Technological Hegemony

Zhang Dongning resigned from his position at the BASF Group in Germany, sold his Volkswagen Golf car, rented out the apartment on Hank Street, and donated the small household appliances and bedding at home to local overseas students.

Then, with two simple pieces of luggage, he took a plane from Frankfurt and returned to his birthplace without hesitation.

Ten years ago, he left home in the same way. Nothing has changed, except for his age and the faint gray hair on his temples.

Zhang Dongning lived in his hometown in northern Jiangsu for three days, and then took the high-speed train to Shanghai.

Zhang Dongning was a little surprised when he saw the Baoshan headquarters for the first time.

The construction has not yet been completed. The restaurant is a row of temporary board houses, with decoration materials piled up everywhere. In order to prevent people from trampling on the concrete floor that has just been laid, the workers built a wooden boardwalk. From time to time, there was the harsh whine of a chainsaw, and the crisp bang of a nail gun.

In an office that still smelled of decoration, Zhang Dongning met Luo Jia.

The water dispenser was not ready yet, and there was no tea, so Luo Jia threw him a can of Coke.

Zhang Dongning frowned, and put the Coke on the messy coffee table. He has bad teeth and never dared to drink too sweet drinks.

Luo Jia, the young boss, seemed very busy. He made several phone calls one after another, then lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, and shrugged at Zhang Dongning.

"Actually, I never smoked before."

Zhang Dongning expresses his understanding. After completing the three major projects of optimization, optics, and wireless charging, Xingchen Technology is going all out in the display industry. This is not a secret. Maybe the boss is really under a lot of pressure.

"We have already understood your situation. We invite you to come back this time because we hope you will join our company's photoresist team." Luo Jia said straight to the point.

poof~

poof~

Zhang Dongning couldn't believe his ears, and his heart accelerated crazily.

Photoresist is the most important consumable in the semiconductor industry.

Although Zhang Dongning has the best graduation grades in the history of the Department of Chemistry of the University of Hamburg, he can only lead some small projects that are not important in the BASF Group.

Star Technology actually invited himself back to make photoresist?

This is the project he dreamed of!

Although the amount of self-produced photoresist in my country has reached an astonishing 90,000 tons each year, they are all primary products. Mid-to-high-end products need to be purchased from abroad, and the technology is completely blocked by foreign countries.

It is sad to say that an important consumable with an annual consumption of more than 100,000 tons is all imported.

"Photoresist, so our company is going to enter the chip industry!" Zhang Dongning said excitedly.

Luo Jia smiled wryly, "Manufacturing chips requires six major machines, photolithography machines, etching machines, developing machines, coating machines, injection machines, and oxidation furnaces. , there is one Dutch company, four American companies, and five Neon companies, and these giants have formed an absolute monopoly in the industry.”

"The kind of thing that makes a chip when there is a disagreement only exists in novels and movies."

Zhang Dongning nodded. It is true that he was too naive. The technical difficulty of the chip industry is by no means imaginable by laymen. Wanting to take this industry down is comparable to landing on the moon.

Luo Jia paused, "However, there are no absolutes in everything. In the past two years, in the field of etching machines, my country's North Micro and China Micro have achieved breakthroughs, especially China Micro, their oxide layer etching equipment, And through-silicon via etching equipment, the level is basically the first grade in the world."

Zhang Dongning's eyes lit up immediately, "I know about this, it was introduced in Daguo Heavy Weapons!"

Luo Jia smiled and said, "It seems that when you were in Germany, you watched a lot of domestic programs."

Zhang Dongning touched his head in embarrassment, "When I was young, my family was poor, and I was afraid of being poor.

I just want to earn more money. When I graduated, BASF gave me a high salary, so I stayed. In fact, I..."

Luo Jia interrupted him, "There is no need to explain, you can come back, it has already explained everything."

"We are about to go to war with the giant companies in the display industry. I am very worried about this."

"Although we have solved the problem of raw materials in the upstream of LCD, we may still be stuck in the middle reaches of the industry."

"I made an estimate. The opponent is most likely to hit us with photoresist. After all, there are a large number of exposure machines and photolithography machines in China. Even if there is no way to import these two machines for a while, the domestic display industry can still support it. .”

