As the only manufacturer in the Western world that can produce the most advanced EUV lithography machines, AS-ML has mastered the core lithography machines for extremely advanced semiconductor processes such as 5 nanometers or even 3 nanometers. However, its development process has not been smooth sailing.
From a historical perspective, it is somewhat magical that before 2006, the world's semiconductor overlord was still a company called Nikon.
Neon's Nikon Company launched the lithography machine NSR-1010g and the commercial stepper lithography machine Stepper in the 1980s, becoming the leader in the semiconductor lithography machine industry in the 1980s. For a time, Neon had a significant presence in the technology industry. The star of tomorrow.
"Very coincidental" is that in the same year, the Dutch company Philips established a joint venture with a Dutch chip equipment agent as-ml.
At the beginning of its establishment, as-ml only had a few dozen employees on its books, and its office was located in a legendary simple factory.
Then this little-known company was able to magically develop the first-generation stepping scanning lithography machine pas2000 in the first year of its establishment, and successfully obtained market orders with this.
In the 1990s, as-ml was directly listed on the Nasdaq in North America and the Amsterdam Exchange in the Netherlands simultaneously, and it was successful.
And after the successful listing, as-ml not only made a lot of money, but also decisively repurchased all the shares from Philips, achieving complete independence in the true sense.
Then in 2004, as-ml developed the first immersion lithography machine prototype, and successfully won orders from major international customers such as IBM and TSMC.
After becoming the world's top lithography machine giant, AS-ML was once again "very lucky" to receive the EUV legacy.
This matter started in 1997 when Intel and the U.S. Department of Energy took the lead in establishing the EUV LLC alliance.
At that time, the development of EUV technology was slow and required too many resources. Therefore, in the "fair and open" competition, the United States finally chose AS-ML, which had not strong technical reserves at the time, to join the EUV Alliance.
As a result, asml has obtained the priority to use the most advanced semiconductor technology, materials science, optics, precision manufacturing and other related technologies in the United States and even the world. At the same time, as-ml also "understands the rules" and accepts supervision of its own production. authority was given to Uncle Sam's government.
Over the past few years, researchers from the EUV LLC Alliance have published hundreds of papers, significantly advancing the research progress of EUV technology and proving the feasibility of EUV lithography technology.
But just when the fruit was about to mature, the EUV LLC alliance was miraculously dissolved.
The achievements of the alliance were divided between Intel and as-ml. From the beginning of the century when the alliance was disbanded, to 2010, as-ml absorbed the alliance's legacy and successfully succeeded with the strong help of American capital and the government. Produced the first EUV lithography machine, the nxe3100 EUV lithography machine, and delivered it to TSMC for chip OEM production.
At this point, the world's silicon-based semiconductors have followed AS-ML's lead, and the photolithography machines it produces every year are treasures that are eagerly sought after by major semiconductor companies.
The United States has also successfully achieved its goal of controlling the semiconductor field.
The obedient and considerate as-ml on the left hand can easily control any semiconductor chip foundry company in the world. Intel, which is dominated by capital, controls the core CPU of every computer.
Even if there is a newcomer like AMD later, tracing back to the roots, the technology mastered by AMD is also the fruit of the United States, so it is also a family.
Even in order to cut off the development path of latecomers, as-ml also proposed a "customer joint investment plan" in 2012, referred to as ccip.
To put it simply, it means accepting capital injection from customers. Customers become shareholders and have priority ordering rights.
This not only allows AS-ML to have a large amount of funds for research and development, but also ensures customers' priority use of advanced photolithography technology.
The three major leaders in the semiconductor industry at that time: Intel, TSMC, and Korean Star naturally responded one after another and did not dare to disobey.
Intel spent US$4.1 billion to acquire a 15% stake in Dutch chip equipment manufacturer ASML, and invested another US$1 billion to support ASML in accelerating the development of expensive chip manufacturing technology. TSMC invested 838 million euros to acquire approximately 5% of ASML’s equity. Korean Star spent 503 million euros to acquire a 3% stake and injected an additional 275 million euros to cooperate in the research and development of new technologies.
