Chapter 265: Semiconductor Crisis? [Subscribe]

"They really think that because they are leading in the field of radar, they have the most advanced technology in the world. This is clearly a solution that can speed up radar research, but they chose to publicly reject it like this."

"Fake Squid!"

Monday, January 2016, 9.

California Asia.

San Diego.

In the CEO's office at Northrop Grumman's military headquarters, Hugett rarely lost his temper.

While shouting angrily, he slammed the documents in his hand on the table.

He was quite supportive of the invitation to cooperate in the joint development of radar. After all, their current technology was limited and they were unable to develop gallium nitride radar.

Originally, he imagined that several members had already joined and the Chinese side should not refuse.

At most, put forward some conditions.

All this was within his expectations.

The main reason is that although the opponent was the first to master gallium nitride radar, its technology is still lagging behind in some other fields.

In this case, one will definitely be cautious and dare not refuse rashly.

Unfortunately, the imagination is beautiful, but the actual situation is completely different.

Not only was Northrop’s radar cooperation project rejected, it was also announced directly to the public.

It can be said that the content above did not give them any face at all.

As the helmsman of the huge ship Northrop, how could Hugett remain calm?

After reading the content of the announcement, his emotions instantly flared up in front of Leon in the office, and his face looked very gloomy.

He paused for a few seconds to calm down a little, then immediately continued speaking.

"Global cooperation on international projects is the best way to rapidly develop science and technology. If we hadn't taken the lead in organizing and successfully passing the International Space Station project, there would be no International Space Station in orbit today."

"Didn't they always want to join the international project before? Why did they refuse so decisively this time?"

As Huget's voice fell, Leon, who was standing at the desk, couldn't help but feel eager to try.

The judge moved his lips several times, wanting to say something but not daring to.

He was the one who took the initiative to bring up the radar international project in order to relieve his own stress.

After all, he is responsible for the research of gallium nitride radar. If the company relies solely on its own strength, it will be impossible to master gallium nitride technology in a short period of time. It can be said that it is completely unrealistic.

In this case, cooperation is undoubtedly the best solution.

At least it can ensure that their radar technology can achieve a breakthrough in a very short time.

But no one expected that this time China's attitude was so tough and they had no intention of cooperating at all.

It even caused Northrop Grumman Corporation to lose face in front of the world.

Let everyone know that although they are the world's largest radar manufacturer, they are unable to develop advanced gallium nitride radar.

In fact, when he was called to the office, he had already seen the hot news on the Internet.

I basically guessed what would happen next.

Therefore, facing the boss's rage, he remained silent for a long time, for fear of attracting the boss's attention.

Become a target that attracts fire.

However, now that the situation has become like this, remaining silent will not solve the problem.

Just as he thought this through and was about to speak, he suddenly noticed his boss's eyes looking over here.

"Just say whatever you want to say."

Although Huget was angry, he also noticed all of Leon's little actions.

Naturally, I know that the other party has something to say.

I wanted to give the other party a chance to speak out, but I didn't expect that he would remain silent.

At this point, Hugett didn't have much patience, so he just gave this reminder directly.

Seeing that he had been called out, Leon could no longer remain silent. He immediately responded, following what the boss had just said and continuing the conversation.

"boss."

"The other party wanted to join the International Space Station project, but now they have built a second space station."

“Naturally, they are even less interested in international cooperation projects.”

"It's normal to reject us."

"But because of their strong external announcement, our pressure has become even greater."

“These influences must be eliminated.”

What Leon said was not wrong. After all, Northrop was a very powerful military-industrial group in everyone's mind, with the most advanced technology in the world. But now it can't even produce gallium nitride radar.

The public perception that had accumulated over the years has completely collapsed because of gallium nitride radar.

If no measures are taken and negative public opinion is allowed to ferment, it will be inconsistent with their usual style in any way.

How could Hugett not know about these situations? The key is that he really can't find a good way to deal with them at the moment.

After listening to Leon's words, he sat in his office and fell into a state of deep thought.

Carefully studying the next steps.

After nearly half a minute, he finally made a decision and his eyes became increasingly sharp.

"Advanced radar plays an important role in the military, and we must use gallium nitride radar as soon as possible."

