409: Chapter 408 Wang Shuo's Confidence

"It seems Vice President Tang Ren was not lying."

The person who spoke earlier revealed a faint smile.

"Mm."

General Manager Qin nodded slightly, not continuing the topic, and only said: "I invited you here today not because of Vice President Tang Ren, but because there are other matters I need to hear your opinion on in person."

"I know."

The person speaking had salt-and-pepper hair and appeared to be around forty years old. Hearing this, he shook his head: "My answer is no."

General Manager Qin frowned: "We still cannot break through even now?"

"Technology is like this; if you can't develop it, you can't develop it. There are no shortcuts."

The person who spoke before looked helpless and smiled, saying: "Isn't there a joke that says people can do anything in desperate situations and miracles always happen, except for math problems? If you don't know how to solve them, you don't know. Technology is the same."

General Manager Qin stared at the gray-haired Middle-aged man in front of him and sighed after a long while: "I don't believe what others say, but I believe what you say."

"Actually, there's no need to worry. Our current path is going quite well. It took us less than twenty years to overcome most of the difficulties, and we are only a step or two away from the world's top level. Perhaps..."

"There is no 'perhaps'."

General Manager Qin shook his head slightly and said: "The higher-ups have already issued a task, requiring us to overcome key technical nodes as soon as possible and develop a Lithography Machine capable of rivaling advanced Western levels."

"Our Lithography Machine can already produce 45nm process Chips. Is that not enough?"

The Middle-aged man frowned slightly.

"Not enough."

General Manager Qin shook his head: "This is not like the rough work for the military before. We need to truly catch up with the world's advanced precision processes. 45nm is still very far off."

The Middle-aged man's brows were tightly knit: "If our department adjusts the light source and reflection system again, we can improve the process to 32nm based on the existing foundation. This is already the limit. Even for manufacturing micro-missiles, this process is absolutely sufficient."

General Manager Qin continued to shake his head: "Not enough."

"Still not enough?"

The Middle-aged man was somewhat surprised: "Our country doesn't have an urgent need for advanced processes right now. Why..."

His voice paused, and the Middle-aged man widened his eyes slightly: "Could it be..."

General Manager Qin glanced at the Middle-aged man and nodded slightly.

"Is it really like that?"

The Middle-aged man was somewhat confused: "But doing this, doesn't it just give those foreign media an excuse?"

"That is still better than watching Huaneng Technology go bankrupt."

General Manager Qin was very serious: "In short, Beijing attaches great importance to this. The Number One leader personally gave instructions, and the task has been handed over to our company."

"Within two years, we must overcome the technical difficulties of 16nm. Within four years, we must overcome the technical difficulties of around 10nm. We must push the limit performance of the Lithography Machine from 32nm to 7nm. Within six years, all preparatory work must be completed. 16nm Chips must have mass production capabilities, and 7nm Chips must have the basic production capacity to support Huaneng Group alone, without considering yield rates."

The Middle-aged man was dumbfounded. It seemed that the high-level leaders were really stimulated by the shamelessness of the United States this time, but that was no reason to ignore objective laws.

Listening to those time nodes, it was almost like a fantasy.

Overcome 16nm in two years?

Overcome within 10nm in four years?

If they could do that, they wouldn't have spent twenty years pushing from 220nm to 45nm.

"General Manager Qin, you can't just agree to this recklessly."

The Middle-aged man was somewhat anxious. Once this was agreed to, it would be almost like a military order.

"If we were given another ten years, we might be able to catch up, but with only four years, it's simply impossible."

"There is no time left."

General Manager Qin let out a breath: "The technical expert group from Beijing will arrive this afternoon. We must come up with a reasonable promotion plan as soon as possible. Mayor Zhang of Donghai City has already promised..."

"If we need money, they give money; if we need people, they give people; if we need land, they give land. Projects, policies, and assisting enterprises and units will all be coordinated by the government. We only have one goal..."

A glint flashed in General Manager Qin's eyes.

"Capture this last piece of the puzzle for the Lithography Machine!"

"Give Chinese enterprises a bright and clear future!"

...

Meanwhile, in the conference room of Frontier Technology.

Wang Shuo had finished briefly introducing his project content and plan, and looked calmly at the several people in front of him with different expressions.

The meeting room was silent.

After a long while, Yang Changhe smiled bitterly and said: "General Manager Wang, there is no problem with your project, but this time... isn't it a bit too rushed?"

