Chapter 101 Beidou
"Instead of saying that the future semiconductor industry is a competition between Chinese companies and other companies, I prefer to call it a struggle between China and the interest group of pan-Western countries, mainly the United States.
The future trend must revolve around the diversified and all-round competition led by AI as chip computing power increases.
This competition is everywhere.
Industrial development and technological catch-up have become an urgent fact..."
Shen Yi, who had put down his chopsticks at some point, read this passage as if talking to himself.
Then there was silence.
He silently read the article to the end, and after the name "Department of Electronic Information Engineering, Fuhua University - Lu Yao", he narrowed his eyes.
After a few seconds, he looked up at Lu Yao again.
An instinctive doubt arose in my mind.
This article... was it really written by him?
Wrote it yourself?
But the thought disappeared immediately.
Firstly, it is out of respect for the number one scholar in the country.
Secondly...these views are too sharp.
Sharp as a knife.
Only "children" of this age can maintain such a sharp perspective on the world.
So, he thought for a while and said:
"Your views are extreme. They even contradict most of our current mainstream media."
This is what he means.
In fact, there is only one core point of Lu Yao's article.
"The world of the future will be a long-term struggle with extreme polarization between East and West, short-term cooperation and long-term confrontation."
And in this struggle, the final result must be the decline of the West.
But...
"Do you want me to help you extend the view of Western decline in the article?"
"No."
Lu Yao shook his head:
"What I want to ask you is actually...the speculations written in my article. For example, whether the West will impose sanctions on us when our technology achieves overtaking in a corner. Another example is the photolithography produced by ASML. Once the machine is not sold to us, what should we do if something like this happens? Do we have effective countermeasures... Of course, besides self-research.”
What he said is actually very clever.
Directly state everything in the article as an established fact that will happen in the future.
It seems open, but what is left for Shen Yi... is actually only one answer:
"If this is the case, we have no other choice but to do our own research."
Shen Yi shook his head, put down the article, and picked up the chopsticks again.
The rice is actually cold.
But he didn't really care.
What I care more about is...the opinions in this article.
If it happened, he would be even colder.
"Currently, based on my personal judgment on Sino-US relations...or in other words, my research on the Angsa Consortium as a group of interests, my point of view is that we may have confrontation, but it will not be like what happened in your article. So intense. Of course, I'm talking about the big level, not the semiconductor industry you're looking at... To be honest, half In the conductor industry, I am actually just a layman. But if semiconductors are raised to the level of fundamental interests of the East and the West, and abstracted as a fundamental interest of the country... If it were me, I would be willing to put aside the so-called gentleman. demeanor in exchange for an absolute dominant position in this area of interest.”
He said, chewed the food a few times, and then fell silent again.
Because following his words, his mind gradually began to follow the idea of this article.
Various possibilities are suddenly expanded from the perspective of "international relations".
Running towards a kind of future... As a scholar, I least want to see a future.
"Then you say, is our current supply and demand relationship equal?"
"Of course not equal."
Facing Lu Yao's words, Shen Yi shook his head:
"For now, in fact, as you said in your article, our supply and demand relationship is changing. From the past, we begged others to buy our things, to now... our things have penetrated into every aspect of their products. This relationship is changing... But at the same time, you have to understand that our market is huge enough, whether it is the technology industry, food trade, etc. It is enough to form a virtuous cycle. As you think, in the future we may have some companies that overtake us in a certain field, and they will regard us as competitors. But... according to what you said. It is possible to make threats and directly cut off ties and strangle them at the national level, but at present, it seems not very big.”
Lu Yao didn't refute his words.
Because he knows very well what his "positioning" is today.
I just came here to "ask for advice".
Ask for advice and by the way show the importance of this article.
This is the purpose.
So, he nodded:
"But... I think you should prepare for the worst in everything. The human heart is not a chip. The chip can be restricted by performance, but the human heart... cannot be restricted."
"Ha, so you are a natural pessimist?"
"That's right. Since I decided to work in this industry, I like to study some things that interest me. As a result... the more I study, the more I find that our foundation is actually too weak. Let's not mention anything else, let's just talk about lithography machines. ... Even if we can get these machines from ASML, they will be of no use. I read in the news that these professional systems are controlled by them, and they can shut down the production system remotely... This kind of uncertainty , which makes me feel insecure.”
Lu Yao's words were recognized by Shen Yi.
He nodded:
"Well, didn't the great man once say that it is better for oneself to have one for one's father than for one's mother? This statement is certainly forward-looking. But...how to put it. Just like when we do research on international relations, we often also give Make your own judgment, but this judgment will often be made in the course of history. , has become a very absurd and unrealistic idea. It is not inevitable, and history is full of contingency. In fact, your core idea is to prepare for the impact of the semiconductor industry from now on. Right? ”
"That's right."
"Any deeper thoughts?"
"Yes, but...very empty."
"For example?"
Shen Yi became interested.
Lu Yao nodded:
"For example, while we still have good cooperation, our consortium launches an acquisition... in exchange for money for technology foundation. For example, Intel? For example, AMD. Of course, the technical architecture of X86 is more sensitive. After all, all mainstream chips now have Operation platform, including..."
