66: Chapter 66 The Sanctions Stick: Better Late Than Never!

Lin Yuan went to meet him, smiling as he cupped his hands in greeting.

"I feel quite bad making you come all this way personally, Brother Lin."

"Hah, listen to you."

Lin Jixian waved his hand, dismissive of the concern.

"With something this important, I wouldn't feel right letting someone else deliver it. Naturally, I had to come myself."

After saying that, he tilted his head toward the office door.

"Besides, the gates of your Xia Academy of Sciences aren't exactly easy to enter these days."

"Ordinary people really can't get in."

As he spoke, his gaze inadvertently swept over Qin Meng, who looked like a secretary in the room, before he quickly withdrew it.

Lin Yuan just gave a light chuckle upon hearing this, not picking up the topic.

On the other hand, Wei Jiancheng and the others perked up their ears the moment they heard this conversation.

What important thing?

To think it required someone of Lin Jixian's level to personally escort it here?

The curiosity on Wei Jiancheng's rugged face was impossible to suppress. He glanced at He Yicheng, who was also frowning slightly with a look of confusion.

Lin Jixian took in the expressions of the directors and laughed, no longer keeping them in suspense as he revealed the answer.

"It's like this: two days ago, my younger brother sent a message to my side, asking for help in urgently allocating a batch of special materials."

He began to count on his fingers.

"Special Quartz, Ultra-High Purity Gallium, Trimethylgallium, Gallium Arsenide, High-Purity Germanium, Monocrystalline Germanium Compounds..."

There were several major categories in total.

"As soon as I got the message, I immediately coordinated with various departments and the strategic reserve to expedite the allocation, treating it as a special case."

"And so, as soon as the materials were gathered, I brought them over."

He clapped his hands and grinned at Lin Yuan.

"Everything is downstairs now."

"Not a single item missing. Everything you listed on your manifest, brother, is all here."

As Lin Jixian's words fell, the atmosphere in the office changed instantly.

Who among those present wasn't a top expert in the industry?

The materials he mentioned were all the most core and scarcest key materials in the manufacturing process of a Photolithography Machine.

Special Quartz was the substrate for optical systems.

Ultra-High Purity Gallium and Trimethylgallium were the lifeblood of semiconductor epitaxial growth.

Gallium Arsenide and High-Purity Germanium were the unavoidable foundations of photoelectric detection devices.

Any one of these picked at random was a strategic-level controlled substance. The procurement channels were pitifully narrow, and more than half were held tightly in the hands of foreign suppliers.

The various task force groups had been burying their heads in technical plans these past few days, but in their hearts, they had long been worried about the materials.

They had originally planned to wait until this current wave of technology was digested before jointly submitting a report to pitifully apply for an allocation from above.

But they hadn't even thought of the wording for the report yet.

The materials had been delivered directly to their door.

Wei Jiancheng turned his head and exchanged looks with He Yicheng and Yang Lin.

The faces of the three men were filled with the same complex, indescribable emotion.

They were still thinking about how to ask for them, while someone had already asked on their behalf, and they had even been delivered straight to the door.

This feeling of having everything arranged so clearly left these old titans, who were used to having the final say in their respective fields, somewhat at a loss for a moment.

He Yicheng pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose, his voice a bit dry.

"Chief Engineer Lin, these materials... when did you apply for them?"

"Two days ago."

Lin Yuan's answer was calm and casual.

"Two days ago?"

Wasn't that the same day he handed the first batch of hard drives to them?

In other words, while they were excitedly clutching the hard drives and rushing back to the lab, Lin Yuan was already considering the next several moves on the board.

He gave them the technical plans.

He also prepared the logistical materials for them.

They didn't have to think about anything; they just had to bury their heads and work.

Wei Jiancheng's throat bobbed, and it took a long time before he squeezed out a sentence.

"You kid... you've truly got us all sorted out completely."

Hearing this, Lin Yuan smiled but said nothing.

