Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 400 No, this can be sold?
When John Morgan Sr. said he had sold everything, people started to have doubts. They wondered if he was being too generous by asking them to make the trade.

When Bessant said that Big T had personally told the Japanese negotiators, everyone was stunned.

Bessant didn't speak up for John Morgan Sr. for no reason. Let's put it this way: even if John Morgan Sr. really was flirting with Yan Jing and something was going on, everyone here who had ever worked on Wall Street would have to stand up and say a few words in his defense.

This is the influence of the Morgan family.

But now, that's no longer necessary; the best scapegoat has already appeared.

Since it was Big T's instruction, then everything is fine.

It is already against diplomatic norms for the president to show up at the negotiation site without prior notice, and yet you still make such a promise.

As for suspecting the president of having illicit relations, that's unacceptable; that would be utterly treasonous.

"Should it be"

Two weeks ago, Big T insisted on going to Alaska to meet with the Emperor, which was already enough to draw criticism.

This latest stunt, offering to sell technology to China, is so obvious it's easy to speculate wildly.

John Morgan Sr., a core member of the Morgan family with impeccable political credentials and a life-and-death commitment to the nation, would never sell so much technology to China as if it were free without your approval.

Then there's only one possibility: could the president have some unknown relationship with Yanjing?

Such an idea was nipped in the bud as soon as it appeared.

“em
"Well said! That's absolutely right! They didn't win! We didn't lose either!" Big T stopped dwelling on the topic. "Alright, Peter, what other bargaining chips do our allies have to offer?"
"So that we can conduct business with China."

Peter, whose real name is Navarro, was a presidential advisor specifically responsible for negotiations with China, much like John Morgan Sr.

Peter thought for a moment and said, "NIL lithography."

Big T definitely wouldn't understand.

None of the White House bureaucrats present could understand it, except for Musk.

"Currently, the world's most advanced EUV lithography machines are monopolized by ASML of the Netherlands, and we strictly control them through the Wassenaar Arrangement to prevent them from obtaining them."

Since falling behind in the EUV lithography route, Japan has been trying to find another way, investing heavily in NIL technology to bypass the limitations of the EUV route and produce equally advanced chips.

This technology is advanced enough; Canon has invested over 15 years in it. We can absolutely use this technology as a trade.

"You mean, we should have the Japanese give this technology to China?" Big T asked.

Musk thought to himself, "No, are you all crazy? They were hesitant about 7nm before, and now Canon's 5nm, with a technology roadmap of over 15 years and a completely different technology roadmap from EUV lithography, can such technology really be put on the trading table?"
This is a bit too extreme, Musk thinks, he feels like he's the only normal person in the entire White House.

“It’s not about giving, it’s about loosening the reins,” Navarro corrected. “The development of this technology would have been impossible without our high-precision components and software support.”

Its export also requires our approval.

We can think of it as a valve, a valve that we can tighten at any time.

We allow Japan to export NIL technology and equipment to China in exchange for all of their latest lunar exploration data and their need for China's assistance in building a base on the moon.

This is a perfect deal.

Navarro's eyes gleamed: "We're using a technology we control that hasn't even been proven yet to buy us a time advantage."

At the same time, this also serves as a warning to the Japanese, making them understand who truly controls their technological development.

This is a classic case of killing two birds with one stone, Mr. President.

Musk quickly jumped in to slam on the brakes: "Mr. Navarro, do you know how many nanometers Canon's NIL is?"

Navarro stated matter-of-factly, "For 5nm, Canon will begin small-scale shipments to manufacturers in 2023, and some manufacturers are currently in trial production."

Musk said, "That's right, 5nm. We were arguing about whether Nikon's 7nm lithography machines should be deregulated, and now you're telling me that 5nm can be deregulated too."

We'll gain a lunar base, but we might lose our most important technological advantage on Earth because of it!

Musk felt the world had gone mad and wondered if he had made the wrong choice to work with these people.

Musk's eyes were filled with worry: "We can't do that, the risk is too great. We have to find something else to trade, or I would rather use a dumber but safer method and explore step by step ourselves. Trading core technologies is like drinking poison to quench thirst."

