Rebirth 99 to become a car giant.

Chapter 959 Anti-dumping investigation, chip storm re-emerges

The pressure from Intel was quickly passed on to ASML.

After ASML's president Christopher was severely criticized by Intel, he immediately called the technical director Peter to his side.

"Pete, Intel has gone crazy. We must produce lithography machines capable of producing 7-nanometer process chips in the first quarter of next year."

"Otherwise, Intel will have to consider purchasing lithography machines from Nanshan Equipment."

"I guess Samsung and TSMC will contact us about this matter soon."

It is almost inevitable that the pressure will be escalated layer by layer.

Intel asked Christopher to get the lithography machine done within the first half of next year, and Christopher asked Pete to get the lithography machine done within the first quarter of next year.

I guess by the time Pete communicates with the project team, we will have to further compress the time.

Of course, ASML has invested a lot of manpower and resources in the past year or so to research 7-nanometer process lithography machines.

So Christopher had some confidence in his heart, otherwise he wouldn't have acted so recklessly.

"After I saw the news about Nanshan Semiconductor yesterday, I started asking people to urge suppliers to speed up the process."

"Otherwise, simply relying on our own internal resources is not enough. Many of our parts are purchased from suppliers."

Pete was not at all surprised as to why Christopher was looking for him.

In recent years, he has been almost worn out by the upgrades in lithography technology.

The days of making money without doing anything are gone.

"Then tell those suppliers that whoever fails to deliver this time will be replaced and we will not cooperate with them on future projects."

"China already has its own lithography industry chain. If we don't work harder, we will have nothing to do in this industry."

Christopher said very dissatisfiedly.

Every time I asked about the progress of the lithography machine, I had various reasons.

Although these reasons are not without reason, they are still very annoying.

"I understand that the various suppliers should have gradually learned about this news."

"It may be luck that Nanshan Semiconductor took the lead once, but now it continues to lead the industry and has mastered the 7-nanometer process technology. The situation is completely different."

"If everyone doesn't work harder, the company will have no room to survive in the future."

Pete knew that his boss was in a bad mood, so naturally he had to say more nice words and express his attitude at this time.

Let’s get through this first.

"The way companies in China do business is really bad."

"We shouldn't be putting them on the international market. Isn't that disrupting the market?"

For Christopher, any company that threatens his interests is annoying.

Especially other manufacturers of lithography machines are very hated.

"We have previously pushed customers such as Samsung to suppress Nanshan Semiconductor, but the final result was not very good."

"I think we need to think of other ways to make Nanshan Semiconductor less arrogant."

"At their current pace, Nanshan Semiconductor's market share will continue to grow, which means the scale of customers using our equipment is shrinking."

“This is totally unacceptable.”

Pete slowly shifted the topic to something other than technology.

It's just complaining anyway.

He definitely will!

However, we can still complain about ASML, but we are no longer able to complain about Apple and Samsung.

Everyone feels the pressure.

"KUKA, Honor Technology has clearly stated that they will use 2016-nanometer chips in their new products to be launched in 7."

"By then, both the operating speed and energy consumption will definitely be greatly improved."

"This is definitely negative news for our global sales growth."

As the head of Apple's China branch, Wang Ziming naturally had to report the potential threat posed by Nanshan Semiconductor to the headquarters at this time.

Anyway, there is no harm in reporting more.

"I just communicated with TSMC and Samsung. Their 7-nanometer chip factories will not be put into production until 2016 at the earliest. Our products will not be available until 2017."

"This situation does make people more passive."

Kuka has actually been under quite a lot of pressure in recent years.

He took over the big company Apple from Steve Jobs, and many people were not optimistic about him.

Although Apple's stock price has continued to rise in recent years under his leadership, doubts about him have never completely disappeared.

If sales plummet by then, the situation will definitely be more serious.

So now seeing the unfavorable news about chips, Kuka is a little nervous.

"Should we consider changing our promotional plans in advance to let consumers know that the performance of a chip is not simply determined by how many nanometers it uses in its manufacturing process, but is also related to many other factors."

"Even if Apple uses the 14-nanometer chip process to produce mobile phone chips, the performance is better than that of its peers, and even higher than that of 7-nanometer chips."

At this time, Wang Ziming could only offer suggestions from a publicity perspective.

After all, if technical matters can only be done in that way objectively, then no matter how much he says, it will be useless.

