220: Chapter 220 Stop spreading rumors about contract manufacturing; the lithography machine is right here.

The venue fell even quieter.

It wasn't that no one was breathing; it was that everyone had suppressed their breathing.

Because everyone knew that what was about to follow would no longer determine whether a single company was impressive, but whether the Chinese chip industry had truly stood up.

The main screen flickered.

A second later, the image cut to live, on-site footage of that equipment inside the confidential factory zone.

It wasn't a rendering.

It wasn't concept art.

It wasn't some blurry, infuriatingly low-quality stolen video.

It was a complete, clear, multi-angle recording of—a Lithography Machine.

At the venue, a pen dropped onto a table.

Someone else jerked upright in their seat.

The expressions of several foreign executives stiffened, almost visibly so.

The domestic live stream went blank for a split second.

Immediately after, the chat exploded like crazy.

"WTF????"

"Is that a real machine????"

"It's not just a PPT???"

"Is this fucking a Lithography Machine???"

"Did China really bring out the actual equipment?!!"

It wasn't just domestic.

In the synchronized overseas live stream, the comment section spiraled out of control within a second.

"Is this real or fake?"

"This is impossible."

"Wait, is that the actual machine?"

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!!"

The main screen didn't pause.

It wasn't just showing the machine's exterior.

Instead, it provided a direct, interlaced demonstration of the full operational simulation alongside actual footage of the machine.

It displayed the exposure system, alignment system, motion platform, control modules, optical path structure, key node parameters, and even parts of the masking and process logic—an extremely restrained yet sufficiently professional presentation.

They weren't showing their entire hand, but they provided enough.

Enough for anyone in the industry to immediately realize: This wasn't just an empty shell brought out to intimidate people.

This was the real deal.

An executive from a European equipment supplier in the front row had a visibly changed complexion, turning to whisper something to the person beside him.

Not far away, the head of another materials company furrowed their brows tightly.

They had originally assumed that China's breakthrough was likely limited to a few specific points.

A certain type of process.

A single core component.

Or some supporting supply chain link.

But what was displayed now was no longer just a posture of "filling a gap."

It was equipment, design, manufacturing, and supporting infrastructure—all beginning to be forcefully strung together.

A white executive stared fixedly at the main screen, murmuring in a low voice, "They really built it..."

The person beside him turned to look at him.

He paused for two seconds before continuing, "They are building a new table."

They weren't playing catch-up.

They were building a new table entirely.

When this sentence reached the back rows and was whispered by the simultaneous interpreter to the Chinese side, even the accompanying staff subconsciously drew a sharp breath.

Yet Lu Li's expression remained unchanged.

He simply lowered his eyes to flip through the documents in front of him, as if such an assessment was only to be expected.

The venue was brightly lit, but a chill had begun to creep down many people's spines.

Because they finally realized—today's meeting wasn't about "explaining whether China has 5nm."

It was about telling the entire world: China really has it.

And it wasn't just one chip; they had an entire path to climb upward.

When the main screen finally cut to the end, it rested on the simulated structural diagram of the Lithography Machine in operation.

There was no rousing music.

There was no emotional commentary.

Yet, the more understated it was, the heavier it weighed on people's hearts.

Because those with true confidence no longer need to rely on shouting to prove themselves.

The venue remained silent for several long seconds before someone began to applaud.

The applause was not uniform.

One could even say it carried a complex, indescribable nuance.

Yet, it still rang out, and soon, it swelled into a single, unified sound.

In this moment, whether they were willing to or not, everyone had to admit one thing—China truly possessed the capability for self-developed 5nm process technology and the corresponding equipment.

This step had been taken, and it was taken firmly.

After the footage of the Lithography Machine concluded, the true climax of the summit had only just begun.

Because displaying the machine only proved that "you have it."

But to silence the entire world, one had to prove—you don't just have it; you can use it, and you can use it well.

The host stepped aside, and the main screen switched again.