In the end, ASML not only received 5.3 billion euros in funding with 23% of its useless equity, but also directly tied up the world's top three semiconductor leaders.
This is the history of the rise of as-ml's semiconductor empire. Judging from reports from all sides, it is full of magic and inspiration. American Capital and the Dutch founders are so righteous in promoting the development of science and technology, even "without asking for anything in return."
Semiconductor manufacturers such as Intel, TSMC, and Korean Star, in order to enable their equipment providers to develop better, have "shaked hands and made peace" with them by providing them with money and resources.
It's just that the core of this story wrapped in beautiful narrative vocabulary is the hegemonic behavior of the United States.
Companies such as Intel, TSMC, and Korean Star, even if there is commercial competition, even if each of the three parties wants the other to go bankrupt and die, under the pressure of hegemony, they have to "generously donate", almost like paying tribute to as- ml makes money.
October 23rd, early morning.
On the outskirts of Enhofen, the fifth largest city in the Netherlands, is the headquarters of as-ml, the world's largest semiconductor equipment manufacturer.
In a huge factory building that is tightly protected by security and the military, countless employees wearing dust-free work clothes are working in the workshop.
Even if it is 3:30 in the morning, this is not the working time that the "humanitarian West" should have.
The EUV light energy used by EUV lithography machines is extremely destructive, and strict lithography machines naturally need to be extremely sensitive when controlling this light. Precision material equipment.
Even because various molecules in the air can interfere with EUV light, many workshops in this huge factory are in a vacuum environment.
Peter Wen, CEO of as-ml, was not lying on the bed at this time.
He frowned and looked at the employees and machines outside the workshop with a gloomy expression.
He walked back and forth with his hands behind his back.
"Sir, please don't walk around outside the workshop. You should know that silence is required inside the factory."
Colson, the engineer in charge of a certain project of the as-ml lithography machine, interrupted Peter Wen's actions.
Faced with these top engineers, Peter Wen, CEO of as-ml, naturally would not sing any dissent and felt that they were offending his authority.
On the contrary, his attitude instantly changed to humility, and he apologized: "Please forgive my irritability, it is really our competitors who have given us too many unexpected 'surprises'."
As an engineer who can be responsible for specific projects in as-ml, Colson is naturally not a loser.
He pointed to a workshop not far away and said: "One of the most critical parts of the EUV lithography machine, the reflector produced by Zeiss in Germany, needs to be extremely flawless, and the size of the flaw can only be calculated in picometers.
CEO, you should know that a nanometer is one millionth of a centimeter, and a picometer is one thousandth of a nanometer.
What is this concept?
If the area of the reflector is the size of the entire territory of Germany, then the highest protrusion of the reflector cannot be higher than one centimeter. "
At this point, the engineer sighed.
He turned his head, looked to the east, and sighed: "In distant Daxia, they have only entered the precision industry for a short time, and now they have already made a photolithography machine that is not inferior to ours.
Xiaoguang Technology Company, a subsidiary of Jiuzhou Technology, has manufactured the SS1mb light source developed from steady-state micro-focusing. So where did Pudong Microelectronics obtain such a flat reflector?
There are also photoresist production processes, etching processes used by Jiuzhou Semiconductor, and how to adjust the engineering equipment in each link?
This is really a mystery that makes people wonder. "
At this moment, Colson no longer had the high spirits he had when he led the project.
When he was feeling emotional, besides the young Da Xia Cai, there was another figure that appeared frequently in his mind.
The common facial features of Asians are yellow and thin. Although they are serious about their work, they are dull, which makes people wonder whether this person's academic qualifications are fake.
"Dr. Colson, you are right. It's just that we cannot achieve results in a short period of time in terms of legal affairs. Jiuzhou Technology's legal department is doing everything possible to obstruct us.
Moreover, there is currently only one ss1mb light source lithography machine produced by Pudong Microelectronics in Korea Hansung's factory. We cannot persuade Korea Hansung to hand over this lithography machine to us for disassembly and research through lobbying methods.
