From all-round academic master to chief scientist

"China? A breakthrough in CMP polishing disc materials? How is this possible? How could they develop such a technology?"

Upon hearing the news, Dow Chemical President Jimmy Frederick frowned.

China has always been far behind them in these aspects, especially because it is restricted by their patent barriers. How can it be so easy to achieve a breakthrough in this regard?

It would be good to allow Chinese companies to survive in the cracks, but they actually made a breakthrough on this?

But the secretary nodded and said, "President, this news is true. If it wasn't important, I wouldn't be able to come to you."

Hearing what the secretary said, Jimmy Frederick asked: "What about their technology? Can they pose a threat to us?"

The secretary replied: "According to the available information, they use silicon carbide material with a thermal expansion coefficient of 0.16, which is about 10% better than our material. In addition, their material is also very hard and has a long service life. It may be 3% higher than our materials.”

Hearing these two data, Jimmy Frederick frowned even deeper.

The thermal expansion coefficient and hardness are actually better than them?

This made it even more unbelievable for him. That backward country not only broke through their monopoly, but even did it better than them?

However, the secretary said so, and even if he didn't believe it anymore, he had to believe this fact.

And this issue is also very important. After all, this issue involves very important interests.

The market size of CMP polishing disc materials is about US$700 million per year, and Dow Chemical occupies 79% of the market share, which is equivalent to a market of more than US$500 million. This is obviously very important to them. important.

Among them, although the annual market share of the Chinese market is not high, it still has hundreds of millions of dollars.

If this part of the profits is squeezed out, it will obviously be a huge loss for them.

What's more, maybe the other party will not only give them a share of the Chinese market, but may even take away a little of the world market share by then.

The most important thing is that polishing is the most troublesome process in the entire semiconductor process and needs to be repeated up to 30 times. Mastering the step of polishing consumables is equivalent to mastering a lifeblood of the entire semiconductor process.

In particular, Dow Chemical occupies 79%, which is an indispensable part of the semiconductor industry, and every additional competitor will obviously take the most share from them.

In order to maintain their monopoly position, they must pay attention to this sudden competitor.

After thinking for a moment, Jimmy Frederick asked again: "What about the production technology? How is their production technology? China's production technology should always be very backward, right?"

"This matter is not clear yet. This news has just come out. They have not officially started production yet, but it is estimated that they will be able to build it within this year, and Chinese officials seem to pay more attention to their new material. In various We have provided convenience in all aspects... In addition, there is one thing that you may need to pay attention to."

"what is the problem?"

"This new material was developed by the Chinese physicist Lin Xiao."

"Lin Xiao?" Jimmy Frederick was stunned, "Is this the Lin Xiao who proposed the multidimensional field theory?"

"Yes." The secretary nodded and said with a worried look: "That person is so smart, he won't pose any threat to us, right?"

"God only knows. Don't some people now say that he is the person closest to God?" Jimmy Frederick couldn't help complaining: "The key point is that they are Chinese, will they believe in God? What do they believe in,'lao -tian-ye'?"

The secretary sighed: "That's right, I heard that this Lin Xiao was still studying in France last year. Why didn't the French want to keep him and let him convert to God? Now they let him return to China, but the results started Deal with us."

Jimmy Frederick shook his head, and then said: "Okay, everyone has returned to China. We can't go to China to arrest people. Let's think about what to do. Let's pray to God first and let them The production process is too poor to compare with ours. Let’s plan again on how to stabilize our customers so that they don’t want to buy Chinese materials when they see that Chinese materials are better than ours.”

"Well, then I'll ask someone to write some articles in the newspaper?"

"Go ahead."

Jimmy Frederick waved his hand.

…

Semiconductors are a huge system, but if there is any disturbance, the entire industry will know about it. After all, every part of the system is closely connected. Once an accident occurs in one part, it will eventually have an impact on the entire industry.

Especially now that it has something to do with China.

So, soon, everyone knew about the news that Huaguo had developed silicon wafer polishing materials.

Immediately, this attracted a lot of people to investigate the incident, and everyone wanted to know what the real situation was.

Then, Lin Xiao's name also appeared in front of them.

Asmere, Netherlands.

"Lin Xiao? How could it be Lin Xiao?"

Dawson Edinson also got the news, and he was stunned.

"Why did that guy go to study this kind of thing?"

Of course, despite the initial shock, he quickly recovered.

The polishing disc material is not their lithography machine, and it has no conflict with them at all. He does not believe that China can make any core components of the lithography machine. There is no need to consider this kind of thing.

Then he sighed with emotion: "However, this guy is quite lucky to be able to get this kind of material for China."

Just as he was thinking this, suddenly, his phone rang again.

"Um...whose phone number is this?"

After looking at it, he didn't recognize it, and then he answered the phone, "This is President Asmail's office. What can I do?"

"FBI, open the door."

Dawson Edinson's expression changed and he sat up immediately.

FBI?

Why do these plague gods have the time to come to him?

What happened with espionage again?

"Mr. Edinson? What's wrong? Ask the security guard downstairs to open the door."

Hearing this, Dawson Edinson reacted and said, "Okay, please give him your phone."

Afterwards, he asked the security guard to open the door and waited for the FBI to come up.

He thought for a moment and realized that the FBI people did not barge in directly and asked him to open the door, indicating that the matter was not serious and they probably just came to ask a few questions.

