Jing Gao and Zhang Rujing, a 70-year-old man at the time, met in a unique hotel box in Zhangjiang.

In mid-April, the mid-spring night was only slightly cooler. After the local dishes were delivered, they were steaming hot on the large round table, and the fragrance was overflowing, which made everyone in the box have a great appetite.

Jing Gao's side is he, Liu Sumei, Dong Youwei, Cheng Yu, and Guan Yujia participated. Zhang Rujing brought an assistant, Ms. Wang Yan.

Everyone chatted casually, and the atmosphere at the dinner table was quite harmonious, chatting and laughing.

Jing Gao knew why, because he and Zhang Rujing shared a common language. This is completely different from his meeting with Jiang Shangyi in the morning. The morning meeting was purely business.

In 1997, Zhang Rujing applied for early retirement from Texas Instruments, where he had worked for 20 years, and returned to Baodao to found Shida Semiconductor. Two or three years later, it sat on one-third of TSMC's production capacity, and was immediately acquired by TSMC.

This opened the curtain of his grievances with Zhang Zhong. At that time, there were rumors in the world that Zhang Zhong conspired with the major shareholder of Shida Semiconductor to initiate the acquisition of Shida Semiconductor while Zhang Rujing was unprepared.

Regarding this rumor, Zhang Rujing refuted the rumor many times, and he participated in the whole negotiation. In the end, TSMC paid 8.5 times the share price of Shida Semiconductor at that time to complete the acquisition.

But, you taste it, taste it.

Assuming that Zhang Rujing had not sold Shida Semiconductor, 20 years later, even if Shida Semiconductor could not catch up with TSMC's position in the chip foundry field, would he still not be able to catch up with UMC?

Moreover, as a manager, the boss of Shida Semiconductor, he left his job after being acquired, and changed from a powerful semiconductor boss to a technician who has nothing, do you think this is good?

It's nothing more than TSMC bullying the small and swallowing up Shida Semiconductor at a premium. What are the consequences of Shida Semiconductor's refusal to acquire? Look at Zhang Moumou's style of doing things, as long as anyone threatens him, he will launch a legal battle!

With a stick in one hand and a carrot in the other, the shareholders and employees of Shida Semiconductor know how to choose. Of course, the shareholders of Shida Semiconductor did not lose, and the investment received a rich return. Employees move to larger companies and have guaranteed pensions in the future.

The only loser is Zhang Rujing!

In 2000, Zhang Rujing went north to the mainland to build a factory, which was warmly welcomed and valued. The old gentleman's patriotic heart is respectable! You must know how poor China's semiconductor technology was in 2000!

Foreign capital comes in to make money, who brings technology to the country here? This is not called patriotism, what is it called?

Zhang Rujing lived up to expectations and summoned about 300 semiconductor engineers to go north, most of whom were in the old departments of Texas Instruments and Shida Semiconductor, and quickly upgraded China's semiconductor technology from four generations behind the world's top level to only one generation behind.

SMIC became the world's fourth-largest semiconductor.

Then, the old routine in the field of chip foundry began, and TSMC initiated a lawsuit against SMIC. In 2009, SMIC lost the lawsuit. After the court's decision, Zhang Rujing negotiated with the then chairman of SMIC, Fei Hong Kong Island, and TSMC.

Terms of settlement: $200 million in cash, plus 10% equity. In addition, Zhang Rujing resigned and signed a non-compete agreement, prohibiting him from engaging in chip-related work for three years from 2010.

SMIC was then plunged into years of chaos. It was not until Liang Mengsong took office later that the situation was reversed and losses turned into profits.

So, from this point of view, TSMC is hateful? It is very hateful! It has delayed the time to destroy our construction and development of the semiconductor industry chain.

Some people are about to talk: You plagiarized other people's technology, are you justified?

This makes sense at first glance. However, in the field of semiconductor chip manufacturing, can you 100% bypass the process technology of TSMC, the industry leader?

There are always fouls to be made. Otherwise, why did TSMC sue his departing engineer repeatedly?

Should we develop semiconductor technology? Should we make our own chips? Will we always watch TSMC go to our necks? Will the mainland not be allowed to have the most advanced chip manufacturing plants? Should we have our fundamental interests?

Violating laws and regulations on intellectual property protection will be punished by SMIC. Its decade has stagnated. However, what Zhang Moumou did, should he be made to pay a painful price when the situation was right?

I think so.

Don't think that TSMC is flawless and never illegal!