This time, it showcased several actual chip samples manufactured based on this 5nm process, including the core chip that had long been used on a large scale in the Virtual Helmet, as well as new-generation mobile and high-performance computing sample chips.

There were still some in the venue holding onto a final shred of wishful thinking.

They felt that the Lithography Machine might not necessarily be the core of the current mass-production chain.

They felt there might be some other explanation.

Some even thought that perhaps China had only managed to build the machine, but the actual performance hadn't been validated yet.

But this wishful thinking was sliced away, piece by piece, during the subsequent live testing segment.

Lu Li took the stage himself, wasting no words.

He even skipped the opening pleasantries.

Standing before the main screen, he raised his hand and clicked to open the first set of tests.

Power consumption curves.

Computing efficiency.

Thermal control performance.

Long-term stability.

Several sets of data were pulled up one by one, compared laterally against mainstream international 5nm chips.

He didn't deliberately disparage anyone, nor did he engage in any flashy, cherry-picked data manipulation.

He simply presented the facts squarely, letting everyone see for themselves.

When the first set appeared, the audience could barely maintain their composure.

By the second set, people were already bowing their heads, frantically taking notes.

Once the third set appeared, the faces of several equipment supplier executives in the front row—who had previously remained expressionless—changed completely.

Because this was no longer a case of "barely being able to compete with 5nm."

This was, in the true sense, standing on the same tier.

In some application scenarios, the performance was even better.

There was a domestic reporter in the venue who had been tense the entire time.

Upon seeing this, his fingers trembled, and he nearly dropped his voice recorder.

It was no fault of his own; this scene was simply too shocking for the entire Chinese tech industry.

For too many years, everyone had grown accustomed to hearing phrases like "controlled by others," "having our necks choked," and "core technology is in someone else's hands."

By the end, it had almost become a conditioned reflex.

Yet today, in front of the global live stream, China didn't just display the Lithography Machine; it ran the chip's performance metrics group by group for the entire world to see.

And it performed brilliantly.

The feeling was like someone who had been forced to bow their head and follow the rules for too long finally sitting up straight one day, calmly slamming their report card onto the table.

No shouting.

No arguing.

But it made it impossible for anyone to look away.

Lu Li stood on the stage, his tone even from beginning to end.

"The self-developed 5nm chip used in the first generation of the Guanghui Technology Virtual Helmet was a true 5nm process from the very beginning.

There is no such thing as the 'alternative naming algorithm' that the outside world has claimed.

Nor is there any truth to the claim that it was '14nm disguised as 5nm.'

As for the rumors about foundry work—"

He paused here, lifting his eyes to sweep across the audience, his lips curling slightly.

"I believe this equipment today has already provided the answer."

The audience fell silent for a moment.

Immediately after, the domestic live stream chat room exploded.

"WTF!!!!!"

"My scalp is tingling!"

"So that chip in the helmet was real from the beginning!"

"Do those people who claimed it was a TSMC foundry job feel their faces burning yet?"

"This isn't just face-slapping; this is dragging them across the floor!"

The overseas live stream was equally chaotic.

"Impossible."

"This changes everything."

"They've created another miracle; the miracle is in the Eastern kingdom!!"

"China possesses the entire required toolchain..."

What truly made the entire venue's scalp tingle was the subsequent simulated operational footage.

The main screen began to replay the key process simulations of the Lithography Machine in actual operation, combined with live footage and the final chip yield data, forming an almost impeccable, closed-loop proof.

It wasn't just that you had one machine.

It wasn't just that you made one sample.

It was—you have the machine.

You have the process.

You have the verification.

And you have actual products running.

This was the truly chilling part.

Because it meant that China was no longer just "breaking through a single point."

They had finally begun to possess systemic capability.

A North American semiconductor analyst sitting in the front row, who had been typing rapidly to provide real-time commentary, suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

He realized that the draft he had prepared—the one about "China still being in the catching-up phase"—was no longer usable.

Not only was it unusable; it was completely obsolete.