"No problem with the project?"

General Manager Wu snorted, though he didn't sneer, and said: "General Manager Yang, what this General Manager Wang wants to build is not a single Lithography Machine, but an entire production line! And it has to be produced in batches! You call this 'no problem'?"

"Familiarize with the technical process in one month, start production in two months, and produce finished products in less than three months—you call this 'no problem'?"

"Most importantly, the key performance has to surpass Western Lithography Machines! You call this 'no problem'?"

General Manager Wu used three parallel sentences in a row, fully demonstrating his literary accomplishment and his own anger. Finally, he summarized with words that were almost a low roar.

"General Manager Wang, are you playing games with us?"

General Manager Yang's expression changed several times, and finally, he sighed and did not continue speaking.

He was only doing this for the sake of Chen Zhongxuan and didn't want to make things too difficult for young man in front of him. But since General Manager Wu had already spoken, he didn't need to fall out with General Manager Wu over a so-called project that indeed seemed outrageous.

Wang Shuo's smile remained unchanged. Having seen such scenes many times, he was somewhat accustomed to it.

Picking his ears, Wang Shuo explained calmly: "Since we are going to manufacture Lithography Machines, we must build a production line for batch production. We can't just stop manufacturing after a one-off deal."

"As for the time aspect, aren't you all senior suppliers in this supply chain? General Manager Wu, you are a Tier 1 supplier of optical systems. Your company's technical strength in optical paths shouldn't be bad, right?"

General Manager Wu nodded faintly without speaking, as if he didn't want to say another word to Wang Shuo.

Wang Shuo then turned his gaze to Yang Changhe.

"General Manager Yang, you are a Tier 2 backup supplier for light sources. Although the level isn't high, the light sources produced are still used in Lithography Machines, aren't they?"

Yang Changhe smiled bitterly slightly, but still nodded.

"General Manager Li, you are a supplier of gas path systems. As long as there is a design drawing, you can produce qualified gas pipelines, right?"

The Middle-aged man named General Manager Li nodded solemnly. He still had this confidence; otherwise, he wouldn't have been selected for the Tier 3 supplier list.

"General Manager Gao, your company seems to produce photoresist, and you also have involvement in photoresist coating systems, right?"

Wang Shuo smiled kindly.

General Manager Gao was also a young man around thirty years old. Hearing this, he nodded slightly.

"Finally, there is General Manager Chen Zhongxuan. Zhongzhi Pengcheng Company has deep research on the main body, workbench, vacuum system, and cooling system of the Lithography Machine, so production is absolutely not a problem."

"With all this, is it difficult to produce a Lithography Machine?"

General Manager Wu's face was unnatural. He asked: "You've said so much, and it's all our work. What do you do?"

"Me?"

Wang Shuo smiled calmly and said: "Naturally, I will take care of all the remaining work. Whether we can build a Lithography Machine that rivals the West depends on whether I can finish optimizing these remaining systems."

General Manager Wu's face was very ugly. He felt that his intelligence had been deeply insulted here. He couldn't help but stand up directly and said to Chen Zhongxuan: "General Manager Chen, I gave you face, but I shouldn't have come to this meeting!"

Chen Zhongxuan looked at Wang Shuo, somewhat speechless. If he didn't have a certain understanding of this guy and knew that he wouldn't do things without a target, he might have been the one getting angry right now.

"General Manager Wu, please calm down."

Chen Zhongxuan pulled General Manager Wu's sleeve and persuaded him helplessly: "Let's hear General Manager Wang finish speaking."

"Say what?"

General Manager Wu said with a cold face: "Listen to him talk about how to optimize the Lithography Machine?"

Building an assembly line, he tolerated it; this is what everyone is doing.

Producing finished products in three months, he also tolerated it; as long as the supply chain is in place, any speed is possible.

But performance exceeding the West? He could no longer tolerate it.

Now, a mere child actually says he wants to optimize the Lithography Machine?

How the hell can he tolerate this?

If he tolerated this, wouldn't it make people say that all of them in the Lithography Machine supply chain are useless?

Can't tolerate it!

General Manager Wu squinted at Wang Shuo, who had a faint smile, his expression even uglier.

Even the West doesn't dare to say that they can continue to optimize the design of the Lithography Machine now. A green kid who hasn't even graduated from college—who gave him the courage to say this?

Where did this confidence come from?