Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 574 Xi Wanqing's Embarrassment
In Tongcheng, Xu Shenxue saw the No. 32 Factory, the most advanced semiconductor factory on Earth today, and also saw the S1103, the first five-nanometer process chip in human history.

In addition to the S1103 chip, Xu Shenxue also saw the second five-nanometer process chip in human history, a new generation of server GPU core: APO6000.

The APO6000 graphics card was designed last year and successfully taped out in February. Small-scale mass production of the 160GB version officially began in May. This version is for the use of Zhiyun Group and related organizations and is not sold to the public.

The APO6000 graphics card sold to the public is the 80GB version, and its many technical features differ significantly from the version used by Zhiyun.

The APO6000 series graphics cards are the core computing power card series for Zhiyun Group's own use and external supply in the next few years, and their importance is beyond doubt!
Following the APO5000 graphics card, the external sales of graphics cards will become the core mainstay of Zhiyun Group's external supply of computing power graphics cards, bringing huge revenue and profits.

For internal use, it further enhances the computing power of Zhiyun Group... Most importantly, Zhiyun Group is not currently using the APO6000 graphics card alone, but combining the superconducting quantum computer with the APO6000 graphics card to build a new generation of superconducting quantum computing center to obtain artificial intelligence computing power far exceeding that of pure GPU graphics cards.

Therefore, this APO6000 graphics card is still very important.

The factory responsible for producing the GPU core for the APO6000 graphics card is Factory No. 32... After all, only this factory can provide the 5-nanometer process; other chip factories, such as Factory No. 29, cannot yet do so.

After visiting Factory 32 and seeing the S1103 chip and APO6000 graphics card, Xu Shenxue also attended a lecture at the Tongcheng United Semiconductor Academy in the area.

Tongcheng United Semiconductor Academy is a joint venture between Zhiyun Group and Tongcheng University, specifically established to cultivate top talents in the semiconductor manufacturing field.

Even the teaching materials used are mostly written by top engineers from the Zhiyun Group, and many of the professors who teach there also work at Zhiyun Microelectronics.

To put it simply, Tongcheng University provides the name, while Zhiyun Microelectronics provides the faculty and funding, and together they collaborate to cultivate top talents in the semiconductor manufacturing field.

This college boasts the world's top faculty in semiconductor manufacturing, as well as the best research environment and internship opportunities... Senior students' internships are all conducted directly at Zhiyun Microelectronics.

If they're doing research, they're basically doing it in one of the many top-tier labs at Zhiyun Microelectronics... after all, their mentors are mostly top engineers at Zhiyun Microelectronics.

A bunch of top-level engineers with S-level or A-level certifications from Zhiyun Microelectronics are working part-time as professors at this school.

Because outstanding graduates of this college will directly join Zhuyun Microelectronics, a subsidiary of the Zhuyun Group, after graduation...

Therefore, the admission scores for this college are very high, belonging to the top majors in 985 universities, and most of the students are actually admitted through various competitions.

As for why it's so popular with students, it's actually quite simple. Once you get into this college, barring any major surprises, if you study hard, you'll most likely be able to get into Zhiyun Microelectronics after graduation and earn a very high salary!

The compensation packages offered by Zhiyun Group are unparalleled in China, and Zhiyun Microelectronics, as a core subsidiary of Zhiyun Group, also enjoys unparalleled compensation packages.

In addition, the talents trained in the semiconductor field at this academy are not just ordinary workers in semiconductor factories, but also top engineers and R&D personnel. As long as they have mastered their skills, the later treatment at Zhiyun Microelectronics is quite considerable. It is normal to earn an annual salary of one million after working for a few years.

For outstanding high school seniors, getting into this school is practically a guarantee of a million-dollar annual salary.

This is very attractive to most students, especially outstanding students from relatively ordinary families.

You might not earn a million-dollar salary just by attending Tsinghua or Peking University, but if you attend Tongcheng United Semiconductor College, you're very likely to earn a million-dollar salary.

