Tech Giants: Starting from Bankrupt Companies

89: Chapter 89 A Wildfire Spreads: The Call of ScienceLate Night Decision

August 15th, late at night, top-floor office of Xinghuo Headquarters.

Outside the window, the lights of Shenzhen had mostly thinned out, leaving only the stubborn glow from the data center downstairs and a few individual laboratories, like beacons on a dark sea refusing to be extinguished. Only a single desk lamp was lit in the office, its dim yellow halo casting Su Chen’s silhouette onto the massive floor-to-ceiling window, overlapping with the city’s silhouette outside.

On his laptop screen before him were not financial reports or technical drawings, but a virtual interface shimmering with a faint blue luster that only he could see—the [Hyper-Dimensional Tech System].

On the interface, an option named ”Summon Top Experts for the Entire Chip Industry Chain” was flashing rapidly, with the exchange price marked below in cold numbers: 3 billion system rebate funds.

Su Chen’s gaze fell on the balance column in the upper right corner: 14.287 billion. This was the cumulative funding returned by the system proportionally based on product market profits since the launch of Spark’s first drone. It was a ”strategic reserve fund” independent of the company’s financial statements and entirely at the disposal of his personal will.

His finger hovered over the trackpad for a moment. 3 billion was not a small sum. This money could be invested into the Xingchen Heavy Industry R&D team, could subsidize the Red Flag project to weather its difficulties, or could even serve as a super bonus for the R&D teams.

But Su Chen’s eyes did not waver in the slightest.

He knew better than anyone that in the face of America’s comprehensive embargo aimed at completely ”uprooting” them, conventional recruitment, school-enterprise cooperation, or even breakthroughs under a national system might fall into a long, painful, and uncertain exploration due to the lack of basic theory and gaps in core process know-how. Spark could not afford to wait, and the window of opportunity for China’s semiconductor industry could afford to wait even less.

”Exchange,” Su Chen whispered two words, and his fingertip dropped.

[Confirm consumption of 3 billion system rebate funds to exchange for ’Summon Top Experts for the Entire Chip Industry Chain (Group of Five)’?]

”Confirm.”

The virtual interface instantly rippled like water, the faint blue light intensifying as countless fine, neural-network-like streams of light rapidly traversed and wove across the screen. A moment later, the light receded, and five three-dimensional electronic files emitting a faint white glow floated above the interface, like five seeds of civilization waiting to be opened.

[Exchange successful.] The system’s characteristic, emotionless electronic voice rang in Su Chen’s mind.

[The five top scientists have accepted the ’Summoning Contract.’ The system has implanted an underlying conscious logic of ’absolute loyalty to host Su Chen’ and constructed complete, rationalized background stories: all are disillusioned with Western technological hegemony, academic politicization, or commercial short-sightedness, and are determined to devote themselves to the cause of China’s technological self-reliance.]

[They will arrive in Shenzhen successively in their own reasonable ways within the next 72 hours. To ensure safety and reduce attention, their arrival times and methods will be staggered.]

Su Chen took a deep breath and clicked on the first file.

Five Mobile Technical Monuments

File One: Li Weimin (Lee Weimin), 72 years old, chinese american.

The profile picture was of an elderly man with silver hair, a lean face, and a gaze as sharp as an eagle’s.

Identity Labels: Academician of the US National Academy of Sciences, IEEE Life Fellow, Turing Award winner (2008).

Core Achievements: The true godfather of the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) field. Not only was he the founder of the early core algorithms (static timing analysis, logic synthesis) at Synopsys, but the ”Lee’s Algorithm” he proposed remains one of the underlying pillars of global EDA tools today. His academic lineage spans top universities and chip companies worldwide; he is truly the ”Confucius of the EDA world.”

Key Experience: PhD in Electrical Engineering from UC Berkeley, Tenured Professor at Stanford University (1978-2005). In 2010, due to his persistence in the philosophy that ”algorithms should be open-sourced to promote academic progress,” he came into irreconcilable conflict with Synopsys’s strategy of commercialization and patent barriers. He was persuaded to retire by the board for ”age and health reasons,” which was effectively a disguised expulsion. Since then, he has lived in seclusion and frequently criticized the US for politicizing basic research tools.

[System Note: The supreme global authority on EDA theory. His brain stores algorithmic blueprints that surpass current commercial software by at least one generation. His personality is rigorous to the point of being harsh, but he is extremely protective of his own.]

File Two: André Dupont, 65 years old, French.

The profile picture was of a gentleman with silver hair combed meticulously, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, with a gaze carrying an artist’s keenness and melancholy.

Identity Labels: Academician of the French Academy of Sciences, winner of the European Physical Society’s highest award, former Chief Optical Scientist at ASML (1985-2015).

Core Achievements: One of the core designers of the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machine’s optical system. He led the initial design and aberration correction theory of aspherical mirror sets in EUV projection lenses, mastering a full set of unspeakable process secrets ranging from lens materials (special low thermal expansion glass), ultra-precision polishing, and multi-layer film coating to system integration and debugging.

Key Experience: PhD in Physics from École Normale Supérieure. In 2015, due to his strong opposition to ASML signing exclusive technical confidentiality agreements with the US government and clients like Intel, and his advocacy that ”basic optical results should be opened to a limited extent to promote global precision manufacturing progress,” he completely broke with company management and resigned in anger. Since then, he has focused on theoretical physics research but is deeply pained by the trend of technological politicization in the semiconductor lithography field.

