Rebirth of Hong Kong Island, leading the technology war

Chapter 154 Liang Mengfu, the semiconductor tycoon in a tough battle
The next day, we went to Shanghai, Putong District, and Zhangjiang High-tech Park.

The largest office building in the park belongs to Huaxin International.

This company is the largest wafer research and manufacturing company in mainland China.

Huaxin International is very large, with about 40,000 to 50,000 employees nationwide, including R&D and manufacturing employees. However, the office building seemed a bit deserted at this time.

In fact, this is normal. It is already 6:30 in the afternoon, time to get off work, and most of the employees have left.

Actually, this is a bit abnormal.

In China, companies like Huaxin International are extremely busy and have to work overtime almost every day. Not to mention 996, even 007 is possible when they are really working on the final projects.

So now Huaxin International obviously has problems, either the order volume is insufficient, or there are problems in production and R&D.

What's worse is the management chaos.

The situation of Huaxin International is more complicated. There are various factors involved, but the most important one is the problem of manufacturing materials.

Since the beacon country on the other side of the ocean took action, China has stepped up its review of semiconductor materials, so that many companies cannot get the best and highest quality materials.

Although Huaxin International was originally a major customer, it was still affected because the Lighthouse Country suspected that Huaxin International was helping Huayao manufacture chips.

At this time, the first laboratory in the main office building.

A person is sitting in front of the screen, staring at a drawing.

Those who know the business know that it is a photoelectric scan of a chip, which looks very precise and of a very high level.

This man is about fifty years old, with short hair, and looks very energetic.

He is Dr. Liang Mengfu, who is very famous in the international semiconductor industry.

Liang Mengfu is from Taiwan Province. In his early years, he was a capable and R&D backbone of TSMC.

It is no exaggeration to say that TSMC’s current achievements and excellent wafer chip process technology are inseparable from the contribution of Liang Mengfu.

Liang Mengfu is an out-and-out science and engineering guy with a rather introverted personality. He doesn't care about anything except technology, so he suffers from interpersonal relationships.

As a result, Liang Mengfu left TSMC and went to Samsang Semiconductor, helping the little Koreans to bring their process technology to a certain level.

Now Liang Mengfu has arrived at Huaxin International.

After a few years, Liang Mengfu had figured out the ropes here, and when he was preparing to show his skills, he suddenly ran into big trouble.

High-end photoresist and high-purity hydrogen chloride are almost out of stock!
Although Huaxin International can still buy some of the necessary materials from middlemen and second-hand dealers, the quantity is small and the price is ridiculously high, three to five times the usual price.

The manufacturing cost is too high.

There was no other way, so Liang Mengfu had to put the manufacturing project aside temporarily and concentrate on theoretical research.

At this time, the door opened and two people walked in.

It was a man and a woman.

The man's name is Dong Hui, and he is one of the senior executives of Huaxin International.

Dong Hui and Liang Mengfu are very close and have a very good relationship.

The woman was very young and her name was Wang Yuling.

Wang Yuling’s identity is rather special. She is not a member of Huaxin International, but she has an official background.

To be precise, Wang Yuling is a civil servant of the National Semiconductor Association.

Two people came in, and Liang Mengfu was still staring at the screen, motionless and very focused, obviously not noticing anyone coming in.

Dong Hui smiled and said to Wang Yuling: "See? This is a technology fanatic who doesn't care about anything else."

Wang Yuling smiled, obviously not surprised, as she had heard about Liang Mengfu's style a long time ago.

As the two were talking, Liang Mengfu realized that someone had come in.

Dong Hui introduced Wang Yuling to Liang Mengfu.

Liang Mengfu was greeting Wang Yuling, but his face was full of doubts.

Obviously, Liang Mengfu didn't understand what the people from the National Semiconductor Association were doing here?
This is Liang Mengfu's personality. He doesn't want to contact anyone except those related to his work and life.

Dong Hui smiled and said, "Lao Liang, let's go to the reception room and chat for a while."

Liang Mengfu was stunned: "What are you talking about?"

Dong Hui followed Liang Mengfu and said, "This is a very important matter. Let's sit down and talk. You will definitely gain something."

Liang Mengfu had no choice but to follow him.

The three of them came to the reception room.

Dong Hui called his assistant and got three bottles of mineral water.

Liang Mengfu looked at Dong Hui, then at Wang Yuling, waiting for them to speak.

Dong Hui said, "Lao Liang, our photoresist reserves have reached the bottom, right?"

