For the majority of ordinary people in the 90s, it seems that information technology is still a little far away from people's lives.

Although electronic chips and semiconductor technology have penetrated into all aspects of life, it is not easy to say how influential the information technology industry is, and it is not very reflective of the attention of the media.

In various news media and financial magazines, everyone still pays attention to Mitsubishi, Mitsui, General Motors, Ford, ExxonMobil and Shell. The only ones in the semiconductor industry who can be on the table are probably AT&T and IBM, two century-old brands.

If you look around the home consumption scene of the terminal, the personal computer in the early 90s is still a luxury that only some kind of enthusiast will choose, and the picture tube in the TV does not need high-end electronic technology, as for the refrigerator, air conditioner, washing machine and other white goods, in people's understanding, it still belongs to the manufacturing category.

The semiconductor industry groups such as Motorola, Intel, Micron, Deyi and STF are actually younger brothers in the ranking of the world's top 500.

These star players in the semiconductor industry are also concerned about chip performance, price, product development and marketing. As for how chips are produced, what is the difference between the pre-process and the post-process, packaging and testing? Even after 30 years, this expertise is still known only to a few.

And which is the core technology in the chip industry? I'm afraid 99% of people in this world can't tell.

What is a lithography machine? Is it important, and what impact does it have on the lives of ordinary people?

Or people who are more concerned about the economy will also ask, what is the scale of this industry, what is its market capitalization, what are its well-known companies, what are its fundamental components, and how much of the market can its fluctuations affect?

The answer is very clear, it has no direct impact on the lives of ordinary people, the global market for lithography machines is only about two or three billion US dollars a year, and the well-known companies Canon and Nikon are somewhat well-known, as for ASML, which is independent from Philips, it is simply unknown in the terminal consumer market.

Do you want to say that the lithography machine has any broad market prospects? Unfortunately, the lithography machine industry is actually a big burden. Although ASML will have almost the entire market in the future, when developing the next generation of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) technology, it will still have to sell a large number of its shares to downstream industries to raise the required funds.

This is a technology- and capital-intensive industry that is unable to make ends meet and is heavily controlled by downstream industries. From the perspective of the financial industry, it is probably that this kind of industry has no investment significance at all.

But in fact, the situation is not as simple as it seems.

Although immersive projection is only a matter of thinking, it also involves the light source of the lithography machine, and the excimer laser with a wavelength of 193 nanometers is beyond the scope of lithography technology in the 90s. But fortunately, China's laser technology is one of the best in the world, and there is not much obstacle in this regard.

The key to immersive lithography lies in the positioning technology after refraction, workbench design, pure water working cycle, projection correction and many other problems, which involves magnetic levitation workbench technology, only the progress from air levitation to magnetic levitation workbench can provide sufficient accuracy and stability for immersive projection, and the secondary exposure enhances the upper limit of immersive lithography technology through multiple overlapping exposures, improves the yield and reduces the difficulty of technical realization, and finally forms a whole technical system.

Once the so-called technical system is formed, then immersive lithography has become an insurmountable road on the development route of lithography technology.

Within the validity period of the relevant patents, that is to say, in the next 30 years, if the international semiconductor industry does not play with China, then everyone will have to break up and have nothing to play. According to the current lithography technology route, without the use of immersive lithography technology, the semiconductor industry is likely to stop at the 0.18 micron process.

In other words, whether Moore's Law can continue to be realized after the year 2000 depends on the choice of the Batumi Commission.

Although the semiconductor industry did not become a pillar of the world economy in the early 90s, Clinton has formulated a series of new economic policies based on the semiconductor industry and information networks, and has regarded them as important pillars of US economic development.

Worldwide, although the information industry is not as big as the old giants such as energy, automobiles and finance, the growth index is dominant.

Traditional communications, paging and wireless communications, automation control, electronic instrumentation, electronic entertainment and power semiconductors, and many more are being applied to the lives of ordinary people. Although they cannot be seen, they are indeed profoundly changing the entire human society.

Whether it is Wall Street or the City of London, from Paris to Switzerland, from Tokyo to Singapore, all countries are embarking on the layout of the semiconductor industry. At this time, how can it not be taken seriously by other countries when it issued such a declaration?

In fact, everyone knows exactly why this news started.

