"What? You TRUMPF don't know yourselves?" the AmsL president asked, hearing the TRUMPF representative's words.
He was truly surprised, as he thought that as the industry leader, TRUMPF should care more about the overall development of the industry and the situation of its competitors than AmsL, rather than discovering a new competitor during an AmsL meeting.
"This... because the application scenarios for high-precision deep ultraviolet light sources are not many. Apart from photolithography machines, there aren't many other uses. If they hadn't said anything, we wouldn't have known someone had entered this field!"
"Alright, Mr. President, hurry up and tell me where this company came from, and whether they are scammers or not. I don't believe there is a second company in the world that can silently produce high-precision deep ultraviolet light sources!" the TRUMPF representative said quickly.
Since they were a director of their own company, AmsL had no interest in toying with the other party and quickly replied, "It's a company from Huaxia, called Modu Guangji. It seems to be a company founded by a government research institution!"
"About a month ago, their representatives, along with representatives from the Huaxia Electronic Technology Industry Development Alliance, came to our company and expressed their desire to cooperate with us!"
"Words are not proof. Do you believe they have this technology just because they say they have it? Did they provide a prototype for testing?" the TRUMPF representative hurriedly asked.
This was the most important thing. If the other party couldn't provide a prototype, then it was just talk. TRUMPF was worried.
But the result was the worst possible. AmsL's president said, "The other party provided us with a prototype immediately, a universal deep ultraviolet light source. We tested this light source, and it is indeed a usable light source!"
"What!" The TRUMPF representative was hit hard. After a long pause, he asked, "What about the technical specifications? How does its performance data compare to TRUMPF's deep ultraviolet light source?"
"Strictly speaking, it's definitely not as good as TRUMPF's light source. We tested it for 10 days, and there were a total of 32 light fluctuations and one malfunction. Its stability is not as good as TRUMPF's light source. There is also a gap in the precision of the light source, but this light source basically meets our technical standards and can be installed in photolithography machines for use!" AmsL's answer made the TRUMPF representative feel a little better, but only a little.
It was certain that their product was not as good as theirs. They had decades of history in the laser field. If they were directly caught up by a Huaxia company in terms of performance, that would be a ghost!
"Mr. President, I hope to get this light source prototype immediately. Please accommodate us." the TRUMPF representative said hurriedly.
The most important thing was to obtain the prototype of this competitor and then dismantle it to analyze the technology.
If the technology inside was the same as TRUMPF's, that would be a good thing. Then TRUMPF's patents could teach this Huaxia company a lesson.
But if the technologies used were completely different... that would also be a good thing, after all, TRUMPF had also reached a bottleneck in technological research and development, and high-precision extreme ultraviolet light sources could not be successfully produced.
If the technology used by the other party was different, then TRUMPF could reverse-engineer the competitor's technology by dismantling their products and then apply it to their own products, helping them break through the current technical bottleneck.
In short, obtaining the prototype was the top priority for TRUMPF.
"This might be a bit troublesome!" To his surprise, the AmsL president hesitated and said, "We signed a contract with this company. We can only use the prototype ourselves and are only allowed to test the various output data of the prototype. We are not allowed to dismantle it for inspection, nor are we allowed to sell the equipment to other companies. If discovered, we will bear huge compensation liabilities!"
"What? There's such a contract? These Huaxians are too cunning!" the TRUMPF representative said, not at all happy after hearing this. However, the AmsL president had a strange expression, because TRUMPF had attached the same cooperation agreement to the light source sold to AmsL, which also prohibited AmsL from dismantling the light source or selling it separately.
In fact, almost all high-tech companies had such rules when selling products. AmsL, which produced whole photolithography machines, also had the same rules. These were all industry practices.
Of course, such cunning was only possessed by high-quality companies like Europe and America. Companies of Huaxia monkeys were absolutely not qualified to have such rules!
"Sir, if you give us this equipment, the Huaxians will not know what's wrong!" the TRUMPF representative said, further demanding after cursing.
