There was a "beep" sound.
The green light on the door control flashed, and a group of people pushed the door open and entered.
Go through a corridor, enter a changing room, and put on white dust-free clothes.
Everyone covered themselves tightly from head to toe, even their faces, and wore a thick layer of masks, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed.
Then we arrived at the door of the wafer clean workshop. With a "pop" sound, the glass air valve of the air shower room automatically opened instantly.
After entering, the neatly arranged silver-white metal wind tunnels on the wall began to blow air outwards crazily. The violent airflow blew away all the dust and bacteria on everyone's bodies and discharged them outside.
After coming out again, everyone was spotless and brand new.
At this point, you can finally enter the wafer shop.
After watching this scene, Lu Tingfeng couldn't help but praise: "Mr. Zhao, the import and export procedures of this dust-free workshop are quite standardized, like a big factory."
Zhao Xing smiled and said: "The chip workshop has relatively high requirements for dust-free, so we do our best and do our best."
Immediately, he took the lead and led everyone into the workshop and to the wafer production line for a tour.
The entire workshop was brightly lit, and huge pieces of equipment were connected together to form a long production line.
Several staff members who were also fully armed were busy in front of the equipment, sometimes looking at the display screen and sometimes operating on the equipment.
Zhao Xing perked up instantly and started to introduce it eloquently.
"The production process of CMOS chips is divided into four parts: wafer manufacturing, wafer color addition, chip packaging and testing."
“This is our self-built 12-inch wafer manufacturing pilot line (front-end) and 12-inch BSI wafer packaging (back-end) production line. It is mainly aimed at mid-to-high-end products and can complete the process from wafer manufacturing to packaging and testing. A whole process to provide finished chips directly to customers."
"All equipment, including ASML's ArF lithography machine, is in place and will reach mass production status this month."
"As for staffing, they are all elite and experienced. The person in charge, Li Yu, has participated in the construction of semiconductor wafer fabs before and has rich experience in the construction and operation of wafer manufacturing production lines. The engineers are also among the best in the company. .”
"With this self-built wafer production line, the company will master the entire process of chip design, manufacturing and production, complete the integrated transformation of design and manufacturing from Fabless to Fab-lite, and meet the high customization needs of customers."
"Currently, wafer and packaging and testing account for 91.8% of the total production cost, and we have been facing a shortage of production capacity, and foundry prices have been rising year by year. This is also one of the important reasons forcing us to transform."
"Haha, this is the photolithography area. The famous ASML photolithography machine is here, as well as supporting glue coating/development and measurement equipment."
"The research and development of CMOS chips requires profound accumulation, and R&D and innovation require a relatively long period of integration with the production line. Therefore, self-built production lines have more advantages in technological development and are much stronger than the foundry model. Even leading companies, such as Sony, The second magnitude also adopts this mode."
When Lu Tingfeng heard this, he immediately laughed: "Mr. Zhao is very ambitious. It seems that he wants to be on par with Sony."
Zhao Xingyouran said with fascination: "Who doesn't want to be the first in the industry? Just like in the pharmaceutical industry, there are many people who want to be on par with Sanqing."
"Sony also started to take off by building its own wafer factory and became the first in the industry. Although we are still far away, it is always good to have ideals. Haha."
Lu Tingfeng immediately gave a thumbs up: "Mr. Zhao is very ambitious. This is amazing. This is the supplier we want."
After viewing the entire manufacturing and packaging and testing production line, the group returned to the conference room again.
Soon it was lunch time. Since Sanqing required everything to be simple, we did not go to the restaurant to have a meal. Instead, Kewei provided lunch boxes for everyone to eat in the conference room.
Lu Tingfeng held the lunch box and sat down next to Wang Dali, asking while eating.
"How's it going? You've been watching it all morning. What do you think?"
Wang Dali slowly gnawed on a chicken leg and did not answer immediately.
After a while, he finished chewing the chicken legs, took out a wet paper towel, carefully wiped the grease on his hands, and then spoke.
"Are you talking about the wafer production line? It seems that it is a very thoughtful factory, which deserves praise."
"Many chip manufacturers use Fabless, an asset-light model that is designed by themselves and manufactured by foundries. Kewei's ability to build its own production line shows that it is very ambitious. For this courage, I am also optimistic about it. In the end, At least those pure OEM manufacturers, I think, cannot meet our high standards.”
