Rebirth 2004: I can make money by writing.

America,

John, CEO of Gaotong Company, sat in his spacious office, overlooking the bustling city through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

When he received the news that Future Technology Group had successfully achieved a breakthrough in the purity of single-crystal silicon reaching 11N, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

If this is true, then the semiconductor industry is really going to change.

However, this surprise was quickly replaced by doubt and distrust.

He thought to himself, “How is this possible?”

Even though it was the news released by Hao Qiang himself, or even the statement released by Future Technology Group on its official website, he still expressed deep doubts about it.

In his opinion, this is most likely a hype tactic by Hao Qiang, intended to make the United States take the initiative to make concessions on the issue of sanctions on Future Technology Group. It may also hide deeper commercial calculations.

The Hua people are very shrewd when it comes to scheming.

In fact, even if Future Technology Group really succeeds in breaking through the purity of single-crystal silicon to 11N, if it is unable to manufacture chips, it will still have to sell wafers to chip manufacturers.

Unless it is not sold to their company, it will be bad news for Gaotong Company. After all, they are the only one that can produce top-notch wafers.

But if Future Technology Group is able to produce chips in the future, it will be a disaster not only for Gaotong Company but also for other semiconductor companies.

Of course, this is just an assumption. After all, Future Technology Group cannot buy a large number of lithography machines to produce chips, nor can it conduct independent research and development.

Despite his doubts, John understood that Gaotong Company was still willing to do business with Future Technology Group.

Today, losing a major customer can result in nearly $1 billion in lost revenue each year, which is about 5% of the company's annual revenue.

Of course, the loss of this big customer can be made up from other customers, which is acceptable.

John is not alone in the global semiconductor industry in questioning Future Technology Group's surprising announcement.

From Silicon Valley to Tokyo, from Seoul to Europe, executives at major semiconductor companies are privately discussing and expressing skepticism about this seemingly impossible technological breakthrough.

The common voice in their hearts is: Never believe it easily unless you see it with your own eyes!

On October 10, at 2:00 PM local time in Huaguo,

Provincial leader Wei Hong and his entourage, along with Pengcheng leaders, once again stepped into the headquarters of Future Technology Group.

When they saw Hao Qiang, warm smiles immediately appeared on their faces.

Wei Hong said affectionately, "Mr. Hao, you dropped a huge bomb on the world, catching us all off guard!"

Hao Qiang stepped forward to shake hands and said with a hearty laugh, "Haha, the leader is joking."

After the greetings, Hao Qiang led the government leaders to the single crystal silicon workshop first.

After the observation, we came to the wafer processing factory.

This place is like a highly automated and precisely operated technology palace.

The entire factory is equipped with 60 advanced automatic wire cutting machines, 10 precision automatic cleaning equipment, 20 high-end automatic testing equipment, and 20 various types of automatic auxiliary equipment.

The company's independently developed automatic wire cutting machine technology has made continuous breakthroughs. On average, each machine can process 20 wafers per hour, with efficiency far exceeding the industry average.

Automated handling equipment and various monitoring systems are also arranged between the equipment.

Work 8 hours a day, with odd and even days off, and occasional overtime.

These devices constitute 10 production lines, each of which produces 1 wafers per month.

There are about 100 employees in the workshop, and each worker is responsible for two to three machines, mainly supervising the operation of the equipment.

The "workers" here are very different from those in traditional manufacturing. The minimum educational requirement is a college degree, and testing positions are held by scientific researchers.

The value of each wafer is staggering, often more than $2.

Since the wafer fab was put into production in May 2011, it has accumulated an inventory of 5 wafers in just six months, with an inventory value of more than US$100 billion.

These wafers are enough to produce 160 million automotive chips!

Of course, car companies will not need so many automotive chips in the future.

But the company can sell chips, not just Qinglong 8124, but other chips as well.

The last time these leaders came, they didn't notice so many employees.

In fact, during the last inspection, Hao Qiang gave his employees a holiday to create the phenomenon that had just been developed.

Today, these leaders are amazed to see the busy and orderly scene with an extremely high level of automation.

Hao Qiang saw the doubts in the eyes of these leaders, so he took them to a testing device to observe the test data.

Then, they were led to the monitoring and control center.

In the spacious and bright control room, a huge display screen shows the operating data, yield rate, purity detection and other key indicators of each production line in real time.

After observing the data for more than ten minutes, the doubts on the leaders' faces gradually disappeared, replaced by shock that was difficult to conceal.

"That's amazing! This data is incredible!"

"This is truly the world's number one wafer fab. The level of automation and intelligence far exceeds expectations!"

"Looking at these parameters, we are several generations ahead of international semiconductor giants."

Facing the leaders' praise, Hao Qiang just smiled slightly.

In his opinion, these achievements are far from reaching their limit and there is still greater room for improvement in the future.

As long as equipment and processes continue to be optimized, wafer purity can reach 12N, or even 13N and above.

"Mr. Hao, may I ask, what is the market price of this top-level wafer?" Wei Hong asked with great interest.

The other leaders also pricked up their ears, waiting for the answer.

Hao Qiang explained: “Generally speaking, the price of a 12-inch, 6N purity high-end wafer in the international market is over US$5000.

But our wafers have ultra-high yield and extreme purity, allowing us to produce the world's best chips.

