603 Lu Fei is very angry and the consequences will be serious (5k)
March 19, sunny.
"Mr. Lu, Micron said that if they want to negotiate before the court, they must first restore the purchase order. As for settlement, that is another price."
Guo Xing took away a bowl of dandan noodles from the cafeteria window.
"It's quite arrogant. It really shames them."
Lu Fei picked up the full dinner plate and walked to the special box, "What are the results of our inspection?"
"You really don't know if you don't check. After layer-by-layer analysis by the Three-body Laboratory, it was found that four or five private brands are suspected of infringing our joint patents with Toshiba. In addition, Toshiba has a dispute with Lexar. You are one of them.
It’s hard for me to avoid patent infringement even if you are among me. Flash memory and memory products have a total of 5 patent infringements, which is enough to accuse Micron.”
Guo Xing pulled out his chair and sat next to him.
"What did Sol say?"
Lu Fei cuts the Big Mac burger with a knife and fork.
"It is suggested that in addition to patent prosecution, we can also apply for an 'injunction in litigation'. Once successful, we can suspend the domestic sales of the suspected product and completely cut off its sales. Now that the market is so bad, this must hit its main artery!
"
"That's it, the court will still be in Nanshan."
"It has to be Nanshan! We have never lost in Nanshan!" Guo Xing laughed. "It has only one chance to file a defense within 10 days to prove that it has not infringed. If the defense fails, it will either apologize for compensation or go to court.
Reconciliation outside.”
"Haha, it's not that easy. You have to give it a try!"
Lu Fei cut the burger into eight pieces, forked one piece and put it in his mouth.
With the rescue of Bear Stearns and the good news of double interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, the stock market rose, bond yields also rose, and the shaky financial system temporarily stabilized.
But Lu Fei and John Paulson did not suffer at all. The unit price of CDS soared sharply. They made a lot of money just by selling Bear Stearns-related contracts, which amounted to 30 to 4 billion U.S. dollars.
But no matter what, the hole in the broken ship has been repaired.
Bernanke and Paulson, two brothers in trouble, have been struggling to find a buyer for Bear Stearns these days.
Now, I can finally take a breath.
However, Appleton is still worried about Micron.
In order to cancel the extension order, he went back and forth between the court, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Commerce. The answers were surprisingly unanimous, and they all advised him to negotiate peacefully with Lu Fei.
Someone even secretly reminded me——
The water here is very deep, you can't control it!
"Farke, how much money did you charge this bastard Lu?" Appleton cursed and returned with hatred.
"How can this not make sense? How can it not make sense..."
I locked myself in the office and paced back and forth.
Mark Dekentu pushed the door open, holding a document in his hand, "I found out that behind Lu is Henry Paulson. He is helping Lu make connections, and he also opened a salon gathering for the judicial community. It is said that Lu
A certain party justice was also present."
"As expected! As expected, they all reaped the benefits!"
Appleton was furious, how could he do well in America with these bugs? It’s not like I didn’t give him any money!
"Maybe he gave too much..."
Mark Deken said helplessly: "And this."
"Just what?" Appleton was surprised.
"This is a court summons forwarded by the Ministry of Justice. Lu also sued us for patent infringement."
Mark Decken couldn't laugh or cry.
"What did you say! How dare they!"
Appleton had a look of disbelief on his face and read the indictment again and again from beginning to end.
"I made a rough estimate."
Mark Deken breathed out.
Currently, 55% of Micron's production capacity comes from China, and nearly 37% of its revenue comes from China. Once these products are banned from sale in China, direct and indirect losses will occur. Micron will lay off at least two to three thousand people worldwide, not to mention the current market situation.
…
How can Micron survive without the Chinese market?
"How did things turn out like this? It's different from what we thought." Appleton was speechless and in disbelief.
They sued Yangtze River Storage, but they just wanted to increase the purchase order of logic, but the logic ended up costing them half their life?
