99: Chapter 100 A Deformed Branch Growing in the Dark Side of the Technology Tree

Listening to the continuous sounds of successful verifications in his mind, Shen Du's lips curved into a profound arc.

This crazy commercial war, which had lasted half a year and cost one billion US dollars, finally reached its true "settlement" at this very moment.

Immediately after, that cold yet, at this moment, incredibly pleasant system prompt sounded again:

[Task successfully completed! Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Era Dividend reward: Tech Industry 'Choose Two of Three' Entry Gift Pack!]

[The gift pack contains: core patent matrices for designated technology routes, a full set of underlying technical blueprints, and an absolutely loyal initial core R&D team!]

Looking at the gift pack quietly floating on the system interface, exuding a dark golden light, Shen Du's breath hitched slightly.

"It really comes at the right time..." Shen Du muttered to himself, his eyes flashing with a terrifying brilliance like a hungry wolf seeing top-tier prey.

Just recently, at the National Economic Conference on December 28th, the authorities, representing the highest will of the nation, had just finalized a decision: from now on, in all first-tier cities across the country, the government would take the lead and spare no effort to enter and support the development of the technology industry!

This was not just a passing trend, but the opportunity for China in the next decade!

For Shen Du, who currently held tightly onto the massive traffic pools of Meituan, JD.com Logistics, and Xinghuo, his moat in the realm of internet applications had been dug to the extreme.

But if he wanted to have the confidence to challenge the world's top conglomerates head-on in this upcoming great era, he had to cross over from "software internet" to the realm of true "hardcore technology"!

And this tech industry entry gift pack issued by the system at this moment was undoubtedly the perfect key that would allow him to directly open the door to a future trillion-dollar tech empire!

Without any hesitation, Shen Du suddenly reached out and heavily pressed the open button on the virtual interface. "Open gift pack!"

As the mental command was given, the dark golden gift pack floating deep in his mind shattered with a boom.

Countless streams of brilliant data frantically intertwined and reorganized on the virtual interface. Finally, like physical substance, they condensed into three holographic technology layers flickering with deep, dark blue light.

Accompanied by the system's mechanical voice, the names of three top-secret technologies capable of overturning the entire world's industrial landscape appeared in succession before Shen Du's eyes:

[Option 1: QW-SOI (Quantum Well Fully Depleted Silicon-on-Insulator Architecture) Core Technology Collection]

[Option 2: CVD-P (Room-Temperature Acoustic Catalytic Deposition Technology) Full Set of R&D Blueprints]

[Option 3: MR-Litho (Magnetic Resonance Interference Maskless Lithography Machine) Complete Theory and Engineering Parameters]

Looking at these three professional terms that were mouthfuls and even unheard of, Shen Du frowned slightly, a trace of strong doubt flashing in his eyes.

As a top-level operator with forward-looking strategic vision who had just fought his way out of the commercial war meat grinder, he had long ago intensively studied the current development trajectory of global technology for his upcoming tech layout.

In his expectations, since it was an "Era Dividend" produced by the system, it should at least be mainstream technologies that would shine brightly in later generations, such as the "3D transistors" that Intel was developing, the "mobile communication underlying protocols" that Qualcomm was obsessively working on, or the "extreme ultraviolet light source Lithography Machine" that ASML was burning money on like crazy.

However, these three seemingly "niche" options before him existed with a huge deviation from the mainstream routes that global tech giants were frantically investing in during 2012.

They looked too "heterodox." It was as if they were deformed branches that had deviated from the main road and grown in some dark corner of the technology tree, seemingly having no intersection with the mainstream of chips and manufacturing today.

"Does the system want me to pick up the leftovers that the giants look down upon by giving me these niche branches?" Shen Du muttered to himself. But the next second, he immediately denied this stupid thought.

With a solemn mood, Shen Du reached out, his fingertips gently tapping on the 'Detailed Attribute Description' below these three holographic layers. Swish—!

Massive underlying physical logic, unfamiliar mathematical deduction formulas, and that long string of engineering parameters that looked like a heavenly book instantly unfolded in Shen Du's mind.

However, merely glancing roughly at the introduction of the first few lines of core principles, Shen Du's originally slightly furrowed brows suddenly jumped. In his eyes, which had experienced countless storms, a light of extreme shock instantly erupted! Along with it, his fingers trembled slightly, uncontrollably.

He finally understood. This was not some niche technology that had gone astray. It was a parallel route tailored for him by the system, capable of perfectly avoiding the patent blockades of all Western giants for decades!

These black technologies, which looked like "heterodox" on the surface, did not depart from the existing industrial basic manufacturing capabilities of 2012. But once they were successfully materialized in this era, their actual power to bypass giant monopolies and directly overturn existing rules... could be described as terrifying!

Shen Du's gaze first locked tightly onto the first technology: [QW-SOI (Quantum Well Fully Depleted Silicon-on-Insulator Architecture)].

In front of this detailed system description, Shen Du saw a parallel world that would make the current semiconductor hegemon, Intel, feel desperate.

In the present year of 2012, the global chip manufacturing process was stuck at the death threshold of 22 nanometers. Because once the transistor shrank to this limit, a serious "leakage effect" would occur.

To solve this physical deadlock, Intel across the ocean was frantically pouring tens of billions of US dollars, attempting to "stand up" the traditional 2D planar transistor. They were developing a cross-era technology called FinFET (3D transistor). It could be said that global semiconductor giants were being forced by Intel to walk down the "3D route," obediently crawling into the inescapable net of patents they had long set up.

However, this [QW-SOI] architecture provided by the system arrogantly raised a middle finger to Intel's 3D route! It did not take any complex 3D structure at all. Instead, it forcibly pushed the traditional 2D planar architecture to an extreme that defied common sense!

This technology utilized a brand new "quantum well insulation layer" special material formula provided by the system. As long as this layer of formula was placed under the traditional planar transistor during manufacturing, it could, like a wall of sighs of absolute defense, perfectly and completely lock out all leakage effects!

And what truly made Shen Du's scalp tingle was the "manufacturing advantage" brought by this technology. Intel's 3D transistors required expensive and complex 3D stereoscopic etching equipment, and the number of foundries in the world that could build them could be counted on one hand.

But the QW-SOI architecture, because it was still a 2D planar structure, meant that it completely did not need those future devices that were still stuck in laboratories.

By directly using the existing, most ordinary DUV (Deep Ultraviolet) Lithography Machine in major wafer fabs in 2012, it could achieve seamless, direct mass production! Without any equipment threshold, it could directly cross the 22-nanometer death line!

Of course, as a hardcore technology, it was not without costs. The manual clearly indicated its disadvantages: due to the pancake-like 2D extreme structure, for the same number of transistors, the physical area of a QW-SOI chip was usually twice as large as Intel's 3D transistor!