Jing Gao and Zhang Rujing, then a 70-year-old man, met in a distinctive hotel box in Zhangjiang.
In mid-April, the mid-spring night was only slightly cool. After the local dishes were served, they were steaming hot on the big round table and overflowing with fragrance, which made everyone in the box appetite.
Jing Gao was joined by him, Liu Sumei, Dong Youwei, Cheng Yu and Guan Yujia. Zhang Rujing brought an assistant, Ms. Wang Yan.
Everyone was chatting casually, and the atmosphere at the dinner table was quite harmonious, chatting and laughing happily.
Jing Gao knew why? Because he and Zhang Rujing had a common language. This was completely different from his meeting with Jiang Shangyi in the morning. The meeting in the morning was purely business.
Zhang Rujing applied for early retirement from Texas Instruments, where he had worked for 20 years, in 1997, and returned to Taiwan to found World Semiconductor. Two or three years later, he occupied one-third of TSMC's production capacity, and was immediately acquired by TSMC.
This kicked off the feud between him and Zhang Zhongmou. At that time, there were rumors in the world that Zhang Zhongmou conspired with the major shareholders of Shida Semiconductor to launch the acquisition of Shida Semiconductor when Zhang Rujing was unprepared.
Zhang Rujing refuted this rumor many times. He was involved in the entire negotiation. In the end, TSMC paid 8.5 times the stock price of Shida Semiconductor at the time to complete the acquisition.
But taste it, taste it carefully.
Assuming that Zhang Rujing had not sold Shida Semiconductor, twenty years later, even if Shida Semiconductor could not catch up with TSMC's position in the chip foundry field, could it still be unable to catch up with UMC? Is this not just a premium of 8.5 times?
Furthermore, as a manager, the boss of Shida Semiconductor resigned after being acquired. He changed from a powerful semiconductor boss to a technician with nothing. Do you think this is good?
It’s nothing more than that TSMC used the big one to bully the small one and annexed Shida Semiconductor at a premium. This is a conspiracy, it’s obvious! What are the consequences of Shida Semiconductor’s refusal to acquire? Look at Zhang Moumou’s style of doing things, as long as who
If you threaten him, he will launch a legal battle!
With a stick in one hand and a carrot in the other, the shareholders and employees of Shida Semiconductor all know how to choose. Of course, the shareholders of Shida Semiconductor did not lose, and their investments have received generous returns. The employees have entered larger companies and will have pensions in the future.
Guaranteed.
The only loser is Zhang Rujing!
In 2000, Zhang Rujing went north to the mainland to build a factory, and received warm welcome and attention. The old man's patriotism was respectable! You must know how poor domestic semiconductor technology was in 2000!
Foreign capital comes in to make money, but who brings technology to the country? This is not called patriotism, so what is it?
Zhang Rujing lived up to expectations and summoned about 300 semiconductor engineers to go north, mostly from his old departments at Texas Instruments and World Semiconductor, and quickly improved China's semiconductor technology from four generations behind the world's top level to only one generation behind.
SMIC has become the fourth largest semiconductor company in the world.
Then, the old routine in the field of chip foundry began, TSMC initiated a lawsuit against SMIC. In 2009, SMIC lost the lawsuit. After the court ruling, Zhang Rujing and the then chairman of SMIC flew to Hong Kong Island to negotiate with TSMC.
Settlement conditions: $200 million in cash compensation, plus 10% of the equity. In addition, Zhang Rujing resigned, signed a non-compete agreement, and was prohibited from engaging in chip-related work for three years starting from 2010.
SMIC immediately fell into chaos for many years. It was not until Liang Mengsong took office that he reversed the situation and turned losses into profits.
So, from this perspective, is TSMC hateful? Very hateful! He delayed the destruction of our construction and development of the semiconductor industry chain.
Some people are going to say: If you plagiarize other people’s technology, are you still justified? That’s a good punishment!
This seems reasonable at first glance. Intellectual property protection! However, in the field of semiconductor chip manufacturing, can you 100% bypass the process technology of TSMC, the industry leader? Can you bypass it? You can’t!
There is always some foul play. Otherwise, why do TSMC’s former engineers sue him and win again and again?
Then do we want to develop semiconductor technology? Do we want to manufacture our own chips? Just watch TSMC go to our necks forever? Do we not allow the mainland to have the most advanced chip manufacturing plants! Do we want it in our fundamental interests?
SMIC should be punished for violating laws and regulations on intellectual property protection. It has been stagnant for ten years. However, should Zhang Moumou pay a heavy price for what he did when the time comes?
I think it is necessary.
