The rumored ice core restrictions have become a reality.
This made everyone inside the ice core feel solemn. Everyone is more or less aware of the importance of EUV. Even if it is only experimental now, it undoubtedly symbolizes a ticket to advanced manufacturing processes.
Now, that ticket appears to be torn into pieces.
Also, this restriction has made many people who have switched jobs feel nervous. Will the intensity on Bingxin become stronger in the future?
Qiu Ciyun made a joke about this when reporting on the situation on the front line during an online meeting.
"It's okay. If Ice Core is further restricted in the future, Sino Core is still there. Sino Core is not restricted, so we can jump back."
SMIC's orthodoxy is in Bingxin... version update, Bingxin's orthodoxy is in SMIC?
This joke somewhat diluted the worries among the top management, but for the middle and grassroots levels, the 10% annual profit conversion option gradually implemented by Bingxin is more realistic. According to this year's profit estimate, at least an additional 400 million Huaxia coins will enter the employees' income.
pocket.
As for whether options can be cashed in, they cannot be listed in the United States, but they can always be listed in China.
The restrictions have been lifted, but work still needs to continue. Currently, there is mass production of 32nm with the second-generation HKMG process, risk trial production of 28nm, and day and night research on 14nm that introduces FinFET technology.
It is inevitable that there will be some ideological baggage, and it will inevitably become a topic of conversation in the cafeteria. However, life and work must move forward.
On the whole, Bingxin and Yike are relatively calm, but there are more shocks from the outside world.
Especially in China, the top question on Zhihu’s hot list soon became – “Will this be the Waterloo that Fang Zhuo encountered?”
Ice cores are suspended from the market, and ice cores are subject to restrictions...
And, attached to many reports from foreign media...
Potential losses of up to tens of billions of dollars, the close relationship between core components, barriers to the advancement of advanced processes, etc. After reports and popular science, many people’s perceptions were summarized with an example from a media outlet, and Ice Core may become the second Toshiba.
In the past, Toshiba was a victim of the semiconductor competition between the United States and Japan. Now Toshiba is in an irreversible decline after the financial fraud scandal. Such examples have also given the industry another name for this incident.
Ice core is experiencing a "Toshiba moment"!
Not only is the industry quite pessimistic, but since the restrictions were introduced, Fang Zhuo has been receiving nervous calls from domestic administrative departments on his mobile phone, asking about the situation and discussing countermeasures.
Possible restrictions and real restrictions are two different things. If something happens, the level must be raised.
As one of the parties involved, Bingxin has issued a statement stating that it is "deeply shocked" and believes that Bingxin's operations are in compliance with regulations and does not accept so-called "safety" issues. Criticizing this move is completely contrary to its proper position.
Fang Zhuo faced the calls from the top to the local authorities in China, and his mentality was stable. In fact, he had done a lot of things that needed to be done. Now and in the future, it just depends on how to implement it. This is not magic and can be conjured up in one fell swoop.
On the last day of July, and the fourth day since ice cores were officially restricted, the Yike Silicon Valley Research Center welcomed visitors.
Austin, a close friend of the shadow shareholders, comes to visit.
Fang Zhuo was relatively indifferent to this person's arrival.
Austin was not offended. Mr. Fang was definitely not happy when the ice core was finally blocked. This was understandable. He was not happy either.
Fang Zhuo briefly expressed his attitude, and then directly talked about the opinions from MIGA Fund, saying: "Bingxin's current situation is unclear, its prospects are unclear, its listing is unknown, and the money from several funds..."
He paused before continuing: "In order to prevent further deterioration, Mr. Kong will look for an opportunity to sell out the shares first, so as not to lose money."
The Gasoline Man switched institutional vests and entered Bingxin after making profits from the financial crisis. In addition to holding shares, he also held some corporate bonds, which effectively supported part of Bingxin's capital operation.
As the immediate prospects deteriorate, it is natural to protect the interests of shadow shareholders.
But Austin discouraged this approach without hesitation: "Mr. Fang, you don't need to deal with it, just leave it there and don't move it."
Fang Zhuo frowned and said: "There are always risks, and now there is a better place to go."
"Although the ice core has not been listed this time, it is not too far away from being listed." Austin continued to dissuade, "The risk is controllable, Mr. Fang, the risk is controllable."
Fang Zhuo shook his head slightly and directly took out the handling opinions submitted by Gasoline Man, talking about the possibility of further deterioration of competition.
Austin only looked at it twice before smiling, and said directly: "Hey, Mr. Fang, keep it. What do you feel guilty about?"
Fang Zhuo has been in the world for more than ten years, but he was also stopped by this question... Me, what do I feel guilty about?
"We are not afraid of compensation, Mr. Fang, and you don't have to be afraid either." Austin is not here on his own behalf.
