Chapter 478: Love Is Hard to Let Go

Hu Zhengming, former CTO of TSMC, was known as the "Treasure Island's No. 1 CTO" before he left TSMC. He also founded Siweixiao Electronics and sold it for $130 million a few years later.

When it comes to academics, his achievements are even more dazzling. Not to mention the reputation of being a member of the National Academy of Engineering of the United States and a professor at the University of California, the "Fin Field Effect Transistor" proposed by Hu Zhengming in 1999 is praised as extending the life of Moore's Law.

In 1995, the industry believed that the limit of transistor size was about to come, and the golden development period of the semiconductor industry was on the verge of ending. Hu Zhengming's solution successfully made a theoretical breakthrough in the limit of semiconductors.

Such a big man who is successful in both industry and academia, he is willing to come to USTC for academic exchanges. It has taken a lot of effort to get him to join Bingxin after the non-compete agreement is passed.

Before Fang Zhuo came, he had studied this person's information over and over again. Knowing the contact situation here in Luzhou, he became more and more worried and could not easily show up to lobby, for fear that this kind of communication without an intermediate link would directly determine the final result.

As the chairman of Bingxin and the initiator of a project like Bingxin, Fang Zhuo has raised funds, invited Qiu Ciyun, dug up engineers from home and abroad, and tried to deal with equipment procurement reviews, but he still felt it was not enough.

Fang Zhuo is very self-aware. He has repeatedly considered Bingxin and has also analyzed his own pros and cons.

As the chairman, he can raise funds from various channels, use successful projects to transfuse Bingxin, and use terminal products to bind the upstream of the industrial chain. This is an advantage and a business behavior he is good at.

But Fang Zhuo also has a fatal shortcoming. He has no technical background and does not understand technology. His industry knowledge comes from cramming, and he can only understand the superficial meaning of more professional knowledge.

Then, key technical nodes, commercial application trends, and major decision-making judgments have become problems that must be solved.

Such things are very life-and-death decisions for ordinary companies, and even more so for companies with high technical barriers such as wafer foundry.

The former is like Changhong. If the plasma and LCD technologies go in the wrong direction, it will sink step by step.

Fang Zhuo realized the existence of this shortcoming, so he half-actively and half-passively handed it over to professionals to make the decision. He did not try to lead the experts with laymen, and did not arrogantly think that he could lead Bingxin to success with a few vague memories.

From the perspective of a commercial project, if Bingxin wants to develop smoothly, it must have one or more technical figures who can make key decisions.

Can Qiu Ciyun, the current senior vice president of Bingxin, do this?

To be honest, Fang Zhuo is not very confident. At the current stage, it is quite suitable. Qiu Ciyun has successful experience in building and operating factories, but for future technological development, it may not be able to support the bottom line.

But if Hu Zhengming, a big man in both academic and industrial fields who has served as the chief technology officer of TSMC for 4 years, comes in, this problem will be mostly solved. He has a golden effect on Bingxin at present.

Moreover, Hu Zhengming can solve more than just the technical decisions of the company. He himself is a banner in the industry and can increase the bargaining chips for Bingxin to introduce more important people.

For example, Liang Mengsong, a proud disciple who is still working at TSMC.

In this situation, Fang Zhuo did not visit Professor Hu Zhengming at USTC after arriving in Luzhou. He drank with the leaders for two days and cut the ribbon for the cooperation between Meiling and Changhong. He was thinking about how to meet and communicate.

He even studied the meaning of Hu Zhengming's name with Ni Runfeng.

When Ni Runfeng helped to discuss, he felt a little emotional. Did Xiao Fang prepare well when he came to Chengdu? Did he also understand Li Boren's name in advance before he took action against him?

He did not ask this question, but just watched Xiao Fang's anxiety and seriousness.

On March 28, when Ni Runfeng contacted Xiao Fang, he was told that the boss flew to Beijing.

This made him a little confused. He hadn't met Professor Hu yet, so why did he fly to Beijing? Was he summoned by a leader there? Or was there any urgent matter to be dealt with?

Ni Runfeng got Xiao Fang's exact whereabouts again on the 31st.

On the last day of March, he read today's newspaper and saw some gossip about Mr. Fang and the Li family. Suddenly, he heard the secretary report that he heard that Mr. Fang had returned to Luzhou and went to see the city leaders as soon as possible, and then went straight to USTC.

"How did you know?" Ni Runfeng asked the secretary.

"Secretary Luo's car is almost becoming Mr. Fang's special car. Everyone knows it." The secretary said with some pride.

Ni Runfeng nodded, and his emotions suddenly rolled up. This matter was not unrelated to him. Mr. Fang had forced himself onto the boat just to get his ice core.

He hoped that this boat would be faster and better, and he also hoped that Mr. Fang's repeated struggles over the past few days would have an effect.

Ni Runfeng put down the newspaper and looked at his watch. It was 4:15 in the afternoon.

Wait for tomorrow, wait for tomorrow, he had to ask Mr. Fang how the battle was today.

…

On the afternoon of March 31, Fang Zhuo, chairman of Bingxin, accompanied by two assistants, came to USTC to meet the great professor whom he admired so much before the new month.

Along the way, he was still thinking about how to communicate with Hu Zhengming.

Euphemistic moral bondage? Direct temptation of interests?

If you put yourself in their shoes, these are somewhat ineffective.

Fang Zhuo could only prepare in every possible way, adapt to local conditions, and decide what to say when he met the person.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Fang Zhuo met Professor Hu Zhengming.

Then, the first sentence the professor said caught him off guard.

"Mr. Fang, do you know how to pronounce fin field effect transistor in English?"

Fang Zhuo didn't even have time to put down the tea leaves in his hand, and didn't even say a word of greeting. He was stunned when he heard the words, fin field effect transistor?

Seeing this, a technical assistant of Bingxin next to him opened his mouth to answer for the boss.

Hu Zhengming glanced at him with a smile.

Fang Zhuo waved his hand, indicating that he should say it himself, and he should remember it correctly.

He said slowly: "Fin Field-Effect Transistor."

Hu Zhengming raised his eyebrows and smiled: "I have worked at TSMC for several years, but Morris Chang still thinks that this word is awkward to pronounce."

Fang Zhuo breathed a sigh of relief, put down the tea leaves, and smiled: "It turns out that Mr. Zhang and I have the same opinion? Fortunately, because I think this word is awkward, I have read it over and over again. Otherwise, the professor would not let me sit down?"

Hu Zhengming nodded and said without disguising: "Yes, I know Mr. Fang's intention, but Mr. Fang may not know that TSMC can give me what you can give me. I just want to do academic research now. I will not join Bingxin."

The professor made it clear that he was not giving any room for maneuver, as shown in the previous situation report.