As for forcing Samsung or TSMC to speed up, Apple's purchasing manager will definitely do it without his reminder.

"This is one way, but I'm afraid Honor Technology will also make a fuss about this, and we will be more or less in a passive situation."

Kuka can almost imagine how Honor Technology will discredit the chip performance of its competitors.

Although Apple can minimize the impact of this incident by muddying the waters.

But it is still relatively passive after all.

"Or can we consider asking Nanshan Semiconductor to help manufacture some of the chips?"

After a moment's silence, Wang Ziming boldly put forward his suggestion.

He knew that this suggestion had a low chance of being adopted, but it was a real good way to solve the problem.

"The investors will not agree, and the relevant departments will not agree either."

Kuka did not get angry directly, but after a moment of silence, he gave his opinion.

Nanshan Semiconductor also has chip foundry business, so he must know about this.

But even though I know it, there is no way I can cooperate with them.

This involves a matter of principle.

Semiconductor manufacturers such as Samsung and TSMC are also struggling.

Just when everyone was still struggling to figure out the outcome, Cao Yang suddenly announced on his official Weibo account that Nanshan Semiconductor will build four 4-nanometer chip factories with an investment of more than 7 billion yuan.

As soon as this official Weibo post was released, it immediately became a hot topic.

Not only people in the semiconductor industry are paying attention to this matter, but other people in the industry are also paying attention to it.

After all, it involves an investment of 500 billion yuan, and you may not come across such a large project in a year.

"Mr. Xu, I think the company needs to contact Nanshan Semiconductor as soon as possible to lock in the production capacity of 7-nanometer process chip foundry in advance."

"Otherwise, I'm worried that other manufacturers will get there first."

When Lian Zhitian saw Cao Yang's Weibo, he immediately thought of reporting the chip foundry matter to Xu Jun.

Although Warwick and Nanshan Semiconductor had previously cooperated to invest in chip factories, as the scale of investment grew, Warwick gradually shifted its focus to chip foundry and stopped building factories itself.

Currently, Warwick’s chip foundry business is almost entirely outsourced to Nanshan Semiconductor.

"Didn't President Cao announce that he would build four factories at once?"

“It’s impossible that the production capacity is insufficient, right?”

Xu Jun asked a little uncertainly.

Nanshan Semiconductor's move this time is undoubtedly the largest move in the domestic semiconductor industry.

An investment of more than 500 billion is also very exaggerated.

"Now Honor Technology and Nanshan Automobile Group are both large consumers of chips. The 7-nanometer chip process has a very large demand for use in mobile phones, computers and PADs."

"Although traditional automotive-grade chips have relatively low process requirements, chips for autonomous driving and smart cockpits have relatively high process requirements."

"In this regard, Nanshan Automobile Group not only uses it itself, but also supplies it to many OEMs. The demand should be very considerable."

"Besides, Transsion's monthly sales of mobile phones have reached more than 1000 million units. Although the chips used are relatively backward, they have also occupied the production capacity of other Nanshan Semiconductor factories."

"Ultimately, when overall demand increases, it will affect the capacity utilization of new factories to some extent."

Although Lian Zhitian felt that the things he was worried about might not necessarily happen, there was no harm in making preparations in advance.

If Nanshan Semiconductor receives several large foundry orders at that time, the situation will change drastically immediately.

Or maybe the sales of Honor Technology and Huawei's mobile phones continue to grow rapidly, and the demand for chips is also very fierce.

"Just after the news broke that Nanshan Semiconductor had arranged for personnel to visit the capital, Shanghai, Chang'an and other places to investigate the site selection for new factories, President Cao announced that he would build four factories at once."

"I guess every place would like to have all four factories built in their area."

"Boss Cao must be very busy these days. Let's wait for a while before discussing the OEM with them."

Xu Jun thought about it and felt that although this matter was important, it was not that urgent.

Don't cause trouble for others at this time.

However, he immediately thought of another thing and said, "Nanshan Semiconductor will soon have the production capacity of 7-nanometer process chip technology, and our own design capabilities must keep up."

"We don't want our own design to fail, that would be embarrassing."

This kind of thing is obviously possible.

However, the evolution of design is much easier than the evolution of production technology, and Lian Zhitian is not very worried about failing.