Xu Shenxue also attached great importance to this speech. The students in this college are all top talents candidates for Zhiyun Microelectronics and even the future top semiconductor manufacturing industry in China. They must be taken seriously!
Because it was a public speech, the content of the speech would inevitably be leaked and eventually become known to the entire internet. Therefore, Xu Shenxue did not say much practical stuff. The speech mainly focused on advocating the importance of artificial intelligence and advanced semiconductors, and secondly on encouraging students to seize the rare learning opportunity and study hard!

After all, not everyone has the opportunity to learn from the world's top engineers in the semiconductor manufacturing field.

This kind of learning opportunity is not available to you if you change your nationality!
Because these top-tier disciplines do not accept international students...

These are actually quite good. The AI ​​Research Institute of Zhiyun Group and the Materials Research Institute of Fairy Mountain Holdings also cooperate with top universities such as Tsinghua and Peking University to cultivate top talents in the fields of artificial intelligence and AI materials science.

If you want to pursue a master's or doctoral degree at either of these two joint programs, you'll need to go through a special review process.

Because the faculty consists of top scholars from the AI ​​Research Institute of Zhiyun Group and the Materials Research Institute of Fairy Mountain Holdings... such as Professor Wang Yaobin and Professor Lin Yaodong, both of whom supervise doctoral students...

In the process of learning and researching artificial intelligence and cutting-edge materials science with them, you will come into contact with a large number of state secrets.

It's not a corporate secret, it's a state secret!

If you don't pass the review, don't even think about applying for their doctoral programs.

After a speech, Xu Shenxue did not stay in Tongcheng, but instead went to a southwestern province!
Xu Shenxue rarely visits the southwestern provinces in his daily schedule, and every time he does, it's usually to see the computing power centers that Zhiyun Group has built in those areas.

As for why a computing center was established in the southwest region, the reason is very simple: the area has abundant power resources!

However, computing centers consume a lot of electricity!

In many places, due to insufficient power supply, it is impossible to build large-scale computing centers!

If you want to develop artificial intelligence, the first hurdle is power supply... You can't play with artificial intelligence without sufficient power.

Xu Shenxue is now visiting a newly completed ultra-large-scale computing center.

It is composed of YCL-51 superconducting quantum computer and a large number of APO5000/160GB graphics cards, and the computing power of a single computing center reaches hundreds of EFLPOS!

Such a computing center with such massive computing power also consumes an astonishing amount of electricity.

This is why Zhiyun Group prefers to build computing centers in the southwest region, where there is abundant power resources and relatively cheap electricity.

When Xu Shenxue arrived, he saw the enormous computing center's factory buildings, the interior of which was even more astonishing.

Inside, there are countless servers, with eight APO5000 graphics cards in a single server.

Just by looking at this one, there are at least a thousand APO5000 servers... and this is only a small part of this huge computing center.

Standing in such a magnificent server room, one can feel a sense of insignificance!
The more crucial part is not actually the APO5000's server room, but the server room for the superconducting quantum computer on one side!

Inside are more than 100 YCL-51 superconducting quantum computers. These superconducting quantum computers are actually quite large... The quantum chips inside are not very big, but the other external devices supporting these quantum chips, such as the cooling equipment, are enormous.

This superconducting quantum computer is very power-intensive... It requires keeping the MMK34 room-temperature superconductor below minus 25 degrees Celsius.

Every time a superconducting quantum computer is turned on, the electricity meter starts spinning rapidly!
The computing power is incredible, but the power consumption is also really high!
This is why the materials research department at Zhiyun Group is working tirelessly on superconductors... While the current MMK34 room-temperature superconductor material is quite good, it is not truly room-temperature and requires a large amount of electricity for cooling.

After seeing this magnificent superconducting computing center, Xu Shenxue did some calculations... and found that with the current power consumption and power supply capacity of the computing center, it would be difficult to build a 2,000 EFLPOS computing center in a short period of time.

To achieve this, we need to further improve the computing power of the superconducting quantum computer, as well as the computing power of the APO graphics card.