And as far as I know, the factories that Kyushu Technology cooperates with Koryo Hansung, as long as they use Kyushu semiconductor production technology, have been controlled by Kyushu Security, and they are violently expropriating Koryo Hansung’s assets.
well……"
Faced with the "lament" of as-ml CEO Peter Wen, Colson did not object.
He also gave serious advice.
"Sir, in fact, part of the reason why Jiuzhou Technology Semiconductor has been able to develop so rapidly is because they recruit many R&D personnel and engineers from us and our partner companies, such as TSMC and Intel.
Although Jiuzhou Technology found some loopholes and recruited some people who had not signed a non-compete agreement, this also shows that these people can lobby.
After all, they were able to leave their original company and go to a company that had no semiconductor business at all. The main reason must be money.
As long as we can give them higher salaries and benefits, we can definitely beat Jiuzhou Technology in terms of human resources.
And as long as we recruit these people back, we can get enough information from them, and even combine it with the optical technology of Korea Hansung Factory to reversely crack the semiconductor technology of Kyushu Technology. "
After hearing Colson's suggestion, CEO Peter Wen's eyes brightened for a few seconds, and then dimmed again.
He shook his head and said in denial: "Since those people entered the Jiuzhou Science and Technology Park, our company, TSMC, Intel and even Korea Star, have also lobbied them, and even offered the temptation of project dividends and company options, but they have all been rejected.
Even the Legal Department of Kyushu Technology sued us internationally for these actions, saying that we intended to steal company secrets and Daxia Guojia secrets.
Our company’s legal department has also been busy with these cases over the years. And as far as we know, Jiuzhou Technology has signed a non-competition agreement with almost everyone participating in the project, and has paid out sufficient agreement subsidies on time.
Therefore, even though we had persuaded a few people to do so, in the end we were faced with the harsh non-compete agreement and sky-high liquidated damages. Even though we expressed our willingness to fund these people to pay the liquidated damages, no one dared to take that step. "
"Alas..." Colson sighed.
Then someone not far away sighed simultaneously.
Then someone else started to sigh.
A small rest room outside the workshop triggered a wave of sighs.
On this day, countless people in the as-ml headquarters factory began to sigh.
Whether they are engineers who are "excellent in their skills", ordinary employees, or senior management of the company, no one looks good after reading the news.
Amidst the sighs, some Chinese people within as-+ml also chose to resign.
Although they cannot enter companies such as Jiuzhou Technology and Pudong Microelectronics at this time, Xiaxin Technology is throwing olive branches around the world.
After just a few days of fermentation, the stock price of as-ml has fallen again and again, and it is impossible to watch it at all.
And the initiator of all this, Jiuzhou Technology, showed its hedgehog side when countless companies and institutions wanted to deal with it.
Huang Chaoren became one of the external spokespersons of Jiuzhou Technology.
On the stage, facing reporters with different hair colors, he used a large number of Internet slang for the first time as a senior executive of one of the world's top technology companies.
The words "Nima" and "Zhoucao" come up casually.
Anyway, the principle is one, to bombard all remarks that discredit Jiuzhou Technology.
Whenever he finished telling the actual information, he would definitely criticize the media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
Even "false reports" and "slanders" are some of the reporters who are reluctant to stay here.
This is only due to the reliability and timeliness of intelligence sources. They often get trolled in the morning, and after reporting in the afternoon, they continue to come back to be trolled.
…
The director of the Institute of High Energy Physics of Xia Ke Academy has a rather feminine name, Wang Fang.
Who would have thought that under this somewhat plain female name is the face of a middle-aged Mediterranean man?
The physicist was explaining patiently in front of a young man: "Building large scientific equipment is like whoever has a telescope and a microscope first, whoever gets the latest scientific things first, and whoever does it will be the first."
The Jiangmen Neutrino Experiment is a large-scale international cooperation involving 19 countries and regions, which has been rare before. In recent years, whether it is the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment, the Jiangmen Neutrino Experiment or the Large Ring Electron Positron Collider, our Institute of High Energy, Xia Ke Academy of Sciences, is gradually attracting the attention of world scientific research to Daxia. "
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