Mark Deken sighed: "I asked Guo, and he said that Huaxia Land was very, very angry this time. He felt that we were deliberately involved in the Yangtze River Storage and destroyed the friendship between the two parties. There was no need to continue to cooperate. If he hadn't persuaded us
He also advised us not just to cut off half of our orders, but all of them."
"It means that there is no use talking to Guo. We have to talk to this bastard Lu?" Appleton's eyes widened.
Mark Dekan said: "Yes, Guo said that he must ask for Lu's forgiveness. If the delay continues, when the court opens, Elpida will completely replace our position in the logical supply chain."
Since taking charge of Micron, I have never been so frustrated!
Appleton pondered for a while. The economic recession caused by subprime mortgages had already made the global storage industry worse. Coupled with the appeal of the injunction, it was like a hailstorm directed at Micron.
No matter how rich your family is, your vitality will definitely be severely damaged.
After thinking about it, he curled his lips and said, "Send Guo a gift and ask him to help us arrange a meeting with Lu. What do you think?"
Mark Deken nodded in agreement, then called Guo Xing, and received an unexpected reply——
Mr. Lu is very busy!
He has already returned to his country. If he wants peace talks, he can go to China by himself.
"Are we still going to China?"
Appleton laughed angrily and said: "Fake! Lu is so arrogant, do we still have to apologize to him first?!"
Mark Deken volunteered, "Forget it, forget it, I'll go there. Anyway, we plan to transfer production capacity to the factory in China, and we also need to organize a team of lawyers to litigate."
"If I hadn't caught up with the memory winter, I would have killed him..."
Appleton felt useless, unusually useless.
I think back then, with America's backing, it robbed Neon Semiconductors and bullied Stick Semiconductors. Wherever it went, Micron was unfavorable and invincible.
In just a few years, how come Yangtze Storage failed to survive?
After being depressed for a long time, he said helplessly: "Okay, let someone from Samsung accompany you. It is also an important partner of Logic and will act as a middleman for us."
………………
The next day was also the day Lu Fei arrived in Pengcheng.
Logic specially summoned the media to gather at the exit of the airport. In front of many cameras, he made an announcement clarifying Yangtze River Storage:
"We always attach great importance to the protection of intellectual property rights. There is no behavior of stealing other companies' technology. The component design of memory and flash memory technology is completely different from Micron's design. We will take necessary measures to counter it!"
"Kakaka~"
The flashlight kept flashing, and Lu Fei announced:
The "Lithography Machine Alliance" led by China Micro Semiconductor has developed a 90nm-class ArF DUV dry lithography machine!
The two pieces of news quickly spread on Weibo due to Mr. Lu’s celebrity effect and the influence of the official media.
But unlike the 90nm etching machine, it was the first of its kind in the country.
The first 90nm dry lithography machine was successfully developed by Shanghai Microelectronics as early as last year. Usually no one cares too much about the second place, unless it is Lu Fei's company.
Public opinion on Tieba, portals, BBS, Tianya, etc. was really boiling, and netizens fell into carnival:
[It’s better to have a father and a mother than to have one yourself!]
[Mr. Lu is awesome! There is nothing that Mr. Lu can’t do!]
【90nm is successful, can 65nm be far behind?】
[Students from Northwestern Polytechnical University sent a congratulatory message!]
[Students from Harbin Institute of Technology sent a congratulatory message! Congratulations!]
[Students from Shuimu University sent a congratulatory message! The senior is awesome!]
[Can Mizuki University please stop rubbing shoulders with Mr. Lu? He is obviously an alumnus of our Kyoto University!]
【……】
But in the climax, there are also different voices.
[This is a back-end lithography machine, which is a packaging and testing lithography machine. It is not a lithography machine in a narrow sense, which is a front-end lithography machine. I don’t know what you are excited about! You are so excited!]
[That is, China Micro Semiconductor is just an equipment integrator, and the level of integration is also very low. The 90nm-level dry lithography machine has no commercial capabilities. It is basically assembled according to ASML's prototype using imported parts. Does this mean it is independently developed?
