Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 618 The Open and Covert Struggles Between Top Financial Groups

Inside the Zhiyun Cloud building, Xu Shenxue saw a three-in-one integrated computing power system.

It's not very big; it just occupies a large server room!

The head of Zhiyun Cloud Computing introduced to Xu Shenxue: "Our system, internally codenamed 'YANC,' integrates the YLC-51 superconducting quantum computer, APO6000 graphics card, and NC6 neuromorphic chip, and is also equipped with a large number of WZ340 server GPUs, next-generation high-speed memory, and flash memory chips!"

"In order to better leverage the combined computing power of various computing methods, we specifically designed this integrated computing system, which is paired with a system operating system specially developed by Zhiyun Software. In practical use, we use a dedicated training software module developed by the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute!"

"This integrated computing center is designed for the training and operation of next-generation advanced artificial intelligence models!"

"Compared to the quantum APO computing center we used before, it is on par in the field of high-precision computing, but has lower computing power and power consumption, while achieving a significant performance improvement in low-precision computing!"

"The core purpose of our system is to leverage neuromorphic computing and integrate it into the existing computing power system to further enhance the training and application capabilities of artificial intelligence!"

"Currently, our system is just a small prototype, used to verify some hardware architecture technologies, as well as the next-generation computing center operating system and the next-generation artificial intelligence algorithm framework, but it has already shown great potential!"

"According to the plan, we will continue to conduct experiments and improve the shortcomings. We expect to start building a large-scale YANC integrated computing center this fall."

"After the group adopts the YANC integrated computing center on a large scale, it can reduce computing power consumption by about 40% in the field of high-precision computing. In addition, it can also obtain excellent low-precision computing capabilities. With the combination of the two, we are expected to train a new generation of smarter artificial intelligence models!"

Xu Shenxue looked at the computer room in front of him... To be honest, you can't really tell anything just by looking at the surface. Most of them are server racks, but the YCL-51 superconducting quantum computer next to it is a little special.

The power of this system is not apparent on the surface; one must examine the specific effects of its artificial intelligence training.

Subsequently, Xu Shenxue saw some demonstration reports.

The report shows that the small model trained using this YANC integrated computing center is significantly better than the models trained by existing computing centers in many core technical parameters, and has extremely low power consumption, making its computing power cost-effectiveness very good.

Especially in the field of fuzzy computing, it has a precipitous lead!
Low power consumption, coupled with excellent fuzzy computing capabilities, has already demonstrated the enormous strategic value of this YANC integrated computing center.

Even if it's not used to develop next-generation AI technology, but simply to continue using current AI technology, this integrated computing system can still significantly reduce training costs... This is the unique advantage of neuromorphic computing.

Its low power consumption advantage is not only for saving electricity costs, but more importantly, it enables greater computing power in the context of limited domestic power supply... This is even more important.

The more Zhiyun Group develops artificial intelligence, the greater the constraints it faces on power supply... It's already consuming hundreds of billions of kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, and that will only increase in the future.

How to obtain more computing power with limited power supply is a huge problem and a core technological challenge for Zhiyun Group.

Furthermore, the unique advantage of low-precision fuzzy computing in neuromorphic computing is also a major boost to the AI ​​Research Institute of Zhiyun Group in advancing next-generation AI technologies.

After a detailed tour and listening to a long series of reports, Xu Shenxue said, "Very good. Now that the YANC integrated computing power system has been developed, we should increase investment to improve it and start construction of the first YANC integrated computing power center in the fall!"

"Our previous goal of building 2,000 EFLPOS of computing power over three years remains unchanged, and on that basis, we aim to reach 5,000 EFLPOS within five years!"

"Everyone must be mentally prepared and confident to fight another tough battle!"

After viewing the YANC integrated system, Xu Shenxue also went next door to see the supercomputer that was under construction.

However, this is not a computing center specifically for artificial intelligence, but rather a more traditional supercomputer, primarily using CPUs and supplemented by GPUs, and used in conventional scientific research fields.

In the data center field, although artificial intelligence computing is developing rapidly and has become mainstream, Zhiyun Group has invested heavily in its development.

However, traditional supercomputers still play a huge and irreplaceable role, and many computing tasks in scientific research fields cannot be separated from these top supercomputers.

Zhiyun Group's subsidiary, Zhiyun Cloud Computing, also boasts formidable technology in the supercomputing field. It collaborates with top domestic supercomputing technology providers and has successively launched multiple generations of supercomputers.

