The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide.

Chapter 317 Tokyo Semiconductor Show
Even though Xinxin has become a player that cannot be ignored in the global chip industry chain with the help of Mphone, it took three years for its competitors to catch up with Honghu, Yanque and A series chips in mobile chips.

In IDC's 2006 annual chip industry analysis report, Xinxin's production capacity was second only to Intel and Samsung, making it an upstart in the chip field.

But Intel is still a presence that cannot be ignored in the industry. They have held hegemony for too long and have a huge voice and a decisive role in the entire chip industry.

If Intel can obtain a shareholding, coupled with the technical advantages of Xinxin lithography machines, it means that the war in the field of lithography machines is over. Xinxin lithography machines will obtain the status that ASML deserves. With the help of Intel and Xinxin in In terms of chip manufacturing status, it has become a monopoly in the field of lithography machines in a very short period of time.

Everyone here is an industry veteran. After listening to Guan Jianying’s words, everyone quickly thought of this possibility.

From a rational point of view, when cooperating with Intel to achieve cooperation in equity relations, what could be a closer relationship than holding shares?This will undoubtedly help the new core lithography machine to take off.

Hu Zheng was obviously hesitant: "I know Intel. Once they know about the breakthroughs Xinxin has made in the field of lithography machines, they will definitely come to me as soon as possible.

They have a sense of smell as sensitive as a vulture. Lithography machines are not a big business in terms of revenue, but they are very important and critical.

I personally prefer to cooperate with Intel. We are now catching up. What we need to do is to expand our scale and influence as soon as possible and take the lead in this field.

Cooperation with Intel can help us achieve our goals as quickly as possible. "

Liang Mengsong took over: "I agree with the professor's point of view, we need to cooperate with Intel.

When launching the 40nm process in the future, it is not enough to rely on new cores to capture advanced production capacity. We need support from Intel. "

In fact, everyone has similar opinions, but I don’t know if Zhou Xin will agree, because the vast majority of the shares of Xinxin Lithography Machine are in Zhou Xin’s hands.

Zhou Xin actually had an idea for a long time: "I agree with everyone's point of view. Let's attend the Neon Semiconductor Exhibition first. We have to build our reputation first."

After the celebration, Zhou Xin said to Hu Zhengming alone: ​​"Professor, I accept investment from Intel, but I have to control the new core lithography machine in my own hands."

What Zhou Xin means is that if Intel wants to invest in Xinxin, he will have to re-process the equity structure and adopt an A/B share structure. The voting rights of the equity acquired by Intel will be restricted.

Hu Zhengming said: "Intel should be willing. They are more motivated by interests and rarely interfere with the operation of the company.

If you agree, I will go to mediate with Intel.

We have been cooperating well with Intel over the years. Whether it is Xiaomi computers or the new core itself, it has brought a lot of benefits to Intel.

They won't refuse such a small thing.

It’s just that Intel may prefer that Matrix launch smartphones equipped with Intel chips. "

Matrix has not released new machines in the past. Even though the chip technology has advanced to 65nm, Matrix remains unmoved.

On the contrary, Apple, a brand of Matrix, has released new phones at the rate of one Aphone every year since 2004.

Yes, the iPhone was bought by Nokia from Cisco, so Apple had to change the name of their phone to Aphone.

Jobs originally wanted to buy the name iPhone from Nokia just like Zhou Xin bought the Matrix brand from Motorola.

Because he thinks the name iPhone is very sexy, and i means imagination and the Internet, but Nokia rejected the offer without even listening to it.

Nokia's idea is that even if the brand is ruined in its hands, it does not want to sell it to its main competitor.

Zhou Xin's companies are no longer small players for Nokia, but competitors that cannot be ignored, seriously affecting Nokia's brand interests.

In the past two years, with the development of the chip industry, after Yanque and Honghu fired their first shots, various mobile phone brands began to promote smartphones in large quantities, and Nokia's position was seriously affected.

As mentioned before, Chinese Internet companies like to go overseas. Since last year, taking advantage of the dividends from Honghu and Yanque chips, Chinese mobile phone companies have also begun to go overseas. Nokia, which took advantage of its low price advantage, has been losing ground in the global market.

Nokia's smartphones often start at [-] to [-] euros, while most of China's smartphones cost around [-] euros, and with the support of Android system, they have more applications than Nokia, and the user experience is better than Nokia's.

