Chapter 62: Breaking The Blockade
Today is a special day.
General Manager Jin Qiaoying of Xinghai Technology, General Manager Yun Yin of Xingyun Manufacturing, General Manager Liu Jun of Xing Wireless (High-Voltage Radio Branch Company).
As well as Chairman Fan Ren, who had been “missing” for a long time, all gathered in front of a brand-new building in the Science and Technology Park.
Today is a day worth celebrating, as the Xinghai Chip Laboratory has been successfully completed and officially put into use.
At the same time, the core equipment in the laboratory, including the ion implanter, etcher, chemical vapor deposition machine, and electroplating equipment, had all been installed and tested well in advance.
Of course, there was also the five-nanometer lithography machine that had just been brought over from the Kyoto Optical Instruments Research Institute a couple of days ago, which could be said to be the world’s first to use radio technology.
All of this marks that this chip laboratory now fully possesses the research and development and production capacity for graphene chips.
Moreover, today is exactly the second anniversary of the founding of Xinghai Technology.
Standing beside Fan Ren was Liu Jun. The two looked at the reporters from several media outlets in front of the chip laboratory door, both filled with emotion for a moment.
Two months ago, the domestic five-nanometer lithography machine was grandly released by Guo Xin Technology.
Unlike the previous half-true, half-fake coyness, Guo Xin Technology had contacted all relevant industry insiders and major media headlines before the release.
Moreover, they even invited technical representatives from many application field manufacturers to witness the lithography testing session on site together.
Once this blockbuster news was released, it spread rapidly to the whole world at an astonishing speed.
At the same time, this milestone achievement also marks that in the cutting-edge lithography machine field, China has proudly announced the successful completion of all technical research and development for the five-nanometer preparation process, accomplished entirely through independent innovation.
Looking at the development of the semiconductor field over so many years, it is historically unprecedented for a single nation to achieve this feat; previously, no country in the whole world had done it!
Now, China has done it.
Although the Baiyue Alliance’s chip process has already completed the technical research and development for 3-nanometer preparation and put it into commercial use.
But compared to the previous domestic 14-nanometer process, China has taken a huge step forward on this track.
It can be foreseen that with the completion of the EUV lithography technology breakthrough, the time to catch up with the world’s advanced level will not be too far off.
Moreover, more crucially, the 5-nanometer lithography machine released by Guo Xin Technology far surpasses the similar products of As Company in the Baiyue Alliance in terms of cost, energy consumption, and lithography success rate.
On the day the news was released, As Company’s stock price hit the limit down.
The next day, stocks of Apple, San Xin, Intel, AMD, and Nvidia, which dominates the GPU field with a market value of up to 20 trillion, all plummeted.
The entire network in China was completely in a frenzy.
And in the cooperation list released by Guo Xin Technology, the four big characters of Xinghai Technology, though inconspicuous, were mentioned by some people as well.
However, since Xinghai is a company that does not manufacture application-end products, and solid-state batteries are classified under Xingyun Manufacturing, it is not paid much attention by many except for some downstream companies in the industrial chain.
Just like now, although today is the opening day of Xinghai Technology’s chip laboratory, there are not many reporters who came after receiving the news.
“General Manager Fan, why is Xinghai Technology interested in the chip field?”
Fan Ren withdrew his wandering thoughts, looked at the reporter in front of him with a smile on his lips, but did not speak.
“General Manager Fan is not accepting any interviews. Hello, reporter friend, I am the General Manager of Xinghai Technology. I will answer your question for him.”
Seeing this, Jin Qiaoying quickly stood beside Fan Ren, turned the reporter’s microphone toward herself, and then said extremely proficiently: “As a high-tech enterprise, Xinghai Technology has made achievements in high-voltage radio and solid-state battery fields, but as a high-tech enterprise, our goal has always been to devote ourselves to.”
Seeing this, Liu Jun held back his laughter as he listened to her formulaic response to the reporter, and quietly gave her a thumbs up.
Fan Ren secretly swatted away this guy’s thumb and walked toward the laboratory.
“Hey, wait.” Liu Jun hurriedly followed.
South Island Country, San Xin Headquarters Materials Laboratory.
