Today's Nikon headquarters, from the inside out, seems to suddenly be completely different from the past. It is nervous and excited, and there is a unique joy in seriousness. Although people's steps are hurrying, there is no panic at all.

Although Japan has a high latitude, due to the influence of the oceanic climate, the air humidity and temperature are pleasant.

Especially after April, a large number of cherry blossoms bloom in Tokyo, which brings a touch of poetry to this super city. Japanese people like cherry blossoms the most. The cherry blossom season is very short, but the blooming is also very heroic. For Japanese people, this is a kind of empathetic personality.

The pink cherry blossom petals floated in the air with the breeze. In front of Nikon's headquarters, hundreds of employees were standing majestic and energetic.

A convoy of all luxury cars slowly stopped in front of the team. Suddenly, the band's voice sounded in Nikon's crowd.

"Hmph, it's the Japanese warship marches." James was in the car, looking coldly at a group of Japanese outside, and whispered to the people around him: "These guys are celebrating victory in advance."

James looked down on the Japanese from the bottom of his heart. He just wanted to bite his owner? His father was a witness of the war fifty years ago. Before the blood of Pearl Harbor was dry, some Japanese began to prepare for "can you say no"?

The 1990s was the time when Japan's electronics industry was the hottest. Although Intel steadily occupied the CPU market, memory, hard disk, motherboard...

Japanese can be seen in almost any product other than that. They not only participate in these industries, but also have a trend of coming from behind. This is an unbearable threat to Intel, which has always dominated desktop application systems.

"James. It is best not to have personal feelings for our procurement committee." Stephen, chairman of Intel's procurement committee, held his head up and said slowly: "But it is indeed a bit earlier for the Japanese to start celebrating victory now."

James smiled slightly, and he didn't continue to say anything more.

After the convoy stopped, young Nikon staff trotted to the front door, opened the door and held the frame to greet Intel's visitors.

This Intel dispatched a procurement committee of 21 people, consisting of some process researchers, men in the budget committee, technical upgrade committee technicians, and some front-line engineers. Most of these people are the backbone of the technology in the company, or they may be representatives of certain forces in the board of directors. Although they may not be stolen from high positions, they have Intel shares in their hands, which is a standard shareholder committee.

It is their identity as a shareholder committee, which can be said that their final opinion almost plays a decisive role in whether Nikon's lithography can enter Intel.

Of course, as a giant in the electronics industry, Intel must at least be relatively fair on the surface. If it tends to be too biased towards Asmay or suppress Nikon too obviously, who will dare to take on its projects in the future? After all, the launch of the 0.25 micron technology is largely due to the two companies that Intel has promoted to compete with each other in order to continue to be ahead in technology with the next generation of CPUs.

You can't just turn your mind on Nikon's own result too quickly, right? Even if Intel wants to be too stubborn, you must be able to be skilled and skilled. Not to mention being restricted, at least you need to be careful.

The members of James and Intel's inspection team walked out of the car one after another. The cherry blossoms flying in the streets and alleys of Tokyo were very suitable for Nikon's early IJN military factory. Speaking of which, these predecessors were the consortiums of the Imperial military factory. In terms of political stance, there are different degrees of right-wing tendencies.

Perhaps the arrogant Nikon really thought that no one in the inspection team would know the origin of the warship march.

Tsuruda specializes in smiling and bringing the Nikon staff behind him to the scene. With his order, the Japanese present bent down and bowed together. The scene was as spectacular as the wheat fields swaying in the breeze after autumn. It seemed that the Japanese were expressing ups and downs to the Americans, but it made people feel an illusion of showing their strength...

"Mr. Stephen, we, Nikon, have been waiting for a long time!" Tsuruda said proudly: "Nikon has completed the R&D task for Intel's 0.25 micron lithography machine. Welcome all members of the Procurement Committee and the Technical Upgrade Committee to identify our great achievements!"

Hetian was also a little proud, and it was not his fault. Starting from learning about the immersive lithography technology in Zhou Shuo's hands, he had gone through a lot of hardships and difficulties, and finally achieved this goal.