There is no need to worry. As long as the other party is not unreasonable, then he can reason with the FBI people, especially the shareholders behind Asmail, but no one is unreasonable.

But what exactly the FBI wanted to ask made him a little confused.

Soon, the FBI came to his office.

The three of them seemed to be wearing ordinary clothes, but their faces looked filled with evil spirits.

The three people took out their FBI IDs and handed them to Dawson Edinson and let him look at them. The leader said: "Mr. Edinson, I am C1 Agent Huo from the FBI in Europe. Rand Stein, I have a few questions for you now."

Dawson Edinson leaned back in his chair and said, "Ask."

"First, Lin Xiao came here on December 30 last year. Why?"

"Don't you know about this problem?" Dawson Edinson raised an eyebrow: "This kind of thing has been reported to you American institutions, such as the Department of Commerce, FBI, CIA, NSA and so on."

"Mr. Edinson, please answer my question seriously." Holland Stein frowned and said seriously.

"Okay." Dawson Edinson spread his hands and said: "Lin Xiao is a mathematical genius and a physics genius. We invited him to come over to help us solve a mathematical problem. This kind of thing is very common. At the beginning You didn’t even care when I reported it.”

As he answered, another FBI took a note sheet and wrote down his answer.

And Holland Stein asked again: "Okay, second question, did he do anything strange during the process? For example, deliberately touched your computer or something like that?"

Dawson Edinson: "No, after he entered our company, he was under all-round surveillance. It is impossible for him to do any strange behavior. If he did, we would find out immediately. We still save the surveillance video. It's here, I can transfer it to you later if you need it."

"Okay, third question, is the information you gave him confidential?"

Dawson Edinson was speechless and said: "Mr. Stein, are you kidding me? How could I give secrets to a Chinese? What's more, even if they master all the secrets, there is no way that China can create ours." Lithography."

Suddenly, he came to his senses and said with laughter and tears: "Oh, I remembered it. You should also know that Lin Xiao developed CMP polishing materials, and then came to doubt us? Please, we are a lithography machine assembly factory, not a CMP Polishing materials production factory, we have no technology at all here! If you want to find trouble, you should go to Dow Chemical or Cabot, they all produce the materials, okay?"

Holland Stein said: "Some of our colleagues have already asked, but your place is the only place Lin Xiao has been to, so we must ask."

Then he stood up and said: "Then thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Edinson, but I don't guarantee whether I will come to you again."

Dawson Edinson spread his hands: "Okay, okay, it's up to you. Anyway, I only want to say one thing, if Lin Xiao can help China build a lithography machine, I will surrender myself to your FBI, okay?"

Holland Stein smiled, turned and left without saying much.

Soon, he and his teammates left Asmail, returned to their car, and began to report to their superiors.

Following their report, the US FBI headquarters also received relevant information.

In a small conference room, several FBI executives were discussing.

"This means that Lin Xiao did not steal information. This new material from Hua Guo was independently developed by him."

"And, according to the information we have, he independently completed the research and development of this new material in just one month."

"The most important thing is that he is only 21 years old."

“The potential is so huge.”

"It should be that the potential threat is too great."

"Also, don't forget his answer to that question."

"Hmm... I think he can be ranked on the list of threats to China and Russia, at least in the top twenty."

"Twenty before? Do we have to find a way to catch him?"

"This requires the approval of the White House, and the target person is too critical and has a huge reputation around the world. Once caught, he is likely to receive a violent reaction from China. If he is injured or killed, it cannot be ruled out that China will There is a possibility of fierce revenge. When the time comes, a few of us may become Princip, and Lin Xiao may become Archduke Ferdinand, and the Sarajevo incident will reappear."

"Oh, it's really exciting to say that. By then we will be the trigger for World War III, and our names will be engraved in the history books."

"You guy, you have a problem in your heart. Do you know that you are breaking the law? Are you afraid that the world will not be chaotic? Wouldn't it be better for the world to be peaceful? Let's bully those small countries, and then provoke those two big countries - of course this It’s a matter for politicians, wouldn’t it be better if we drink a little wine every day and pick up girls at night?”

"Okay, let's report this matter to the White House first. If we really want to take action, Israel's Wolf Prize Award Ceremony will begin in May. That is also the most suitable time when we can confirm that Lin Xiao will leave China."

"Okay, I'll go find the president later."

"Well, even if we catch him and trade Hua Guo for some of our colleagues who were caught before, it's still worth it."

"good!"

…

Time passed quietly.

May is here.

China.

"Mr. Lin, the Wolf Award Ceremony will start on May 19th. When can you come to Israel? We will arrange for someone to pick you up at the airport. In addition, you can also bring 10 relatives and friends, and we will provide all travel expenses.”

"I understand. I'll think about it in the next few days and then get back to you."

"OK."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Xiao threw the phone aside.

Wolfe Awards Ceremony?

Speaking of which, time passed quite quickly.

The news was announced in January, and it was already May in the blink of an eye.

However, regarding the Wolf Prize, now he doesn’t want to accept it.

He still has so many things to be busy with. If he goes to Israel again, wouldn't it be a waste of time?

In particular, research on servo motors has reached a critical point.

Moreover, he has not forgotten that he did not like to engage in applied science, and now he has developed CMP polishing material. This is not like the titanium-aluminum alloy that can be used on turbine blades. The latter information is easier to keep confidential, but The former was originally a commercial product, and he could be sure that foreign countries already knew the news.

So, who knows what they might think?