535: Chapter 534 Technology Secrecy? High-Profile Publicity?

"Don't you believe in me anymore? With the data provided by Mr. Shen, if I still couldn't build it, wouldn't all my knowledge just be thrown to the dogs?"

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After saying this, he patted his chest and gave his assurance.

Minister Liu hurriedly grabbed his friend's hand: "It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that this equipment is too important."

Chen Jianming naturally understood; after all, from the first day he stepped in here, he had known the importance of this equipment.

"Alright, stop putting on an act in front of me. Let's just take a look at the results first."

After speaking, he raised his hand to signal, and the staff immediately started the equipment.

The wafer stage moved slowly, and the laser projected onto the silicon wafer through the immersion liquid layer; the process was extremely smooth, without any malfunctions.

"Let me briefly reiterate the core parameters for everyone. The numerical aperture is 0.93, it supports Transsion's Quadruple Patterning Technology, the current stable mass production process is 14nm, and after process optimization, it can push for 10nm. The limit process is 6nm. We are currently testing the 14nm process, with a stable yield rate of over 95%, and a monthly production capacity of 12,000 wafers per unit."

Chen Jianming's words were very concise, as those present were not exactly technical experts... They wouldn't understand overly profound technical data anyway, so these results were easier to communicate.

"The comprehensive performance of this equipment is already on par with ASML's top-tier NXE series DUV Lithography Machine."

Seeing Mr. Shen speak up, and asking such a professional question, Chen Jianming immediately felt he had met a kindred spirit and hurriedly gathered around: "Yes, Mr. Shen, I didn't expect you to be so professional."

"Of course, all your original data was dug out from the United States by Mr. Shen during the economic crisis," Mr. Ren replied from the side.

After all, he still missed that summer, when he made the most correct choice. It not only brought them life-saving money but also found them a powerful backer.

At this moment, Minister Liu from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology wasn't listening to their flattery; instead, he walked to the observation window and stared at the equipment inside for a long time, sighing occasionally. "Amazing!"

"Four or five years ago, we were still worrying about the 40nm and 28nm bottlenecks. Now, not only has the process been solved, but even the source equipment has been resolved. We have DUV, immersion DUV, and even a large batch of export orders. If this were released to the public, who would believe it?"

At this moment, Chen Jianming walked to his side again: "I heard from Old Yang that their orders have already sold nearly seventy or eighty units."

"To be precise, it's 82 units. The two people in front of you are both major clients, hurry up and suck up to them."

Hearing Minister Liu's words, Chen Jianming instantly rolled his eyes at him, but he still consciously walked over.

At this moment, Mr. Ren signaled him to go find the person next to him: "Our Huawei previously considered building our own factory, but after Mr. Shen solved the capacity crisis, we gave up. After all, we are all one family; building two factories would be too much of a waste of resources."

Looking at the carefree Mr. Ren, Shen Fei smiled. That was true; after all, he held a 50% stake in Huawei's mid-range products. Although the tape-out production couldn't compare to his own Taishan series, it was still counted as family.

"Rest assured, keep the first 10 units for us."

"This... this... our initial planned annual capacity was only 5 units. This order alone covers two years of our production. I thank Mr. Shen on behalf of my brothers!"

After all, these people were never afraid of the difficulty of technical breakthroughs; they were only afraid that after the breakthrough was completed, they wouldn't be able to sell it, and then wouldn't have the money... to conduct further research.

Minister Liu finished laughing while looking at the equipment; it was the expectation that domestic scientific researchers had for domestic equipment. At this moment, he walked up to the three of them again: "I have a somewhat immature idea now, and I want to be honest with the three of you. My opinion is to keep this technology under wraps for now and not announce it publicly."

"Currently, TSMC's most advanced mass production process is only 20nm. They say one is working on 16nm and another on 14nm, but the technology is not very mature. So we are currently in a leading position... and there is at least a one-generation gap."

At this moment, a subtle expression appeared on Shen Fei's face. Minister Liu understood instantly: "You brat have brought me another surprise, at least a two-generation technical lead. My idea is to digest it internally first. Mr. Shen, after your wafer factory gets the production line to 7nm, quietly increase the capacity, and then slowly sell the equipment."

As soon as these words were spoken, the accompanying staff nodded one after another. In their view, such critical technology should of course be kept as confidential as possible; exposing it too early would only invite more frantic suppression from the United States. Although they weren't afraid, and always used the soybean card or the rare earth card, the country would still be affected to some extent...

But Shen Fei shook his head. He didn't approve of this plan, but Minister Liu and the others weren't wrong either; after all, their generation had lived through too much hardship, so they would subconsciously hide good things. But Transsion didn't need to... Transsion had plenty of methods.

"Minister Liu, I don't think it's necessary. Immersion DUV isn't exactly advanced technology to begin with; to put it bluntly, it's just a breakthrough in a mature technical route and doesn't count as next-generation core technology. Of course, our Quadruple Patterning Technology is indeed advanced, but that is something we are not selling."

"So, as long as our equipment doesn't use the Quadruple Patterning Technology, it's just an ordinary product. Our real trump card is the EUV Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Machine project."

Mr. Ren nodded again; after all, he also knew these parameters. Although it felt like the top-tier data for others... it was ultimately not EUV.

At this moment, Chen Jianming also nodded: "Mr. Shen is right, I personally also suggest promoting it. It's not that I want to be famous, but rather that only the 10nm and 7nm nodes will be able to use this equipment in the future. Only when it is considered an advanced process can the equipment sell for a high price; otherwise, it will just be considered a mature process and can only be sold at dirt-cheap prices."

At this, a bureau director from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was also moved: "Minister, although the outside world says we are hooligans. Although we can sell health technology at dirt-cheap prices, if we really have the capability, who would want to sell cabbage? We want to harvest leeks too!"

Speaking of this, Minister Liu was also moved. He wanted to as well, but wasn't he just terrified of poverty?

Chen Jianming understood his hesitation, so he said to his friend: "Don't worry, I have communicated with Old Wang, and their project is progressing very smoothly. The project has entered the full-machine joint debugging stage; the core light source and optical systems have all been conquered, and it can be implemented in three years at most. Compared to that equipment, today's immersion DUV is just outdated technology, it is definitely yesterday's news."

Minister Liu was dumbfounded; he had just been fawning over it for a long time, and now he was being told... "Three years? So fast? Wouldn't that mean we could catch up to ASML?"