It’s hard for you to imagine how difficult our country’s chip industry is going!
Thirty years ago, Japan’s global chip share was as high as 53%, while the United States only had 37%. This glory made the United States angry. The United States pushed Japan to the ground and forced Japan to sign two unequal semiconductor treaties in a row. All core internal information was taken away by the CIA. Japan's pillar industries, which took 22 years and a nationwide effort to develop, were destroyed by the United States. The economy was dragged into the quagmire, with no possibility of turning around.
Americans are repeating similar clumsy behavior, and a series of so-called "sanctions" are happening to national companies such as Huawei and SMIC!
On May 15, 2019, the United States issued a ban restricting American companies from providing parts and services to Huawei. A year later, the second round of "fatwa" was upgraded. As long as it is a company that uses American technology, no company is allowed to manufacture chips for Huawei. This has completely cut off Huawei's chip foundry path.
As a key equipment for chip manufacturing, SMIC spent US$120 million to customize an EUV lithography machine from ASML as early as 2018. However, the United States interfered and restricted the export of related equipment to my country. It took four years before this photolithography machine had the opportunity to be delivered.
A lesson for the past and a guide for the future! Facing the US blockade, we are bound to find a path to industrial self-reliance!
It is precisely in this context that a group of technology enthusiasts have stepped on the road to revitalize "Chinese chips".
1. Zhang Rujing, the godfather of Chinese semiconductors
He studied abroad when he was young, and after completing his studies, he resolutely returned to China to serve China. He started his own business five times, was framed, and started all over again. He single-handedly brought China into the cutting-edge chip technology track. He is Zhang Rujing, the founder of SMIC.
In 1997, Zhang Rujing left Texas Instruments, the top chip manufacturing company, and returned to China to start his own business. In just 3 years, the momentum is approaching that of TSMC. TSMC couldn't sit still and used its connections to acquire Zhang Rujing's company. After that, Zhang Rujing registered a new company-SMIC in Hong Kong, China.
This time, Zhang Rujing not only brought back 300 key members from Taiwan, but also preached across the east and west coasts of the United States like a missionary, calling more than 100 Chinese in the United States to return to the country. He knows that in China's semiconductor industry, talent is more scarce than capital.
It took SMIC three years to accelerate mainland China’s chip level by 30 years.
Shopping malls are like battlefields. In 2002, Taiwan, China, sent a divestment warning to Taiwan, otherwise it would pay compensation of NT$15 million. Zhang Rujing ignored it. The frustrated Taiwan authorities revoked Zhang Rujing's Taiwanese household registration and even put him on a wanted list.
As soon as you finish singing and I will appear on stage, TSMC also heard the news and came over to kill them, even more ruthlessly. Zhang Rujing was forced to leave SMIC and signed a non-competition agreement prohibiting him from working in chips for three years. On the day he left, Zhang Rujing walked around the factory area for three hours, looking at every plant and tree he had worked for over the past nine years with mixed feelings. Finally, he said three words to the workers seeing him off, "Don't lie down." < /p>
At the end of the three-year period, Zhang Rujing drove the dilapidated white Ford from 10 years ago and returned to the chip industry. Under his leadership, China's chip industry has completed a leap from low-end to high-end. This time, he shifted his focus and devoted his personal energy to another weakness of Chinese chips - the "silicon" element.
When the production capacity reached 120,000 pieces per month, Zhang Rujing handed over the company to the state-owned Shanghai Silicon Industry and continued to pursue another track - IDM.
In 2017, Academician Ni Guangnan represented the country and awarded Zhang Rujing the China Semiconductor Industry Lifetime Contribution Award.
2. The "Don Quixote" of the chip industry - Ni Guangnan
Ni Guangnan, born in 1939. When I graduated from college, I wrote an extremely innovative idea on the topic of pulse coding communication, which shocked my mentor. In 1981, the Canadian National Research Institute sent an invitation. Ni Guangnan stayed for two years and then returned to China, carrying the core machines and circuit chips he purchased with his own money.
