431: Chapter 431 Do firefighters need to pay for their own expenses?

"This chip was originally a project initiated by Qualcomm in 2012, but it was scrapped by the end of the year. The reason was that its full-load temperature exceeded 65 degrees, making mass production impossible."

"How much money did Lenovo get?"

After all, officially announcing a self-developed chip at this time was definitely meant to help the United States draw fire, so they must have received some compensation. After all, Lenovo had bled for the organization.

But hearing Shen Fei's words, Professor Li Jiahui subconsciously assumed he was asking how much money Lenovo had spent in total.

"Boss, I asked a friend about this. The technology licensing fee was about 100 million USD, and the tape-out and packaging costs were all paid out of Lenovo's own pocket. Their total investment might actually be true."

Shen Fei immediately propped himself up with both hands, looking down at Professor Li Jiahui: "Professor Li, you aren't lying to me, are you? Lenovo is helping them divert attention, yet those people sold them out…"

"Yes, Boss! That's also what I find funny. Our total R&D cost for the Taishan 910 was only 2 billion, yet Lenovo spent 1.5 times that amount to buy back something Qualcomm had already sentenced to death."

Shen Fei really couldn't hold back his laughter. He had thought that his recreation of Lenovo's high-priced acquisition of Motorola from his previous life was already impressive enough, but he hadn't expected to encounter such a master.

But with the United States letting Lenovo play like this, Boss Liu is truly… well, it is what it is. After all, this is the United States.

"No, what are they hoping to gain?"

Shen Fei sat down in frustration, then looked at the two with a puzzled expression. After all, he truly didn't understand. Why did Lenovo spend so much money to buy a scrapped project?

To fight Transsion for market share in the low-to-mid-end market? Or perhaps to use Motorola's overseas channels to compete with Transsion abroad? For example, in Latin America or Europe, which are growing markets for the industry; perhaps they could use their brand combined with the myth of self-development to launch a two-pronged attack.

Seeing Shen Fei like this, Professor Li Jiahui sighed. "Boss, I know what you're confused about. I specifically inquired about this question. In Qualcomm's words, since Lenovo doesn't have relevant business in this area, spending a little money to buy a favor is best. That way, if there are problems later, they can…"

Professor Li Jiahui didn't finish his sentence, but the three people present already nodded. Factory Manager Yuan Guoqing also thought for a moment and said: "The Fire Dragon 615 scrapped project, although a bit trashy, might have its power consumption controlled a bit if they switch to 22nm… Anyway, their contract is already signed. We should look at the consequences now."

Factory Manager Yuan Guoqing's words immediately made Shen Fei nod. "Boss, I don't think we need to do anything. After all, the initiative is in our hands now. We can expose it whenever we want, and public opinion on the internet doesn't entirely believe it either."

"No need to expose it." Shen Fei suddenly gave a wicked smile. With the comprador factory and the self-development claim combined, he was curious to see how they would boast about it at the press conference.

"Lenovo K1's engineering number issue—Qualcomm couldn't even solve it themselves, yet Lenovo can solve it just by taking it over? Even if they use 22nm, the power consumption can only be suppressed a little; it's impossible to solve it completely. I'm curious to see if this 'self-developed' pork actually tastes good."

Factory Manager Yuan Guoqing nodded. The 22nm process is indeed stronger than 28nm. But that's only in theory. In reality, Samsung's 22nm isn't much better than 28nm, and because the process has just broken through, leakage is very serious. Furthermore, the heating is even more severe, and power consumption drift is quite large. The feedback from mass production is that the phones will inexplicably lose power quickly, and the temperature rises very fast.

Moreover, they claim a yield rate of over 80% externally, but in reality, that is just a fluctuating number. On average, it is at least 3% to 15% lower than the yield rate they boast about… If it is small-scale tape-out, the scrap rate is even higher. Therefore, Transsion doesn't need to enter the field to personally attack Lenovo; that would only lower their own value.

Transsion Semiconductor has only one opponent, and that is to swallow up Qualcomm, though it will take time. Factory Manager Yuan Guoqing nodded, and Shen Fei's attention shifted to him. "How is the testing going for the immersion Lithography Machine? Can it achieve 10nm?"

The NSE-CX7C immersion prototype has been successfully delivered to the Transsion wafer fab for production line debugging. This is not only because Transsion is the largest shareholder, but mainly because of the exclusive Quadruple Patterning technology. After all, it can reach 7nm in one step, completely allowing China to occupy absolute discourse power in the semiconductor field. In terms of advanced technology, no time can be wasted.

"The production line is already being debugged. We expect to start preliminary trial production next month, but to ensure the success rate, we have decided to start with the 10nm process first."

Shen Fei nodded. After all, TSMC is only starting 16nm trial production at the end of the year, which is equivalent to Transsion's 14nm process. This step is already very fast. "Understood."

After Factory Manager Yuan Guoqing and Professor Li Jiahui left, Shen Fei looked at Lenovo's official announcement again. The comment section was already filled with speculation from all sides. Although the effect was achieved… the plan didn't seem particularly successful. Although the stock prices of Samsung and TSMC had recovered slightly, they were still smashed down by Huang Tianya, and at the same time, Qualcomm and MediaTek were also forced to join the chess game.

At the same time, Shen Fei also received a report sent by Li Qing: it was about the K1 chip and news from Silver Lake Partners. "Boss, Silver Lake Partners in the United States is contacting Xiaomi. Currently, they are acquiring shares through other channels. They are very determined!"

However, Shen Fei just smiled. Xiaomi, personally managed by Lei Jun, didn't even gain any advantage in Transsion's hands; wanting to defeat him with this little bit of investment was thinking too wishfully.

Meanwhile, at the Transsion headquarters in Nigeria, Huang Tianya was conducting a new round of trading. Everyone in the trading room was busy. For this war, they had prepared for two months in advance, starting with 2 billion USD and using 3x leverage to short 6 billion USD worth of TSMC and Samsung stock.

Now, in coordination with Transsion Semiconductor, this battle has finally reached its endgame. Just then, the secretary pushed the door open and walked in. "Mr. Huang, the supermarket called and wants to invite you to dinner tonight." "And Morgan Stanley."

Huang Tianya shook his head. After going to such great lengths, they had only made over 3 billion—just barely recovering their costs—how could they stop so soon? "Mr. Wang and the others sent a message saying that the stock prices of TSMC and Samsung have already fallen by 10%. They can't hold on anymore and are asking when we will close our positions. They are willing to pay a certain price; as long as we agree, everything is negotiable."

Huang Tianya stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and looked at the big screen. "Tell them it's still early. They haven't paid enough tuition this time. When they have paid enough, we will naturally stop!"