……

"Mr. Cao, we in Chang'an can provide land for two chip factories for free. We can also help with the three connections and one leveling work for free."

Liu Tianwu personally brought an inspection team to Yangcheng to meet Cao Yang.

He is now the head of Chang'an Province, so he naturally hopes that more large projects can be settled in Chang'an. Of course, he also knows that it is impossible for all four factories to be settled in Chang'an.

And they didn't prepare so much land in advance, so if they started now, it would definitely be too late.

After all, he also knew that Nanshan Semiconductor would announce the construction of four factories at once, which must have an urgent need for the schedule.

So you must not delay it because of your own reasons.

“Leader, Chang’an City is an important location for our semiconductor industry, aerospace industry, and materials industry. We will definitely give priority to building a semiconductor factory in Chang’an City.”

"However, we need to comprehensively confirm the overall situation in conjunction with plans from several other places before making a judgment."

Although Cao Yang had already decided to build a factory in each of the four cities.

But other people don’t know.

Some people also think that it is most convenient and cost-effective to build two or even four factories in one place at the same time.

So everyone tried their best to win this project.

As the construction schedule for this factory was very tight, everyone was worried that if they acted too late, the project would have nothing to do with them.

"I understand. As long as other places can offer preferential conditions, we in Chang'an Province can also offer them."

"We can also provide all kinds of assistance in talent recruitment and build special apartments, schools and other facilities for relevant personnel."

There is nothing much to say about the usual conditions. Liu Tianwu came here this time mainly to express his importance and sincerity.

Relevant teams from other places have also been arranged to visit Nanshan Semiconductor, or directly visit Caoyang.

Anyway, everyone means the same thing.

The chip factory with 7-nanometer process technology is definitely the most advanced in the world.

Even big cities like Shanghai and Beijing are very precious.

As for Guangzhou, there is no need to say more.

Even many other cities hope to have a chance to get a piece of the pie.

However, Cao Yang will definitely not adjust his strategic layout because of some preferential treatment. There is no need for that.

Fortunately, four factories started operations at the same time this time, otherwise it would be difficult to divide them.

If every place has its own store, then no one will have anything to say.

……

"Mr. Yin, congratulations! Your sales of etching machines have surpassed those of your peers, making you the world's largest chip etching machine manufacturer."

In a high-end private restaurant in Shanghai, He Guangming from Shanghai Microelectronics and Yin Zhiqiang from SMIC had dinner together.

Both companies are members of the China Chip Industry Equipment Alliance, and the products they produce are complementary in nature, so there is no conflict.

In addition, everyone’s headquarters is in Shanghai, so the relationship between the two sides is naturally very good.

Basically, the two of them have a private meeting every quarter, and as for some connections between companies, they are even closer.

"Congratulations! This time, Nanshan Semiconductor is going to build four state-of-the-art chip factories at once. The demand for lithography machines for packaging and testing is also very large."

"In the future, the output of your packaging and testing lithography machines should account for 50% of the global market share."

"Even ASML can't match you in this regard."

Although the production difficulty of lithography machines at the packaging and testing end is not as high as that of lithography machines in the previous process, it is not something that ordinary equipment manufacturers can handle.

Most of China’s newly invested semiconductor factories are in cooperation with Shanghai Microelectronics.

"The development of Nanshan Semiconductor has completely revitalized equipment manufacturers like us."

"In the past, no manufacturer was willing to use our equipment even though we asked for help everywhere. Now, many customers are actively coming to us to discuss equipment purchases."

"It's true that things change over time."

He Guangming thought about how he had been trying to sell equipment everywhere and had been rejected countless times.

Now is definitely the time for change.

In this regard, Yin Zhiqiang is much luckier than him.

After the establishment of SMIC, it quickly reached cooperation with Nanshan Semiconductor, and then it seemed as if it had wings, and its development speed became faster and faster.

Today, the etching machines they produce are not only sold domestically, but also exported overseas.

Even Samsung is purchasing their etching machines.

This is definitely a very difficult breakthrough in the domestic chip equipment industry.

If a country wants to have strong industrial strength, its equipment strength must also be strong.

Otherwise, you may be choked at any time and anywhere.

The ability to remotely shut down your device isn't something that only exists in novels.

As for after-sales service, you will be quoted sky-high prices, and the engineers will calculate sky-high repair costs for you as soon as they arrive. These things are endless.