】
[This is not something I should consider with my monthly salary of 800]
[Amacro is not considered a second-rate manufacturer of lithography machines. It is not even worthy of being a third-rate manufacturer. Only one casing is made by itself. The main components are all imported from abroad. It is at least thirty years behind ASML.]
[It’s just that the development is successful, but I don’t know what’s exciting about it. The key difficulty lies in mass production and commercialization]
Just like the first flight of C919, but what is even more unexpected is the intriguing attitude of the wafer foundry colleagues. Congratulations were said on the phone, but for the time being, no one is willing to provide a test site for the adaptation of domestic lithography machines. Even
SMIC, whether in the front or back end, basically uses ASML low-end machines.
"Understanding, understanding, and survival are the first priorities."
Lu Fei was not annoyed with Zhang Rujing's choice.
"The situation this year is too bad. When the market picks up next year, SMIC will definitely have appropriate production capacity and support our own lithography machines. After all, no matter how bad the domestic lithography machines are, they are still ours. No matter how good AMSL's equipment is, it will not be given to us."
use."
Zhang Rujing made a verbal promise on the phone.
"Mr. Zhang, don't force it, just do what you can."
Although Lu Fei is not an expert, he is not an outsider either.
The lithography machine market is not big, and it is definitely the "most snobbish" industry in semiconductors. As long as the technology is slightly behind, the market share will be taken away by the leading competitors.
AMSL, for example, seized the opportunity of wet lithography machines and gradually overtook Neon's Canon and Nikon, giving up the high-end lithography machine market and being trapped in the mid- to low-end.
And the even more backward AMEC is even more humble.
There is no talk of capital reflow at all, and we can only rely on some low-end machines for back-end packaging, such as Shanghai Microelectronics.
"It's not forced at all, I believe you!"
Zhang Rujing firmly believed from the bottom of his heart that Mr. Lu could create miracles.
After all, who would have thought that in just a few years, 90nm etching machines, 90nm back-channel lithography machines, 3D flash memory technology, and iPhone would all have his shadow behind the scenes.
Especially in terms of process technology, Hu Zhengming and Liang Mengsong were invited to form the world's fourth advanced process R&D alliance with AMD. In just half a year, they were able to overcome the complex core that even faced 130nm with a frown.
Brought to 65nm mass production, the yield rate has exceeded the 85% mark.
If it hadn't been for the sharing of technology, SMIC would have been left behind, and it would have taken at least three to five months to catch up.
No matter how you think about it, it’s unbelievable and terrifying!
"That's not my credit. It's all thanks to Professor Hu and Dr. Liang. They are all great talents. Relying on the mature 65nm process, Complex Core has won many orders from Samsung and Intel." Lu Fei couldn't close his smile.
He said, "Maybe next year we can break through 45nm, and the year after that we can break through 32nm, and after that..."
"Ahem, Mr. Liang does have the strength, but is he too radical in the research and development of process technology?" Zhang Rujing said bluntly that there are huge differences in the direction of the next generation process.
Lu Fei asked and found out that Liang Mengsong had chosen to skip generations.
Due to the high risk of semiconductor manufacturing process improvement, many manufacturers will launch a generation of transitional processes between large leaps, such as 80nm between 90nm and 65nm.
Another example is 55nm between 65nm and 45nm.
It is usually called the "half-generation process node".
The difference is that SMIC seeks stability, first 55nm and then 45nm, while Liang Mengsong is radical and skips 55nm directly.
"I know that Dr. Liang wants to catch up with TSMC and Intel's 45nm process as soon as possible, but I'm afraid he has done it too hastily. Fuxin and SMIC are different from TSMC and Intel. Their technological accumulation is far inferior to them, and the difficulties are even greater. The economic situation
The market conditions in the industry are so bad that the board of directors is worried about failure..."
Zhang Rujing politely suggested taking the 55nm process route.
"Mr. Zhang, you should know the advantages of 45nm, right?"
