Chapter 53: Onlookers
After Jin Ze finished speaking, the office immediately fell silent.
Everyone present was no outsider; San Xin Group was the real industry leader in the chip field, holding an extremely important position in the semiconductor market.
Storage technology, chip technology, and wafer manufacturing were all important industries under San Xin.
And now, Xinghai Technology had actually begun researching graphene chips, a technology that currently still existed only in the theoretical verification stage.
To be honest, if Jin Ze had said this from the beginning, everyone present would definitely have scoffed.
A small company that had just gained a bit of technical capital was actually attempting to research graphene chips, this high-tech product considered capable of replacing traditional silicon-based chips.
They even felt that Xinghai Technology wanted to use this gimmick to start raising funds.
But!
Xinghai Technology was still a private technology company of a real industrial nature that had not listed.
So the notion of raising funds did not hold.
Jin Ze looked at the reactions of everyone present and nodded inwardly; finally, he had gotten these people to take it seriously.
He turned to Jin Zhiyong on the side and said apologetically: “Sorry, Grandfather, for privately using your relationship to detain Xinghai’s lithography machine equipment. It was for this reason. Because I was afraid time wouldn’t allow, I didn’t notify you.”
Upon hearing this, Jin Zhiyong reacted and immediately shook his head to indicate he didn’t mind.
Jin Ze turned to everyone in the meeting and said: “Of course, I’m not clueless and issued the order to detain their equipment just out of alarmism. Because as far as I know, Xinghai’s early R&D work on this project has already made progress. They can already mass-produce carbon nanotubes directly used in chip manufacturing. And in the aspect of purifying graphene cost, it’s nearly half lower than the current market price!”
As soon as he finished speaking, gasps of surprise inevitably rose in the meeting room.
Graphene this material had been around for quite some time; over these years, various related enterprises had more or less paid attention to or researched purification methods, but the best currently could only press the price to around a thousand yuan per gram.
Xinghai Technology had only used six months to directly generate high-purity graphene at the carbon nanotube level structure, not to mention compressing the purification cost by nearly half.
No wonder this successor had used private relationships to detain Xinghai Technology’s lithography equipment and urgently returned to the country to convene a meeting with senior shareholders.
Now it seemed that Xinghai was indeed a very strong emerging enterprise in technology research and development.
This required taking it seriously.
“Jin Ze, is the intelligence source accurate?”
Seriousness showed in Jin Zhiyong’s eyes; he was still doubting the authenticity of the intelligence source.
“Grandfather, after I got this information, I also investigated Xinghai’s recent funds direction; it shouldn’t be wrong. Moreover, if it weren’t so, they wouldn’t have inexplicably spent 1.5 billion to buy lithography machines at a premium.”
After Jin Ze finished, everyone in the meeting room also nodded along.
He thought for a moment, his face darkening, and continued: “San Xin must fully pay attention to Xinghai Technology’s research in the chip field. Given their previous R&D capabilities in high-voltage radio and solid-state battery technology, the fact we have to admit is that this Fan Ren of Xinghai usually brings too many surprises.”
“Tell me your thoughts.”
Jin Zhiyong spoke again; unlike in past meetings where he wandered off on the side, today he spoke quite a bit more.
Upon hearing this, Jin Ze did not continue expanding on Xinghai’s information and stated his response method.
First, this information must be notified to various enterprises in the industry, in an attempt to draw the attention of various semiconductor enterprises.
At the same time, report to the White Alliance to include Xinghai Technology on the high-tech equipment embargo list.
These were the only two items he could think of for now.
No way around it; as a private company, Xinghai Technology left Jin Ze with very limited targeted strategies he could think of.
“What about cooperation? General Manager Jin, it’s not that I just want to ask, but couldn’t we cooperate with them on development? As far as I know, previously in high-voltage radio and battery business, Xinghai Technology had a good cooperative attitude with our San Xin.”
The speaker was a senior executive at the end of the seats; Jin Ze looked over following the voice and couldn’t help but frown slightly.
This was a company senior executive in charge of battery business; once relations between Xinghai and San Xin broke, the battery business would inevitably be affected.
But Jin Ze wouldn’t care about that.
“This department manager, don’t you know the importance of semiconductor business to the company? Xinghai Technology has never shown willingness to accept any investment, let alone this technology that can only be mastered in our White Alliance’s hands, not China’s. Do you understand?”
As the words fell, the manager who raised the question immediately turned pale.
Indeed, in the semiconductor chip field, the White Alliance had always targeted and restricted China’s development from all aspects.
Cooperating with them on this project, if known by the White Alliance, even with San Xin Group’s strength, it couldn’t withstand the sanctions initiated by the White Alliance as a national alliance.
Jin Ze withdrew his gaze and looked at everyone in the field; seeing no opposition, he finally looked at Jin Zhiyong.
He knew that although he had great right to speak within San Xin nowadays, on such major matters, the one who could truly decide was his own grandfather.
Jin Zhiyong’s pair of eagle eyes slightly closed, and the office fell silent again.
The aspects he and Jin Ze considered were not quite the same.
Over these years, because China’s right to speak internationally had gradually risen, their San Xin’s attitude toward Chinese enterprises had to be extremely cautious.
Although South Island Country itself was not a White Alliance member country, it had close cooperative relationships with it, even to the point of shared interests.
Once they stepped out as this vanguard, they would certainly face direct pressure from the Chinese side.
Jin Ze didn’t dare disturb his grandfather’s contemplation and quietly waited on the side. He knew what his grandfather was thinking, but he felt his grandfather placed too much emphasis on China’s influence many times.
In his view, China was backward; although it had good development in economy and technology in recent years, the future would always be in their White Alliance’s hands.
Take the current chip field; the White Alliance had already mastered the most advanced 3-nanometer process, while China had only announced victory in tackling the 14-nanometer process not long ago.
The further ahead, the difficulty faced grew exponentially, not to mention the EUV lithography machine hailed as the pinnacle of precision instruments.
With China’s technical strength backward by decades, completing the R&D of such cutting-edge instruments in a short time was simply a pipe dream.
Jin Zhiyong’s tiptoeing attitude toward Chinese matters dissatisfied him greatly.
He noticed the elderly person’s eyelids tremble slightly; Jin Ze quickly put away these thoughts.
Now was not the time for him to refute Jin Zhiyong’s attitude; he would consider these when he truly took over San Xin Group in the future.
After a long time, Jin Zhiyong slowly opened his pair of eagle eyes.
“For now, notify the White Alliance in the form of a routine report.
The company’s semiconductor R&D department shall immediately submit a report on the feasibility of graphene chip development.
Meeting adjourned; Jin Ze, stay.”
His words were few, but everyone present understood his attitude.
This fall guy, San Xin wouldn’t be it.
The crowd then filed out, and in an instant, only the grandfather and grandson remained in the meeting room.
“Grandfather…”
Jin Zhiyong waved his hand to stop his grandson’s words; he knew Jin Ze had always differed from him in attitude toward China.
“I know what you want to say, but just do as I say. Believe me, on the semiconductor issue, the United States values it more than we do. Just submit this matter as a routine report. No need for too many other actions.”
Upon hearing this, Jin Ze lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then a hint of relief appeared on his face.
Indeed, over these years, if not for the United States’ restrictions and sanctions, China wouldn’t have taken the path of self-developing chips.
And the United States followed closely, sealing that path for China tight.
On this issue, their San Xin only needed to sit on the side and watch.