Not only that, don’t forget that Nikon’s real 0.25 micron plan has not been stranded. The Japanese are not worried that Asmay will catch up. When they complete the development of the 0.25 micron technology, Nikon can upgrade its 0.25 micron technology to 0.18 micron technology.

It can be said that Nikon is now fearless. As long as it can successfully enter the newly built wafer factory of Intel, Asmay will always become a second-rate lithography machine manufacturer.

By then, Nikon will not be Intel in the lithography machine field. On the other hand, Intel is Nikon in the CPU market. This is the power of monopoly. I have it all in the world!

Since Intel cannot leave AMD with a technical substitution, it does not have as much bargaining chips as Nikondo in the shopping mall game.

Obviously, for the future cooperation between the two parties, Intel does not want Nikon to dominate the lithography machine market.

Stephen walked up and shook hands with Tsuruta with a faint expression. He nodded and said, "Mr. Tsuruta, Nikon's welcome is so enthusiastic."

"Hi!" Tsuruta didn't notice it or didn't care at all, but continued to follow his words: "Intel is Nikon's most important customer, so we naturally have to welcome you warmly! Mr. Stephen, all the directors of the inspection team, please come in!"

In contrast to Nikon's enthusiasm, Intel's inspection team was obviously much colder. But even if they were unwilling, Nikon was still very sure after all, and then the research and development completion report was proposed. The Japanese were happy on their own, just trying to vent their excitement in one way.

In their opinion, no matter how unhappy Intel is, it still cannot swallow what I have eaten before, right?

Stephen and James and other team members followed Tsuruda through the crowd and entered Nikon's headquarters. The lithography machine transformed by the Panhan Group was placed in Nikon's underground laboratory. The messy steps passed through the long passage and went down dozens of meters before entering a pure white empty space.

If you want to say that the Japanese are doing the details well, the equipment that looks simple in China suddenly became tall and tall in other people's laboratory.

The laboratory with a new lithography machine is installed, and one side is an open all-glass curtain wall. It allows people to calmly watch the equipment inside without changing into a cumbersome dustproof clothing.

"Please look, this is the 0.25 micron lithography machine developed by Nikon." Tsuruta stood proudly on the side of the glass curtain wall, pointing to a device that is almost the same as the original 0.35 micron lithography machine inside, and talked freely: "We Nikon use a brand new technology that can be upgraded to a 0.25 micron process through considerable transformation and upgrading on the existing 0.35 micron lithography machine production line."

"The main thing is to replace the light source system, align the system, and install an immersive lithography lens..."

As soon as Tsuruda said this, the crowd suddenly whispered. Immersive lithography is not something new. Some people proposed similar ideas in the 1980s.

However, compared with improving the processing accuracy of the lens, this method should not have any cost advantages yet!

As Shi Tian said, immersive lithography is not just about remodeling the lens. First, you need to change the light source and increase the filter system of the arc lamp to the wavelength of the i-line. Then you also need to change the photoresist formula...

Such a series of R&D requirements are much more difficult in the 1990s than simply increasing the processing accuracy.

This is why the time has to be ripe in history until the 21st century is ripe for immersive lithography. At this time, the cost of increasing processing accuracy is so high that it cannot be afforded. On the contrary, the research and development cost of immersive lithography is not so conspicuous.

But no matter how unbelievable the Americans are, since Nikon dares to show them, he is obviously very sure.

"Mr. Tsuruta, please allow me to ask a question..." James suddenly stood up and asked Tsuruta: "How much money has Nikon invested in the project of developing immersive lithography? Does this part of the cost exceed the cost of the original technology route? Will the excess be transferred to the final product?"

James' question interrupted Tsuruta's endless introduction, but everyone present did not care about his rudeness at all. Instead, he looked at Tsuruta at the same time.

Yes, Nikon is both rushing research and development and new technology routes. It looks good, but what about this cost? It’s not something that we can afford, right?
Chapter completed!