215: Chapter 216 The Hardware Gap Not on the Sanctions List! Chairman Lee's Last-Ditch Effort

Facing Chairman Lee's analysis of his surrender—an admission that nearly stripped away the conglomerate's true colors—Shen Du's cold expression remained entirely unmoved.

He did not follow the other party's "selling shovels" theory to launch into any grand speeches.

Instead, he reached out deftly and unzipped the black briefcase he was carrying.

"Snap."

A thin document without any external markings was casually tossed by Shen Du onto the huanghuali tea table.

It slid along the smooth tabletop, coming to a stop precisely at Chairman Lee's side.

"The answer you want is all inside."

Shen Du closed the metal clasp of the briefcase with one hand, making a crisp "click" sound.

His tone was calm, without a hint of fluctuation.

Chairman Lee's gaze was instantly nailed to the document, his Adam's apple rolling subconsciously.

He wanted to reach out, but forcefully suppressed that extreme urgency.

"As for our subsequent cooperation and channel handover in the international market."

Shen Du stood up, towering over the Korean mogul, and revealed his bottom line without reservation:

"Here in Shanghai, the authorities have already secretly opened a back door for you."

"As long as you don't cross the bottom line, the authorities will provide protection for this partnership."

Upon hearing the words "authorities" and "back door," the hands Chairman Lee rested on his cane suddenly tensed with bulging veins.

He knew very well the terrifying weight those words carried on Chinese soil.

Standing behind Jiyuan Technology was a mountain he could never hope to look up to.

"I understand what you mean. Jiyuan accepts this pledge of allegiance."

Shen Du adjusted his suit cuffs and, with the tone of an absolute superior that brooked no doubt, set the rules for the future:

"For our future overseas business, I will send a dedicated person to handle the connection."

"As for you—"

Shen Du's deep gaze fell on Chairman Lee's slightly withered face:

"I don't need you to risk being targeted by Wall Street and come over by boat like a thief."

"For all subsequent matters, just send your subordinates over to negotiate."

After dropping these words.

Shen Du didn't look at the document again, not even for a second.

He picked up the briefcase with one hand, turned around, and strode out of the dim underground private room.

As Shen Du's back disappeared.

The heavy military-grade shielding door made a low, muffled sound again and slowly closed toward the middle.

The entire secret room in Tingquan Water Pavilion instantly fell into absolute silence.

Only Chairman Lee remained, along with the document on the table that was like Pandora's box.

Accompanied by a dull "bang," the heavy military-grade shielding door locked completely.

In the secret room, only Chairman Lee's heavy and suppressed breathing remained.

He stared fixedly at the thin document on the table.

He took several deep breaths, and only then slowly stretched out his hands covered with age spots to open the document.

However, after reading for less than three minutes.

"Rustle..."

The paper made an extremely obvious shaking sound as his hands trembled violently.

Chairman Lee's eyes, which were originally quite calm, now had their pupils suddenly contract to the extreme.

Dense, shocking bloodshot veins quickly climbed into the whites of his eyes.

"Maskless!"

"Directional Ripple!"

"Cold Etching!"

Before this, Chairman Lee, like all the top think tanks at Samsung headquarters.

Had always been convinced that Jiyuan Technology's so-called "Cold Etching Machine" was just to cover eyes and ears and avoid sanctions.

A technical code name casually given to some kind of assembled Lithography Machine.

But when he put on his reading glasses.

And really understood the physical parameters on the paper that defied his lifelong common sense, he finally understood completely:

"This is not some self-deceiving code name; this is 'Cold Etching' in the true sense!"

This near-defiant technology completely abandoned the extreme ultraviolet light monopolized by Western ASML.

It doesn't need even a single expensive lithography mask, nor does it need to use massive amounts of ultrapure water for wafer cleaning and cooling.

A brand new underlying industrial system that completely bypassed the Western semiconductor century-old patent barriers and was mature to an outrageous degree.

It jumped onto the paper without any concealment, like a heavy hammer, smashing his cognition to pieces.

Chairman Lee's fingers trembled as he struggled to turn the top-secret document to the last page.

There were very few words on this page, in black and white.

It only listed the last three hardware gaps in this heaven-defying technology that had not yet been fully closed:

High-purity silicon-germanium-carbon superlattice hybrid material.

Cold plasma generator component.

Superconducting magnetic interference array component.

His gaze was locked tightly on these three obscure technical terms.

In Chairman Lee's mind, that sensitive nerve belonging to a top conglomerate leader was instantly activated.

He knew the details of these three things too well!

These are not mainstream semiconductor consumables at all.

Because their uses are obscure, they are expensive to produce and extremely difficult to mass-produce.

Usually, they would only be used in small quantities for basic research in some remote, cutting-edge Western physics laboratories.

Because of this.