"However, the wafer pilot line only has the functions of process product development, small batch production, equipment verification, etc. It is a medium-scale production line before formal mass production, and is a necessary stage between the laboratory and the mass production line. I’m afraid I won’t be able to meet the demand for mass production, and I’ll have to continue to buy equipment at that time, which makes me a little worried.”
Having said this, Wang Dali glanced at the leader and asked, "Do they have the financial strength? Mass production equipment is not cheap."
Lu Tingfeng smiled: "It's okay. Let's customize it first. If it can meet our requirements, the mass production line will not be a problem."
A look of surprise flashed across Wang Dali's face, but he didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he continued: "The existing samples have to be taken back for testing before the final results can be given. In the afternoon, you will discuss business with Mr. Zhao, and I will go and talk to them." Engineers talk about technical things.”
"The main thing is to look at their manufacturing processes, including pixel isolation technology, color filtering technology, pollution control technology, and wafer stacking technology. These are very important for the production of high-pixel, high-definition image chips, and you need to understand them all. "
"Okay, then it's up to you."
"Yeah." Wang Dali nodded and started eating.
In the afternoon, Wang Dali and others stayed in the conference room, while Lu Tingfeng came to Zhao Xing's office alone.
As soon as he entered the door, Zhao Xing greeted him with a smile, as enthusiastic as if he was seeing a long-lost brother.
"Mr. Lu, we just finished eating. Let's drink some tea to relieve our tiredness. I'll make a pot of Pu'er and we can chat slowly while drinking."
He attaches great importance to this cooperation with Sanqing. Naturally, he cannot be too serious and business-like. Instead, he wants to draw closer to each other during the conversation and strive to become a long-term partner.
Human relations are also a very important part of business cooperation. Only by getting along well with each other can cooperation be smooth.
Lu Tingfeng looked at the antique tea table and the dazzling array of tea sets on it, and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhao, you really like drinking tea."
"Haha," Zhao Xing made tea, carefully poured it for him, and said casually: "A little leisurely elegance is nothing to worry about."
Lu Tingfeng held the tea cup, took a small sip, and said after careful consideration: "Mr. Zhao, maybe you have heard that Sanqing recently developed a capsule endoscope that can examine the upper and lower respiratory tract."
Zhao Xing nodded and smiled: "I've heard a little bit about it. I heard that this product was a big hit at the medical expo."
After speaking, he carefully asked tentatively: "For such a small micro device, the lens should use a CMOS sensor, right?"
"Yes, the current prototype uses Sony's CMOS. But we are not satisfied with this, but want to develop more suppliers."
Lu Tingfeng glanced at him, put down his teacup, and said seriously: "Are Kewei interested in supplying goods to us too?"
A flash of light flashed in Zhao Xing's eyes, and he laughed loudly: "Haha, that's what I want."
Lu Tingfeng raised a finger and said, "However, our requirements are not low."
"That's natural, let's talk about it."
"First of all, the performance in all aspects cannot be worse than Sony's. This is our first endoscopic product. We cannot make any mistakes, otherwise it will have a great impact on our reputation."
"Secondly, the two parties will cooperate in depth and customize together to meet our standards. You must fully cooperate in this regard and must not refuse any reasonable requests."
"Finally, the wafer manufacturing production line must ensure our priority use rights before it can be used by other products."
As soon as these words came out, Zhao Xing frowned and blurted out: "That's a bit difficult. We have already received a batch of orders for automotive CMOS chips."
Lu Tingfeng smiled slightly: "You can completely outsource this order."
Seeing that Zhao Xing was about to speak again, he raised his right hand and said, "Listen to me first."
Zhao Xing nodded and forced a smile: "You can say whatever you want, I'm all ears."
Lu Tingfeng said slowly: "You know, for equipment like endoscopes, CMOS chips are the top priority. Sanqing is very interested in the endoscope market, so it is inevitable to compete with Olympus. In this case, Domestic CMOS suppliers are indispensable."
"Unfortunately, there is currently no domestic manufacturer that can compete with Sony in this regard."
"However," he looked at Zhao Xing and said word by word: "Suppliers can be cultivated, and we happen to want to cultivate a replacement for Sony."
Zhao Xing's breath suddenly suffocated, and he couldn't help but said: "How to cultivate?"
Lu Tingfeng smiled: "As a supplier, do you often encounter a series of problems such as lack of funds, aging equipment, unstable business, difficulties in technology research and development, and declining profit margins?"
