Chapter 260 Direct mass production
"No way, you are so unrestrained and you don't even want to release the film? Are you so reckless?"
The engineers at the four-star wafer fab were confused after receiving the request from Umbrella. They had never heard of such an operation!
Yes, the price of tape-out is actually not cheap. A chip tape-out of 20nm process costs about three to four million US dollars.
The mass production of chips mainly involves photolithography, which is equivalent to exposing the wafer.
The exposure process is also mainly divided into two parts, one is to make the transistors on the wafer, and the other is to connect these transistors into a circuit.
Although it looks like two parts, each photolithography requires a corresponding mask. The DUV photolithography machine can push the process limit to 7nm through multiple exposures.
The 20nm process requires at least fifty masks, and each mask costs tens of thousands of dollars.
It is for this reason that chips need to be mass-produced to reduce costs, because the price of a single wafer is only three to four thousand US dollars, and one wafer can cut about five to six hundred chips.
Of course, there are also issues with yield, as well as later chip packaging and so on.
But in general, we can also see the complexity of chip production itself and the reasons why it must be mass-produced.
For some chip companies, every failure in tape-out is painful, but compared to going directly into mass production with problems, it is nothing to worry about!
Umbrella here sent it directly to them to start mass production. Of course it is possible, no problem, but this is too frivolous.
"Umbrella has money, but people just want to rush for time. What can I do? Let's test the chip performance while mass-producing it."
Both of them are engineers who have been rooted in the semiconductor field for a long time, but this is the first time they have seen such a reckless company.
I really didn’t expect a company to be so arrogant, and I finally saw it this time.
"Be careful, they are our important partners. If the problem of mass production failure is caused by us, it will be great fun."
Originally, the party that was most worried about tapeout should be the chip factory, but this time it inexplicably fell on their wafer factory.
Things are really changing...
……
Scenes that are no worse than this also occurred at UMC.
UMC has always been an outstanding company in the semiconductor field.
At least in terms of manufacturing technology, it has always been in the first echelon, barely keeping up without falling.
Its own 22nm process is quite mature, and 20nm is enough to ensure profitability.
However, UMC has been under pressure recently, because they have received news that leading players have successively reached the 14nm process, and it will be officially commercialized next year!
But their own 14nm yield rate is still very bad. They can manufacture it, but if the yield rate is set here and they force manufacturing, they may lose money!
This is cutting-edge technology. Once you fall behind, it will be difficult to catch up.
For UMC now, instead of pursuing the 14nm process that may lead to losses, it is better to manage its mature technology first.
Things like chips are also divided into levels. The high-end market is only so big, but the largest users are actually the mid-to-low-end.
It's just that the profit is relatively less.
But let’s do as little as possible. After all, it’s better to still make money than lose money.
Because of this, they still attach great importance to the order Umbrella sent to them when they were about to break away. This may be the last time they participate in the production of top-level chips!
However, it is too urgent to not tape out...
"Customers are God. Hey, ARM's 64-bit public version architecture is not tape-out. I heard that the power consumption of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 is quite embarrassing."
"Umbrella has money. To put it bluntly, it doesn't matter if they treat mass production as tape-out."
"Yes, but I'd better do my best. Hey, I don't know if there is a chance to return to the first echelon."
In fact, the engineers themselves are also a little emotional. They may have heard the news from the company's upper management, and perhaps they don't want to catch up anymore.
After all, the company wants to make money, and it may not be as profitable as it is now to keep chasing behind.
Working hard but not necessarily getting enough reward, why bother?
It’s not cost-effective to make it.
They want to make a profit, but there is no way to do a loss-making business for some illusory ideal.
As long as you lick your dad well enough and then cut your own flesh to give to dad when he is hungry, you will still have bones to eat...
……
In fact, there are no big secrets in the semiconductor industry. Umbrella's reckless operation without tapeout can be said to have shocked a group of industry insiders.
Although Umbrella is usually a tough guy, she has never entered the semiconductor field before!
Do you know the rules in the semiconductor field?
Qualcomm, which had previously rejected Umbrella and then discovered that they really didn't want to buy its own chips, was a little confused at this time.
No, are you serious?
"Are they stupid? They have this money to waste and don't come to buy our 810?"
Qualcomm CEO felt as if he had been humiliated for a moment.
Qualcomm has also encountered obstacles many times in terms of chips, and tapeout problems are common.
As long as there are some small bugs that can be circumvented with software, it is considered good. ECO is considered a headache after it is postponed to silicon. Others only see the chips making money, but they do not see the scene of burning money.
But now, people have started mass production directly, which makes Qualcomm feel like it has been slapped in the face.
"Haha, you Umbrellas are awesome and dare to be the first, so I have to congratulate you first."
Qualcomm CEO hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not publicly ridicule him directly on social software.
In fact, it happens from time to time that some friends and businessmen ridicule each other and get angry with each other.
For example, some people say that Moore's Law has been broken, while others say that it has not.
There are also two Coca-Cola companies’ advertisements that are mutually exclusive and so on.