You know, his annual salary in Canada at that time was 43,000 Canadian dollars, a full 70 times higher than his domestic salary.
Faced with the incomprehension of his family and friends, Ni Guangnan said: "If I don't come back, everything I do from now on will not be helpful to China's manufacturing."
In 1984, A businessman knocked on Ni Guangnan's door. This man was Liu Chuanzhi. The biggest difference between scientists and businessmen is that one is determined to revitalize China's science and technology throughout his life, while the other just wants to make money.
In 1985, the first Lenovo Hanka was successfully developed and put into the market. Ni Guangnan successively updated 8 models and became the company's core technology. By 1994, Lenovo had grown from a small company with an initial capital of only RMB 200,000 to a leading enterprise with sales of RMB 4.73 billion.
Ni Guangnan, who is very forward-looking, advocates the establishment of a national investment plan led by Lenovo to study China's independent manufacturing of chip technology. However, Liu Chuanzhi, a businessman, is unwilling to take this risk, and conflicts between the two continue. upgrade.
In June 1995, Liu Chuanzhi decided to abandon this "technological chess piece" and start market trade. The board of directors announced on the spot that Ni Guangnan would be relieved of all his duties. Liu Chuanzhi burst into tears when he spoke. He thanked Ni Guangnan for his efforts, but never mentioned that Ni Guangnan should stay. After Ni Guangnan was forced to leave, a series of China's independent research and development chip plans he presided over were also forced to stop.
Today, the global chip market is undergoing rapid changes, and we understand Ni Guangnan’s far-reaching vision. If Ni Guangnan's technical route had been followed at that time, what would happen to Lenovo and China's semiconductor industry today?
Ni Guangnan works day and night for Chinese chips. At the age of 82, he rents a house in Beijing with no one to take care of him, only his beloved scientific research. I am immersed in scientific research for more than 300 days a year, and I am reluctant to take a break even on holidays.
When asked when to stop, Ni Guangnan replied: "When you find that you can't help others."
3. Chip Wizard-Liang Mengsong
< p> Anyone who plays with technology is addicted. Liang Mengsong is a typical technology tycoon. He has been deeply involved in the semiconductor industry for 35 years and has obtained more than 400 invention patents. Some people say that he is a scientific research madman in the field of semiconductors, but his old employer regards him as "a traitor who defected to the enemy camp."From TSMC to Samsung to SMIC, every job change has caused shock in the industry; not only has it changed the development trajectory of the company, but it has also single-handedly affected the competitive landscape of the entire semiconductor industry.
After Liang Mengsong took office at SMIC, he launched a series of tiger operations. In less than a year, the yield rate of the 28nm process was increased from 60% to more than 85%; in 2019, the 14nm process was officially put into mass production, and the yield rate soared from 3% to more than 95%; a year later, 28nm, 14nm, 12nm and N+1 technologies have entered large-scale mass production; the development of 7nm technology has been completed, and 5nm and 3nm technologies are also being launched in an orderly manner.
Under the leadership of Liang Mengsong, SMIC took 3 years to complete the 10-year journey of TSMC.
Meituan CEO Wang Xing once expressed his respect for Liang Mengsong: "Mr. Liang Mengsong donated all of SMIC's income to China's education foundation without taking any money, not for making money. Just want to fight for it, awesome!”
When we look at Liang Mengsong’s career, we will find that his goals are very clear. It has nothing to do with money or position. What he wants from the beginning to the end is There is only one - dominance of high-end chip development projects.