"But based on our current research on gallium nitride radar, even if we increase our financial investment, it will be impossible to overcome the technical difficulties in a short period of time." Leon expressed his concerns after hearing this.

Radar is indeed crucial, and advanced radar can even determine the outcome of a battle.

However, the difficulties we face are right in front of us, and the relevant technologies cannot be broken through just by wanting to.

But Hugett obviously already had a plan. Facing Leon's concerns, he said expressionlessly:
"Now that this cooperation has been proposed, it must be facilitated."

“Since the other party refused, we tried to take measures to put pressure on them and force them to agree.”

At present, they still possess the largest number of world-leading technologies in the world.

What is lost in the radar field can be recovered in other disciplines. If the pressure comes, I don’t believe the other party will continue to choose to refuse.

I have to say that Leon also agrees with this method.

Mainly considering the current situation, this is the most practical and effective solution.

As for what methods should be used to exert pressure, he was quite curious about it.

The thought stayed here, and after a slight hesitation he still asked.

"boss."

“How do we apply pressure?”

At present, Hugett only has a rough idea. He hopes to take some action to make the other party face difficulties in other areas, thereby creating pressure and forcing them to agree to cooperate.

But as for the specific method, I haven’t thought it through yet.

Just as he was thinking about how to answer, there was a knock on the office door from outside.

Seeing this, Hugett had to retract his gaze and looked towards the office door and responded.

"Please come in."

As soon as he finished speaking, a lady with long legs, wavy blonde hair and a professional suit pushed the door open.

His position is obviously a secretary.

As soon as he stepped into the office, he immediately reported the situation to Huget in fluent English.

"boss."

"Councilor Gwen is here and is already in the reception room."

Huget, who was still thinking about what had just happened, suddenly came to his senses when he heard that the person coming was Congressman Gwen, and stood up from his seat.

It can be said that the action reveals two words.

Pay attention to it.

After all, at this moment, the other party came here on his own initiative, and we can more or less guess why.

"Wait here first, I'll talk to you when I come back."

Huget left his seat and followed the secretary to see Gwen, but he did not forget to stop and tell Leon something.

Leon obviously knew how important Gwen was, so he naturally didn't dare to have any objection.

"Good boss."

He nodded in response, still standing there waiting.

However, just as Hugett walked to the door of the office, a tall figure suddenly rushed into his field of vision. The other person was wearing a formal suit and had a neat short haircut.

Huget was obviously not unfamiliar with the man. He immediately stopped and took the initiative to greet the other party.

"Councilor Gwen, why are you here?"

Yes.

The person in front of me is Gwen, the congressman in charge of national defense.

"It's the same if I say it in your office. It shouldn't disturb your work, right?"

"Of course not to disturb you, please come in." Huget responded immediately and greeted warmly with a smile on his face.

After all, all the orders in the company have to be approved by Gwen before they can be obtained.

You can't just keep a cold face.

Gwen had obviously been to Hughett's place quite often, and she walked in and sat directly on the sofa next to him.

The secretary brought a few cups of coffee, then stepped out of the office, closed the door and let them talk in detail.

But the most embarrassed person at this moment must be Leon who was standing next to him.

I thought he was the only one in the office and had to stand there and wait for a while, but I didn't expect it to become the place for a conversation.

He greeted Gwen somewhat stiffly, then hesitated where he was, not knowing whether to leave or stay.

This time, Gwen came over on purpose, obviously not to reminisce about the past. She picked up the coffee in front of her and took a sip, and then her expression immediately became serious.

"Northrop's performance this time is disappointing. As the world's largest radar manufacturer, you were surpassed by others in your field of expertise, and the technological gap was directly widened." "I really want to know why the other party was able to conquer gallium nitride radar, but you were so slow."

After listening to Gwen's words, Hughet couldn't find an excuse to answer for a moment.

After all, even they themselves don't believe that this is true.

After organizing his words a bit, he began to explain:
"They are indeed ahead of us in the research of radar technology. The key player in this is Xu Yuan, the mathematics master who is known as the youngest genius in the world."

"As early as the J-20 development stage, the other side participated in the design of the active phased array radar."

"As they master GaN technology, it will not be that difficult to develop GaN radar."