"I'm very sorry, but the Huaxians were very clear. This equipment has a signal source connected to satellites in the sky. Once the equipment is dismantled, or if it leaves the factory premises, or even if the signal source is interrupted, their people will immediately come to retrieve the equipment and inspect it. If we cannot return the equipment immediately, we will also have to pay huge compensation!" the AmsL president said.
"These bastards, they even stole our rules!" the TRUMPF representative cursed.
This method of installing satellite chips directly in the equipment was also invented by European and American companies, specifically to search for technological plagiarism by other countries. Unexpectedly, it was used against themselves.
Because they were the inventors of this method, TRUMPF knew very well that unless they completely fell out and told others that they had dismantled the equipment in violation of the contract, they could not break this anti-dismantling rule.
And that's what the TRUMPF representative thought. So he directly said indifferently, "It's just a Huaxia company. If it's dismantled, it's dismantled. If they come to ask, just say it was lost. Even if they sue us in court, it will take years to get a result. Just give us the sample. If anything goes wrong, we will bear all the responsibility and compensate for all losses!"
"This..." He thought the president would agree quickly, but unexpectedly, he hesitated for a long time. It was only when the TRUMPF representative impatiently repeated his request that the AmsL president retorted, "What if the price is 500 million US dollars? Will TRUMPF also be responsible for compensating the company for this loss?"
"What?" The TRUMPF representative was startled. Although they were the largest and strongest producer of laser light sources in the world, their annual gross profit was less than 500 million US dollars. How could they afford this compensation?
Of course, more importantly, how could such a large amount of money be paid?
"Director, you might not have heard clearly. The other party was introduced by the Huaxia Electronic Technology Industry Development Alliance. Although this alliance has only been established for three years, I believe everyone present is very familiar with it, so I don't need to introduce it further!"
Everyone present nodded. It was true that the Huaxia Electronic Technology Industry Development Alliance was established not long ago, but because the alliance almost encompassed the entire Huaxia electronic technology processing industry, and the products in the alliance were known for their good quality and low price, their cost-effectiveness was much lower than that of Western counterparts.
Therefore, almost all high-tech companies present had business dealings with the Huaxia Electronic Technology Industry Development Alliance. Moreover, almost all products that the Huaxia Electronic Technology Industry Development Alliance could produce were purchased from the alliance. Only high-end, cutting-edge products that the alliance could not yet produce were purchased from other companies.
This led to an increasing business dependence between the companies and the alliance. Some companies had as much as 70% of their orders delivered to the Huaxia Electronic Technology Industry Development Alliance.
Some companies were even foreign members of the alliance. In fact, TRUMPF itself was applying to join the alliance as a foreign member, because this would allow them to qualify to purchase some of the technology patents listed for sale by the alliance. TRUMPF had its eye on a laser patent from a Xichuan company.
This patent was related to the future production of extreme ultraviolet light sources, but this company had set the patent as an exclusive authorization for the alliance. Without joining the alliance, they could not obtain the corresponding patent authorization.
Of course, there was also a fixed discount of 0.1% after joining the alliance. Although it seemed like a small amount, for an order of 1 billion US dollars, it could save up to 1 million US dollars in costs. Wasn't that attractive?
"Huaxia Electronic Technology Industry Development Alliance? Why are they involved?" the TRUMPF representative's expression changed rapidly.
"Of course, it's because this manufacturer is also a member of the alliance, and it's even a founding member. So this cooperation is led by the alliance. If we breach the contract, the alliance will directly terminate all cooperation with AmsL, and all previously purchased orders will be void."
"If that's the case, we will have to find new suppliers for the corresponding parts and bear higher procurement costs. At that time, let alone thirty units, even ten units, we probably won't be able to produce them. The loss here is only calculated as 500 million US dollars, which is already considering your status as a director!" The president's words were very heavy, and the TRUMPF representative's expression was very unpleasant. However, when he looked at the other directors present, they all acted as if it were none of their business, clearly with no intention of supporting him.
TRUMPF was only a small shareholder with a 0.3% stake. This president did not fear TRUMPF's threats at all. Therefore, the TRUMPF representative immediately understood that he could not get the prototype from AmsL.