Chapter 109 - The Prerequisite for Marketization
Su Yuanshan continued to suppress his excitement.
"You've produced components?"
"We made a very simple test chip," Li Mingliu said.
"As for yield... let's not talk about it yet. But at least we successfully produced one piece."
Upon hearing that they had successfully manufactured components, Su Yuanshan clenched his fist tightly.
"Beautiful job!
Tell Engineer Zheng that I'll be there soon to check it out."
After hanging up, Su Yuanshan leaned back in his chair, taking deep, steady breaths to calm himself before finally exhaling a long, heavy breath.
Chen Jing, who had been smiling and watching him, now fully understood.
At first, she couldn't comprehend why Su Yuanshan was so committed to cooperating with a national research institute on developing a piece of technology already ten to fifteen years behind.
But over time, through observing Su Yuanshan — or rather, by understanding the vast ambitions behind Yuanchip — she gradually realized why.
"Congratulations," she said warmly.
"Thanks, Sister Jing," Su Yuanshan said sincerely.
"Without you, the lithography machine wouldn't have moved."
"Don't be so polite," Chen Jing smiled and shook her head.
"Go quickly — there's nothing urgent here."
Su Yuanshan nodded, smiling.
He walked briskly back into his own office, called for Zhou Xiaohui, and also phoned Xi Xiaoding to ask if he wanted to come along.
Of course, Xi Xiaoding was interested.
The three of them went downstairs, where Fu Zhenhua was already waiting at the door.
As soon as they got in the car, he stepped on the gas and merged into traffic.
On the way, Su Yuanshan excitedly explained the situation to Xi Xiaoding:
the significance of this lithography machine wasn't just in building it — it was about gaining experience.
That kind of experience was priceless.
Moreover, compared to his memories, the progress was much faster.
He hadn't expected the lithography machine — which in his past life would only start moving next year — to move ahead of schedule this time.
This showed that the engineers had truly understood the principles and systems behind the machine.
It was a sign of maturity, not just luck.
More importantly, it meant that if they had enough funding, these people could accomplish even more.
And if the machine could already produce functional chips — even test samples —
then it meant they could eventually push for mass production.
"Engineer Zheng, congratulations!"
"Congratulations to you too!"
After a brief greeting at the gate, Su Yuanshan and his group followed Zheng Zhenchuan to the office building.
As they walked, they chatted energetically.
Inside the building, they also met Li Mingliu and Qu Hui, who were both visibly excited.
When they saw Xi Xiaoding, they grinned even wider.
"Senior Brother Xi!"
Li Mingliu called out, a bit like a proud child seeking approval.
"You've done a great job," Xi Xiaoding said, giving him a hearty pat on the shoulder.
Even though he was technically younger than Li Mingliu by a month, he had graduated much earlier and had earned his credentials through merit.
He smiled at Qu Hui too, "Good job, Qu Hui."
"It wasn't hard," Qu Hui said, smiling shyly.
Since joining the lithography project, she had even cut her hair short for easier work inside the cleanroom.
Now she looked even more neat and spirited.
"Let's go inside and take a look," Zheng Zhenchuan said.
This meeting wasn't for a technical discussion — it was a full briefing.
Engineer Shen Haoran from the embedded systems team stayed back at the cleanroom to monitor data and prepare for adjustments.
Qu Hui and the others were rotating their shifts to support the operation.
Inside the conference room, Zheng Zhenchuan explained while Li Mingliu and Qu Hui supplemented details,
and Zhou Xiaohui took diligent notes.
"But right now, we still can't talk about yield rates," Zheng Zhenchuan admitted with a wry smile.
"Mainly because we lack process experts."
He sighed, "We even tried asking Huajing for help, but they flatly refused — told us to go ask Shougang-NEC."
Su Yuanshan was a bit surprised at first, then quickly understood.
It wasn't that Huajing was being stingy — they were simply overwhelmed themselves.
The first production line they imported was struggling badly, with yields so low they couldn't even make ends meet.
Meanwhile, the Bell Labs engineers who had helped install the equipment weren't responsible for fine-tuning the production lines.
That was the local engineers' job.
Su Yuanshan had even asked Carly if Bell Labs could help further, but the answer was clear:
they could help, but it would cost a lot — and it wasn't cheap.
Thus, Su Yuanshan had given up on that idea.
In the end, every manufacturer had to master process technology on their own.
"I'll make a phone call and try," Su Yuanshan said.
He took the huge portable cellphone Zhou Xiaohui handed him and directly dialed Ma Pingnan's number.
"Mr. Ma, it's Su Yuanshan from Yuanchip."
A few words of polite chatter followed before Su Yuanshan got straight to the point:
asking for two experienced process engineers to help with the lithography machine.
Ma Pingnan agreed almost instantly.
After hanging up, Zheng Zhenchuan breathed a long sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Xiaoshan!"
"No need to be polite," Su Yuanshan smiled.
After thinking for a moment, he said,
"Since the lithography machine can now produce chips, it should definitely pass national verification."
"The significance is huge," he added,
"At the very least, the country will now provide enough funding and policy support."
Zheng Zhenchuan nodded.
"Yes — our domestic lithography machine industry finally has a future."
"But to secure that future, it must be commercialized," Su Yuanshan said seriously.
"Have you thought about it?"
Zheng Zhenchuan's face immediately grew more cautious.
After a few seconds of hesitation, he said carefully,
"At present, the institute has no plans for commercialization...
You know... we're purely a scientific research unit."
Su Yuanshan nodded, "I understand.
But marketization is the only way for products to develop sustainably.
And enterprise formation is the prerequisite for marketization."
"I'm guessing even the institute can't make that decision alone — it probably needs the Academy's approval."
Zheng Zhenchuan sighed deeply, "That's right."
Su Yuanshan was silent for a few moments.
Honestly, he hadn't expected the project to progress so quickly —
in his past life, this lithography machine hadn't even moved until a year later.
He had assumed they'd be helping debug the system for another few months.
But now, it was functioning.
This meant the engineers had a far better understanding of the machine's principles and system integration than he had expected.
It also meant that, with enough funding and persistence, they could achieve even greater results.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 20 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Albino1