As a normal company, Qualcomm would laugh at it.
Why, you still want to teach us how to do things? Qualcomm, which holds a large number of patents, is not panicking at all, a typical example of a scammer.
But after looking at Umbrella's record, Qualcomm CEO finally chose peace as the most important thing.
Just watch the joke, why bother.
He just secretly informed the media of this inside story.
The media, which has always been stubborn, did not care at all about the identity of the other party. CNN reported on it the next day.
"Is it confidence?" Or stupid? Umbrella, which has aggressively entered the chip field, may have made a bad move. 》
The entire report eloquently explains what Umbrella is doing now, and briefly explains the significance of tape-out, and specifically points out that all major chip manufacturers will choose to tape-out first.
Umbrella's actions were so reckless and aggressive.
"...As far as I know, high-end chips have now been divided up by major manufacturers. Umbrella has no cores available. We are also doubtful about the subsequent mobile phone production. As for the Red Queen-V1.0plus How it performs will not be known until it comes out.”
Well, it's obvious that this reporter is eating more than he wants. He eats both the bad money from chips and the money from mobile phones. He enjoys it.
And for reporters, many of them have actually researched and paid attention to Umbrella. After all, no one wants to disappear out of nowhere.
But it was confirmed through observation that Umbrella didn't care about this kind of thing. When the slander of Piero's laboratory was thrown out, they didn't do anything. Instead, they sent people to protect Piero. This was their style.
After all, it is not a listed company, so it does not care about whether it is bullish or bearish, and there is no need to put out some smoke pop-ups from time to time to stimulate the stock market.
Breaking news is often dropped without warning.
In fact, people are like this. After knowing that others will not do anything to you, even if they are giants, they dare to tease them.
On the contrary, if you are a gangster or a gangster who passes by on the street and asks you for money, you may have to be honest.
Now that there are simultaneous translators, it can be said that the melons from abroad are transported back very quickly.
Nowadays, Umbrella mobile phones are really hard to find, and many people have chosen other models of mobile phones.
Because after paying the ‘IQ tax’, the performance of ordinary mobile phones of various brands has gradually improved. Although they are not as good as Umbrella, they are still quite practical.
After all, it's just a software enhancement, so it's still very fast.
Especially many of the prices are quite cheap.
The reports from ‘authoritative’ media like CNN outside here have also aroused the voices of a group of touts
"Umbrella is still too radical."
"Actually, just sell their services, there is no need to get involved."
"Forget about entering the mobile phone field, you actually enter the chip field? Is it so easy to enter the chip field? Funny."
"I can't see you bragging about Umbrella. This company is too young."
"How do you compare with those established companies?"
"..."
Of course, these guys who just take whatever CNN says and think foreign news is correct don’t have as many Umbrella supporters.
How many people benefit from just one hepatitis B immune globulin? There is also the subsequent hematopoietic stem cell cultivation technology.
Immediately, they were under surging siege.
"If you think that side is rounder, just roll over there!"
"Didn't I see someone before who said he could help with wiring? It's very cheap. Hurry up."
"Laughing, does anyone still believe in CNN these days?"
"You don't even believe in them themselves, but you still treat them like babies?"
"Anyway, even if Umbrella sells a brick, I will buy it! Just give this life back to them!"
"..."
Along with this controversy, the first batch of Red Queen-V1.0plus has also begun to be shipped, with its own White Queen chip!
And immediately there were good people who started the evaluation at the same time.
The evaluation objects include LG’s flagship phone equipped with Snapdragon 810, Four Star’s flagship phone equipped with exynos5430, Fruit 6 equipped with A8, Red Queen-V1.0 and Red Queen V1.0plus, a total of five mobile phones.
"Hello everyone, I'm Yaozai. I was the first one to complete the review of Umbrella A1 glasses on the Internet. However, I really didn't get the Red Queen-V1.0 before and couldn't catch up. Now I have a hard time. I have just collected these from various channels. It is very difficult. I hope everyone will like it, collect it and support it. If you like snacks, you can check it out in the little yellow car. ”
The unboxing UP lined up several mobile phones, and then the audience was speechless to find that the five mobile phones in particular looked exactly the same, but there was not much difference!
“I have to say that Umbrella’s technology is awesome. You can get four-star and fruit products directly and pay them honestly, but you still have to buy their components. It can be seen that in the current high-end mobile phone market, Umbrella’s integrated It has become a consensus that integrated technology can be said to be whether a mobile phone is integrated or not, which means whether it is a high-end machine..."
"Suddenly, I feel a little uneasy. Is it true that Umbrella can make money while lying down, or make crazy money..."
In fact, when Yaozai started the evaluation, other mobile phone manufacturers had already lost.
They all use Umbrella's mobile phone model, use Umbrella's screen and camera, the battery is also someone else's, and even the smart voice connection is someone else's. How can you compare? Umbrella is killing itself?
The original competition turned directly into a civil war...__
Third update~First update~
(End of chapter)