Liang Mengfu sighed: "Yes, we haven't bought new batches for a long time, and now we can't even maintain production."

Wang Yuling asked: "Mr. Liang, are you currently conducting trial production of 14-nanometer chips?"

Liang Mengfu nodded: "We had made great progress and the yield rate was well controlled, but suddenly there was no photoresist to use."

"I heard that you have contacted several domestic manufacturers of photoresist. Is it effective?"

"No, although their photoresist has made great progress, it is still a long way from being used in 14-nanometer chips. It can be used in 28-nanometer chips."

After saying that, Liang Mengfu sighed again.

Dong Hui said to Wang Yuling: "It's good enough to maintain the production of 28 nanometers."

Liang Mengfu shook his head: "But if this is the case, the chip manufacturing process will not be able to move forward."

Dong Hui was speechless for a moment. Everyone knew this.

Currently, Huaxin International's main business is 28nm chip foundry, but it also has a small part of 14nm business.

If things develop normally, Huaxin Technology's 14nm business capabilities will advance rapidly, and it will be considered to have touched the door to advanced process chip manufacturing.

Liang Mengfu is a very enterprising scientific researcher. His goal is to mass-produce 7-nanometer and even the most advanced 5-nanometer chips, and he has also developed a detailed promotion plan.

But now the plan has been forced to be terminated, which makes Liang Mengfu anxious and unable to sleep at night.

Wang Yuling asked: "Didn't Mr. Jiang find a way to solve this problem?"

"Mr. Jiang..."

Dong Hui hesitated for a moment, looked at Liang Mengfu, and then said, "Boss Jiang did say that we should use the relationship with Daowan to communicate with Xiaorizi. Maybe we can lift the blockade. At worst, we can secretly get some goods over."

When mentioning "General Manager Jiang", Liang Mengfu showed some displeasure.

The so-called General Jiang is actually Jiang Shunyi.

Jiang Shunyi and Liang Mengfu are from the same hometown and have both served as senior executives at TSMC.

However, the two have always been at odds with each other and dislike each other. This is no secret and almost the entire Chinese semiconductor community knows it.

A few months ago, Jiang Shunyi also came to work at Huaxin International, and he was a senior leader, which just happened to suppress Liang Mengfu.

This made Liang Mengfu very unhappy.

Fortunately, Liang Mengfu was still rational. He devoted himself to scientific research and tried his best not to conflict with Jiang Shunyi.

Jiang Shunyi is different from Liang Mengfu. He is a management talent with strong communication skills. He does have many connections to connect with Xiao Rizi.

But two months have passed and Jiang Shunyi has still done nothing. He has not been able to solve the problem of semiconductor material supply. It is not known whether he is unable to do so or he simply does not want to take care of this matter.

Wang Yuling asked: "Is Mr. Jiang here?"

Dong Hui replied: "Mr. Jiang has gone home, so he is not working overtime today."

Liang Mengfu looked disapproving.

It’s not that Jiang Shunyi didn’t work overtime today, but that he didn’t work overtime at all and came to work relatively late every day.

Wang Yuling said: "It's like this. I can provide samples of photoresist. I hope you can test it to see if it meets your requirements."

Dong Hui and Liang Mengfu looked at each other, obviously surprised.

Liang Mengfu couldn't help asking, "Um... Director Wang, where is this photoresist produced?" Wang Yuling smiled and said, "It's a domestic company. You can test it first to see how it works. If it really meets the standards, we can also help you find a match."

Liang Mengfu was a little disappointed. He originally thought that this photoresist was made by a foreign chemical company.

As we all know, the manufacturers that can produce high-end photoresists are basically all in China.

There are also some companies in Germany that can do it, but the output is very small and not widely used.

In other words, if it is a German manufacturer, it is still possible to produce qualified high-end photoresist.

But those produced domestically basically cannot meet the requirements.

At least that is the case for now.

Dong Hui said, "Director Wang, that's fine, let's give it a try."

As he spoke, Dong Hui still secretly signaled to Liang Mengfu.

What I mean is that you should stop being picky. If someone offers to help you, that's already very sincere.

Liang Mengfu was certainly no fool and he also thanked Wang Yuling.

Wang Yuling nodded: "Then we will deliver the things over tomorrow. Remember to arrange for someone to receive them."

"Okay, no problem, thank you Director Wang."

