Great Power Technology

August 8, 10 a.m.

After final acceptance, on-site staff confirmed that Miyagi Temporary Highway No. 1 can be put into use.

There was no celebration or ribbon-cutting. Hundreds of heavy-duty delivery vehicles that had already arrived in this small county via the provincial highway roared onto the road and headed towards their final destination.

Miyagi Prefecture Masan Hydropower Station.

There, they will spend half a month building an advanced wafer processing plant through modular construction.

The people responsible for road construction had already driven their vehicles into the wasteland outside the roadbed. Everyone was watching these behemoths that were several meters or even ten meters high winding their way forward, and their hearts were filled with shock and emotion.

"What the hell are you doing with such a big machine?"

"It looks like it's used for building a bridge. Have you seen the prefabricated panels? That should be the bridge deck, right?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? How can the prefabricated panels on the bridge deck be as thin as these? This should be a modular house. It is probably to build a factory quickly on the mountain. I just don't know what it is used for."

"Hey, didn't you say that gold mines were found in the mountains over the reservoir? It can't be true, right?"

"It would be great if it were true. If there really is a gold mine, then our county will really become rich along with it."

In the crowd, a member of the intelligence team listened to the discussion with a smile and did not step forward to stop them.

These people worked day and night for two days, and finally completed something with astonishing efficiency that no other country in the world could accomplish. Whether it was their will or their dedication regardless of the future, he was deeply impressed. Feeling admired.

But at this moment, after their mission was completed, facing this shocking scene, their discussion was just out of extremely simple yearning and joy. There was really no need to remind them to keep it confidential.

However, everyone present may not know that although the road they paved does not lead to a gold mine, it does lead to a future that is more precious than a gold mine.

Joint Command.

Chen Hao has received the news that the temporary road in Miyagi has been accepted and put into use. Heavy machinery has arrived. The subsequent construction work will be carried out step by step according to the established strategy. Ye Zhou's strategy of "starting with road construction" has been proved It is effective.

But now, in Ye Zhou's view, they are facing another problem.

The materials for the top lenses required by photolithography machines cannot be produced domestically.

According to Ye Zhou's drawings, the lithography machine requires 24 lenses with an EUV absorption rate of less than 5%. The core of these lenses is special glass, and the special glass production processes that can meet the requirements are all in the hands of foreign companies.

Ye Zhou's manufacturing documents mention this process, but it is not a simple matter to complete production and manufacturing in a short time.

From material proportioning, to production, to grinding, to inspection, every step requires long-term experience accumulation.

The most typical example is that the error in polishing a lens can reach more than 60% in the hands of a craftsman with 20 years of experience and in the hands of a newcomer with 2 years of experience.

This is not something that can be solved by simple documentation, but must rely on time.

At the meeting, Ye Zhou raised this question.

"The lens is a key component of the lithography machine. It took so long to get the drawings. Why was it not prepared until now?"

An old man in the conference room raised his hand and then answered:

"The current domestic glass manufacturing technology is indeed lagging behind, especially for such high-precision lenses. Not only are we unable to produce them, it is even difficult to detect them."

"Actually, after the chip project was launched, we immediately started looking for suitable lenses in China, and initially identified several manufacturers and collected samples."

"However, because the testing technology is not advanced enough, it was only after we received the report yesterday that we discovered that the samples provided by these manufacturers were substandard."

"But no matter what, we still have time. The production of photolithography machines has not yet entered the final stage. Other components are still being produced. In 10 days, we will definitely be able to find qualified lenses."

After listening to the old man's words, Ye Zhou sighed.

This is indeed a real problem. The backwardness of materials and technology has restricted the development of many domestic technologies. To change this status quo, it cannot be done by just saying a few words.

"So, it is impossible to rebuild the factory and put it into production now. There is not enough time. Can we obtain the lenses from overseas channels?"

"This road is already underway, but I estimate it will take some time and be difficult."

If it's difficult, that means there's at least a chance.

After discussing several issues, Ye Zhou walked out of the door to spread out a little disappointed. Within a few minutes, Chen Hao followed his footsteps and walked out.

"What, you feel depressed?"

Chen Hao asked.

"Well, once the road was repaired, everyone already felt that victory was in sight. Now that something like this happens again, no one will feel indifferent."

Chen Hao nodded and continued to comfort:

"This is the process of exploration. We started from scratch, and every step was full of obstacles and obstacles. The problem is not just this one, but will continue to emerge, but for every problem, we can think of a solution."

"Let's take the lens thing for example. I just read the document and found something very interesting. Do you know what it is?"

After listening to Chen Hao's words, Ye Zhou asked with some confusion:

"What is it?"

"I discovered that the lenses you listed in the document actually contain a large amount of rare earth elements, right?"

"Yes, the manufacturing of high-end lenses originally relies on the rare earth industry. Isn't this an interesting thing? Isn't it common sense?"

Chen Hao shook his head and continued:

"It's common sense to you, but not to me or most people who don't know this industry that well. Let's sum it up, photolithography machines need lenses, and lenses must use rare earths, right?"

"yes!"

Ye Zhou became more and more confused about what Chen Hao meant.

What's the point of selling it now?

Seeing the anxious look on Ye Zhou's face, Chen Hao smiled and said:

"You see, this is a problem of poor information. We didn't know that domestic lenses could not meet the requirements, so we wasted time. I didn't know that lenses were related to rare earths, so I couldn't think of a solution just now."

"But now, I know how to solve this problem."

"And I can tell you that as long as there is a trivial connection with rare earth-related issues, we can 100% solve them."

Ye Zhou was stunned.

This is a bit too much to say.

He does know that the domestic rare earth industry has an international monopoly, but this does not mean that they can control the downstream industry, especially the lens industry, which is already a downstream industry.

There are rare earths, but if you can’t make a lens, what’s the use?

Chen Hao seemed to have seen through Ye Zhou's thoughts. He took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it and took a deep breath. After exhaling the smoke, he asked:

"Do you know about the Night March plan?"