219: Chapter 219 Is this what you call a preliminary research result?

The International Chip Exchange Summit was held in Modu City.

This year was completely different from previous years.

In previous years, this kind of meeting was watched by industry insiders, capital, and a small number of media outlets; ordinary people couldn't even be bothered to remember its name.

But this year was different.

Because among those attending was Lu Li.

Because the meeting agenda explicitly listed a term for the first time that countless people dared not believe—a demonstration of China's independent five-nanometer manufacturing capabilities.

Once the news was released, domestic and international media outlets exploded almost simultaneously.

It wasn't just tech media.

Financial media, political media, international media, and even people who usually didn't care about chips at all started keeping their eyes on this summit.

Outside the venue, broadcast vans were parked in rows.

Inside the venue, cameras, live streaming stations, and simultaneous interpretation channels were all fully operational.

The whole world was waiting for an answer.

And before the answer was truly revealed, the voices of doubt were far louder than the voices of praise.

On the domestic internet, ever since the Virtual Helmet was released a few months ago, there had been a persistent narrative—

That the "self-developed five-nanometer chip" originally advertised by Guanghui Technology was actually not five-nanometer in the traditional sense at all.

It was not the same process algorithm that could be horizontally compared with Intel, TSMC, or Samsung.

It was just another clever naming convention.

To put it bluntly, it was just "a good-looking number."

If measured by general industry standards, many people felt the actual level of that chip was at most around fourteen nanometers, and many even firmly believed that it was simply secretly manufactured by TSMC, only that Guanghui Technology kept it so tight that no one could find any concrete proof.

These voices were even more intense abroad.

Several well-known tech commentators in the United States sneered on their shows the night before, saying that what China was best at now wasn't chips, but propaganda.

"They always like to package concepts as reality."

"If they really had five-nanometer Lithography Machine capabilities, why have we never seen the equipment in the past?"

"Why has there been no disclosure of the complete supply chain?"

"Why is it that even today, they are only using a single chip to speak, rather than bringing out the machine itself?"

These words were spoken with sarcasm.

Yet, they happened to strike a chord with many people.

Because this was also everyone's core doubt.

You say you have a five-nanometer chip, fine.

But what about your Lithography Machine?

What about your manufacturing equipment?

What about your process standards?

What about your complete chain?

Without seeing the Lithography Machine, it was always like being separated by a layer of fog.

Therefore, two hours before the summit started, the comment sections of the largest domestic live streaming platforms were not even being argued in most fiercely by foreign netizens.

But by our own people.

"Don't tell me it's another word game?"

"I believe Lu Li is awesome, but I don't believe we have really managed to produce a five-nanometer Lithography Machine."

"Being able to make a chip doesn't mean the equipment chain is truly operational."

"If they really can't bring out the machine today, they will probably be ridiculed by the whole world again."

"To put it simply, we still have to see the real thing."

There were also people speaking up for Guanghui Technology.

"The Virtual Helmet runs so well, didn't you see the performance?"

"If it were really fourteen nanometers, could it be compressed to that power consumption?"

"Not to mention anything else, when has Lu Li ever dropped the ball at a big event?"

But even so, the persuasiveness was still limited.

Because in the chip industry, ultimately, it doesn't recognize empty talk.

It recognizes equipment.

It recognizes the chain.

It recognizes whether you can display the machine.

Fifteen minutes before the summit began, the crowd outside the Modu City Convention and Exhibition Center had been completely separated.

Lenses of all sizes were pointed towards the main entrance.

When the Chinese delegation's motorcade slowly came to a stop, countless lenses lit up simultaneously.

The car door opened.

The first to get off were the accompanying staff, and then, Su Qingxue.

She was wearing a white suit skirt today, with a sharp cut, her long hair tied up; her whole demeanor was as cold and clear as a cleanly lined blade. As soon as she appeared, the surrounding camera flashes intensified for a moment.

But more lenses still bypassed her, locked firmly onto the man who was slowly getting out of the car behind her.

Lu Li.

He was not dressed extravagantly today; one could even call it low-key.

A black suit, the collar not too tightly fastened, his whole person still exuding that lazy air, as if he hadn't come to attend a chip summit being broadcast by global media, but had been dragged out from home to work temporarily.

Yet, it was precisely this nonchalance that seemed even more imposing in this kind of setting.

Because everyone knew—all lenses today were waiting for him.

Inside the main forum of the venue, the seats were almost full.

Representatives from semiconductor giants, material suppliers, foundry companies, equipment manufacturers, and terminal brands from various countries were all there.

In the past, when Chinese companies sat in this kind of venue, they mostly faced scrutiny, wariness, and that sense of polite but constant alienation.

But this time was different.

As soon as Lu Li entered the venue, he could feel the shift in gazes that were almost undisguised.

It wasn't curiosity.

It wasn't just treating him as a business star who had suddenly emerged.

It was wariness.

It was regard.

And a kind of complexity that couldn't be put into words.

Because in the past six months, he had brought out too many things.

The military parade, Nuclear Fusion, Virtual Helmet, Robot, air imaging, Guanghui Mobile, and then that "self-developed five-nanometer" chip that had been hanging over the global chip industry.

So many that those standing upstream in the industry chain could no longer understand him as a "single-field genius."

He was more like a variable that had broken into the old order.

And today, this variable was sitting at the main table of the chip summit.

This fact alone was enough to make many people feel tense.

When Lu Li sat down, his expression remained relaxed; he even casually picked up the mineral water on the table, unscrewed it, and took a sip.

As if he didn't care at all about the gazes around him that wished they could bore a hole through him.

But Su Qingxue, sitting beside him, knew very clearly—this meeting today wasn't just for attending.

It was to stake a claim.

Soon, the process moved to the special exchange session on equipment and manufacturing capabilities.

As the host's voice trailed off, the main screen lights dimmed, and the entire venue quieted down.

Everyone knew that the real main event had arrived.

The name of the joint holding chip company from China appeared on the main screen officially for the first time.

Not the Virtual Helmet chip.

Not the mobile phone chip.

But something even further upstream—the manufacturing equipment chain.

Immediately after, a line of text slowly appeared: [China's Independent Five-Nanometer Manufacturing Equipment System Phased Verification Results]