Chief materials scientist Cui Zhixun was now staring nervously at the group of researchers in front of him.
There, they were conducting a testing session that had been tested countless times already.
After a long time, a young researcher trotted over with a report in hand to stand before him.
“Professor Cui, it’s still not right.”
The researcher handed over the report, his head lowering as well.
Cui Zhixun took a deep breath, slowly took the report, and looked down at it.
“Professor Cui, there were no problems at all in the earlier stages. It’s still that issue: after the nanotube structure forms and the catalyst ripens the biological cells’ metabolism, some biological cells always fail to metabolize completely. As a result, the purity of the prepared carbon nanotubes consistently falls short.”
The researcher explained while looking distressed.
This idea for graphene purification and carbon nanotube technology is absolutely top-tier, but after months of repeated massive experiments, the results remain the same.
They always fail in the final step of completely catalyzing all cells to remove biological cells, leading to this awkward situation.
“I got it, pause the experiment for now. Use your brains, all of you, and think carefully about where the problem really lies.”
Cui Zhixun shouted irritably at the researchers, then quickly walked toward the office with the report in hand.
In the office, Jin Ze was sitting on the sofa. He looked up at Cui Zhixun who pushed the door open and entered, his face remaining grim.
“General Manager Jin, it’s still not working, we…”
“Damn it! Useless thing! The company spent billions, and you’re telling me it’s not working? Everything was fine earlier, so why does it fail at the end?”
Jin Ze’s tone was extremely angry. China had already announced the completion of five-nanometer lithography machine research and development, yet they were still stuck on raw material preparation with no progress.
If they couldn’t produce graphene chips ahead of Xinghai, everything they had done before would be meaningless.
Moreover, it could even be foreseen that after Xinghai develops chips, under the backdrop of its rising domestic status, San Xin’s days in China wouldn’t be easy either.
This was the first time Cui Zhixun heard this San Xin successor curse. Jin Ze had always given the impression of a gentle smile, so it was clear he was truly furious.
“General Manager Jin, our researchers have tried every testable method over and over, but the results remain unchanged. I think the problem is with the catalyst…”
Hearing this, Jin Ze saw Cui Zhixun hesitating to speak, so he lifted his chin to signal him to continue.
“It’s like this, General Manager Jin. I suspect that in this technical data, the catalyst is not this one, but something else.”
Cui Zhixun’s voice grew quieter toward the end, meaning that the person who obtained the technology had been tricked.
After hearing this, Jin Ze’s face showed a flash of anger, and he also had some doubts, falling silent.
The office suddenly fell into a strange silence.
“You go out first, I need to make a phone call.”
He took out his telephone and irritably waved his hand. Cui Zhixun, who had been standing silently, hurriedly walked out and quietly closed the door behind him.
Jin Ze’s hand hovered over a string of numbers on the screen, his mind caught in a brief tangle, but he ultimately pressed the call button.
At the same time, in a villa in Rocky City, United States, in a dimly lit basement.
“Daring to trick the direct lineage of San Xin’s Jin Family—whether it’s boldness or ignorance, I wonder.”
“Stop hitting, stop hitting! I’ll give you all the money, all of it, cough cough cough.”
Lu Youbin looked extremely disheveled, half-kneeling and kowtowing nonstop to a man wearing a mask in front of him.
The man wore a mask, his face unrecognizable, but from his voice, he sounded about thirty or forty years old.
Hearing this, the man chuckled and shook his head.
“That’s not up to me. General Manager Jin is extremely angry this time. This isn’t about money, you understand? Never mind, no point telling you this— you’re dead anyway.”
With that, the man raised his hand, the dark muzzle of the gun aimed at Lu Youbin.
“I’ll ask you one more time: what exactly is the composition of the catalyst.”
“Don’t kill me! Waaah, I really don’t know! That document is just…”
Lu Youbin kowtowed frantically, his lower body already scared into incontinence; at this moment, he wished time could rewind to that night’s drinking table.
‘Bang’
A splash of bright red burst from between Lu Youbin’s eyebrows.
“Looks like the bounty is off the table. A life really isn’t worth much.”
The man sighed, his tone full of regret.