Mphone can still have a sufficient market by leveraging its brand advantages and cognitive advantages. Old kings like Nokia have no advantages at all in new fields, and consumers simply don't pay for it.

In just two years, Nokia's global shipments dropped by two-thirds from 2006 million units, and are expected to not exceed 1 million units in 2000. Some pessimistic reports from Wall Street analysts even believe that this number will not exceed [-] million units.

The craze of mobile Internet has pushed Nokia off the throne.

"Nokia, the king of the feature phone era, has been in decline since the new era. From global shipments of 4 million units to about 1 million units this year, Newman personally kicked off the smartphone era, making Nokia a sacrifice of the new era. ."

The grievances are so deep that Apple has no chance of buying the iPhone brand name from Nokia.

Neon, Tokyo, Ariake Convention and Exhibition Center, its English name is Big Sight, it should be called Daming obviously, but I don’t know why it should be translated as Ariake.

It was built in 96. Not long after it was built, Neon's Semiconductor Exhibition was moved here from its original venue. This is also Neon's most famous exhibition venue. More than 50 people attend Neon's largest comic exhibition Comic every year. The Market is also held here.

Xinxin communicated with the organizer before participating in the Neon Semiconductor Exhibition, claiming that they would bring a new lithography machine technology, which will be an innovation in the past lithography machine technology and will push the chip manufacturing process into a new field. , breaking the 65nm curse that has plagued the industry for more than a year.

Xinxin is still very reputable in the industry, unlike Hengchi Automobile and Faraday Future, which have gone bankrupt. Therefore, the exhibition organizer gave Xinxin the opportunity to give a speech and introduction at the opening ceremony.

They were ranked third, and after Neon Prime Minister and Neon Semiconductor Equipment Association President Azuma Tetsuro gave a speech, it was Xinxin's turn.

This exhibition is organized by the Neon Branch of the International Semiconductor Association, and is specifically hosted by Neon's Semiconductor Equipment Association.

"Lin Jun, the last time we met was probably six years ago, when you just went to Xinxin, and I was deeply impressed.

You brought Mr. Zhou to Neon to purchase lithography machine technology. At that time, I helped you introduce the vice president of Nikon lithography machine. Later, after you went to China, we were separated for many years and could only communicate by email. "

They were attending the Neon Semiconductor Exhibition and it was impossible to come on the same day. They came about a week in advance, so Tetsuro Toshi invited Lin Benjian to dinner at a top restaurant in Ginza.

Tetsuro Higashikata is a sideline figure who comes from a famous family. His father is a Chinese historian and his mother is from the Shimadzu family, which was the ruling family in the Satsuma area from the Kamakura period to the Edo period.He is not only the president of the Neon Semiconductor Equipment Association, but also the chairman of the board of directors of the International Semiconductor Association and the chairman of Tokyo Electronics.

Previously, Zhou Xin communicated with Hu Zhengming and wanted to acquire Neon's Tokyo Electric Company, which is also a subsidiary of Tokyo Electronics, through China's state-owned capital.

The reason why the acquisition failed was that Tetsuro Toshiro played a key role in it. It was he who blocked the acquisition.

Dong Zhelang did not study semiconductors. He studied philosophy and economic history. He was not hostile to China, but from the perspective of industrial development. He did not want to cultivate another monster and find a leader like Goryeo for Neon's semiconductor industry. The monster comes out.

Lin Benjian said: "I still remember that Newman knew that I was coming to Tokyo to attend the Semiconductor Exhibition, and he specifically asked me to say hello to you on his behalf."

Dong Zhelang said with a smile: "Although I have only met Newman once, he is indeed an amazing person.

He has not made any waves anymore, but you can often see him in various media. Even when making offline payments on the streets of Tokyo, when I see the NewPay logo, I will think of Newman.

Mr. Lin, help me convey my gratitude to Mr. Zhou. With the speed of semiconductor development in China, I will have to go to China sooner or later. I look forward to having a drink with Mr. Zhou then. "

Tetsuro Higashi is very powerful in Neon, and his influence is definitely not limited to the semiconductor field. He will later serve as a director of 711 Holdings (which owns [-] and Ito-Yokado), Nomura Holdings and Ube Industries.

Lin Benjian nodded: "I must have conveyed it well.