Navarro waved his hand: "Mr. Musk, I need to say that I know more about NIL than you do. Its full name is nanoimprint lithography."

Mr. President, and colleagues, I am a staunch American, and please allow me to explain in detail why I believe this technology can be used for trading.

Imagine the stamps we played with as children. We would dip the stamp in ink and press it firmly onto the paper, leaving a clear pattern.

The principle of nanoimprint lithography is very similar, but its precision reaches the nanometer level.

The process involves creating a template, applying a resist, stamping, curing, and demolding. The whole process is like stamping, using a 1:1 scale template with circuit patterns to directly contact and press onto the resin of the wafer for physical replication.

Because it does not require a high-power light source, its energy consumption is significantly reduced compared to EUV, with Canon claiming that it can reduce energy consumption by 90%.

Moreover, its structure is much simpler than that of traditional ASML lithography machines, and its equipment cost is only a quarter or even less of that of ASML lithography machines.

Similarly, every advantage has its disadvantages.

First of all, it is true that it is 5nm, but because it is a new product, it cannot be used to manufacture logic chips such as CPUs and GPUs, which have the most complex structures and are most sensitive to defect rates.

It can currently only be used in the manufacture of 3D NAND flash memory chips.

Because the circuit patterns of flash memory chips have a high degree of repeatability and regularity, they have a relatively high tolerance for defects.

SK Hynix is ​​Canon's manufacturing partner.

This means that such 5nm lithography technology will not pose a threat to our artificial intelligence strategy.

Secondly, they can only use it to make 3D flash memory chips. Even if they succeed, it will affect Korea's memory chip industry, but our CPU and GPU businesses will not be affected.

Even if China were to acquire this technology, it would face limitations in terms of materials. These limitations would apply to everything from specialized resins and photoresists to hard, wear-resistant templates that maintain extremely high precision. However, this technology is indeed a 5nm chip technology and has the potential to manufacture logic chips like CPUs and GPUs using this lithography technique. Canon has even drawn up a clear technology roadmap towards 2nm and even more advanced nodes.

Its value is beyond doubt, and its limitations are equally beyond doubt.

Potential is always just potential. Canon delivered the prototype in 2023, but it has not yet entered mass production. Its potential remains on paper and has become a trap we have set for China.

Let them pour all their energy, money, and resources into this bottomless pit.

Navarro concluded, "This is a technological trap that I carefully selected specifically for China!"
We'll use a technology that has no practical significance to exchange for the time we need, and in return, for a large T lunar base on the moon!

Moreover, we only provided half of it; we only provided the NIL lithography technology, not the supporting materials. We still had to buy the supporting materials from Japanese companies, and the shareholders behind these Japanese companies all came from America.

They will never, ever catch up with us!

When Big T heard about the lunar base named after him, he immediately became excited.

There are Kennedy Space Center and Lyndon Johnson Space Center on Earth, so why isn't there a space center named after me?
Now we have it! And it's on the moon!

Could other presidents have done this?

"Peter! Well done, great job! I entrust you with the entire responsibility of this negotiation. Go to Yanjing with old John Morgan and try to squeeze as much as possible out of him!" Big T's smile was already beaming, his hands clenched into fists, almost as if he was about to sing "Young man, I was once in your shoes."

Musk knew it was all over, completely over. When Navarro's Big T lunar base came out, nothing he said would matter; it would only increase Big T's discontent out of thin air.

“Mr. President, I think…” Musk wanted to say something more.

Big T waved his hand: "Elon, you're welcome. We're buying you time! I want to see our lunar base next year! Even if it's not that big or that luxurious, we have to have it!"

Musk immediately shut up, feeling utterly hopeless. What the hell was the difference between this and the meetings he had with Melroy and his gang? It was even worse than those meetings with Melroy and his gang.

Navarro nodded and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely fight for the most rights and interests, and even get the Chinese to hand over all the data to us."

"That's roughly it, Professor. The White House has expressed its willingness to use Canon's NIL technology in exchange for assistance in building a base at the lunar north pole," John Morgan Sr. told Lin Ran over the phone beforehand.