The Heung Kong wafer fab was originally a window for ST to track international advanced semiconductor technology, but the British didn't know how to touch the tiger's butt as if their heads were pumped. Xinke has been using immersive technology for a long time, and there may have been immature technology before, but it has always been relatively low-key.

As a result, now that the British government in Hong Kong suddenly wants to flip the table, do you think that Xinke is really dough kneaded?

No, since you're going to flip the table, they're going to burn the kitchen now.

I don't care about you in general, but this is also true, with the size of the new branch and the Hong Kong and British side, what is there to say? If someone is bitten by someone's dog on the road, it is useless to beat the dog - directly hitting the dog owner can make the dog remember it for a long time.

Of course, in the face of Xinke's counterattack, the British did not give up their plans so easily.

"This kind of irresponsible remarks on the part of the new branch is not of positive significance to the resolution of the matter. ”

The Xiangjiang Wafer Fab soon held a press conference, and Claire, the vice president in charge of external affairs, stood in front of the stage and talked to reporters from all walks of life in Xiangjiang.

"The relocation of Heung Kong Wafer Fab is a market behavior, and it is the constant pursuit of Heung Kong Wafer Fab to find a lower cost production environment and provide consumers with lower prices and higher quality products. In this respect, the UK has a better environment than Xiangjiang. After the relocation of the Heung Kong Wafer Fab, the entire land can be used for the construction of new properties, which will help alleviate the current land environment ...... in Heung Kong."

"ST Group's attempt to threaten the freedom of operation of Heung Kong Wafer Fab through such non-market means to achieve some unjust purpose is absolutely unacceptable and will never succeed. ”

"Ms. Claire, I'm a journalist for the Financial Times of London. ”

Entering the question-and-ask session with reporters, the Financial Times, the newspaper of choice for the UK's true ruling class, was given the first to ask a question.

"Hong Kong's economy has started to develop rapidly this year, especially in the real estate and financial sectors, which have made remarkable progress. Heung Kong Wafer Fab has a very large and well-located site, and the Hong Kong government has approved the change of land use. So if the land of the Heung Kong fab is developed, how much will it gain?"

As a British person, the Financial Times reporter is of course on the side of the Heung Kong Wafer Factory. However, this first question did ask the hearts of many reporters present. Heung Kong Real Estate has risen in the past few months, and if calculated according to the market price, after the land of Heung Kong Wafer Factory is developed, it will be an astronomical amount.

Sure enough, Claire was confident about this problem, and said in a demagogic tone: "According to the plan approved by the Hong Kong government, our first phase of the project will build two 24-storey office buildings, in addition to a high-end seaview community, and the sales revenue is expected to exceed 10 billion Hong Kong dollars." As for the second and third phases, adjustments will be made taking into account future market developments......"

"Tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars, this is the market of the century!"

The following Xiangjiang reporters not only ran fast, but also lacked basic common sense, and decisively realized how huge the benefits of fully developing the Xiangjiang wafer fab would bring. If you count the second and third phases, the coastal area of this prime location will be fully developed, I'm afraid it will be worth billions of dollars, right?

For a project of this scale, it is not too much to call it a century real estate.

Stimulated by this huge good news, the atmosphere at the press conference immediately became warm. And the reporters who asked questions were indeed led astray and focused their attention on the follow-up income of the wafer fab.

But there are two ends to the story, sometimes it is not pretending to be asleep and treating things as if they don't exist, so things really don't exist.

Heung Kong Wafer Factory threw out the gimmick of real estate income, hoping to alleviate the pressure brought by Xinke in the semiconductor field, but they did not expect that what was waiting for them was not just this heavyweight punch, but a set of fierce combination punches.

"Quick, turn on the radio!"

At the reception, a reporter with a mobile phone answered a call, and then immediately shouted regardless of his identity: "Whoever has a radio, please borrow one!"

Looking at this man's anxious appearance, who doesn't know that something big has happened. At this time, even if someone has a radio, they will not lend it to others, but immediately turn it on and tune in to start listening.

Today, a number of financial institutions in the New York foreign exchange market have issued trading requests for Hong Kong dollars against US dollars to HSBC, Hang Seng and other Hong Kong banks, with a preliminary estimate of the transaction size of more than US$5 billion. ”

：。 ：