Fang Zhuo sighed: "The restriction is right in front of us, how can we not think more about it?"
"Mr. Fang, don't be afraid, after dark there will be dawn." Austin became artistic.
Fang Zhuo felt that Austin might have flown here not from Washington but from China, and the country told him the same thing.
Who kidnapped whom?
Did he kidnap the shadow shareholders?
No, it is the shadow shareholders who want to kidnap themselves.
Fang Zhuo exchanged clear opinions with Austin, and he felt more at ease. EUV will take time after all, and there is still room for maneuver, and with this clear restriction, it will only make the domestic industry chain more intensive.
With this trip to Austin, there is no need to fly to Washington again for the rest of the trip.
There is one more thing that needs to be arranged right now.
It is now clear that Taiwanese and Samsung have obtained experimental models of ASML. Judging from the current situation of the ice core alone, the window period for obtaining EUV is extremely close to closing.
Although Austin stated that the situation will not worsen in the future, the restrictions that have been given may be difficult to remove.
Because EUV, which is not yet commercially available, harms long-term process goals, the data supporting the launch of ice cores and market performance are not affected by this restriction. When the impact actually comes, all the shares that should be sold have been sold.
Therefore, the Ice Core Microelectronics Center has prioritized double exposure technology and is talking to Intel to look for process breakthroughs that this process can bring.
In addition, SMIC, which was not affected this time, may be able to do something more.
In response to this limited discussion, Fang Zhuo, Qiu Ciyun and others believed that SMIC Curve could work harder. In terms of equity, Bingxin would serve as the major shareholder of the "Huali Phase 1" currently under construction.
If the equity continues to be dispersed in the future, introducing SMIC as the major shareholder and operator may be able to promote the purchase of EUV, and then acquire the equity back. Anyway, the relationship will have broken down by then.
This is a path, and we still need to see changes.
Putting aside the domestic response, since the fraud scandal involving Japanese companies, Bingxin and Yike have indeed acquired a lot of technology and teams. In particular, Lin'an Storage has taken over the semiconductor department that was abolished by Toshiba.
However, Nikon was not affected too much this time and only laid off a small number of layoffs as the environment fluctuated, which was not very satisfactory.
Ice Core Microelectronics Center has already conducted cooperative research with Shanghai Microelectronics, and the relevant teams are waiting for help. There is currently a wave of enthusiasm for EUV in the industry, which is perfect for promoting Nikon's EUV research and development.
Fang Zhuo hopes to use this advocacy to let investment institutions explore the possibility of promoting the department's independent listing, and finally expose its PPT research and development to see if they can pick up some technology.
IDG is world-famous, and Xiong Xiaoge is experienced in doing things, which may be useful.
The same is true for IDC, which has been quite authoritative when it comes to Japanese companies’ fraud before.
This move is considered a casual move, and whether it works well or not, Fang Zhuo plans to talk to Lao Xiong after returning to China to see if he can help with this small favor.
On the first day of August, Fang Zhuo had a phone call with Yu Hong and talked about his itinerary. He planned to take a detour to Europe to inspect the German ice core factory, and by the way, go to Crolle, France, to talk about the establishment of the second overseas factory.
.
The restrictions on America's side have been established, and there is nothing to talk about with Texas. The right way is to directly speed up the negotiation with Crowler. Qiu Ciyun has already flown over first.
"Aren't you here to watch Apple's press conference?" Yu Hong asked.
"I don't want to watch it anymore. After all, it is limited. Although I have expected it, I am still a little bit excited." Fang Zhuo sighed, "After working for these years, I seem to be doing more and more things. I still have to keep up with the development of ice cores."
Yu Hong pondered for a moment and said: "A gentleman hides his weapon in his body and waits for the time to move."
Fang Zhuo smiled and said: "I have to go back and make a sharper one."
"Go back and take a look at the small ones first. In the end, everyone has to work together to deal with sharp weapons." Yu Hong said.
This is also one of the reasons why Fang Zhuo returned to China.
He briefly talked about the competition for new phones this year, and had no intention of going to New York again. Mr. Yu will increase his office time in Shanghai this year, so he can see him when he goes back.
However, there is some good news this month. The Samsung flagship released just a few days ago does not seem to be as popular as expected. It is the first time that Qualcomm chips have been abandoned in the global market, and consumers are not so convinced.
Or, consumers are also waiting for Apple in August and Yike in September.
This year's Yike Mars has some new features, and coupled with the strong growth in the local market, sales can be expected.
On the second and third days of August, Fang Zhuo's main job in Silicon Valley was still to make phone calls and listen to the concerns, concerns and suggestions of more relevant people.
