253: Chapter 254 seals off the 12-nanometer limit!

January 20, 2015.

The indicator light on the desk phone flickered silently.

Shen Du pressed the speakerphone button, and after a faint buzz of static current,

the dull roar of the exhaust fan from the Yu Mountain underground laboratory, mixed with Viktor's slightly hoarse voice, echoed in the spacious office.

"Boss, the preliminary limit tests are done."

"The upgraded directional wave Cold Etching Machine,

combined with the new flexible glass wafers, the running data completely tore apart the previous physical red line of silicon-based materials."

Shen Du leaned back against his chair, his fingers toying with a cold metal fountain pen:

"Report the core metrics."

"The overall precision has been forcefully boosted by five times!"

On the other end of the phone, Arthur cut in, the background filled with the hum of high-speed equipment:

"In the past, cutting on ordinary wafers relied on directional wave ultra-narrow-range freezing, but edge stress would always lead to tiny cracks.

But the physical ductility of flexible glass has made the cutting precision completely controllable, and the scrap rate has been suppressed to almost zero."

Viktor's voice cut in again, drowning out Arthur:

"What's even more fatal is its heat resistance!

This thing directly pierces through the heat dissipation Achilles' heel of 3D stacked chips.

The transistor pathways that originally required twice the area to spread out under 2D technology are now completely unnecessary.

We do three-dimensional vertical carving directly on a very small area, and the finished product generates extremely low heat.

The power consumption is directly slashed by more than half compared to mainstream products on the market."

Shen Du quietly listened to the report from the speaker, his pen-toying motion pausing for a split second.

"Click."

The metal barrel tapped on the solid wood desktop, producing a very faint, muffled thud.

"Good."

Shen Du's tone lacked much fluctuation, yet it exuded absolute authority over resource scheduling:

"Starting today, we will fully transition into a closed-loop refinement period.

For the subsequently required funds and auxiliary equipment, compile a list and benchmark it directly against Xu Hao.

There is no need to go through routine approval procedures; there is no upper limit."

Without waiting for a response from the other end of the phone, Shen Du's gaze swept over a document on the desk, and his voice turned completely cold:

"All external data interaction ports of the Yu Mountain base are to be completely cut off starting from this very second.

You guys focus on perfecting the technology; I will block all other external interference."

The red light of the speakerphone button went out, leaving only the slight ventilation sound of the central air conditioner in the spacious and empty office.

Shen Du gripped the mouse, his knuckles twitching slightly.

On the LCD screen glowing with a deep blue cold light, he directly pulled up an encrypted global semiconductor wafer foundry schedule.

In the upper left corner of the interface, the current time anchor was clearly marked: January 2015.

Within the first tier of the data report,

those technology giants in the United States that monopolized the global silicon lifeline

were crazily burning tens of billions of dollars into their R&D pools on financial statements.

But even so,

the limit they painstakingly hammered out day and night in top California laboratories was still firmly stuck in the quagmire of 48 to 24 nanometers.

They couldn't even guarantee the most basic mass-production yield rates.

Shen Du's gaze shifted horizontally to the right, landing on a blank calculation area.

Based on Jiyuan Technology's currently active mass-produced 68-nanometer Cold Etching Machine, he directly applied the rough test parameters of a "fivefold improvement" reported by Viktor just now.

A cold numerical range popped up on the screen: 12-13 NM.

The cold light of the LCD screen hit Shen Du's expressionless face.

Looking at this glaring number, his calm brain instantly completed the calculation of interests and risks.

This was not a corner-overtaking maneuver on the capital track, but a generational gap powerful enough to pierce the existing global semiconductor ecosystem.

In the dark forest of international business society, being half a generation ahead of competitors could yield astonishing excess profits.

But if in 2015, when silicon-based technology was still struggling with trial and error, 13-nanometer finished products were smashed directly onto the gaming table...

what would be welcomed is definitely not market cheers,

but rather a blockade at any cost by the powerful state apparatus in order to maintain technological hegemony.

Besides, 13 nanometers was only because the current domestic infrastructure support and high-precision machine tools could only assist up to this point.

This was not the true upper limit of flexible glass and the Cold Etching Machine at all.

Shen Du stared at the red bar chart on the screen representing the United States progress, and the temperature in his eyes receded bit by bit.

He released the mouse and naturally pulled the keyboard over with his left hand.

The keyboard emitted a crisp and short clicking sound.

Shen Du cut into an end-to-end encrypted chat box that was completely independent of the external network.

This link went straight to the Yu Mountain base and Viktor's internal workstation.

"Seal all the limit data just run."

Shen Du typed the first line of instructions expressionlessly:

"Add a lock at the bottom layer of the process parameters for the initial mass production, and force a frequency reduction."

Pausing for a split second, he continued to input the core tactics:

"The factory parameters must closely bite onto the process that the United States is about to announce.

As long as we achieve a slight lead and suppress them by half a generation, that will be enough.

Strictly prohibit revealing the 12-nanometer-level trump card all at once; force tiered technological iteration."

This "toothpaste-squeezing" style of technology release was the sharp weapon to maintain excess profits and continuously suck blood in the capital market.

