The second round of restrictions from BIS on November 24 made Yike and Bingxin face more urgent problems, which is also the strategic direction that Fang Zhuo has been emphasizing this year.
At the enterprise level of Bingxin, what needs to be done is to ensure operation, even at the expense of yield and profits.
Similarly, BIS is indeed heading in this direction.
This is not because Fang Zhuoduo is far-sighted, but because the operation of Yike-Ice Core has an inverted pyramid structure. The smaller ice core is the bottom and more important support.
This is consistent with the structure of the entire industry. What supports the operation of ice cores is also the lower level semiconductor equipment, components and materials.
With such backward reasoning and the fact that photoresist has a shelf life, it naturally becomes a priority weapon for limiting ice cores.
BIS changes the law and drives photoresist manufacturers. These are all expected, but what is beyond expectation is the speed and efficiency of its actions.
Because of his connections with American friends, Fang Zhuo is usually able to know the situation earlier. Knowing the measures that are likely to be implemented earlier can even allow people to mediate, but this time he only received one day's notice in advance.
Fortunately, Bingxin's purchase of photoresist has been excessive recently. If we consciously prevent this situation, there will be no obvious problems in the short term.
However, the photoresist market is currently occupied by four Japanese manufacturers and one American manufacturer. Once the production inventory is exhausted, the ice core may not be able to maintain even the minimum production operation.
This time limit is six months, and when it comes to Yike, although the second-generation FinFET 16nm chips can be mass-produced in advance, they will not be outdated in the competition throughout next year, but no matter how frugal they are, I am afraid that It will only last for one year.
Originally, it was considered that Japanese manufacturers were involved, and even if BIS expanded its jurisdiction, such restrictions would take some time to come, which would buy more time for Xinyang Luzhou's research and development, but...
Fang Zhuo really couldn't ask his opponent to play cards according to his own ideas.
Therefore, according to Su Wei's words, "You really frown more these days than you have in the past ten years."
Fang Zhuo has determination and confidence, and is also encouraging and motivating Yike, Bingxin and more people to face challenges, but these must return to reality and problems must be solved.
This kind of problem caused by non-commercial factors has also been reported and protested by higher levels. There are also more basic materials available in China to fight back. However, BIS’s target this time has not been expanded and is focused on ice cores. On the body.
This involves a more overall strategic change, and looking at the mainland's semiconductor industry, it is best for SMIC, which is not involved at the moment, to develop its technology quietly and not be affected.
SMIC has begun to communicate with Bingxin on the first-generation FinFET process. According to the current progress, it may not be commercially available until Q4 of 2016 at the earliest.
This is the value of time.
In addition to supplying Yike, Ice Core must at least ensure the production capacity of AMD, a closely connected customer. Fang Zhuo did not tie AMD to the ship just to die with it, so that would be meaningless.
The technologies of SMIC and Ice Core are gradually coming from the same origin. If the first generation of FinFET 16nm can be launched in Q4 of 2016, it can also be used as the youth version of AMD chips.
In addition, unconventional channels can also solve some inventory problems on an emergency basis, which is to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause.
Fang Zhuo suppressed his impatience and remained patient, without urging Xinyang Luzhou's research and development at all. After seeing BIS's latest measures, they could naturally understand the situation without adding additional unnecessary pressure.
In addition to the photoresist link that can help achieve staged goals, he also inspected the A/B/C lines of Huali Phase I in Shanghai. The localization of the C line is still relatively difficult, but the de-beautification of the B line is at 45nm. Already have a relatively high yield rate.
Although 45nm is now only a mature process, it is not easy to beautify it and become competitive.
Fang Zhuo does not seek quick results, he only hopes to complete the phased goals as soon as possible and then gain greater development space step by step.
However, China is facing strong pressure, and some unexpected situations have occurred in Silicon Valley.
Although U.S. President Schroeder has confirmed that he will incubate projects in the new track, his current main job is to handle the finishing touches of Yike in the United States, which includes Yike's Silicon Valley R&D Center.
Many of Yike's technologies and patents were born in the Silicon Valley Center, which also has the most cutting-edge scientific and technological research. However, after BIS took action, it faced a shock.
The company's solution to this problem is to transfer some people back to China. For example, many of the Chinese-dominated artificial intelligence research and development teams are willing to return to China for development, and some are transferred to different research institutes in Europe.
Yike also has R&D centers in Europe, but under the current situation, the General Office has discussed several times and believes that it can only undertake research projects in the form of a "research institute". This way, the scope is smaller and the direction is more specific, and it can be better undertaken. Related work.
For example, Yike's research institute in Stockholm, Sweden, focuses on the research and development of communication technology.
After such transfers to China and Europe, the last part still remains in Silicon Valley. Yike will maintain a research center here, and is also willing to invest and help create new companies, and will still provide funds and resources.
This is an important thing that Schroeder needs to be busy with.
However, on November 30, Schroeder received a phone call at the company notifying him that a project team preparing to fly to China was detained and required not to leave the country until permission was obtained.
This news shocked Schroeder. All the team's formalities and procedures were reasonable and legal. Is there any law for this? Is there any law?
Schroeder immediately called his boss to report this special situation.
"Okay, I get it. It's too much. Don't worry. Let's calm down everyone's mood first. I'll ask about the situation." Fang Zhuo on the phone gave this response.
Schroeder felt a little depressed, but he could only cheer up and comfort his own people first.
As for this time... considering the deterioration of the relationship between Washington and the boss, I really don't know if it can be handled well.
There was no movement for two days.
On December 3, Schroeder suddenly saw news in the media that the NBA Rockets were about to change ownership. The overall price was lower than the previous market value expectation of US$1.25 billion, and was sold for only US$1.15 billion. Moreover, the major shareholder Fang Zhuo Accepted some delivery methods of virtual currency.
Only at night, Schroeder was notified of the release of the R&D team.
He combined the two pieces of news, and his mood was extremely complicated. He had known the boss's intention to sell the team before, and the price of US$1.25 billion was not raised. This time, it was US$100 million less, and he also accepted special virtual currency. Pay, this is like being asked for a ransom abruptly!
When Schroeder thought about this, he downed a few glasses of red wine and burst into tears in the dead of night. According to the Chinese proverb, a tiger falls flat and is bullied by a dog!
However, Schroeder, who was busy at work, suddenly accidentally saw a report from Bloomberg two days later. The price of the virtual currency BTC surged 15% from US$410 to US$471 in the past two days, and may continue to rise. market, and an important reason is that a well-known team used a large amount of virtual currency in its transactions.
15%... Could it be that the small amount of money was raised back in two days?
Is it still possible to make money?
This, this...
Schroeder suddenly felt that his tears were a bit cheap. Mr. Fang seemed to be a bit gaudy, but the gaudiness was quite useful...