These three things could absolutely not appear in the Western "Wassenaar Arrangement," that strict semiconductor sanctions embargo list!

Wall Street and Silicon Valley's radar would never scan these obscure experimental consumables that no one cares about.

A burst of extremely sharp brilliance suddenly exploded in Chairman Lee's cloudy eyes.

He instantly grasped Shen Du's true intention in leaving this top-secret document for him.

This was the admission ticket Shen Du offered to Samsung, and even more, the last ticket to get on board!

Since they are not on the sanctions list, then with Samsung Group's deep and unfathomable multinational procurement network and countless shell companies spread across the globe.

It would be easy to avoid the eyes and ears of Europe and America overseas and get these three things.

This is also currently in Jiyuan Technology's terrifying technical closed loop.

The only place where Samsung can intervene and the only place where it can demonstrate its own value!

"Bang!"

In the empty, dead-silent secret room, a dull, loud noise suddenly erupted.

Chairman Lee, having finished reading the last page of the document, lost his composure and slapped the hard marble tea table heavily.

It shook the cup of cold leftover tea so that a few drops of water splashed out.

"So that's how it is... So that's how it is!"

Chairman Lee stared fixedly at the three lines of obscure material names on the paper.

His chest heaved violently, and his cloudy eyes revealed an extreme sense of relief, as if he had just survived a disaster:

"No wonder Shen Du wasn't anxious at all, no wonder he wouldn't stay even for one more second!"

"It turns out they had already completely mastered this truly critical core underlying technology!"

For Jiyuan Technology, which could even hand-craft a "Cold Etching Architecture," these remaining peripheral consumables.

Are simply not an insurmountable chasm.

They don't need anyone's charity, they just need to give Shen Du a little more time.

Jiyuan Technology will definitely be able to research these last few obscure materials by themselves.

To realize a 100% fully autonomous closed loop for the entire semiconductor industrial chain!

Thinking of this, a layer of dense cold sweat instantly broke out on Chairman Lee's back, and even the lining of his expensive suit was completely soaked.

He was extremely thankful that he had been stuck in this tiny, critical time window and had made the gambling decision to give up his private jet and sneak into Shanghai by sea.

If he had hesitated for another year or so, waiting for Jiyuan Technology to close these last technical gaps themselves.

By then, the entire global semiconductor table would be overturned.

And he, along with the entire Samsung conglomerate, even if they were holding a mountain of gold and silver.

Would not even have the opportunity to kneel down like a dog and force their way into Jiyuan's industrial chain!

Trying his best to suppress his heart, which was still pounding violently in his chest, Chairman Lee grabbed the golden nanmu cane beside the table.

He didn't even look back once at this dim secret room that determined the fate of the entire Asian semiconductor industry.

Pushing open the heavy shielding door, he walked straight to another private room at the end of the corridor.

"Chairman!"

As soon as the room door was pushed open, Kim Cheon-sik and the entourage of trusted aides who had been waiting for a long time immediately greeted him.

Everyone's face wore a look of nervousness and inquiry.

Chairman Lee ignored everyone's gaze, his withered palm gripping the handle of his cane tightly.

Almost gritting his teeth, he issued a death order directly to Kim Cheon-sik:

"High-purity silicon-germanium-carbon superlattice hybrid material."

"Cold plasma generator component."

"Superconducting magnetic interference array component."

After rattling off these three extremely obscure names, a gambler's desperate ferocity suddenly erupted in Chairman Lee's cloudy eyes:

"Use all our secret accounts and shell companies overseas."

"Spare no cost!"

"Stop at nothing!"

"Use money to completely sweep these three things off the market for me!"

"Then, immediately use the most top-secret channels to transport them intact to Jiyuan Technology!"

Chairman Lee's voice sounded a bit hoarse from the extreme exertion, staring fixedly at Kim Cheon-sik in front of him:

"Do you understand?"

"This is our Samsung's last and only chance to surrender!"

Facing this nearly insane order, a flash of extreme shock crossed Kim Cheon-sik's eyes.

But he didn't ask a single extra word; the professionalism honed from years of immersion in the conglomerate's power core made him nod heavily immediately:

"Understood!"

Kim Cheon-sik turned around without hesitation and pulled out the heavily encrypted terminal from his arms.

He began to frantically activate Samsung's vast multinational procurement network spread across the globe.

The reason Shen Du did this was that domestic technical research in this area was too far behind.

Currently, Li Jianfeng can already produce these devices, but there is a generational gap of more than a decade compared to the international standard...

Continuing to invest in R&D can indeed shorten it, but others are not waiting for you in place.

Wait a few more years, and when they enter the next process node, the time for Jiyuan Technology's cold etching technology iteration will be widened again.

If this continues, it will only lag behind the international level forever.

Having finally found an opportunity to compete on the same stage, Shen Du would spare no cost to get a step ahead.