The new generation of supercomputer currently being built at the group's headquarters will, once completed, have the world's largest computing power, far surpassing that of other supercomputers.

Furthermore, all the core components required for supercomputing, such as server CPUs, GPUs, memory, and flash memory, are products of Zhiyun Group itself, and even the server operating system is developed in-house.

In the field of supercomputing, Zhiyun Group is actually quite powerful, but it does not sell supercomputers or provide corresponding technical solutions to the outside world, so the outside world is not very clear about it.

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After getting off work in the evening, Xu Shenxue went to the seaside villa again. He didn't usually go there so often... After all, Zhihai Garden was his home, and he had many women there, as well as children. Most of the time, Xu Shenxue was actually at Zhihai Garden.

I've been spending a lot of time at the seaside villa these past few days, mainly because Xi Wanqing is newly pregnant, and her parents came over yesterday.

So these past few days, Xu Shenxue has been visiting the seaside villa more frequently.

A few days later, Mr. Xi left Shenzhen to return home first, while Mrs. Xi stayed behind temporarily. She was worried about her pregnant daughter and said she wanted to stay and take care of her...

Actually, there's no need for that. Xi Wanqing has a group of people serving her. Her meals are prepared by a nutritionist and a chef, and she has nannies and assistants to take care of everything else.

As long as Xi Wanqing is willing, she can be waited on hand and foot all day long...

However, Xi's mother was still worried and insisted on staying to take care of her, so Xi Wanqing could only go along with her.

Xu Shenxue was quite welcoming of this, after all, Xi Wanqing was pregnant, and he couldn't come to the seaside villa every day... He had been coming too frequently these past few days, and some people had already asked him when he would return to Zhihai Garden, using the excuse that the child missed his father.

Therefore, he could only come occasionally after that, and most of the time he couldn't come.

In this situation, he also felt that it would be better for Xi Wanqing to have her mother with her... at least she could talk to her and chat, so she wouldn't be all alone.

On this day, Xu Shenxue returned to Zhihai Garden to play with the children and check on their studies.

His older children are now of school age, and Xu Shenxue has secured research opportunities for each of them... They are smart enough, but learning isn't just about being smart.

For younger children in particular, interest and self-discipline are more important.

Therefore, among Xu Shenxue's children, some had better grades, while others did not.

Xu Shenxue didn't force too much on some children who weren't doing well in school; he just guided them slowly... as long as they didn't go astray or cause trouble.

As for inheriting the family business, having one or two outstanding children is enough.

Besides, Xu Shenxue is still young, and it's hard to say when he will die. What if his body is enhanced by the scientific research system and he can live for hundreds of years?
Therefore, Xu Shenxue actually takes a very relaxed attitude towards his child's studies. It's best if he likes to learn and studies independently. If he doesn't like it, he can learn it later. If all else fails, he can learn something else.

Children from wealthy families have many choices; being good at studying is just one path, but other paths are also available.

Unlike children from ordinary families, they have no other way out but to study.

After spending a few hours with the children, Xu Shenxue returned to his study and glanced at the report. He was used to looking at the company briefings in the evenings after get off work, but most of the time he would just glance at them and skip them. He would only deal with important or urgent matters on the spot.

In today's briefing, other companies reported nothing, but Galaxy Security reported that they had a fight with unidentified armed groups in Mexico, resulting in casualties.

In recent months, Galaxy Security has been fighting with multiple unidentified armed groups... Of course, while they are called unidentified armed groups, everyone basically knows that they are security companies under the control of several American conglomerates.

However, these security companies did not directly intervene, but instead used mercenaries and other front-line agents to avoid being noticed.

It's not hard to guess. On Earth, only a few security companies under the control of old American conglomerates have the capability to fight Galaxy Security globally and even go toe-to-toe with it.

As for the security companies under other conglomerates, it's not that I'm deliberately belittling them, but they genuinely don't have that capability!
In the past six months, many of Xu Shenxue's companies have experienced a series of unexpected incidents, such as key technical personnel being involved in car accidents, accidents occurring in laboratories, and even Galaxy Life experiencing an attack on a convoy transporting AR78 drugs.

Xu Shenxue didn't even need to guess to know that this was because the rival conglomerate had intensified its efforts to steal secrets from its various subsidiaries.

Galaxy Security is a crucial force under Xu Shenxue, protecting the secrets of his companies. At the same time, Galaxy Security itself is also stealing secrets from various rival conglomerates.

