come up with.

It's okay to write papers and do some feasibility studies, but if you really want to make this technical solution suitable for large-scale industrial production, it is not realistic even to be able to undertake a small part of chip production.

Given the cost of a lithography plant, a large amount of production capacity is needed to ensure a break-even point. If it is only a small part, the more production, the greater the loss.

Not to mention that if you can’t even do a small part of it, no manufacturer will cooperate with you.

The distance between a feasibility paper and industrial production is a long one.

When I heard about it, my peers in the industry optimistically estimated that it would take 10 years to achieve small-scale trial production.

As a result, Chen Yuanguang now told him that it can be mass-produced and can be used as Plan C to offset this round of offensive from the West.

If anyone else had said this, Liang Mengsong would not have believed it, but this was Chen Yuanguang, a giant who spanned academia and industry. He fully believed that the other party could shorten the progress from 10 years to 3 years.

"How good can the performance be?" Liang Mengsong asked quickly.

"Equivalent to 4nm." said Chen Yuanguang.

"That's good, that's good." Liang Mengsong felt relieved. That was enough.

Although the equivalent 4nm cannot be compared with the advanced process of topological semimetals, it is more than enough at this time point.

"Okay, when will we start the docking test and subsequent production?" Liang Mengsong asked.

"No hurry, let the bullet fly for a while."

Why do we have to wait for the bullet to fly for a while? Obviously, it is because Xida has not yet used up all its tricks.

The series of combination punches has not yet been completed.

As expected, after various semiconductor manufacturers announced the suspension of exports to China, Xi'an University announced new regulations. The new regulations require that when Xi'an University's companies cooperate with Chinese companies, in order to prevent Dongda's overcapacity, Xi'an University's companies are required to add a special clause to the cooperation terms.

What special terms are there? That is, once the products of Dongda enterprises use Xida’s chips, they can only sell them domestically.

In other words, products equipped with Qualcomm, Intel or Nvidia chips can only be sold in China.

The target here is not only traditional consumer electronics such as mobile phones and computers, but also new energy vehicles equipped with on-board chips.

This combination of punches caused an avalanche of A-shares, and the battle to defend the 3,000 points would begin within a week.

Netizens all exclaimed that they had never seen anything like this before. They thought that the A-share market would be able to go straight to 10,000 points. After all, in a sense, the industry has been successfully upgraded.

Even though the moment is brutal, you can clearly feel that there are powder kegs everywhere.

But being in the University of Tokyo, one still feels a genuine sense of pride, whether it is the successful industrial upgrading in the past or the recent universal welfare benefits. Even a slightly rational person would find it difficult to stand up and sing a different tune.

After all, giving out money is a tangible dividend of development.

Apart from the crazy monsters who might make some sarcastic remarks, even dissatisfied individuals would remain silent at such times.

This combination of measures from Xi’an University has shown the people of Dongda University that the accumulation of Xi’an University over the past decades is no joke. Unless you can start from scratch like room-temperature superconductivity, you will still be constrained.

The White House spokesman still left room for cooperation during the interview.

If they can obtain room-temperature superconductor technology, then continuing cooperation in the semiconductor field would be acceptable to them.

The electromagnetic launch device brought by room-temperature superconductivity completely eliminated the idea of ​​West China University of Technology to engage in a fierce battle with East China University of Technology.

Because you can never predict to what extent the University of Tokyo can achieve with room-temperature superconductivity.

And now it is just a one-dimensional room-temperature superconductor. When will it become two-dimensional? Under the secrecy of the University of Tokyo, this is a complete black box. If a strategic misjudgment occurs, the consequences will be very tragic.

Therefore, West University will communicate with East University repeatedly on the surface. Everyone is not allowed to personally participate and the battle cannot turn into a heated one.

No one would be so foolish as to engage in a hot war with an industrial country, especially an industrial country that has achieved technological breakthroughs in a large number of key technologies.

"The door to negotiations will always be open to the University of Tokyo, and we hope to reach an agreement on room-temperature superconducting technology.

This technology is related to global information security and whether the global climate crisis can be properly resolved. We hope that the University of Tokyo will shoulder its due responsibilities and not regard the technology that should play a positive role in the well-being of all mankind as its own private property. "The blond and blue-eyed host stood in front of the podium and said while reading the script.

People of insight could clearly feel that the offensive and defensive situation between Dongda and Xida had reversed very early on.

It was not after Chen Yuanguang, but before Chen Yuanguang.

Who is attacking and who is defending can be clearly seen from one thing: who makes the request.

Earlier, it was usually the University of Tokyo that made the requests, saying that we wanted to join the WTO, we wanted to cooperate, and so on.

After a certain point in time, both sides started making requests to each other. In recent years, West China University has been constantly making various requests, but East China University has read the requests but not responded. You say yours and I do mine.

This time it is a combination of punches on the surface, and to put it bluntly it is still trade protectionism, but Xi’an University still found a bunch of nice excuses.