"I've heard of this math master you mentioned. I didn't expect they could cultivate such an all-round genius. I should have found a way to poach him in advance." Gwen repeated Xu Yuan's name, and there was some regret on his face when he took over Huget's words and responded.

When Xu Yuan first started to make a name for himself in the mathematics world, he had actually come into his sight.

I just feel that geniuses in the field of theoretical mathematics, apart from proving some difficult mathematical problems, find it difficult to put them into practical use in scientific research.

Simply put, it poses no real threat.

This is different from a talented scientist who studies fighter jets or missiles.

But it is really unexpected that although Xu Yuan only had a limited time in his twenties, he was able to achieve very high achievements in other fields besides mathematics.

He is a genius among geniuses.

Unfortunately, by the time they discovered this problem, Xu Yuan had already become a towering tree and was highly respected.

Despite the approach of extending an olive branch, it no longer works.

Gwen was obviously well aware of this, so although he felt regretful, he did not forget the important business of today.

"So what do you, Northrop Grumman, plan to do about gallium nitride radar technology?"

"The enemy's fighter jets have already started upgrading their gallium nitride radars."

“That’s very detrimental to us.”

Huget knew very well the current situation, so after hearing these words he did not say anything else and directly gave the solution without keeping anyone in suspense.

"At present, if we want to conquer GaN radar in a short period of time, the best way is to cooperate with them in joint research and development."

"But they have rejected our invitation to cooperate. I hope to put pressure on them in other areas and force them to agree to cooperate so that we can develop our own gallium nitride radar."

Gwen listened to what Huget said, but did not respond immediately. Instead, she thought about it seriously.

It seems that they are weighing the feasibility of this matter.

This made the office extremely quiet, and Leon, who was standing at the back, didn't even dare to breathe.

After about half a minute, Gwen raised his eyes and continued the conversation, obviously having an idea in mind.

“This is indeed a good approach.”

"If we want to exert pressure, they are always at a disadvantage in the field of high-end semiconductor chips and do not have the ability to manufacture high-end chips independently. Perhaps we can do it in this regard."

As Gwen spoke, her speech became slower and slower, and she seemed to have started thinking about the specific implementation plan.

When Huget heard these words, his eyes suddenly brightened up and he felt as if the fog had cleared.

Currently, the world is deploying 5G communications, among which 5G chips are of vital importance and have an impact on Internet wars. If the research on 5G chips is suddenly restricted at such an important time, it will definitely be unacceptable to any party.

Modern Internet competition has already affected the world pattern, and major countries certainly do not want to fall behind.

Under this tremendous pressure, we only participated in research cooperation on international radar projects.

It is indeed clear at a glance what choice to make.

With his mind working rapidly, Hugett seemed to have finally found a life-saving straw, and expressed his support without any hesitation.

"Councilman Gwen."

"I think this is a really good entry point, so I may have to trouble you again next."

A decision related to such a large market cannot be passed and announced casually, and Gwen does not have the final say on this matter alone. It requires a parliamentary meeting to discuss and determine it.

But now that we have come to this point, we must give it a try regardless of whether it will succeed in the end.

After all, if the problem is solved perfectly, I will feel a lot more relieved.

Thinking that his own fighter jets were still equipped with relatively backward radars, which had long fallen behind the level of the world's advanced fighter jets, Gwen finally made a decision.

The thought stayed here, and he opened his mouth again to respond to Huget's request.

"I will help you as much as possible in this matter, but you must continue your research on gallium nitride radar."

"Don't worry, Councillor Gwen." Hughett assured quickly after hearing this.

Gwen did not stay any longer and after speaking a few more words to Hughett, she pretended to get up and leave.

Hughett and Leon sent Gwen outside, and then returned to the office one after another.

Sitting back in his chair, perhaps because there was finally a feasible solution to the problem, Huget's accumulated anger had completely disappeared.

He was completely different from the state he was in before when he was smashing things.

At this moment, he noticed that Leon was still standing in front of his desk, so he sat up straighter and raised his eyes.

"You heard what Councillor Gwen said just now. The research on gallium nitride radar cannot be stopped. We must always make preparations in advance."

"It's the boss."

Leon didn't dare to raise any objection after hearing this and responded immediately.

But it is worth mentioning that when he turned and left, his lips couldn't help but move a little.

