Chapter 116: Photoresist

"Quirrell... so it's him."

"Do you know him?" Haldan asked.

"Yes, he was three years ahead of me, from the same house, very smart, and quite famous during school," Murph said.

Even before he left school, Quirrell had already become a Hogwarts professor, but he taught Muggle Studies, which Murph hadn't chosen since his third year, so they didn't interact much.

Speaking of which, in just over a year, it would be 1991, and Harry Potter would be starting school.

Poor Professor Quirrell, not long left to live.

...

Speaking of time, Christmas was approaching again.

This year, Fluffy became the most popular gift in the research institute.

In just a few days, almost every researcher had a Fluffy pet.

Murph also received over a dozen Fluffy pets from female researchers. He had to buy a glass terrarium enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm to house them and asked Laura Kruger to take care of them.

This seemed to upset the female assistant, who complained about being a work assistant, not a life assistant, but ultimately reluctantly took on the task after Murph increased her salary.

On the other hand, the chip research team made rapid progress with the addition of wizards, and the fivefold photolithography technology was basically finalized.

They managed to produce a 0.3-micron process chip sample using fivefold photolithography technology before New Year's, making Murph very happy for a few days.

However, the super-large photolithography machine needed for fivefold photolithography was still being manufactured, and the more advanced instruction set and circuit design were not yet completed, so the money-burning continued.

Meanwhile, another problem emerged.

"The issue is that the photoresist is too expensive?"

In the chip research group, Derrick Preston talked non-stop for about ten minutes before being interrupted by Murph.

"Not exactly, the photoresist itself isn't too expensive considering the value of the chips, but we're using enlargement to produce the wafers. Enlarging the wafer size fivefold means the area increases by 25 times! During photolithography, the amount of photoresist used to protect unetched parts or mark etched parts also increases by 25 times."

"This significantly raises the cost per chip!"

Photoresist is a consumable used multiple times for coating and cleaning during chip production. Without improved manufacturing processes, larger wafer areas mean more photoresist usage.

Typically, photoresist costs account for about one-tenth of chip manufacturing costs. A 25-fold increase would make chip costs unmanageable.

The improvement from a 1-micron to a 0.3-micron process alone isn't enough to justify selling chips at more than 20 times the price.

That would far exceed market tolerance, leaving no one willing to buy such expensive chips.

In other words, simply manufacturing a chip is useless; it must be produced affordably.

"Do you have any ideas?" Murph asked.

"We have a few ideas. We're developing new photoresists, but our technical strength in materials chemistry is insufficient..."

Murph rested his forehead on his hand, "Alright, I'll continue to recruit."

Chip development is indeed challenging, with one problem after another, always presenting new difficulties.

Murph had no other choice but to continue expanding the R&D scale, hiring more people, attracting more talent, and investing more money.

...

"I'm such a pure sucker..."

At Patrick's lakeside villa, Murph suddenly sighed deeply, losing confidence in his decision to develop chips.

"This industry is like this, with high technical barriers. Starting from scratch in R&D is basically a bottomless pit," Patrick also said, "What, regretting it?"

Regret? Not exactly.

After all, Murph isn't afraid of losing money.

He didn't establish the umbrella for profit. Even if he lost everything, it still...

Sigh...

It hurts too much.

Damn, it really hurts too much.

Even though Murph hardly ever used Muggle money for personal enjoyment, the only time he drove a luxury car to impress a girl was before the umbrella was established. But, who wouldn't want more money?

Watching the numbers in his account rise and then rapidly decrease, Murph felt like grinding his teeth.

But, necessary expenses must be incurred. If he doesn't advance technology, no one else will do it for him.

However, the waiting process is too agonizing.

"If you regret it, maybe you should pay my retirement now..." Patrick said.

"..."

"You wish, you old man, thinking of retiring now?" Murph laughed, "If I go bankrupt, you'll also have to work!"

"I have a wife and kids; don't drag me down."

Not long ago, Murph congratulated his partner, who had just had a son.

"I'm not kidding, your son looks strong; he might be good at manual labor in the future."

"Get lost!"

After joking around, Murph felt much better, "Well, it's just money. I'll find a way to earn it."

...

"What company?!" A few days later, at Patrick's dinner, he looked at Murph in shock, dropping his steak on the table without noticing.

"Media," Murph said.

"You want to do newspapers?"

"No, mainly movies and such. Newspapers are too slow; movies harvest faster."

"Why?" Patrick struggled to keep up, "Movies can occasionally make money, but many lose. A few months ago, Columbia Pictures was acquired by Sony, and that's Columbia! A leading American film company! What makes us think we can make money?"

"How to put it..." Murph pondered and said, "Because... I understand movies, I guess."

Murph knows nothing about movies, but he's familiar with future blockbuster films.

This is a money-making method he recently considered.

There aren't many commercially valuable potions left, so he's looking for opportunities in traditional Muggle industries. The lucrative tech industry is a bottomless pit right now, and he doesn't have much advantage in other traditional sectors. However, his future knowledge of verified literary works is clear.

Moreover, compared to other industries, media doesn't require much investment, but with the right approach, the return on investment can be very high.

More importantly, it has a high efficiency of monetization. Real estate speculation requires waiting for the right moment, but movies just need the right theme to start collecting money.

However, he can't touch high-effect blockbusters for now due to high investment and long cycles, and current visual effects technology might not suffice, appearing fake.

But there are many movies with good box office returns that don't require high visual effects, such as American comedies and some animated films.

Although Murph only remembers the general plot and highlights, lacking details, hiring some screenwriters to fill in isn't hard. As a producer guiding the overall direction, even achieving eighty or ninety percent of the original's quality would be enough to make money.

Making a billion or two from a movie and producing seven or eight films could continue funding chip production.

The cost of plagiarism is indeed very low, which is why many rebirth novel protagonists prioritize copying literary works as their main business.

"Relax, I have a plan," Murph said.

"..."

Patrick looked at the confident Murph for a while, suddenly feeling that he should seriously consider selling his shares.

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