Don’t think that TSMC is flawless and has never violated the law!
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Zhang Rujing founded an LED factory in 2010 after resigning from SMIC. This was an area not prohibited in his non-compete agreement. In 2014, he founded Xinsheng Semiconductor in Lingang, the capital of Shanghai, mainly to produce and manufacture wafers.
The manufacturing of silicon chips is based on wafers and uses photolithography technology to manufacture integrated circuits.
Xinsheng Semiconductor is a factory that provides wafers.
The old man is 70 years old and is looking to build a new chip manufacturing factory. He wants to adopt the IDM model and is negotiating with investors everywhere. It happened that Phoenix Group entered the chip manufacturing field, and the two parties had a very pleasant initial contact.
Now we meet to discuss details.
Zhang Rujing did not drink, and said with emotion: "I haven't been to Zhangjiang for a long time. Today's meeting with Mr. Jing and having the dinner here made me deeply moved."
Chao Jingdao: "I admire Dr. Zhang for his resolute decision to go north to build a factory seventeen years ago. Dr. Zhang's resignation in 2009 was really a major loss for SMIC."
Zhang Rujing was open-minded and said calmly: "Something happened to the company at that time and the lawsuit was over. Someone must be responsible."
How could he not feel pain in leaving the company he founded ten years ago? However, his life still needs to keep moving forward.
"Later, someone wanted to invite me to go back, but I didn't agree. I said, I won't go back, I won't cause trouble to others, and I won't cause trouble to myself. Mr. Jing, do you know? You invited me to build a factory. It is likely to lead to lawsuits from TSMC in the future."
Zhang Rujing said this sentence very confidently and with a sense of pain.
Confident, because he is recognized as a master of factory construction. In two or three years, he can build a chip manufacturing plant and put it into production.
Painful, TSMC is a dark cloud hanging over all chip manufacturers. As long as you become stronger, they will definitely sue you to eliminate potential threats. And he has been destroyed by TSMC twice. His career has been destroyed twice. He is not sure whether he can Withstand the third time.
Jing Gao smiled heartily and said resolutely: "Dr. Zhang, it's just a legal lawsuit. I think I can withstand it. Today is different from the past!"
King Wang has taken office. The domestic market is already the largest chip consumer market in the world. TSMC also has factories in mainland China. TSMC still wants to play the same tricks as in 2009. This will not work!
The conditions under which Phoenix Group can obtain at least three Samsung defendants.
Zhang Rujing smiled, ate his food, and said: "Mr. Jing, I am negotiating with Qingdao to build an IDM model chip factory. Phoenix Group's factory in Jinling should be involved in Foundry, right?"
The semiconductor industry has three operating modes: IDM, Fabless, and Foundry.
Fabless means only doing design, not producing independently, represented by Qualcomm and Huawei HiSilicon; Foundry means not doing design, only OEM production. Both SMIC and TSMC belong to this model.
IDM is a combination of the two, integrating design and production processes, and the overall profit is higher than that of design and OEM. Its representative company is Intel, which produces and sells itself. But this model is actually backward.
Intel only has 10nm process technology, which lags behind TSMC and Samsung. The fundamental reason is that the scale of self-production and sales cannot meet the funds needed for new process technology research.
Jing Gao said frankly: "Yes. I have built a chip manufacturing factory in Jingzhou. This factory is enough to meet the needs of Coolpad mobile phones. I will get involved in OEM at the Jinling factory. Moreover, I hope to use the Modu Microelectronics Institute
Developed 90nm photolithography machine."
He was chatting with a netizen (Ren Zhi) on Weibo that day, which aroused his unhappiness. He told Guan Yujia that Phoenix Group also wanted to build lithography machines.
And building a lithography machine is not something to start from scratch. He has already instructed Shanhaijing Semiconductor to contact Modu Microelectronics to start cooperative research and development. This is a very large project with many difficulties.
To give the simplest example, in 2008, Modu Microelectronics developed a 90nm front-end lithography machine. However, because the core components were purchased from abroad, the purchase was immediately restricted by international manufacturers in a tacit understanding.
This has resulted in the photolithography machines of Modu Microelectronics becoming a decoration, and they can only use back-end photolithography machines to meet some of the past needs.
Lithography machines are divided into front-end and back-end according to their uses. Front-end lithography machines are used to manufacture chips. Back-end lithography machines are mainly used for chip packaging.
But, no matter what, the Phoenix Group has already set off.
Zhang Rujing frowned and said, "The generation difference is too far. Mr. Jing, it's difficult to make a profit like this." He said it very tactfully, already showing his refusal.