It's obvious that he has something else to say.

But in the end, I chose to swallow my words and focus all my energy on the experiment.

In fact, he really wanted to say that NASA did not agree to the application for the International Space Station project because they did not want the other party's aerospace technology to develop too quickly and it would be better if it always remained in the starting stage.

But what's the result?
To this day, other countries' aerospace technology has not only not stagnated, but has even caught up.

And independently built the world's second space station in orbit.

It created a miracle in the history of space exploration.

If we create pressure in the field of high-end semiconductor chips today, and if the other party still insists on not participating in the cooperation, no one can predict what kind of changes the semiconductor field will usher in in a few years.

The situation may be difficult at the beginning, but it will probably become easier later on.

The reason why he did not express his concerns was that he knew no one would believe him.

After all, to solve problems in the field of high-end semiconductor chips, in addition to developing supporting products such as high-end photoresists, the most important thing is the high-end extreme ultraviolet lithography machine used to manufacture chips.

However, the research and development difficulty of such a lithography machine, which is known as the pearl of industry, is even greater than that of an atomic bomb.

I don't think anyone would believe that someone could solve all these problems.

Even he himself was only worried for a moment, and after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it was unlikely.

There's really nothing to worry about.

……

Regarding the rejection of the international radar cooperation project, Northrop Grumman ultimately did not respond, which made many people on the Internet feel very puzzled.

I don't think this will happen no matter how hard I try.

As a giant in the military industry, Northrop's previous practices are well documented.

I will never let myself suffer any loss.

This time, we were severely slapped in the face by the gallium nitride radar, and even if we don’t have a good solution, we should respond.

Remaining silent like this is indeed inconsistent with everyone's perception.

However, domestic netizens are very happy and excited about this situation.

It is believed that Northrop Grumman knew it was in the wrong and had no way to obtain gallium nitride radar technology, so it was forced to remain silent.

Let the heat of this matter pass as soon as possible.

At the same time, everyone felt more and more confident about the announcement, and even left messages under the official account to praise it, and hoped that there would be such a response when encountering similar things in the future.

"It's been a few days since we released the announcement, and Northrop Grumman hasn't said a word. Are they really giving up?"

"What else can we do if we don't admit defeat? Anyway, they can't come up with gallium nitride radar technology."

"It's really a relief this time. It's the first time I see them get humiliated."

"Maybe even the other party didn't expect that we would reject them so confidently and straightforwardly."

“I hope I can keep it up next time.”

"It turns out that being ahead in technology feels so good. I hope we can keep up the good work and conquer more advanced technologies."

"I can only say that you can always trust God Xu."

"I used to have objections to Xu Shen's direct election as an academician of the two academies, thinking that it was too big of an exception. But now it seems that it is normal for Xu Shen to be elected as an academician of the two academies. A genius like Xu Shen who can play an important role in scientific research should be reused and given the best treatment."

"That's true. Otherwise, if Academician Xu was poached, we wouldn't have a place to cry."

……

After Xu Yuan returned to Luyang Quantum Innovation Institute, he participated in the coding work of the quantum direct communication system on the same day.

So even though I saw people discussing Northrop Grumman's unusual behavior online and no response to the content of the announcement, I was just a little surprised and didn't think much about it.

Based on their current progress, they will probably be able to complete the coding and design of the system within the next year.

At that time, we can proceed to the next stage and carry out quantum key distribution experiments with the help of quantum satellites.

Finally completed the integration with drone.

Establish a quantum network and create quantum drones that are not afraid of signal interference and interception.

As time goes by, the projects at the Quantum Innovation Institute are going more and more smoothly, and Pan Xianfeng is in a very happy mood.

After all, because Xu Yuan was researching quantum drones, their research institute had a major project like the quantum direct communication system right after it was established, so they could submit a pretty good answer to the higher-ups.

The key point is that they all know very well that the success of the quantum direct communication system is only a matter of time.

It is the end of December and the Spring Festival is getting closer.

But what everyone didn't know was that at this very moment, the House of Representatives far overseas had just passed a decision.

These are the requirements for high-end chips in the semiconductor field.

When this decision comes into effect, it can be expected to have an impact on the domestic 5G chip research layout.

……

(End of this chapter)