Speaking of this, he suddenly paused.
Hao Xuan said "military".
Quickly turned a corner:
"Including some of our own companies that develop their own CPUs, they are more inclined to the X86 architecture, that is, they are targeting the PC side. But, this."
He took out his mobile phone:
"The microchip market is obviously the biggest demand in the civilian market in the future. The smaller the chip and the lower the energy consumption, the greater its market demand. Haven't you noticed that now almost every young person has a smartphone? . In the future, it may be the era of smartphones for everyone. I think this is the biggest competitive market in the future. If we are blocked, we can only continue to be Foxconn without a breakthrough. .”
Shen Yi understood his description, nodded and asked:
"But for this kind of large-scale acquisition, let's not discuss how high-level people view it. Let's just talk about our opponents. If I have money and I want to acquire Intel or IBM, do you think the other party will agree?"
"That's why I said that now, while everyone still maintains good cooperation, there is probably a chance. In the future... there may be really no chance. Because from various signs... I don't know if my thoughts are too pessimistic, but It feels like there are already signs of this.”
At this time, Shen Yi was completely impressed by the student in front of him.
Not to mention anything else, Lu Yao's keen observation of all kinds of news far exceeds that of ordinary students.
Not to mention...he is not from a "scientific" background.
So after thinking about it, he said:
"So, your article does not have a solution."
Lu Yao is speechless:
"Professor, if I have a solution, why don't I just write it down?"
"Ha."
Shen Yi chuckled:
"So you see, this is where we are passive. Everything written in your article, the initiative lies with Western countries. The best direction is that Western countries have no idea at all in your article, from semiconductors to macro-economic interests At this level, we are all members of a global village, prospering and developing together. With this idea, the initiative will be in their hands. This is not our fault, it is just determined by our status in the international environment. Sometimes, we know that we will suffer a loss if we continue to do this. But it’s a very helpless thing to just take advantage of the situation.”
"But I firmly believe that it will definitely be useful to prepare mentally in advance and develop backup skills."
"Of course."
Shen Yi nodded again, put his hand on the article, and fell into thinking.
moment.
He said:
"How about you give this article of yours to me and I'll polish it?...Where do you want to send it?"
Lu Yao thought about it and said:
"School magazine."
"Not suitable."
Shen Yi rejected it without saying anything:
"The views are too sharp, too profound, and even instructive. Ordinary students will easily have other ideas after reading this article. It is not suitable for posting."
"Then..."
"I'll polish it first. By the way, I can select some topics from it and give them to the students I teach. As for after the article is completed... I'll finish it first, and then we'll chat, how about it?"
"Okay."
Lu Yao has roughly judged his thoughts.
Indeed, if it is his "first edition" article, the style of overt praise and covert criticism is quite suitable for a student's vision for the future.
But the views in the revised versions are indeed quite extreme.
But...the future is really going to be like this.
It can only be said that this world sometimes has a grassroots team.
This was also the main reason why he had to ask Sister Li to help find someone to take a look.
See, that's not the purpose.
The purpose is, how many "others" can see it.
When Shen Yi said this, it made sense in his mind.
Because his purpose is not to publish it in the school magazine.
These things are useless for publishing in the school magazine.
Sorry for his hard work.
……
"What did you do at noon?"
By the time he came back, it was already time to gather in the afternoon. Mr. Xu asked doubtfully.
"I wrote an article that I wanted to publish in the school magazine, and Sister Li introduced me to a reviewer to read it."
"...?"
Mr. Xu asked with a puzzled look:
"A novel?"
"No, it's about the electronics industry."
"Oh... have you passed?"
"No, people say it's not suitable to publish a school magazine."
His words sounded like denial to Mr. Xu.
He nodded and stopped worrying.
In the afternoon, normal military training.
Check out the 16-9 book bar and see the correct version!
After the disbandment, at five o'clock in the evening, Tian Dazhuang "bumped" open the door of 305 again:
"Lu Yao, let's go and play ball."
"I can't go, something happened."
"?"
Tian Dazhuang walked over with a basketball in his hand and looked at the various... software on Lu Yao's computer screen that he couldn't understand at all and asked:
"What's going on?"
"I found something interesting and I plan to study it."
"Uh..."
At this time, Tian Dazhuang could not say anything.
He was a specially recruited sports student, and his grades were not even comparable to those of the students who had passed the exam, not to mention the top scorer in the country.
Naturally, I don’t understand the world of “academic masters”.
However, there is one thing almost all children in China have in common.
That is, when facing classmates who are good at studying, if you can't "play together", try to "don't disturb them".
Therefore, Mr. Xu, who had just returned from taking a shower, was grabbed by Tian Dazhuang's neck and dragged out before he understood what was going on.
"I wipe...Tian Dazhuang, your creaks smell..."
Following Mr. Xu's wail and the door closing, 305 became quiet.
Yu Kun logged into YY, clocked in to work, and went to the water dispenser on the balcony to drink water.
While taking the time to look at Lu Yao's screen, he asked in confusion:
"Lu Yao, what are you doing?"