Dong Hui wanted to invite Master Wang Yuling to dinner, but Wang Yuling refused and insisted on leaving.

Watching Wang Yuling leave, Liang Mengfu said, "Director Wang looks good and has a very upright style."

Dong Hui nodded and asked, "Lao Liang, do you think their photoresist is reliable?"

Liang Mengfu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I also hope it's reliable, but I don't think it's likely."

Dong Hui patted Liang Mengfu on the shoulder and said, "Anyway, let's test it first to see the result. Just in case there is a surprise."

What can Liang Mengfu say?

Since the samples have been sent, let’s test them.

It's just a waste of some time and you won't lose any meat.

Dong Hui looked worried and said, "If President Jiang knew about this, he might have some opinions."

Liang Mengfu curled his lips, still looking disapproving.

The next morning, in the high-level meeting room of Huaxin International.

This is the company's routine weekly meeting, and almost all of Huaxin International's executives are present.

Now Huaxin International is in big trouble, so the executives are not particularly enthusiastic.

But since it was a meeting, we talked about some daily management issues.

The formal topic has been discussed.

Jiang Shunyi asked Dong Hui: "By the way, President Dong, I heard that someone from the National Semiconductor Association came to see us yesterday?"

Dong Hui nodded: "Yes, that's right."

"What are they here for? To give instructions?"

Dong Hui shook his head: "That's not the case. I'm here to help."

"…Help? What help?"

"That Section Chief Wang said that he could provide some samples of photoresist so that we can test them and see if they meet the requirements."

Jiang Shunyi frowned when he heard this: "Where can they get photoresist from? Domestic manufacturers?"

"Yes, Section Chief Wang said it was done by a domestic company."

Jiang Shunyi sneered: "How can it possibly meet the requirements? The people of the National Semiconductor Association are too naive, right? Do they think that domestic manufacturers can handle this kind of high-end photoresist?"

The other executives looked at each other.

Jiang Shunyi then realized that he had said too much, so he had to say, "Let's adjourn the meeting first, President Dong, come to my office and let's have a discussion."

Dong Hui nodded and glanced at Liang Mengfu.

Needless to say, Jiang Shunyi called Dong Hui over to complain and scold him.

It's difficult for Dong Hui, he is caught between two odds.

Liang Mengfu, on the other hand, got a peaceful life.

A moment later, someone contacted Liang Mengfu and said that someone outside had delivered a sample.

It looks like the photoresist samples have arrived.

Liang Mengfu brought two researchers to the door and received the photoresist sample.

To their surprise, the number of samples sent was quite large, weighing a full ten kilograms.

There were no markings on the jars containing the samples.

One of the staff members, Zhang Hua, asked: "Where is this made? Is it reliable?"

Liang Mengfu said: "No matter whether it is reliable or not, let's test it first."

Soon, they carried the jars containing the samples to the laboratory.

The equipment here is very complete and can test the various properties of photoresist, including purity, volatility, annuality, etc.

Liang Mengfu did not have to do the testing himself, as the R&D staff had already mastered it.

They opened the can and looked at the photoresist inside.

Zhang Hua exclaimed: "Wow! It looks good! It really looks like that!"

Liang Mengfu also leaned over to take a look and couldn't help but widen his eyes.

They have seen countless photoresists and are very familiar with the external appearance of photoresists of different qualities.

The photoresist in this jar can be roughly determined by its color and transparency.

Liang Mengfu felt that the sample in the jar looked really good, there was something to it.

But Liang Mengfu also felt that he should not have too much hope.

As the saying goes, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

Liang Mengfu said: "Let's not discuss anything else for now, let's get the results quickly."

Zhang Hua and others nodded and began to test the photoresist according to the steps.

Liang Mengfu began to feel a little uneasy.

If these samples are really qualified, then the problem will be solved and the chip manufacturing process can continue to move forward.

But the possibility is too low.

Although what Jiang Shunyi said just now was harsh, it was also true.

At present, domestic chemical companies are unable to produce high-end photoresists.

It takes at least four or five years of hard work to create a collaborative product.

At this time, Liang Mengfu's cell phone rang.

It was Dong Hui who called.

"Hey, Lao Liang, come to the meeting room on the first floor."

Liang Mengfu asked: "What's the matter?"

"Mr. Jiang wants to talk to us."

Liang Mengfu's heart sank. He didn't know what Jiang Shunyi wanted to talk about. Was he trying to find trouble?

"Okay, I'll be there right away."

(End of this chapter)