The Grandmother in the Siheyuan

Chapter 455 Chip Printing
"Old Liu, this financial crisis is really scary right now," Sha Zhu asked fearfully. "Our family's money is all in the bank. Will it all be lost?"

Liu Hua chuckled and asked curiously, "Shazhu, how much money do you have in the bank?"

After hesitating for a minute or two, Sha Zhu finally held up his fingers and gestured: "Seven figures."

"Over a million." Liu Hua said in surprise, "I didn't expect your private kitchen and hot pot restaurant to be so profitable, earning seven figures like this."

"Of all the people I know, you know the most," Sha Zhu said seriously. "Give me a definite answer: will I lose all my money if I put it in the bank?"

"How could money sitting in the bank be lost?" Liu Hua countered. "Have you bought bonds? Have you invested in stocks?"

Sha Zhu shook his head, and Liu Hua clapped his hands: "That's it, the money is lying quietly in the account earning interest, how could it be lost?"

"Isn't this the financial crisis? I don't know anything about it, so I wanted to ask you for some information."

"First of all, the financial storm created by the US can't directly affect our mainland," Liu Hua said with a smile. "Secondly, even if it does have an impact, they are just manipulating the exchange rate to harvest our dollar reserves. The money in your bank account won't disappear, but it might become worthless."

"What a mess!" Sha Zhu said angrily. "They can't even enjoy a normal life. They're always stirring up trouble. The Americans are rotten to the core, with sores on their heads and pus oozing from their feet."

“You’re absolutely right. He’s utterly wicked. If he weren’t wicked, he wouldn’t be so powerful now,” Liu Hua said with a smile. “But this isn’t the right path, and it’s destined not to last.”

"Then my money should be fine if it's in the bank."

Liu Hua nodded: "You have to believe one thing, that is, this financial crisis initiated by the big US will definitely be defeated by us in the end. Maybe the country will suffer losses, but you will definitely not suffer losses. Just relax. I have more than a hundred times more money in the bank than you do, and I'm not worried. Why are you worried?"

"If you put it that way, then I'm relieved." Sha Zhu smiled. "My Jianguo has been very busy lately, going to Tangshan on business trips every few days, saying he's doing things for you. But he's a government official, so why is he always doing things for you personally?"

"What are you worried about if I'm doing things for you?" Liu Hua retorted. "Would I corrupt your son, Jianguo?"

Sha Zhu shook his head: "It's not that he's corrupted me, I'm just afraid that if he keeps doing favors for you, he'll neglect his official duties, which will affect his future."

"The government has approved a sum of money for me to build a comprehensive steel plant." Liu Hua said with a smile, "I have a lot of things to do here, so I asked the government to send someone to help me with some things. I've watched your son Jianguo grow up since he was a child, so the government simply sent him to help me with errands. If he can handle this matter well in the next two years, his future will be absolutely bright. I guarantee it to you."

"If that's how you put it, then I have no objection."

The next day, Liu Hua went to the university laboratory. The previous night, a student had called him and told him that he absolutely had to come over the next day, saying that there was a surprise for him.

Liu Hai was quite puzzled. What was the surprise? The large 3D metal printer had been built several months ago and had been towed away by Ma Shan.

There aren't any important research projects in the lab right now; the students are left to do their own research and prepare their graduation theses. Logically, there shouldn't be any technological breakthroughs.

"Teacher, you've finally arrived!" the senior student in the lab said happily. "Actually, I wanted to invite you over last night, but it was too late, so I could only call to let you know."

"Didn't you say you were going to give me a big surprise? What surprise?" The student took out a small box from the drawer next to him, inside which was a chip.

"What kind of chip is this?" Liu Hua asked curiously. "Is your next research direction chip design? If you are interested in this, I will do my best to support you."

The eldest brother shook his head: "I don't know much about computer chips either."

"So what's the meaning of this chip?"

The senior brother smiled and said, "This chip has a very simple function and nothing special. The only thing that will make you happy is that this computer chip was made by us using a 3D printer."

"You guys made a 3D chip printer? Did you succeed?" Liu Hua grabbed his senior brother: "Answer me again, did you really succeed?"

The senior brother nodded: "It was indeed a success, but the processing level is not very high yet. This chip is one micrometer in size, which is the same level as the 386 chip from a few years ago."

Liu Hua waved his hand: "Whether it's one micrometer or three hundred and fifty nanometers doesn't matter. What matters is that we've achieved a breakthrough from zero to one, and that's the biggest victory."

Liu Hua was so happy he was almost at a loss for words. He looked around and said, "Take me to see that printer."

In the center of the laboratory, on the table, sat a machine covered with a silk cloth; it was about the size of an ordinary computer case.

"Print it out for me to see."

The senior student operated the computer for a while, and then the printer started working. The senior student smiled and said, "Teacher, this printer is still relatively slow. It takes about four hours for a 1-micron-level chip to work."

Liu Hua nodded: "Four hours or five hours is fine, I can wait. It's just that this machine is a little small. How many chips can it print at a time?"

"Right now, this machine can only print a maximum of fifty chips at a time," the senior brother said cheerfully. "But we are confident that we can scale up the machine within six months and print at least a thousand chips at a time."

"That's remarkable." Liu Hua gave a thumbs up: "A thousand chips, that already has industrial application value."

"Teacher, should we apply for a patent?" the senior student asked hesitantly. "I think it's best not to apply for a patent?"

"Why do you say that?"

“We can use this as our trump card.” The senior brother explained, “You have always said that chips will become a bottleneck for the West to strangle us. Now we are in the dark while the enemy is in the light. We are secretly developing chips so that if the big US really uses chip technology to strangle us, we can deal with it calmly. If the big US finds out that we have applied for patents, it will be detrimental to us.”

Liu Hua nodded: "You've got the feel of a chief project manager. Your overall perspective on issues is quite good. There's another reason for not applying for a patent: currently, only we have this technology. No one in the world is researching it, so there's no need to apply for a patent at all, because no one will infringe on our rights."

(End of this chapter)