"The development of Nanshan Semiconductor has indeed made a huge contribution to the domestic semiconductor industry."

"I remember that a few years ago, the amount of chips imported by China exceeded that of crude oil. It was definitely a very scary number."

"But in recent years, the amount of chip imports has continued to decline. It is estimated that in a few years, there will be no chips to import from overseas."

"Just this alone has benefited countless companies and saved China a lot of foreign exchange."

Yin Zhiqiang returned to China to start a business after studying abroad, and he has a very clear understanding of the development and changes in the chip industry.

To be honest, he himself did not expect that China's chip industry would be like this many years later.

He also did not expect that SMIC would be able to grow so quickly to its current scale.

Modu Microelectronics, which already has three factories, namely the Modu Factory, the Yangcheng Factory and the Chang'an Factory, is now considering investing in building an etching machine production factory in the imperial capital.

The total number of employees in SMIC has exceeded 5000.

This is already a rather exaggerated figure for an equipment manufacturer.

And this scale is still expanding.

This impact is actually very big.

The employment rate of college students across China, as long as their majors are related to chips, chip equipment, or chip materials, has been very high in recent years.

The salary and benefits of people in related industries are comparable to those in the financial and IT industries.

"It's true. Nanshan Semiconductor deserves credit for this."

"This time, we have taken the lead in breaking through the 7-nanometer chip process technology, which has completely established our dominant position in the industry."

"From now on, chips will no longer be a bottleneck for China."

"Even because of our own breakthrough in chip technology, related industries in various fields such as electronics and electrical appliances will also usher in a wave of explosive growth."

"I just don't know what measures the United States and other countries will take against Nanshan Semiconductor after seeing this situation."

He Guangming said a little worriedly.

Although Nanshan Semiconductor has experienced many kinds of suppression over the years, it has finally developed tenaciously, and its scale has become larger and its technology has become more advanced.

But no one knows what other means are waiting for them to deal with.

"Nanshan Semiconductor has achieved localization in all aspects, from equipment to materials. Even if the United States is very dissatisfied, I'm afraid there are not many means it can use, right?"

Yin Zhiqiang said a little uncertainly.

Having studied abroad in the United States, Yin Zhiqiang has a relatively good understanding of the American style of doing things.

So he really lacks confidence.

"Who knows, hopefully everything works out."

While He Guangming and Yin Zhiqiang were discussing this topic, the American side was indeed not idle either.

This time, they did not act alone.

Because the products of Nanshan-related companies have long been unable to be sold in the American market.

So this time they directly joined forces with Europe, Japan and Korea, and everyone announced almost on the same day that they would launch an anti-dumping investigation on Nanshan Semiconductor.

Therefore, semiconductor components exported by Nanshan Semiconductor itself or exported to overseas through agents are included in the scope of the anti-dumping investigation.

Even products equipped with Nanshan Semiconductor may become the subject of investigation.

It is really hard to guess how much impact this incident will have on the development of Nanshan Semiconductor.

Nanshan Semiconductor also attaches great importance to this.

"Boss Cao, America has finally revealed its true intentions. We have no more tricks to use."

"Our products are not even sold directly in the American market, yet they still launched an anti-dumping investigation against us."

“This is totally disgusting.”

Zhang Jing's impression of America has deteriorated rapidly in recent years.

As a university professor, he once studied in the United States, so he has a special liking for the United States.

But over the years, all the goodwill has been exhausted.

All that is left is dissatisfaction and hatred.

"Although our products are not sold directly in America, if they do this, it will have some impact on us in Europe."

"The most important thing is that we are afraid that some places will arbitrarily expand the scope of the investigation and include all products that use our chips."

After Cao Yang said this, Zhang Jing couldn't help but refute: "The products that we sell most in Europe are those of Nanshan Automotive Group and Honor Technology."

"The prices of these companies' products are not cheap at all. They are even much more expensive than many similar local products."

"If this can be linked to the anti-dumping investigation, it would be speechless."

What Zhang Jing said was naturally true.

But sometimes, not everyone will reason with you.

"Let the Ministry of Justice analyze this carefully first to see how big the final impact will be."

"If someone wants to attack us, we have to find a way to create trouble to make them afraid."

Simply retreating will definitely not solve the problem.

This time, Cao Yang didn't intend to back down.

(End of this chapter)