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After leaving SMIC, Zhang founded an LED factory in 2010. This is an area that is not prohibited in his non-compete agreement. In 2014, Xinsheng Semiconductor was established in Lingang, the magic capital, mainly for the production and manufacture of wafers.

The manufacture of silicon chips is based on wafers and uses photolithography technology to manufacture integrated circuits.

Sunrise Semiconductor is a factory that provides wafers.

The old gentleman is 70 years old and is looking to create a new chip manufacturing plant. He wants to go in IDM mode. Investors are being negotiated everywhere. It just so happened that Phoenix Group entered the field of chip manufacturing, and the two sides had very pleasant contact in the early stage.

Meeting now is all about the details.

Zhang Rujing didn't drink, and said with emotion: "I haven't been here in Zhangjiang for a long time, and today's meeting with Mr. Jing and setting up the dinner here made me feel a lot of emotion." ”

Jing Gao said: "I have great admiration for Dr. Zhang's resolute northward construction of a factory 17 years ago. Dr. Zhang's resignation in '09 was really a major loss for SMIC. ”

Zhang Rujing looked at it upside down and said very calmly: "At that time, the company had an accident, and the lawsuit was familiar, and someone had to be responsible." ”

How could he leave the company that had been established for ten years without pain in his heart? However, his life still has to move forward.

"Later, someone wanted to ask me to go back, but I didn't agree. I said, I'm not going back, I'm not going to trouble people, I'm not going to trouble myself. Mr. Jing, do you know? If you invite me to build a factory, it is very likely that it will attract a lawsuit from TSMC in the future. ”

Zhang Rujing said this sentence very confidently. There was still some pain.

Confident, because he is recognized as a master of factory construction, in two or three years, he can set up a chip manufacturing plant and put it into production.

Pain, TSMC is a dark cloud that weighs on all chip manufacturing plants. As soon as you grow stronger, he will definitely come to sue you and eliminate the potential threat. And he has already destroyed his career twice by TSMC. He wasn't sure if he could afford to live up to the third time.

Jing Gao smiled heartily and said resolutely: "Dr. Zhang, it's just a lawsuit, I think I can withstand it." It's not the same time it used to be!"

Understand that the king has taken office. The domestic market is already the world's largest chip consumer market. TSMC also has factories in the mainland. TSMC still wants to play tricks like in 2009. It's not going to work!

At the very least, the Phoenix Group will be able to get the conditions that Samsung was accused.

Zhang Rujing smiled, ate a mouthful of food, and said, "Mr. Jing, I am negotiating with Qingdao. Prepare to build an IDM model chip factory. Phoenix Group's factory in Jinling should be involved in Foundry, right?"

There are three modes of operation in the semiconductor industry: IDM, Fabless, and Foundry.

Fabless means only to do design, not to produce independently, represented by Qualcomm and Huawei HiSilicon, and Foundry means not to do design, only to do OEM production. SMIC and TSMC both fall into this model.

IDM is a combination of the two, integrating the design and production process, and the overall profit is higher than that of design and foundry. Its representative company is Intel, which produces and sells itself. But this model is actually backward.

Intel only has 10nm process technology, lagging behind TSMC and Samsung. The fundamental reason is that the scale of self-production and self-sale is difficult to meet the funds needed for the research of new process technology.

Jing Gao said frankly: "Yes." I have a chip manufacturing plant in Jingzhou. This factory is more than enough for the needs of Coolpad phones. Here in the Jinling factory, I will get involved in OEM. In addition, I would like to use the 90nm lithography machine developed by Modu Microelectronics. ”

He was on the line with netizens (Ren Zhi) on a meager basis that day, and hooked up the unhappiness in his heart. He told Guan Yujia that the Phoenix Group also wants to build a lithography machine.

And building a lithography machine is not from scratch. He has instructed Shanhaijing Semiconductor and Modu Microelectronics to contact and start cooperative research and development. This is a huge project with many difficulties.

To take the simplest example, in 2008, Modu Microelectronics developed a 90nm front-end lithography machine. However, because the core components are purchased from abroad, they are immediately restricted by international manufacturers.

This has led to the lithography machine of Modu Microelectronics becoming an ornament, and it can only be used to develop the back-end lithography machine to meet some of the needs of the past.

The lithography machine is divided into front and back according to the use. Front-end lithography machines are used to make chips. The back-end lithography machine is mainly used for chip packaging.

But, in any case, the Phoenix Group has already set off.

Zhang Rujing frowned and said, "The generation difference is too far. Mr. Jing, it's hard to make a profit like this. The words were very tactful, and they already revealed the meaning of refusal.