Lu Fei knocked on the table.
"Of course, the density of the chip is 35 times that of the 65nm process technology. In terms of active power, the 45nm process has reduced it by a full 15%. It is said that the SRAM cell size and macro size are the smallest in the industry, but the unknown risk is also great, that is, even if it succeeds
, the yield rate may not exceed 5%."
"That's just an experiment. The 65nm composite core was less than 10% at the beginning, and it didn't meet the conditions for production. Now the yield rate is about to exceed 90%. You must trust Dr. Liang."
"So, you also support generation skipping?"
"I believe Professor Hu and Dr. Liang are professionals. Let professional people do professional things. If they say yes, it's okay. All I can do is keep throwing money at them."
"It would have been great if SMIC could have introduced Mr. Lu."
"From what you say, are you encountering any difficulties?"
Capital is not a good person, its only goal is to make money!
Those who invest in SMIC want to make a lot of money. Those who invested in SMIC at the beginning, such as Goldman Sachs and Dan Maxi, all value capital appreciation. I only saw that from its founding in 2000 to 2008, due to Zhang Rujing's blind expansion, not a single year was profitable.
.
But they don’t understand that other peers started 20 years earlier than SMIC. SMIC is using its own losses year after year to promote the rapid upgrading of the entire Chinese semiconductor industry.
The rise of composite core is also based on SMIC.
But these capital forces don't care whether China has its own semiconductor industry chain, shareholders just want to make money.
Therefore, it is under tremendous pressure internally from the board of directors.
Externally, we have to endure lawsuits and siege from TSMC.
Just in time for this year, the price of memory chips has plummeted. Due to its rapid expansion, SMIC suffered heavy losses in the DRAM business and fell into financial difficulties. It had to half-stop production at the Yanjing wafer fab.
We may even consider withdrawing from the DRAM business entirely to avoid continuing to bleed from this wound. Of course, we can also find new capital to inject.
After all, SMIC has never lacked ways to raise funds.
Many well-known international private equity firms, including Blackstone Capital, have approached Zhang Rujing, hoping to acquire equity and settle in SMIC.
"Haha, I was just wary of foreign investment and penetration constraints, so I didn't allow logic to go public. In the future, Yangtze Memory will only be listed on A-shares and Hong Kong stocks."
Lu Fei smiled coldly, "Private equity money is not easy to get."
"Yes, these private placements contain evil intentions."
Zhang Rujing couldn't help but sigh, facing a major decision.
In addition to private equity, many state-owned enterprises are also willing to invest.
For example, Datang Telecom, China Resources, China Electronics Group...
"I would say Datang Telecom is involved in the construction of the domestic 3G standard TD-SCDMA. Although it is a state-owned enterprise, it can at least push SMIC to move forward."
Lu Fei thought briefly and analyzed and judged.
"Haha, heroes really think alike."
There was a hint of helplessness in Zhang Rujing's laughter, "After this round of financial crisis, as long as we get through the international lawsuit with TSMC, I think SMIC will be able to prosper."
"What a coincidence, we also faced an international lawsuit."
Lu Fei smiled and said, "But the home court is with us."
"With whom?"
Zhang Rujing was so curious that she heard Sun Hongjun's voice on the phone, interrupting the conversation between the two. From the few words, she could vaguely tell that it was Lyb's Meguiar, and she couldn't help but worry about him.
But unexpectedly, Lu Fei said in a disdainful tone:
"No! No! Haha, if an apology is useful, why do we need the law! Go and tell Micron's people for me. If you want to see me, I'll wait until the court convenes. Goodbye. Anyway, Micron is determined to eat this 'injunction', Jesus said.
It can’t be saved, I said so!”
"Hiss~"
Zhang Rujing took a breath of air, he really deserves to be Mr. Lu!
Even Micron, the dignified company, has to cross the ocean and bear the blame!
Alas, when will SMIC be able to stand up to TSMC and shout at him loudly: "No, qnmd!"
