In the hour before the bid began, the chip manufacturing industry in the world was shocked. The total number would reach 140 lithography machines and matching production lines. Such investments appeared in mainland China. What do they want to do?

Although the world's chip manufacturing industry is becoming more concentrated, there are still many wafer factories around the world in 1995. Their investment is about US$100 million or 20,000 wafers, with a monthly production capacity of 10,000 to 20,000 wafers. Such wafer factories basically have no foundry competitiveness, and most of them are used to produce several special products. Then in the next ten years, they either become the dust of history or increase their investment to grow into world-renowned enterprises.

This is why the foundry fab TSMC can develop rapidly in the market. The background is that the investment of a large number of small fabs cannot keep up with the pace of rising fab costs, and can only hand over the wafer production business to the foundry and then close its own factory.

However, in 1995, only TSMC was the only one who clearly proposed this development direction. Its found that its foundry capacity had reached an annual output of more than 3 million pieces, accounting for 60% of the global wafer foundry market. When Huajing and Huahong were all completed and put into production, the production capacity could easily reach a monthly output of 300,000 pieces, that is, an annual output of more than 3.6 million pieces.

If mainland China also joins the wafer foundry market, how much chance of TSMC still wins is really worrying.

However, Canon did not care about this concern about Asmay and Nikon, who produced lithography machines. The big order for 140 lithography machines had already burned their heads. Asmay's president was taken out of the quilt, while Nikon's president was found in an izakaya. Looking at the face of Shiraishi's Morina, there should be some kind of activity that was not suitable for children at that time.

In short, these internationally renowned lithography machine manufacturers were very excited in this half hour. Not to mention interrupting sleep and doing things, a large order of 700 million yuan was placed in front of them, so that they could sleep in public and that was not a problem.

When an hour passed, both Asmay, Nikon and Canon were granted temporary authorization from the head office. For the 0.5 micron process lithography machine technology, it agreed to transfer it to designated companies as an affiliated clause in this bidding. Only at this time will Shiraishi Morina and Orlando look at Zhou Shuo with envious eyes.

Unlike those large companies that are complicated and start a board of directors, it is like fighting a war. The equity structure of Fanhan Group is clear and the responsibilities and powers are clearly determined - as for the efficiency of work, there is no need to mention it.

The transfer of lithography machine technology was just when asked about it, and nodded slightly and confirmed it. Compared with a group of busy multinational companies, it was really more popular than others. This made Shiraishi Morina and Orlando realize that this person who sat with him might have a similar value to the assets under their control, but his identity was completely different.

On their side, there is a label on their heads, which says "worker". But the leader of the team is under the back of the flag of "leader".

Although this seems to be just a little difference in identity, the back is the difference in authority. Having such a competitor present is destined to be an easy bidding journey.

Fang Jiange was still the only one standing alone on the stage, but compared to the embarrassment at the beginning, he was quite proud at this time. Of course, no matter who it is, if he holds a purchase contract of 700 million US dollars, he has the right to be proud.

"Okay, everyone. If there is no problem, please come on stage." He stood in front of the podium where he spoke and said with a smile: "In order to ensure the fairness and openness of our bidding, the entire bidding process will be supervised by reporters from provincial, municipal TV stations, and major news media."

This is also a procedure that has been issued to various bidding groups and has been stated long ago, and no one has any objection to this. For Asmay and Nikon, except for each other, no other lithography machine manufacturers around the world have taken them in their eyes. When competing with rivals like Fanhan Group, what do you need to do if you want to fight? They are overwhelmed and eat it tightly.

The bidding teams of Nikon, Asmay and Canon went up one after another, and Zhou Shuo led the team of Fanhan Group to carry forward the owner's style and lined up at the end. On the stage, the desk was arranged in a "concave" shape. Nikon and Asmay sat side by side in a horizontal position below, while Canon and Fanhan Group sat opposite each other. Huajing's staff was sitting in the half-enclosed space inside, which was exactly the same as the bidding teams of the four companies.

Fang Jiange looked at his watch and nodded, "Everyone, it's getting late, let's start."