"Read the paper."
"...What paper?"
He held the water glass and looked closer.
Then I discovered a lot of things that were like reading from heaven.
Lu Yao said:
"The Radio and Television University has just decrypted a circuit design paper on a high-performance CMOS analog low-pass filter. I am interested in it and am currently studying it."
"What the hell?"
Yu Kun didn't understand.
But it's normal. Freshmen don't even understand the most basic design principles of chips. It's normal that they can't understand these things.
So Lu Yao continued to explain:
"It's a paper on electronic communications. This... you can just understand it as a radio frequency generator. There are quite a lot of application scenarios. I am more interested in it, so I will study it."
"????"
Yu Kun was even more confused.
But he stopped asking.
Because...it's useless to ask. If you don't understand something at all, it's useless to study it hard.
So he nodded and returned to his seat.
Lu Yao continued to look at the paper in front of him, which was completed by his former senior brother Cheng Yu under the guidance of his mentor...
As for why he wanted to watch it, the answer is simple.
Strictly speaking, this was his first contact with a project with a high level of confidentiality.
The final result of this project research is the satellite navigation terminal launch front-end chip.
So maybe many people don't understand what it is.
But it also has a famous name in later generations-Beidou third-generation radio frequency transmission front-end chip.
As for what's the use...
Well, in a nutshell. This chip is the most basic part of information sending and receiving for all Beidou users.
It is also one of the most important research results of the twenty-nine institutes where Lu Yao works.
But it is not for civilian use.
His plan was simple.
Personally speaking, he has worked with Huawei in the microchip industry, and he is quite familiar with the Kirin chip architecture. But it's of no use... Huawei is still working hard on K3V2. MALI is so good, they don’t even know.
From the school perspective, although he knew that at least in graduate-level laboratories, he could have access to all chip authorization architectures including X86... but he could not see it at all at the undergraduate level. Even if he wanted to participate, people would ignore him.
What's your level? Join our research?
Therefore, he cannot get into microchip research and design now.
But it doesn't matter.
He knows more than just microchips.
Some things involving confidential content do not use ARM.
Therefore, his second step is based on the research he has experienced.
And now is the best time.
Because Beidou just announced last year that it has entered the third generation stage of iterative research.
As it happened, my senior's 2003 paper was used by the institute to carry out front-end chip design research.
Because he had the same mentor as his senior brother, he entered this project as a matter of course, and it can be said that he almost completed all the front-end chip design work from scratch.
Of course, having said that, this front-end RF chip has a lot of work. Whether it is RF filters, differential amplifiers, low-pass filters, etc., it cannot be completed by one person.
But...it doesn't matter.
The first link of this chip, which is the high-performance CMOS analog low-pass filter designed by my senior brother, was already declassified in 2008. The most important low-pass filter of Beidou's front-end RF chip is this.
He has now begun making plans.
I plan to come up with an experimental recruitment plan on the school website first.
But about this... maybe I have to go find Wang Tianming.
As a doctoral supervisor, he certainly has the right to do so.
Recruiting a few people in the communications industry to copy this filter, he can "accidentally" have a flash of inspiration and provide the circuit diagram and calculation formula of the differential operational amplifier.
This picture...he is really familiar with it.
At that time, a group of people had to pull out all their hair to achieve this result.
Now...
Well, bring it to you!
Next, comes the experimental phase. After confirming that the project results meet the requirements, he can take it to Wang Tianming.
The research value of this project...well, let's put it this way.
Anyone who is connected to electronic communication only needs to take a glance to understand what kind of ancestor this is.
Being able to get this ancestor out... If nothing else, a researcher-level person should lie in the arms of this ancestor and live on free wages for the rest of his life.
And the following variable gain amplifiers and drive amplifiers... are actually the work of communication talents.
Lu Yao doesn't understand, but as long as he can find someone who understands.
After finding it, all he had to do was do what his mentor did back then, give directions in time, obtain research results, and then take the research results from the Communications Department and start layout design of the launch front-end.
As long as the project reaches this level... there will be almost no difficulty.
It may be difficult to start from scratch, but as a person who has experienced the project and a traveler with good memory, the values, indicators, steps, design architecture, etc. of each project are all in his mind.
The difference is whether you take it out on the first day or take it out on the 100th day.
And as long as this chip is successfully developed...
Then, Beidou will enter the civilian market at least five years in advance.
At the same time, each of the ultra-high-speed missiles will be equipped with a radio frequency navigation chip that can respond quickly through satellites at ultra-high speed.
The accuracy can reach extremely high levels.
By then...
"Hey."
Looking at the paper on the computer, he couldn't help but chuckle.
"Ding."
"Baby, I miss you. I want to go to school to see you, okay?"
My girlfriend sent a message.
Lu Yao glanced at it and threw it aside.
He saw the content.
But I didn’t put it in my head.
Now he has no intention of replying.
Let’s talk about it later.
At 3:10 in the morning, the modification was finally approved, oh yes! I’ve caught up, I’ve caught up, brothers, please give me a monthly ticket!
(End of chapter)