The bigger reason was that

at this node in 2015 where the semiconductor industry chain interests were highly locked,

if Jiyuan Technology dared to smash cross-era technology onto the table like ordinary cards,

what it would attract would definitely not be normal commercial competition, but even more frantic conflicts.

On the other end of the screen, the green cursor representing Viktor typing was flashing rapidly.

As a top-tier technical officer, Viktor had an equally acute sense of smell for this underlying logic.

A moment later, his reply popped up on the deep blue screen.

"Understood, Boss.

To be honest, when I saw the calculation results just now, I got a bit creeped out too.

If this thing were all brought out at once, it would indeed be too perverted, leaving opponents no way out at all."

"I will immediately rewrite the bottom-layer code of the control board and add a mandatory current-limiting lock to the equipment.

According to your request, we will tightly bite the benchmarking competing products, releasing them generation by generation, and never expose the upper limit in advance."

Looking at the reply popping up on the screen,

Shen Du didn't type anymore; he directly pressed the shortcut key to completely shatter and clear the data traces of the entire encrypted chat box.

After finishing the sealing of the trump card,

Shen Du's mouse slid to the right secondary screen, and the cursor cut into an independent trading terminal with an all-English interface.

On the LCD screen, the real-time market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Europe was jumping and refreshing at an extremely high frequency.

Impacted directly by the joint press releases of several semiconductor giants in the United States across the ocean,

the public opinion storm regarding "48-24 nanometer advanced processes about to break through" had been accurately transmitted to the secondary market.

Jiyuan Technology's risk-aversion sentiment in the overseas market completely spun out of control within just half an hour after the opening.

In the upper right corner of the screen, Jiyuan Technology's real-time K-line was showing a cliff-like plunge.

Countless sell orders from local European venture capital institutions and retail investors were crazily smashing toward the buy orders regardless of cost.

The euro figures representing book market value were silently evaporating on the screen at a rate of millions per second.

The internal dedicated line on the left side of the desk abruptly flashed a dazzling red light.

That was an emergency market-defense warning call from the company's financial port.

Shen Du leaned against the leather backrest, quietly watching the out-of-control falling parabola on the screen.

With his hands crossed in front of his abdomen, he didn't even make a move to touch the microphone.

In this capital offshore market that did not care about any morality,

the false process rumors released by the United States side were a blunt knife specially used to cut flesh.

Right now, all the hot money in Europe was fleeing in a panic,

trying to completely smash through Jiyuan Technology's market and force him to use the reserve funds for a war of attrition.

Shen Du watched coldly as the panic sell orders in the transaction volume details continuously amplified.

Not only did he not mobilize the company's book cash flow to forcibly prop up the market,

but instead he pressed the internal intercom button on the desk, directly connecting to the encrypted channel of the overseas trading team.

"Cancel all defensive buy orders below."

Shen Du stared at the strings of bloody euro symbols jumping on the screen, his voice devoid of any fluctuation:

"Open the floodgates and let them smash."

From the other side of the intercom came the head trader's rapid breathing and chaotic keyboard tapping sounds.

But the other party did not raise any questions and responded immediately:

"Understood. Boss, what level is our bottom line for letting it drop?"

"There is no bottom line, smash it until all institutions panic-stampede and start cutting each other's flesh."

Shen Du picked up the half cup of ice water at his hand, took a sip, and locked his piercing gaze on the heavy-volume plunging market:

"Stir the water completely muddy."

"Wait until these overseas capital spit out all the bloody chips, then we will switch to secret accounts to enter the market and swallow everything back with interest."

Just as Shen Du was staring at the continuously dipping decline curve on the secondary screen, his brain rapidly calculating the multinational capital leverage required for the final bottom-fishing,

"Click."

without any internal notification from the secretary,

the heavy soundproof solid wood door of the office was suddenly pushed open from the outside without any warning.

Shen Du's fingers resting on the keyboard paused instantly.

At Jiyuan Technology's headquarters, those who could bypass security and dare to push open this door directly without knocking could be counted on one hand.

He raised his eyes slightly, moving his gaze away from the trading terminal.

The deep blue cold light of the LCD screen fell obliquely on the woolen carpet at the doorway.

Accompanied by the slight sound of rubber tires rolling,

his mother, Wang Hanmei, pushed a medical folding wheelchair and walked straight into this presidential office filled with cold calculations.

Sitting in the wheelchair was a burly man.

Shen Du's gaze crossed over Wang Hanmei, slamming straight into the person in the wheelchair.

The other person's arm was wrapped in heavy medical bandages that faintly revealed a dark red color.

His right leg was firmly stuck in polymer plaster.

His facial contour, which was originally as cold and hard as a rock, now showed a grayish-white hue from excessive blood loss.

It was Shen Hong.

Shen Du released his hand holding the mouse.

On the secondary screen glowing with cold light, the red K-lines representing countless overseas hot money liquidating and cutting flesh were still plunging crazily.

But he had completely shifted his gaze away.

He slowly stood up.

His gaze completely withdrew from the cold figures worth hundreds of millions of euros, finally fixing on Shen Hong's fractured leg in plaster.

Wang Hanmei stopped in front of the desk and let go of the wheelchair's armrests.

Neither of them spoke first.