At least the combination of the YCL-51 superconducting quantum computer and the APO5000 graphics card that we see right now is clearly not good enough... It consumes too much power.

Therefore, the mass production of APO6000/160GB graphics cards, and even the future mass production of APO7000 graphics cards using the three-nanometer process, is very important... to reduce power consumption.

Superconducting quantum computers are also crucial, but unfortunately, the development of the sixth-generation superconducting quantum computer is progressing slowly, and it's uncertain whether it can be developed within two years. How to obtain larger-scale computing resources with limited power supply is extremely important for Zhiyun Group!

So after returning from the southwestern provinces, Xu Shenxue held a small meeting with the semiconductor department, the artificial intelligence department, the cloud computing department, and other departments.

The discussion focuses on how to maximize computing power within the existing power supply capacity.

We must wait for future technological advancements, the use of better graphics cards and superconducting quantum computers—that's inevitable, but that's the future… not now.

Now, the person in charge of the intelligent cloud computing department has proposed a new idea, which is to phase out the old-generation computing centers that are outdated, energy-intensive, and have low computing power cost-effectiveness on a large scale, and replace them with the new computing centers with superconducting + APO6000 graphics cards.

The Zhuyun Group has a large number of computing centers and a significant number of older AI graphics cards!

Examples include the AI4000 based on an 18nm process, the AI5000 based on a 14nm process, and the AI5500 based on a 12nm process and using HBM2 memory.

As for the even more outdated AI3000, it's all 32 nanometers, while the AI3500 is an old product made with 28LP technology, which has already been phased out.

现在智云计算方面的建议是，把一系列AI4000，AI5000的显卡算力中心也给淘汰了……然后换用新一代的YCL-51超导量子计算机和APO6000/160GB的超导算力中心的组合。

In this way, with the existing power supply, it is still possible to generate more than 300 EFLPOS computing power.

The cost is a bit high... After all, it cost a lot of money to purchase these old AI chips back then. Although they have been used for several years, they are not outdated enough to be phased out.

With this in mind, Zhiyun Group's proposal did not include phasing out the AI5500 graphics cards, which also have a large existing stock... This graphics card uses a 12-nanometer process and HBM2 memory, and adopts 3D packaging technology, which is still quite good by today's standards!

After all, the APO4600S graphics card that Zhiyun Group sells to the public is not as good as the AI5500... Zhiyun Group doesn't even have the more outdated APO4500M.

However, AI5000 and AI4000 are really no good; their technology is too outdated and their computing power is too low in cost-effectiveness.

These two series of graphics cards happen to occupy a significant portion of the computing power of the Zhiyun Group's computing center... during the two years when the Zhiyun Group developed the 18-nanometer and 14-nanometer processes.

This was also a period of rapid development for Zhiyun Group, which was heavily investing in artificial intelligence. Back then, they produced a massive number of AI4000 and AI5000 graphics cards and built an extremely large computing center.

Replacing them in this way, and freeing up power for new computing centers, is a feasible strategy.

Finally, Xu Shenxue personally decided to begin gradually replacing these outdated computing centers with superconducting computing centers.

This is also a process of continuous development of computing centers. Outdated graphics cards will always have to be phased out... otherwise the cost-effectiveness will be too poor.

That's just how the semiconductor industry is; the replacement cycle is extremely fast.

Of course, currently only Zhiyun Group would do this... because Zhiyun Group has too many computing centers, the scale is too large, and the power consumption is too terrifying, so they would rather replace these old graphics cards with new ones.

Other companies, especially foreign companies, do not have that many advanced graphics cards. Although older graphics cards are not cost-effective, it is better to have them than not to have them at all. Therefore, many companies continue to use computing centers composed of older graphics cards.

The top-of-the-line APO5000 graphics cards that Zhiyun Group sells to the outside world are not so easy to procure... It's not that Zhiyun is unwilling to sell, but that the production capacity is limited, and so many companies around the world are purchasing them, so it's simply impossible to allocate them all.

After returning from the southwest, Xu Shenxue continued his vacation mode, sometimes not going to the company for several days at a time, instead spending time with his family.