On the fourth day, we made an appointment with the French side and set off on the 7th.
But on the 5th, Fang Zhuo received a visit from another guest at the Yike R&D Center, Microsoft's Executive Vice President Lu Qi.
This is the CEO who was said to be in the running for Microsoft before. After Ballmer stepped down, he became the global executive vice president, responsible for the entire application software department and in charge of a series of important products such as Office, Bing, and Skype. He is already the first Chinese to hold the position in the U.S. technology industry.
top management positions.
Lu Qi's visit this time was private in nature.
After finishing his business yesterday, he passed by the Yike R&D Center and had the intention of meeting Mr. Fang, so he made an appointment to see if he could meet the famous and mysterious man.
Lu Qi was very curious after entering the Yike R&D Center, especially when he stopped outside the Siri team office for a long time, thinking that after meeting him, he could always come back inside to talk about future directions.
As a giant executive, Lu Qi has also recently paid attention to the ice core crisis.
Although he does not agree with the "major setback" exaggerated by the Wall Street Journal and other media, he also feels that it is indeed a bit tricky now. Ice core is more important to Yike than Samsung wafer manufacturing to Samsung Electronics.
Once the ice core's path forward is continuously restricted, I'm afraid Yike will immediately face a dilemma.
However, when Lu Qi walked into the office and saw Mr. Fang for the first time, he didn't see any trace of fatigue or depression as he imagined. It was as if the roar and tsunami from the outside world had not affected this man at all.
"Hi, Mr. Lu, how do you feel about our Yike R&D Center?" Fang Zhuo doesn't really want to meet outsiders recently, but because Lu Qi is Chinese, he is willing to meet him.
"It's like I've come to the engine that drives changes in the global smartphone market." Lu Qi laughed, "I just entered the office and saw the camera on the door. It seemed to be facial recognition. I heard that the fingerprint recognition on Yike's mobile phone was first used.
Trying it out in Mr. Fang’s office, isn’t it that we are not far away from mature facial recognition?”
"If nothing else happens, we will launch this independently developed facial recognition solution next year." Fang Zhuo responded to this person's curiosity and said, "Have you watched Samsung's press conference this year?"
Lu Qi nodded. It was precisely because he saw it that he said it was "mature facial recognition."
This year, Samsung wanted to use Trump to impress people during its new phone launch in July, but the success rate of facial recognition demonstrated on the spot was not high, which may be one of the reasons for the sluggish sales.
"We really didn't know that Samsung would use facial recognition before, and we had been hesitating, but we still felt that we couldn't do something new just for the sake of being new." Fang Zhuo stood up and showed Lu Qi the facial recognition at the door.
As a result, it was successful eight out of ten times, which was higher than Samsung's on-stage demonstration.
Fang Zhuo asked Lu Qi to input it and try again, and he succeeded seven times out of ten.
"I'm really looking forward to next year's Mars." Lu Qi said with praise after trying out this facial recognition system for himself.
"It still needs to be optimized. The light at our angle is very good, so the success rate is very high." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "I also hope to bring excellent experience to consumers next year."
Lu Qi sat down again, and this time he talked about artificial intelligence. He was very interested in the operation behind Siri, and also mentioned Microsoft's development of conversational programs.
Fang Zhuo felt that this person was optimistic about artificial intelligence, and suddenly remembered that he seemed to focus on this aspect after coming to Baidu.
"Does Mr. Lu have any plans to return to China? Ballmer has gone to play football, and his position at Microsoft may have reached its ceiling." Fang Zhuo asked.
Lu Qi hesitated for a moment and did not answer directly: "There doesn't seem to be a good place to go in China. I like Yike's current style very much, but... can Yike be the CEO when I get there?"
This one must be a talent.
but……
Fang Zhuo thought briefly.
Seeing this, Lu Qi said semi-seriously: "If you don't want to be CEO, you can just step back a little bit."
With his position at Microsoft, he would have to be the number two person at the very least when he returns to China.
Fang Zhuo smiled and enumerated: "Yike has co-founders, Mr. Yu, who is also developing the market, Mr. Qi, who has worked hard in Europe to build up the system ecology, and Mr. Liu, who has led the strong growth of the Chinese market... Even if we are ranked
Here, it doesn’t seem to be ‘a little later’.”
Even if Lu Qi is the global executive vice president of Microsoft, these people will not be convinced if he is parachuted into Yi Ke as the second person.
Lu Qi sighed and joked: "The interview failed."
Fang Zhuo thought for a while and said: "In this way, when you really want to return to China, remember to find me and I will help you introduce a job."
Lu Qi was a little dumbfounded. It wasn't that difficult to find a job by himself. He smiled and said, "Okay, Mr. Fang, it's a deal."
This chapter has been completed!