The outside world can understand the relationship between room-temperature superconductivity and information security. After all, room-temperature superconductivity is related to quantum computers, and then to global information security.

In this information age, this is indeed crucial. Only China can master the world of general-purpose quantum computers, and Western countries are horrified at the thought of it.

The time when Alpha Technology showed its power with the help of quantum computers was also an important reason why Western University was unwilling to engage in a hot war.

After all, you can't win in cyberspace. If the entire communication and command network is destroyed, isn't it ridiculous to use cold weapons to attack the modern tactical network?
This is why 4v doesn't even have the slightest will to resist now. You can't win in electromagnetic warfare no matter what, so what can you use to resist?

The Northeast University doesn't even need missiles. It can just use electromagnetic warfare to destroy your radar and communication network, and then rely on unmanned equipment to land on the island.

Therefore, there is a magical phenomenon: the higher the possibility of unification, the weaker the will to resist.

It’s just that people don’t quite understand what this has to do with the climate crisis.

After some explanation, they realized that room-temperature superconducting technology is related to information security, and thus to the large-scale promotion of driverless cars.

The large-scale promotion of driverless cars can significantly reduce carbon emissions and prevent climate warming.

But if you can't even guarantee the most basic information security, then no one will dare to promote driverless cars on a large scale.

"Ms. McEnany, so what the White House means is that if the University of Tokyo agrees to export room-temperature superconducting technology, the chains surrounding the semiconductor field will be unlocked?" a black reporter asked very directly.

"There is not much connection between the two, but if China is willing to cooperate with the international community in the field of room-temperature superconductivity, then the White House believes that the international community is also willing to cooperate with China in the field of semiconductors." McEnany's subtext is, come and talk quickly, and I will let you go after the talk.

According to Washington's calculations, China's losses from this round of offensive are at least in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

In the long term, this number will be higher.

Therefore, they feel that this price is enough to buy room-temperature superconducting technology.

This is pure bandit logic.

If I use the money I stole from you to buy your treasures, you have to sell them to me.

It is the underlying logic of the West that China will compromise.

China will definitely not compromise. Let’s not talk about whether there is a Plan C or not. Even if there is no Plan C, even if they have to tolerate it for a while, they will not compromise on such core interests.

Maybe there were voices inside before, wondering whether we should sell our room-temperature superconducting technology in exchange for time, after all, we have the advantage.

Trade space for time.

That’s right, now Dongda wants to exchange space for time, and Xida wants to exchange time for space.

No matter how strange it looks.

This kind of voice disappeared instantly after Xida’s combined punch. Anyone who dares to mention it again will be in trouble.

In a sense, an important significance of Xi’an University lies in its internal unity.

After all, you really came here to kill me, and you openly intended to kill the old Chinese.

All ordinary Chinese people cannot live the same life as ordinary Americans. This blatant bandit mentality is unacceptable to the Chinese people.

"If more than a billion Chinese people live like the people of Kangaroo Country and the United States, then all of us will be in a very miserable situation, because that is something the planet cannot bear."

Even Meda couldn't accept such words, unless his physical body was no longer in the University of Tokyo.

As soon as the White House reporter's interview came out, Chinese netizens went into a frenzy. Originally, everyone was immersed in the frustration that the older Chinese were not that strong and would still fall into difficulties when facing suppression.

This kind of news is like a shot of chicken blood.

Netizens all expressed their determination to fight to the end to see who in the semiconductor field will be the first to be unable to bear the consequences of not having the other.

Originally, Chinese netizens would not be so confident, but now they feel that they have the advantage, because the key technology is in their hands.

As long as topological semimetals are not conquered, China will catch up sooner or later.

This may be a bit abstract, so to explain it with a more intuitive example, this is a speed race, topological semimetals are like cars, and Americans can only rely on bicycles.

But the Americans have oil, and the Chinese have to dig it out from underground. The Americans won't sell oil to you, and they just ride away on their bikes. The Chinese think, "I have cars, and as long as I dig up oil, I can catch up with you in minutes."

This is the mentality where the older Chinese have an advantage.

The only Chinese who have a large surrender mentality are the stock investors.

"I'm about to cry. I finally got rid of the nightmare of Big A footing the bill wherever there's a war, but now I'm back to square one again."

"Nima, I can actually fight to defend 3,000 points in my lifetime. It took two weeks for the index to fall from 4,000 points back to just over 3,000. This is also a witness to history."

"That's outrageous. Even if the connection was disconnected, it wouldn't have fallen like this."

"If you ask me, the Chinese should just surrender. This is not even considered surrender. We are in a cooperative relationship."

"If you can't save the stock market, then just sell your technology. You can rely on the market to ask others to sell you high-speed rail technology, so why can't others ask you to export room-temperature superconducting technology?"

After all, investors are losing real money, and the pain of having their wallets pierced is in some sense worse than the physical pain.

After living a good life for the past two years, it is finally the turn of shareholders to suffer, and everyone can no longer bear it.

(End of this chapter)