I spend my days reading, taking care of my child, and having fun with a group of women. This kind of life is actually quite carefree.

Of course, this vacation mode doesn't mean you don't work at all. It means you work a few days and then play for a few days. You only need to go to the company once in a while, and occasionally go on a business trip, but you spend most of your time at Zhihai Park.

Because Xu Shenxue often stayed at Zhihai Park, some of his staff also frequently came to Zhihai Park... especially some staff members from the board of directors' office of Liuhe Investment, who often needed to come over to report on their work.

Xi Wanqing from the board's office was no exception... As a senior assistant in the board's office, in charge of the smart terminal business segment, she had been coming very frequently lately, mainly because August was approaching and the flagship launch event of Zhiyun Group was just around the corner, and there was a lot to do in the smart terminal business segment.

Since her boss didn't come to the company, she, as the chairman's senior assistant in charge of related business, had to come to Zhihaiyuan every few days to report on her work.

To be honest, when she first came to Zhihai Garden and accidentally saw a group of women and children with Xu Shenxue, she was a little stunned... She knew that her boss had many women, but she didn't expect that her boss's women would live together!
Well, it's not really about living together; it's more like each person lives in a villa with their own child...

But since we live so close, it's practically the same as living together.

With so many women, aren't you afraid they'll fight?

To be honest, Xu Shenxue's women never fought. In fact, they got along very well in front of Xu Shenxue, calling each other "sister" and "brother"... Of course, there was some scheming and backstabbing in private, but it never went too far.

The women who can stay by Xu Shenxue's side for a long time are basically smart women who won't do anything they shouldn't.

Xi Wanqing had visited Zhihai Garden many times, so she naturally became used to it.

She was standing next to Xu Shenxue, waiting for him to review the documents... and there were several of Xu Shenxue's secretaries standing nearby!
Lin Yaxian's cousin, Secretary Song, was drinking juice with Secretary Li, who was on good terms with her, beside her. After taking a sip of juice, Secretary Song glanced at Xi Wanqing standing next to Xu Shenxue, then turned to Secretary Li and whispered, "Sister Li, when do you think this Assistant Xi will be able to come home?"

Secretary Li also lowered his voice and said, "How would I know? There's still a difference between them and us. We were all from the General Manager's Office back then, but they were top students from the Director's Office. They're not the same!"

Secretary Song dismissed it: "Go away, what difference could it make!"

As she spoke, Secretary Song glanced at Xi Wanqing a few more times.

Xi Wanqing also noticed the gazes, and turned her head slightly away, no longer looking at them.

After reviewing the documents, Xu Shenxue picked up a pen, signed his name, and handed the documents to Xi Wanqing: "Alright, go back and give Weiku Industry a message, saying that I'll go there in a few days to check on the S20's production!"

"It's almost dinner time. If you're not busy, there's no need to rush. There's going to be an outdoor barbecue party later, and my colleagues from the company will be there too. We can all have some food together then!"

Xi Wanqing hesitated for a fraction of a second before immediately agreeing, "Then I'll shamelessly freeload a meal!"

She knew about this outdoor barbecue, after all, her boss, Director Wang of the General Office, had also been invited to attend... If nothing unexpected happened, some other senior executives in the company would also be attending with their families!
Those who were able to participate in the outdoor barbecue organized by Xu Shenxue were all top executives in the company, such as Ji Chenghe and Bai Qiwen, who brought their families.

Those were all senior vice presidents and a very small number of vice presidents of core businesses.

This was an extremely rare opportunity for her to socialize in the workplace!
After all, even as a senior assistant in the board's office, she doesn't usually have the opportunity to participate in such high-level gatherings.

What she didn't expect was that this was not just a barbecue party for company executives, but also a gathering for families!

This made her a little embarrassed!
Because she could sense that many people, especially the wives of the company's senior executives, were noticeably polite to her... To be honest, this was unreasonable.

She's just a mid-level manager at M6, it's no wonder that the wives of senior vice presidents treat her so politely!

(End of this chapter)