Lin Ran was dumbfounded. "I thought it was just a useless thing, but it turns out you guys can sell chicken legs too: Does the Japanese know about this?"

John Morgan asked, puzzled, "What do they need to know?"

Lin Ran said, "That's true, it's been too long since I worked at the White House."

This time, it was John Morgan's turn to be dumbfounded: "No, Professor, when did you ever work in the White House?"

Lin Ran said, "That's not important. What's important is how the White House would do that."

John Morgan Sr. warned, "Professor, the White House has ulterior motives. I've asked people in Japan about this technology, and there are tons of problems. It's basically a half-finished product, something Canon uses to boast about its stock price. They haven't been able to solve a lot of problems yet!"
Moreover, the White House only sold half of it.

John Morgan was afraid that Lin Ran would be fooled and then take his anger out on him and his son, affecting the cooperation between General Aerospace and Apollo Technology.

"Understood, don't worry, I'll think it over carefully, thank you!" Lin Ran said.

After speaking with John Morgan Sr., he immediately called Song Nanping over.

The fact that Song Nanping has been in this position for so long shows that his reliability has been fully verified.

After Lin Ran explained the situation to Song Nanping, he said earnestly, "We absolutely must negotiate this deal; we want this!"

Song Nanping asked, "Okay, Professor, I have another question. Didn't John Morgan remind us that this technology has flaws, and they don't sell the supporting materials?"

I will return to Yanjing to report and clarify the matter.

Lin Ran grinned and said, "That's right, it definitely has a lot of problems, and problems that even Canon itself can't solve."

I have always paid attention to various technological approaches. Canon has been continuously investing in this area for 21 years, not just over ten years. They started as early as 2004, making it a long-term strategic investment that has lasted for more than 20 years.

It is Canon's only hope to overtake its competitors in the field of lithography machines.

As an investor, Canon certainly understands its problems better than we do. The fact that Canon continues to invest despite knowing about the problems indicates that its potential and its problems are aligned.

But for us, the technology itself has immense value.

The essence of nanoimprint lithography is not just a chip manufacturing technology, but also a low-cost, high-efficiency nanoscale pattern replication platform technology.

Any field that requires the precise and large-scale fabrication of micro or nanoscale structures on large-area substrates represents a potential application scenario for NIL technology.

By etching a large number of nanoantennas on a flat surface, it is possible to create meta-lenses that are thinner than paper but have far superior functionality to traditional glass lenses.

Simply put, it can greatly reduce and simplify camera lens modules, eliminating the protruding hump on mobile phone cameras, and making AR/VR glasses as thin and light as ordinary glasses.

Furthermore, it can greatly increase the storage density of hard drives, theoretically by 7 to 10 times.

NIL is currently the only technology that promises to enable next-generation hard drives at a sufficiently low cost.

Most importantly, this technology allows us to glimpse the secrets of high-end optical lenses, bypassing current limitations and heading directly into the future.

The core technology of today's high-end optical lenses, whether they are top-of-the-line camera lenses from Zeiss, Leica, or Canon, or those priceless mirrors made by Zeiss in EUV lithography machines, lies in how to manufacture special glass with extremely high optical purity and precise refractive index, how to polish these materials into perfect curved surfaces with curvature errors at the nanometer or even picometer level, and how to coat the lens surface with dozens of layers of anti-reflective or reflective coatings, each with precisely controlled thickness.

NIL technology is the key to the next generation of optical elements: metalenses.

Lao Song, as we discussed before, NIL technology can manufacture hundreds of millions of nanoscale antenna structures on a planar substrate at a low cost through imprinting.

These structures can achieve more powerful and complex light field manipulation capabilities than traditional curved lenses through diffraction and interference.

Have you forgotten what I do?
You can view the construction of a planar metalens as solving an instruction matrix, a classic multi-objective, multi-parameter optimization problem.

In the past, I couldn't grind lenses by hand, but now it's like solving an equation.

Lin Ran left it unsaid, deliberately leaving it blank. Did the mathematics master need to say more?

Song Nanping understood: "The Americans have gone mad! Are there any humans left in the White House? Are there any normal people left? They can sell this?"

(End of this chapter)