"That company in the Netherlands developing electron-beam maskless lithography technology, President Liu, can you get equipment from them?" Qiu Ciyun asked hurriedly.
Liu Yutong didn't hide anything: "A few months ago, this company was wholly acquired by a fund registered in the Cayman Islands."
"And the actual controller of that fund is me."
"What?!" Qiu Ciyun was completely stunned.
Although Mapper's electron-beam maskless lithography technology currently cannot match the speed of traditional optical lithography, it has unique advantages in specific process nodes and the manufacturing of advanced chips in small batches and multiple varieties. Moreover, with those patents, they could bypass ASML's patent barriers and export controls.
He never expected that someone could quietly complete the acquisition of Mapper. Even if this company had a different technological direction from ASML, it was, after all, a Western company possessing the foundational and core technologies of lithography machines.
This meant that the foundation of lithography machines, at least from zero to one, was already in their hands.
Beyond his shock, he quickly realized that this matter was definitely classified.
The West's technological blockade against the Dragon Kingdom was well known. If foreign governments found out that capital with a Dragon Kingdom background had acquired a domestic lithography company, they would inevitably try every means to find an excuse to snatch it back.
As for why use the word "snatch," it was because the other party had bandit genes in their bones.
After calming his excited mood, Qiu Ciyun couldn't help but ask, "Miss Liu, are you sure you're not joking with me?"
"Acquiring Mapper is just the first step."
Liu Yutong said, "Dr. Qiu, do you think I spent such a huge price just to acquire an alternative technological route?"
"In addition to acquiring Mapper, I also used Mapper as a technological and capital platform to successively complete the acquisition of some core patents and R&D teams from Qimonda and Spansion."
Both of these companies went bankrupt and reorganized under the impact of the financial crisis, and she took the opportunity to absorb some of their talent, patents, and other assets through the Mapper company.
Of course, this kind of thing could only be operated by an overseas entity like Mapper. If it were acquired by Dragon Kingdom capital, it would definitely fail.
Also, this was the one good thing about the financial crisis—there were more opportunities.
Qiu Ciyun gasped.
Qimonda, the once all-powerful DRAM giant, although bankrupted after the financial crisis, its storage technology, especially its legacy in stacked architectures and special storage fields, still held immense value. Spansion was also a pioneer in NOR Flash technology, possessing profound technological accumulation and numerous patents.
These two, combined with Mapper's electron-beam lithography technology, made it truly unimaginable how much talent and technology Liu Yutong had secretly taken control of.
He naturally also understood that these patents and technologies could only nominally belong to Mapper and could not be publicly linked to Dragon Kingdom capital for the time being. At least for now, they had to keep a low profile.
Thinking of this, the technical expert, who was over fifty years old, revealed a complex expression on his face.
For Liu Yutong to be willing to tell him such confidential matters showed an incredible level of trust and sincerity!
Likewise, it also demonstrated her determination to win.
"Dr. Qiu, I need a commander-in-chief, a leader who can oversee all aspects from building the factory to mass production. In this project, you will have absolute dominance over the technological route, team building, supply chain selection, and all engineering decisions."
"As for me, I will solve the funding problems for you and shield you from those boring social engagements. You just need to focus on your work, and I guarantee that no one will disturb you or our engineering team."
Every condition was so tempting and so sincere.
With abundant funds, a clear structure, secret weapons, a promise of complete autonomy, and the ability to let him peacefully conquer technological challenges without being bothered by other things—the more he compared, the less he wanted to join Huahong.
The gap between the two sides' preparations and vision was simply too great.
Qiu Ciyun looked at the very young girl in front of him, whose vision, courage, and strategic layout were unfathomably deep, and finally asked, "Do you have a direction for the preliminary factory site selection?"
"The capital of HS Province. The policies have basically been negotiated." Liu Yutong told a lie; in reality, she hadn't formally finalized the specific support policies with Uncle Li yet, having only briefly discussed intentions.
After all, apart from money, she had nothing in the country. She hadn't even figured out the ideas for building the factory, so she simply had no way to negotiate further.
However, once she poached Qiu Ciyun, she could directly start the negotiations, and even begin building the factory right away.
"Lucheng?" Qiu Ciyun frowned. Although Lucheng was decent, whether in terms of resources or talent, it couldn't compare to Modu or those big cities in the south, right?
Actually, he leaned more towards Modu. Modu had money, talent, good policy support, and an even better geographical location.
But he forgot that there were already two companies there: Zhongxin and Huahong.
As a latecomer, Longxin would find it very difficult to fight for top-tier policy and talent preference from the two local giants, Zhongxin and Huahong.
As the capital of HS Province, if Lucheng could gain the full support of the provincial level, pooling the strength of an entire province to create a benchmark project, it might not be a bad choice.
Although the starting point was a bit lower, precisely because it was lower, the willingness and strength of the support might be beyond imagination.
It was like comparing a family with many children to a family with an only child; the attention and resources an only child received were often the most abundant and concentrated.
In the end, Qiu Ciyun did not directly reject Liu Yutong's choice. After all, she was his new boss, and he had to give her at least that much face, right?
He could also tell that this new boss was most likely from HS Province.
"If we can truly get strong support from the province, it's not impossible. However, we need to get a detailed framework agreement regarding specific land, environmental assessments, supporting supply chains, and talent introduction policies as soon as possible. This relates to the pacing of factory planning, budget preparation, and team recruitment."
"That's a given."
Liu Yutong smiled. She could hear that the other party had already accepted the invitation, otherwise, he wouldn't have asked such specific questions.
"As soon as we sign the contract, we can immediately go for inspections and negotiations. I can set up meetings with the people there at any time. Besides that, the relevant technical data and core personnel lists for Mapper, Qimonda, and Spansion can be handed over to you at any time as well."
Qiu Ciyun took a deep breath and finally extended his hand: "President Liu, happy to be working with you. I hope we can become the leading enterprise in the Dragon Kingdom's semiconductor industry."
"We definitely will!" Liu Yutong also reached out her hand.
At this moment, the Longxin project officially got on track.