Faced with the intensified attacks from their adversaries, Galaxy Security naturally refused to back down and intensified its countermeasures as well.

Under such circumstances, it's only natural that a fight would break out... and the other side also suffered considerable losses.

Xu Shenxue also knew that this recent situation was actually inevitable!
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Since the settlement on lithography machines, Xu Shenxue has reached verbal settlements with several rival consortia. Therefore, although such incidents have been occurring in recent years, their intensity has been relatively limited. Overall, both sides have been quite restrained and concerned with maintaining decorum... unlike in the past when rockets and machine guns were used to bomb other people's laboratories at the drop of a hat.

However, starting this year, the violent conflict has gradually escalated!
Xu Shenxue made phone calls to several of the American's competitor conglomerates, but they all denied it!

However, Xu Shenxue's intelligence network was not just for show. After continuous investigation, Galaxy Security reported to Xu Shenxue that the management of several American conglomerates had undergone changes last year.

Those who once advocated reconciliation with Xu Shenxue and conducted business while competing with him have been gradually marginalized in the internal competition within their conglomerates.

Many powers were gradually taken over by a new group of people, and these new leaders of the conglomerates who gradually gained power implemented a different strategy towards the Xu Conglomerate: to increase the suppression of the Xu Conglomerate!
It was precisely these power shifts among the top executives of these conglomerates that led to a series of covert changes starting last year... and the conflicts gradually escalated.

In this escalating conflict, Galaxy Security, being on the front lines, bore the brunt... not to mention, many of their secret outposts in the United States were destroyed!

Why did the conflict escalate, and why was Galaxy Security's secret outpost taken down first?
Because these secret strongholds of Galaxy Security, besides their usual function of stealing technical and commercial secrets, also have another major purpose: to deliver rockets to the top executives of competing conglomerates when necessary!
Before engaging in large-scale, both direct and covert, people want to clean up their homes first, so they won't get blown up when they go out!

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Given the current situation, Xu Shenxue estimates that the conflicts will continue and may even escalate in scale.

In the not-too-distant future, it is possible that the verbal settlement agreement reached by both parties in the past may be broken, and the conflict may be brought from the shadows to the open.

The conservative faction on the other side was marginalized, and the hawkish figures gradually took control of the power and advocated for greater efforts to suppress the Xu family conglomerate... The reason is actually quite simple.

In recent years, the various industries under Xu Shenxue's management have developed at an excessively rapid pace, exceeding their tolerance level...

This is also the core reason why their conservatives were marginalized. Under their leadership, instead of suppressing the Xu Group, the Xu Group gradually grew stronger and seriously threatened their survival.

The major external setbacks led to internal power shifts, which in turn exacerbated the conflict with the Xu Group!
These changes are based on the tremendous changes in the global high-tech industry chain landscape over the past few years!
For example, in the electric vehicle sector, Xu Shenxue had a good talk with the conglomerate in the past. They agreed to work together to suppress traditional gasoline vehicles. One would promote Tesla, the other would promote Hailan Motors, and together they would encircle and suppress traditional gasoline vehicles such as GM and Ford in Europe, Japan, South Korea, and even the United States!

Ideally, the market would be split evenly in the future.

A market worth trillions of dollars, wouldn't it be great if everyone shared it equally!

However... Hailan Auto's development speed is too fast. This year's production and sales volume are approaching five million vehicles, but what about Tesla, which is owned by the other consortium? Its current production and sales volume is only one million vehicles... Although it looks pretty good, the gap is too big compared to Hailan Auto.

Moreover, Tesla has been severely suppressed by Aqua Auto in the Chinese and European markets, making it extremely difficult for them to break through.

Now that they can't compete head-on, they realize that things can't go on like this... they have to change!

There is also the very important semiconductor industry, which has always been a core industry for American conglomerates: not only are they high-tech and highly profitable, but they also have tremendous control: they can use chips and semiconductor equipment to strangle their competitors.

The problem is... Xu Shenxue has created a complete, even superior, semiconductor industry chain. In terms of finished chips, his computing power chips are far superior to those of the rest of the world. Companies like AMD and Qualcomm have been trying to make breakthroughs in the field of computing power chips, but they have all been suppressed by Zhiyun Semiconductor.

Nowadays, in various chip fields, the few American conglomerates only have traditional chip industries left, such as CPUs... Intel and AMD's x86 instruction set CPUs still have a very large market share.