4. Jiang Shangzhou, a dual warrior in China’s scientific and technological circles and political circles
Jiang Shangzhou’s resume is different from the previous ones. He completed his PhD at the age of 40 and returned to China to enter the During his official career, he made great achievements during his time in power. He has always held multiple positions and was overloaded with work. Comrade Zhu Rongji once said to him: "If you resettle more than 30,000 relocated farmers, half of your hair will be gray." He once served as the deputy mayor of Sanya City, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Economic Commission, and deputy secretary-general of Shanghai Municipality. He was one of the few officials in power at the time who understood semiconductors.
As a strategic scientist, he never thinks about one move, he plays a whole game of chess.
Speaking of Jiang Shangzhou, there is another person who must be mentioned-Zhang Rujing. Jiang Shangzhou was the one who invited Zhang Rujing to Shanghai to build a factory. In 2000, Zhang Rujing led 300 semiconductor engineers to Shanghai, and SMIC was established. Later, TSMC began to sue SMIC. The entangled lawsuits caused SMIC to suffer losses for a long time and was on the verge of bankruptcy.
In 2009, Zhang Rujing was forced out, and Jiang Shangzhou gave up his government status and was appointed chairman of SMIC. At this time, Jiang Shangzhou had been suffering from cancer for 7 years. His body had long since allowed him to take on such a heavy and high-pressure job, but Jiang Shangzhou still shouldered this burden without hesitation. Soon, SMIC turned from losses to profits, and even had the ability to acquire Wuhan Xinxin.
He died before leaving the army, which made the hero burst into tears.
On June 27, 2011, Jiang Shangzhou died of lung cancer, and his life stopped forever at the age of 64. A week before his death, he was conducting board meetings on his cell phone.
5. The “strongest headhunter” in the history of Chinese chips - Yu Zhongyu
Yu Zhongyu graduated from the Department of Physics of Peking University in 1958 and is the first generation of semiconductor experts trained in New China. No one understands the problems of China's semiconductor industry better than him. Back then, he led a team to inspect Texas Instruments, a top foreign chip manufacturing company. Among the foreigners in the reception team, he was delighted to find a Chinese face. This Chinese young man was Zhang Rujing.
At that time, China’s semiconductor industry was in dire straits. Before leaving, Yu Zhongyu held Zhang Rujing’s hand and gave him a verbal offer, “We are waiting for you in Beijing!”
This sentence rewrote a person's fate and the fate of the entire Chinese chip history.
6. Qiu Ciyun, the sweeping monk in the "core" era
From 1984 to 1996, Qiu Ciyun worked at Bell Labs for a full 12 years. Bell Labs is the research institution that has produced the most Nobel Prize winners in the world. Qiu Ciyun's departure surprised many people.
In 2001, at the invitation of Zhang Rujing, he joined SMIC and started the semiconductor business. Compared to being a CEO, Qiu Ciyun is more like a researcher. He speaks modestly and has a calm tone, but these cannot conceal his outstanding achievements in the semiconductor industry.
As a professional manager, Qiu Ciyun once led Huahong NEC, Silterra Malaysia, and SMIC to turn losses into profits. In 2019, he became the newly promoted CEO of Shanghai and led them on a new journey.
Qiu Ciyun is a low-key person, and there are almost zero personal reports about him online.
74-year-old Zhang Rujing, 82-year-old Ni Guangnan, 70-year-old Liang Mengsong, 64-year-old Yu Zhongyu, 66-year-old Qiu Ciyun, and Jiang Shangzhou, whose life is forever fixed at the age of 64, are all "Chinese Chipmakers" "The sowers on the road to revitalization. They are beacons, torches.
This group of national warriors were born in the poorest era in China, but they gave up their comfortable life and resolutely served the motherland. Even if you are scarred and your hair is gray, you will still fight to the end for "Chinese Core". We are passing through a tunnel, and as we go down, the light is just ahead.
Tens of thousands of Chinese chip people have taken up this flame and are determined to let the glory of Chinese chips illuminate every inch of China's mountains and rivers!
This article would like to pay tribute to every Chinese chip person who has made efforts to revitalize China.
Here, follow me and become happy and confident Chinese people~