"But photoresist is different. It is a consumable that is consumed in large quantities every day. Once the supply is cut off, the entire display industry will have no consumables."

I have to say that Luo Jia is really contagious when she gets serious.

Zhang Dongning felt nervous, and his expression suddenly became serious. He even forgot that he had just entered the gate of Xingchen Technology, and he was completely in a posture of going forward and retreating with the company.

In Luo Jia's office, there are several whiteboards and ink pens habitually placed.

He picked up the ink pen, quickly wrote on the whiteboard, and listed all the giant companies currently ruling the photoresist industry. His proficiency shows that he has already studied these industry opponents countless times behind his back.

Photoresist is divided into six grades from low to high, from the lowest linear glue, all the way to metal oxide glue for extreme ultraviolet EUV.

Dow Chemical, DuPont, Huntsman, Neon JSR, Shin-Etsu, Tokyo Chemical, Fuji, Sumitomo, TOK, Mitsubishi Chemical, Asahi Kasei, Hitachi Chemical, Nippon Steel Chemical, Sun Ink, In addition, Korea Dongjin Chemical, LG Chem, Italy Morton and so on.

Although photoresist is only a small category in the semiconductor field, there are such a large number of industry giants, which is even more terrifying than the seven upstream raw materials of LCD combined.

No wonder Luo Jia said that starting a business in the technology field is like climbing a mountain. The higher you climb, the stronger the wind and snow.

As long as Xingchen Technology continues to advance, future opponents will only become stronger and stronger.

Zhang Dongning felt a lot of pressure, but fortunately Luo Jia already had a project plan.

"Photoresists are composed of photosensitive compounds, matrix materials, and solvents. What you need to be responsible for is a classification under photosensitive compounds, sensitizers."

Zhang Dongning was taken aback, "It turns out that more than one team in the company is engaged in photoresist research!"

Luo Jia laughed, "How is it possible? According to our Xingchen Technology's style of play, as long as we focus on a project, we will immediately put all our technical strength on it!"

"This time, in addition to your sensitizer research team, there are six other chemical material groups, the semiconductor department, and the optics department. Expert groups will also be sent to cooperate."

 …

Seoul, Samsung Group headquarters.

As October approached, more and more information was collected in the office of President Lee Jae-yong.

And what the intelligence showed was enough to make the entire Samsung Group feel terrified.

After the May storm, the June storm and the July storm, Huaxia seems to have suddenly died down, and there has been no major action for two whole months.

Now it seems that there is no big move here, but they are holding back a big move!

"Recently, Huaxia panel manufacturers have upgraded their production lines, including Corning, Xiao Xuzi, Toray, and Teijin, and the number of orders they received has decreased on a large scale. Replacement with modernization." Gao Dongzhen said, "It is estimated that their next step will be to move our display business department."

Lee Jae-yong felt his scalp go numb.

Although the Samsung Group has a large family background and many industries, the most profitable is display and storage, plus pharmaceuticals.

In fact, Samsung Military Industry has been quietly sold to Hanwha, Samsung Chemical was sold to Lotte, Samsung Construction and Samsung Comprehensive were suppressed by Daewoo, Samsung Heavy Industries could not compete with Daewoo Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Samsung Motors is an OEM of French Renault, Silla Sales of hotels and Shilla Duty Free stores are far below those of Lotte Group.

If Samsung's display business unit is defeated, it is equivalent to cutting off a leg of Samsung.

"How likely is it?" Lee Jae-yong asked.

Gao Dong was really embarrassed, "One hundred percent, the China Display Alliance has been established, obviously to seize the high ground in the industry, and in this industry, the biggest players are us and LG."

"All signs show that they are preparing for a big battle, from mobile phone panels, to computer panels, to large TV panels, all related to display."

Li Zairong was shocked, "Including the field of personal computers?"

Gao Dongzhen nodded, "Xiaomi and Huawei already have their own computer product lines, and Vivo acquired Shenzhou last week. According to the latest news, Opal will also acquire Tsinghua Tongfang in the near future."