Without your help back then, we would not have been able to get in touch with Nikon so quickly, nor would we have been able to develop in the field of photolithography machines so quickly. "

Dong Zhelang was surprised when he got the news, because the industry has always known that Xinxin is trying to take another path, which is completely different from Nikon, Canon, and ASML. Immersion lithography has been mentioned for a long time, but no one has It has been successful, but there are many technical difficulties to overcome.

When communicating within Neon's semiconductor industry, everyone said that if this matter was done by a Chinese company, they would definitely think it was impossible. However, because this company is Xinxin, Neon's company does not They don’t think Xinxin is a Chinese company, they think it is an American company in China.

Because Xinxin’s initial employees include a large number of Chinese engineers from Silicon Valley.

This time, I heard that Xinxin had achieved a technological breakthrough in the field of lithography machines and successfully advanced the process technology to 40nm. This made Dong Zhelang both frustrated and happy.

He was frustrated because China was developing too fast. His identity as a Neon man made him naturally wary. At the same time, he felt uneasy about Nikon. Xinxin had achieved a breakthrough in the field of lithography machines. Where would Nikon go from here?
I am happy because Neon and Huaguo are more complementary than competitive in the chip field. Neon sells semiconductor materials and semiconductor equipment, while Goryeo is engaged in chip production. Huaguo’s rise in the chip field is more It still affects Korea's chip industry.

Dong Zhelang smiled and said: "I only played a small role in it. Lin Jun and Xinxin were able to achieve breakthroughs because of your own efforts.

Back then, I helped you connect with Nikon. Nikon was very confident in selling its technology to you. They must have regretted it after getting the news. "

Lin Benjian said: "Nikon is still the leader in this field, and we have just gained a slight advantage."

The reason why ASML was able to quickly leave Nikon behind after realizing the 40nm process and capture 70.00% of the photolithography machine market in just two years is directly related to the collective abandonment of neon technology by European and American capital.

If European and American capital had not abandoned Nikon and given it a chance, this battle would not have been decided so quickly.

Take the EUV lithography machine as an example, which is the so-called EUV light source. This thing was first experimented by Neon. Neon successfully completed the laboratory verification of EUV lithography in 1986.

In 2001, Neon believed that EUV lithography would be the most promising technology after the 50nm technology node.

But they didn't expect that with the help of the infiltration method, the 193nm wavelength light source could be extended to 7nm, and then switched to EUV.

After Neon's lithography machine technology was abandoned by European and American capital, there was no chance of getting on board.

Dong Zhelang said: "Mr. Lin, you are too humble.

In our industry, technology is king and technical advantages are everything.

Once you prove to the participating business representatives at the exhibition the day after tomorrow that Xinxin's photolithography technology can help chips enter the 65nm era from 40nm, then the entire semiconductor industry will vote with their feet, abandoning Nikon and switching to Xinxin.

The iteration of technology will not give opportunities to those who are lagging behind, just like Newman's smartphone made Nokia abandoned by the times. "

Dong Zhelang feels sorry for Nikon, but Nikon has little relationship with him, and maintaining a good relationship with Xinxin is the best way.

Tokyo Electron's semiconductor materials still need to be sold to Xinxin.

“I have great confidence in Xinxin’s technology, and we have passed laboratory demonstrations.

New Core is now undergoing production verification. Once the production verification is passed, Newman said that the Mphone 3 to be launched later will be equipped with a 40nm process smartphone chip.

The latest generation of the same Honghu chip will also be equipped with a 40nm process. "

Inside Xinxin, the A-series chips are a little more powerful than Honghu, but the degree of power is limited.

Even because Xinxin's chip design engineers have honed their skills, the technological gap is getting smaller and smaller.

Dong Zhelang immediately became interested after hearing this. To be honest, he is not interested in technology as he comes from humanities and social sciences. He only focuses on business:
"Is Mphone3 coming? It's really exciting.

Even after so many years, Mphone2 was still rated as the most anticipated product of 2025 by Tokyo Electronics Magazine last year.

Matrix has not released a new phone for two consecutive years, and many Mphone fans have complained on Yahoo, saying that Mphone 3 is not in their lifetime.

It seems that the smartphone market will be in chaos again. "

Mphone is Neon's most popular mobile phone, even more popular than the national brand Sony.

Lin Benjian said: "Mphone3 will definitely have many differences."

(End of this chapter)