[System Note: A ’living encyclopedia’ in the field of optical precision manufacturing. He possesses both theoretical depth and a craftsman’s spirit. He holds a profound philosophical distaste for ’light being used for blockades.’]

File Three: Robert Chen, 58 years old, chinese american.

The profile picture was of a middle-aged scholar with black hair, wearing rimless glasses, with a gentle face but a focused and determined gaze.

Identity Labels: Academician of the US National Academy of Engineering, winner of the Materials Research Society’s highest honor, former Senior Vice President and Chief Materials Scientist at Applied Materials (1998-2016).

Core Achievements: A world-class authority on Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) technologies. He holds over 200 core patents covering the most critical thin-film material systems in chip manufacturing, from high-k gate dielectrics and metal gates to interconnect barrier layers. What he masters is not just formulas, but a database of precise matching between process windows and equipment parameters.

Key Experience: PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT. In 2016, because he firmly refused to cooperate with the US government’s request to submit specific material usage data from the advanced process technologies of his Asian clients (including TSMC and Samsung), he was dismissed on the grounds that his ”management style did not align with the company’s new strategy.” This incident caused a massive stir in the industry and was seen as one of the opening signals of the tech cold war.

[System Note: A master of chip materials and process integration. He believes that ’materials determine the ceiling.’ He possesses the rare ability to transform laboratory materials into stable mass-production processes.]

File Four: Zhang Mingyuan, 68 years old, chinese american.

The profile picture was of an elderly man with a square face, thick eyebrows, and a resolute gaze, possessing a typical engineer’s temperament.

Identity Labels: Dual Academician of the US National Academy of Sciences and Engineering, IEEE Solid-State Circuits Award winner, former Senior Fellow and Chief Process Architect at Intel (1982-2014).

Core Achievements: One of the three co-inventors of the FinFET (Fin Field-Effect Transistor) structure (alongside Hu Zhengming and Tsu-Jae King). He led the entire mass-production introduction of five generations of process technology from 65nm to 14nm. His brain stores a massive amount of experimental data, lessons from failures, and undisclosed technical path options accumulated over decades of process evolution at Intel. He is a ”living fossil” who has truly walked the path of climbing chip process technology.

Key Experience: PhD in Applied Physics from Caltech. After 2014, dissatisfied with Intel’s increasingly conservative approach to process technology—relying excessively on patching existing architectures and making slow progress despite huge investment in 10nm node R&D—his radical ”post-FinFET” technical route suggestions were shelved, and he was gradually marginalized, eventually being ”retired.”

[System Note: A strategist and practitioner of process technology. He is well-versed in every link from device physics to factory mass production. He has almost intuitive judgment regarding the choice of technical routes.]

File Five: James Wilson, 62 years old, British.

The profile picture was of a gentleman with slightly disheveled hair, a free-spirited smile, and agile eyes that seemed to always be thinking of new ideas.

Identity Labels: Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, ACM Turing Award winner (2015), former Chief Architect at ARM Holdings (1995-2016).

Core Achievements: Core design leader of the ARMv7-A/v8-A architectures. Not only is he a master of Low-Power Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC), but he is also a strategic thinker in computer architecture. He excels at finding an exquisite balance between performance, power consumption, area, cost, and ecosystem, and possesses the creative thinking to bypass existing patent jungles and open up entirely new architecture tracks.

Key Experience: PhD in Computer Science from Cambridge University. After ARM was acquired by Japan’s SoftBank in 2016, he chose to resign voluntarily because his strategic direction—which conflicted with the new owner’s focus on the Internet of Things (IoT) market and relative contraction of investment in high-end computing—and his unease over ARM technology being used as a geopolitical tool.

[System Note: A wizard and strategist of chip architecture. His thinking is unrestrained yet logically rigorous. He firmly believes that ’software defines hardware’ and is a key figure in building a brand-new computing ecosystem.]

After reading the five files, Su Chen felt a surge of heat churning in his chest. These were not just five scientists; these were five Mount Everests in their respective fields, five walking ”living encyclopedias” that recorded the peak wisdom of human semiconductor industry. The system’s so-called ”summoning” was close to a miracle.

[Additional Tips and Exchange Suggestions] The system interface popped up again.

[Detected that the host is facing a comprehensive technical blockade, and conventional R&D cycles may struggle to meet urgent needs. It is suggested to additionally exchange for the [Chip Manufacturing Detail Technology Pack], which contains detailed parameters, process windows, and undisclosed experimental data for multiple key processes. Exchange price: 1.2 billion system funds.]

Su Chen thought for a moment and confirmed again. Instantly, a massive flow of information seemed to be branded directly into the depths of his consciousness. Although he couldn’t understand it all in an instant, he knew that when needed, these details regarding EUV mirror polishing, perfect silicon crystal growth, precise photoresist molecular synthesis, and nanometer-scale processing of probe cards would become beacons guiding the way. This data was already stored in the company’s supercomputer, accessible only by Su Chen.

[Final Suggestion] The system left a final message, [To guarantee technical security, circumvent potential legal risks, and provide an absolutely focused R&D environment, it is strongly suggested to establish an independent, confidential, non-profit high-end R&D institution completely controlled by the host, to serve as a safe ’landing field’ and ’incubator’ for system technology and summoned talent.]

Su Chen closed the system interface, and the office returned to dimness. He walked to the window, looking at the faint light of the approaching dawn on the eastern horizon.

”Xingchen Academy of Sciences...” he whispered to himself, a clear and massive concept already taking shape in his mind.