With his gesture, the staff sent a document to four desks: "This is the criteria for Huajing Group to judge this tender, please pay attention."

Zhou Shuo, Shiraishi Malina, Orlando and others opened the document, which listed Huajing's performance requirements for lithography machines in detail. This is not just a simple list of data, but a detailed explanation of the technology that can be realized. Why can this technical level be achieved and how to ensure that it can be continuously implemented? What are the advantages of a certain design and what is the design idea...

In the bidding for high-tech equipment, people rarely only look at data. On the one hand, the reliability of paper data is poor, and there are differences in theoretical data and practical applications. On the other hand, paper data can show few details, and sometimes it is impossible to fully describe the performance of high-tech equipment.

Although this bidding does not bid for a secret bid, and those with low bidding prices will still have to compare and compare prices. The bidding rules are still to compare and score at each key point, then summarize the final results, and select the plan with the highest score or the best wishes of the bidder. This set of rules is a bidding method commonly used in later generations, and Zhou Shuo has also introduced it to China in advance.

"The first item is about the processing accuracy of lithography machines. Huajing Group requires that the processing accuracy of lithography machines provided by the bidder must reach the 0.5 micron level. Please explain this."

Fang Jiange sat calmly in the main seat and spread his words throughout the venue through the speakers: "Please ask the representatives of Nikon to answer first, and then speak in sequence according to the order of Asmay, Canon and Fanhan Group."

She was no stranger to this bidding method. She cleared her throat and said generously: "Nikon's 0.5-micron process NSR-0500D8F lithography machine is launched by Nikon, which uses high-density quartz material lens..."

The lithography machines of Nikon, Asmay and Canon have long been familiar with each other in the market. Nowadays, people naturally have no passion for replaying the old tune. But when it was Zhou Shuo's turn, not only Fang Jiange, but also the other three companies were nervous. Fanhan Group now represents not only itself, but also the leading level in China's lithography machine field. Whether China has real materials can only be seen at this time.

"Our Panhan Group launched a 0.5 micron process lithography machine, model FH-500BJ, uses step-by-step repeated projection exposure technology to enable the line width of the processing chip to reach 0.5 micron level. The mask plate is reduced by 4 to 1, and the exposure area is 22×22mm. A total of eighteen sets of prisms and twenty-three sets of lenses..."

The representatives of the three lithography machine manufacturers became more and more surprised. Judging from the technical details mentioned by Zhou Shuo, the Chinese have actually mastered all the key technologies of 0.5 micron lithography machines! However, the data of these technologies is impossible to collect in public channels. What's more, mainland Chinese companies that are strictly blocked will not be able to obtain these data unless they really understand the essence of these technologies.

"Zhou Sang, there is one thing in your description. Can you please explain it?" During the bidding process, the bidding opponents questioned each other and retained the project. Of course, Morina Shiraishi was not able to be a spectator: "In the introduction of lenses, I found that you only used twenty-three groups. But according to our calculations, if you want to achieve multiple exposures, you need at least twenty-five groups of lenses. Can you explain why you used two groups less?"

Zhou Shuo looked up at the beautiful Japanese woman, nodded without changing his face and said, "The original design of FH-500BJ did use twenty-five sets of lenses. But later we found that the eighth group of lithography lenses could be optimized. As long as the curve of the lens is redesigned according to the Shahrsev formula, the use of two sets of lenses can be saved."

"Sharshev formula?" Shiraishi Morina was stunned for a moment and said strangely: "Why haven't I heard of this formula?"

Of course there is no Sharshev formula. In fact, the reason is very simple. In the laboratory where Zhou Shuo worked in his previous life, there was a 0.5-micron step-by-step lithography machine produced by Nikon. Since it was a product from the 21st century, Nikon optimized it to save production costs. Through advanced technology developed later, the settings of the lenses were optimized, and the number of lenses was reduced from twenty-five to twenty-three.

When Zhou Shuo was conducting the experiment, he had already been familiar with the conditions of this lithography machine. Now he threw out this technical point and really caught Nikon off guard with Nikon's technology.
Chapter completed!