Even if it is used for mass production, the initial market price will be around $10.”

He paused and added, “Of course, this price won’t last long.

However, as long as we can maintain our technological leadership, it is entirely feasible to keep the price of each wafer at $20,000 to $30,000."

Take Qinglong 8124 as an example. As the world's top autonomous driving chip and also a high-end automotive-grade processor, the market price of a single chip is about US$2000.

Switching to the wafer side, the wafer price for a single chip is about US$500.

A 12-inch wafer can produce 320 Qinglong 8124 chips, and the market value of the entire wafer is about US$16.

This pricing is expected to last for about half a year.

As the technology matures, the purity of wafers from other factories will increase rapidly. In two years, the price of a single 11N wafer may drop to around tens of thousands of dollars.

However, as long as it can maintain the world's top level, even if the price is reduced, the market value will not be less than US$2 per piece.

What Hao Qiang said was true.

"High-tech is indeed a highly profitable industry!" The visiting leaders exclaimed in amazement.

A single wafer is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is equivalent to the price of a luxury car.

They stood beside the production line, watching the fully automated advanced equipment running in an orderly manner.

A rough estimate is that each production line can produce about one wafer per minute.

This astonishing production capacity made the leaders' eyes widen.

"How many pieces of such valuable things can be produced in a month?" a leader couldn't help but ask.

Hao Qiang explained with a smile: "According to the current production capacity plan, it is about 10 pieces per month.

In fact, production capacity can be increased several times, but it is not necessary.

Market capacity is limited. Excessive production will lead to a rapid drop in prices. Maintaining a good balance between supply and demand is key."

Just after the news of the Qinglong 8124 chip was announced this morning, several chip manufacturers have called to express their intention to purchase wafers.

But Hao Qiang knew that these were just exploratory contacts and he had no plans to sell the wafers for the time being.

Compared with simply selling wafers, directly selling packaged chips can generate higher profits.

Moreover, Future Technology not only plans to produce high-end automotive chips such as Qinglong 8124, but also plans to develop various types of chip products.

Hao Qiang doesn't even plan to provide samples to these chip companies.

Because once samples are given, competitors can develop high-end chips in advance.

Without top-notch wafers as a foundation, it would be difficult for other companies to develop chip products of the same level.

In order to maintain Future Technology's leading position in the global chip field, Hao Qiang insists on not selling wafers to outsiders.

Even if a company is willing to bid hundreds of billions of dollars for large-scale purchases, he will not be tempted.

After all, for him, cash is not the most important thing. The key is to transform technological advantages into long-term core competitiveness.

In a few years, these competing companies will not be able to compete with Future Technology Group, and this market will belong to him.

Of course, there are other ways to solve the monopoly problem.

After inspecting the wafers, Wei Hong was somewhat puzzled and whispered to Hao Qiang, "Mr. Hao, Future Technology Group is still facing chip supply issues. Can publishing the real data of these wafers really solve the chip crisis?"

He believes that Hao Qiang may intend to use this top-notch wafer as a bargaining chip to reach cooperation with other chip companies.

Although the United States may exert pressure, some large semiconductor companies may not necessarily care about diplomatic pressure as long as the benefits are attractive enough.

Taking Four Star as an example, if they can obtain exclusive technical cooperation with Future Technology Group, jointly develop the world's top chips, and directly monopolize the high-end market, this will be a business opportunity worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

As early as when Future Technology Group unveiled its 8N wafer, Sixing had come up with a similar idea.

However, previously, the leap from 6N to 8N wafer technology might only take two or three years, and Sixin is not in a hurry to take the risk.

But now it’s different. Future Technology Group has made a breakthrough to the 11N process in one fell swoop, leading global semiconductor companies by at least five generations and more than ten years.

This means that other companies simply won't be able to catch up in the foreseeable future.

What is even more shocking is that by the time these semiconductor companies have finally caught up with the 11N process level, Future Technology Group may have already increased the purity of single-crystal silicon to 12N or even higher.

At present, the industry is still questioning the authenticity of these data, otherwise, they might have come to Future Technology Group in person to discuss cooperation plans.

But the market has begun to show signs of movement.

After the opening, the stock prices of major global semiconductor companies have fallen slightly, and investors began to quietly stir.

"What if this is true?" This thought lingers in the minds of many investors.

What if it is true? Then you won’t be able to escape. It is better to withdraw some investments first to reduce losses.

There was deep curiosity in Wei Hong's eyes.

He wanted to know how Hao Qiang planned to get out of the current chip dilemma.

Are you looking for cooperation?

Or is there another plan?

Hao Qiang seemed to be aware of Wei Hong's doubts. He just smiled and said, "The leader asked a key question. In fact, I will announce it to the outside world in two or three days.

This matter still requires the support of the country. I am really worried that we can’t hold on to this situation.”

Top-notch chips are very important, and perhaps countries will use them in exchange for diplomatic resources.

But no matter what, as long as Future Technology Group takes the lead and controls the initiative, there will be no problem.

This is also the reason why Hao Qiang did not immediately disclose the fact that he was able to independently produce chips and EBL lithography machines.

This revolution in the semiconductor industry is quietly taking place.

There is no smoke of gunpowder, but it is more thrilling than any other war.