Chen Jingshan, watching this scene from the side, couldn't help but shake his head slightly, his heart filled with a myriad of emotions.

However, just as the atmosphere was at its peak, the smile on Lin Jixian's face slightly faded.

He hesitated for a moment but spoke up anyway.

"However, brother, there's something I need to mention to you."

"During the allocation process of this batch of materials, we ran into a bit of a situation."

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow, signaling him to continue.

"The foreign side has made their move."

When Lin Jixian spat out those few words, the office fell silent for a moment.

"Only three days have passed since the press conference, and the major supplier countries have already started tightening the noose."

"The two main suppliers of Special Quartz notified our trade agents at the same time yesterday afternoon that they were suspending shipments, citing 'contractual clause review'."

"The situation with High-Purity Germanium is even more exaggerated; it was directly included in a new batch of export control lists, and even the customs declaration stage has been blocked."

He counted them off one by one, speaking very quickly.

"Trimethylgallium and Gallium Arsenide are much the same, going through the route of technical security reviews. Nominally it's a 'routine review', but anyone can see it's aimed right at us."

After Lin Jixian finished speaking, the entire office was quiet for two seconds.

Chen Jingshan stood with his hands behind his back, his brow furrowed and his expression solemn.

This result was actually within expectations.

From the moment the global live broadcast signal of that press conference went out, Xia Nation's signal of "breaking the deadlock" in the semiconductor field had already stung the most sensitive nerves of all vested interests.

Using technical blockades to suppress opponents was the move those people were most familiar with.

You want to build a Photolithography Machine? Fine.

I'll cut off all the raw materials needed to build it and see what you use to make it.

Cutting off the supply at the source—simple and crude.

But for the past few decades, this move had been damnably effective.

Lin Jixian looked around at everyone's grim faces and sighed.

"To be honest, the reason this batch of materials could arrive so quickly was partly due to special handling, and partly because we intercepted the last batch of inventory during the window period before the ban officially took effect."

"A day or two later, it would have been very difficult to buy these things on the international market."

These words caused the hearts of Wei Jiancheng and the others to sink even further.

Everyone present knew what this meant.

Although this batch of materials had arrived, it was only an allocation of existing inventory.

Once this batch was used up, if the subsequent raw material supply chain was completely cut off, the following work would be choked to death.

However, just as the hearts of the old scientists were weighed down by that "embargo," Lin Yuan laughed.

The laughter came abruptly, easily, and even carried a hint of playful amusement as if watching a show.

"An embargo?"

Lin Yuan repeated the word, his tone devoid of any heaviness.

"It's within expectations."

"Those people abroad only have these few moves to play over and over again."

He raised his hand and pointed vaguely at Lin Jixian.

"But Brother Lin, you've reminded me of something."

"They can have their sanctions, but as for these raw materials... our country seems to have quite a lot of them, doesn't it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Lin Jixian was slightly stunned.

That was actually the truth.

For things like gallium and germanium, Xia Nation's reserves and production had consistently ranked first in the world for years.

In previous years, the state had also introduced relevant export control measures, holding significant sway in the global supply chain.

We don't lack the raw ores.

But...

Lin Jixian hesitated.

Having the ore and being able to use it were two different things.

Between the raw ore dug out of the ground and the ultra-high purity materials that could be used in Photolithography Machine manufacturing lay an entire process chain of purification, processing, and preparation that was perversely precise.

And the most critical links in that process chain happened to be Xia Nation's long-term shortcomings.

Before he could voice this concern hidden in his heart,

Lin Yuan had already continued. His speaking speed wasn't fast, but every word fell with the weight of a stone.

"I know that what we lack is not the mines, nor the raw materials."

"What's missing is the high-end processing and preparation capability."

He paused for a beat, raised his hand, and tapped his index finger lightly in the air.

In those deep eyes, a heart-stopping sharp light flashed.

"But what if..."

"What if we could process and prepare it ourselves?"

"Then there wouldn't be a problem, would there?"