"Then, imagine if a customer came to you and said, I will bear the equipment risk, I will help you eliminate business uncertainty, I will develop new technologies with you, and I will guarantee you a certain profit rate. Isn’t this a good thing?”
Zhao Xing's eyes widened: "Is there such a good thing? It's like pie in the sky, no one can refuse it."
"Haha, if you can become the core supplier of Sanqing, you will naturally be carefully trained, and these good things will fall from the sky and fall on your head."
Zhao Xing was surprised and said: "But this will cost a lot of money."
Lu Tingfeng looked at him with sharp eyes: "Are you doubting Sanqing's financial strength?"
"No, no," Zhao Xing waved his hands hurriedly: "The conditions are really good, I can't believe it."
"Then let me tell you in detail," Lu Tingfeng explained: "If your CMOS can meet the requirements of capsule endoscopy, we will think that Kewei is a very potential manufacturer and is willing to invest resources and grow together."
"We can fund the purchase of equipment for Kewei, and you will build the factory and recruit personnel to be responsible for production and operation. We own the equipment, bear a certain percentage of depreciation expenses, and lease the equipment to you, so that you do not have to worry about funding when purchasing equipment. ”
"If we are launching some new business, we will also sign a contract to buy out the production capacity for a certain period of time, which may be two to three years. After this period of time, you will have become very proficient in the business, and it will be much easier to find customers again. "
"Of course, if we encounter technical problems, we can also develop and overcome them together and then share the intellectual property rights."
"Finally, in the early stages of cooperation, Sanqing will guarantee suppliers a certain profit margin based on different product categories. All payment nodes will be paid in cash and will never be credited."
"Are these conditions generous or not?"
Zhao Xing's breathing became rapid, and there was an uproar in his heart. He swallowed and said with some difficulty: "This, this condition is too generous. Sanqing is really courageous and admirable. You are just throwing money away." Cultivate suppliers.”
Lu Tingfeng smiled proudly: "Of course, when it comes to throwing money, we are professionals."
"However, only core suppliers can enjoy such generous treatment, and they must pass our test before they can be included on the list."
Zhao Xing suddenly realized: "So the CMOS chip of the capsule endoscope is the entry barrier and a test for us."
"That's right. Compared with such favorable conditions, the priority given to the wafer production line is not excessive."
"Not too much, not too much," Zhao Xing slapped his thigh and said, "I will hand over the automotive CMOS order to the foundry immediately, and give priority to ensuring your chip production capacity."
Lu Tingfeng nodded with satisfaction: "We only ask for priority rights to the equipment, not exclusive rights."
"You only have a wafer manufacturing pilot line now and can only supply small batches. You will have to buy a mass production line in the future, otherwise how can you ensure production capacity."
Zhao Xing smiled bitterly and said: "No, we haven't started the high-end line yet, we just started trying it."
"Just this pilot line, I begged my grandpa and grandma to buy it after raising funds for a long time."
"Low-end chips just don't make money. With a revenue of 1 billion US dollars a year, the profit margin is less than 10%. You just make hard money by working hard. One chip from Sony is worth five of us."
As he spoke, he couldn't help sighing and complaining: "I have to invest more than 6 billion in this factory for the whole period, and all the revenue for a year will be invested in it. If there is no high-end business, it will take six or seven years to recover the capital." Ah, this doesn’t include the money for later production expansion.”
"Okay, let's do that." Lu Tingfeng quickly interrupted his confession.
"We will first take a batch of medical CMOS chip samples for testing. If the manufacturing process and performance meet the requirements, we will jointly develop CMOS for capsule endoscopy, and a formal supply contract will be signed at that time."
"Due to size issues, the camera module of the capsule endoscope cannot be made too small, so the pixel requirements are not high. It shouldn't be too difficult for you."
"Don't worry, we may purchase more goods from Sony at first, and we will increase your quantity later. After passing the test, it means that you are qualified to become Sanqing's core supplier and can sign a long-term strategic cooperation agreement."
"When the time comes, let's develop CMOS for high-end endoscopes together."
Lu Tingfeng felt a little thirsty after talking so much, so he picked up the tea cup and drank all the tea in the cup.
Zhao Xing said with excitement: "No problem, with Kewei's strength, we will never let you down."
"Wish us happy cooperation!"
The two of them reached out at the same time and held each other tightly.
Well, this is how Apple spends money to cultivate suppliers and buy out the supply chain. More than 7 billion US dollars in equipment expenditures a year are all given to suppliers.
(End of chapter)