However, the future of traditional semiconductor chips is already predictable.

The future is represented by various computing chips, and in this field, Zhuyun Semiconductor is unparalleled globally, with a significant leading advantage.

In the midstream semiconductor manufacturing industry, Zhiyun Microelectronics' technological strength is now world-class, even surpassing TSMC, Samsung, Intel, and so on. Moreover, Zhiyun Microelectronics' technological advantages continue to expand.

In the current competition between the two companies for the equivalent 3-nanometer process, TSMC's R&D progress has fallen behind that of Acer Microelectronics, while 4Star is even worse.

As for Intel... they're still messing around with 7nm.

What's even more worrying is that... they can't stop Zhiyun Microelectronics' rapid technological advancements, and they can't even see how it's hindering their technological development.

Because Xu Shenxue also has upstream industries in the semiconductor manufacturing field, and his technology is still top-notch.

Fairy Mountain Holdings has a very comprehensive range of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and consumables.

The representative equipment, the EUV lithography machine, the latest HEUV-300C, has an overall performance that is in no way inferior to ASML's latest products. Both can be used for double exposure and large-scale mass production of equivalent three-nanometer processes.

The other equipment and consumables are about the same; Xu Shenxue has them all himself, and his technical level is quite good, even surpassing his competitors in some areas.

In this situation, how do you strangle someone?
It won't freeze!
Back then, it was precisely because they could no longer hold them back in the semiconductor field that Xu Shenxue reached a verbal settlement agreement with them.

However, even if they cannot restrict Xu Shenxue's development, they cannot sit idly by and watch him continue to grow and even surpass them in the semiconductor field.

We have to find a way to contain and suppress them... We can't just stand by and wait to die!

Then... there is another very important point, which is that although some of their new leaders believe that they should suppress the companies under Xu Shenxue and regain control of some emerging industries.

However... they really don't dare to completely fall out with Xu Shenxue for the time being.

If things fall apart, how will we be able to buy APO series graphics cards? Without APO graphics cards, it might not be long before Europe surpasses the United States in computing power!
The financial groups in old Europe, though they are all old and frail, still have ambitions... and want to turn the tide in the age of artificial intelligence.

The old internet era and the era of smart terminals are over, but now that we've seen the new era of artificial intelligence, they won't give up easily.

The number of APO graphics cards purchased by Europe each year is also very large!

If the American conglomerates were to fall out with Xu Shenxue, then European and other regional conglomerates would be happy to take over the APO shares of American companies…

These days, APO6000 is in high demand and limited supply, so it has to be supplied by quota!
For the sake of artificial intelligence and APO graphics cards, they had to continue to endure, at least to maintain a superficial peace with Xu Shenxue. This was also the reason why they refused to admit that the war had resumed... Even though the two sides had actually been secretly fighting each other, they just refused to admit it!

Moreover, there has been no overt action, and no large-scale sanctions have been imposed for the time being.

Because if they openly break off relations, the supply of APO6000 graphics cards will be cut off in no time!
As for self-sufficiency in computing chips... they also want to, but AMD is really disappointing, and other chip design companies such as Qualcomm and Intel are even worse.

So I have no choice but to grit my teeth and continue using the APO6000 graphics card... I can't just give up the APO6000 and use AMD's garbage computing card just for the sake of a fight.

If this is done, in just a few years, Europe's computing power will surpass that of the United States...

Computing power is the essential infrastructure for artificial intelligence technology and cannot be omitted.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

A number of reasons have led to the current complex relationship between the Xu Group and several American conglomerates: the covert struggle has intensified, but the overt struggle remains calm.

Xu Shenxue's solution was to continue beating them until they submitted and even gave up!
These behind-the-scenes struggles were unknown to ordinary people outside the village. Neither Xu Shenxue nor the other side had any intention of making these matters public.

Of course, this is the present. If the conflicts and contradictions become too great in the future, and even covert struggles become ineffective, then open struggle will be the only option...

Xu Shenxue actually hoped that there would be no fighting, and that things could continue to develop steadily. Sooner or later, he would be able to seize all of the other party's new industries and turn them into a dumping ground for his products!
But the other side is definitely not happy... because if things continue like this, they will die sooner or later, and they will not obediently wait to die. Even if they are going to die, they will struggle before they die!

It's hard to say when a fight will break out, but if these top conglomerates were to engage in a direct confrontation, the impact would be enormous... and could even have a significant negative impact on the global economy.

(End of this chapter)