Rebirth 2010, the best

Chapter 101 Beidou
“Rather than saying that the future of the semiconductor industry is a competition between Chinese companies and other companies, I would rather call it a struggle between China and the collective interests of pan-Western countries, led by the United States.

The future trend will definitely be a diversified and comprehensive competition led by AI that will arise after the computing power of chips is improved.

This kind of competition is everywhere.

The development of the industry and the pursuit of technology have become urgent facts..."

Shen Yi, who had put down his chopsticks at some point, read the whole passage as if he was talking to himself.

Then there was silence.

He silently read the article to the end, and when he saw the name "Lu Yao, Department of Electronic Information Engineering, Fuhua University", he narrowed his eyes.

After a few seconds, he looked up at Lu Yao again.

An instinctive doubt arose in my mind.

Was this article really written by him?

Wrote it yourself?

But the thought disappeared immediately.

Firstly, it is out of respect for the national top scholar.

Secondly…these views are too sharp.

Sharp as a knife.

Only a "child" of this age can maintain such a sharp attitude towards the world.

So he thought about it and said:

"Your views are extreme. They even go against most of our current mainstream media."

This is what he means.

In fact, there is only one core point in Lu Yao's article.

“The world of the future will be a long struggle of extreme polarization between the East and the West, short-term cooperation and long-term confrontation.”

And the final outcome of this struggle will inevitably be the decline of the West.

but……

"Do you want me to help you expand on your view of the decline of the West in your article?"

"No."

Lu Yao shook his head:
"What I want to ask you is actually... the speculations I wrote in my article. For example, will the West impose sanctions on us when our technology surpasses others? For another example, if ASML stops selling its lithography machines to us, what should we do if something like this happens? Do we have effective countermeasures... Of course, apart from self-development."

His words were actually quite clever.

Simply state everything in the article as an established fact that will happen in the future.

Although it seems open, there is actually only one answer left for Shen Yi:
"If this is the case, we have no choice but to develop it ourselves."

Shen Yi shook his head, put down the article, and picked up the chopsticks again.

The rice was actually cold.

But he didn't care much.

What I care more about is...the views in this article.

If it did happen, he would be even colder.

"At present, my personal judgment on Sino-US relations... or, in my research on the Angsa Consortium as a collective of interests, my view is that we may have confrontations, but they will not be as intense as what happened in your article. Of course, I am talking about the big picture, not the semiconductor industry you are observing... To be honest, I am actually just a layman in the semiconductor industry. But if semiconductors are elevated to the level of fundamental interests of the East and the West, and abstractly identified as a fundamental interest of a country... If it were me, I would be willing to put aside the so-called gentlemanly manners in exchange for an absolute dominant position in this area of ​​interests."

He said this, chewed his food for a few times, and then fell silent again.

Because as he spoke, the ideas of this article gradually began to flow in his mind.

All kinds of possibilities are suddenly expanded from the perspective of "international relations".

Rushing towards a future that... as a scholar, I least want to see.

"So, do you think our current supply and demand relationship is equal?"

"Of course not."

Facing Lu Yao's words, Shen Yi shook his head:

"For now, as you said in your article, our supply and demand relationship is changing. From the past when we begged others to buy our products, to now... our products have penetrated into every aspect of their lives. This relationship is changing... But at the same time, you also have to understand that our market is large enough, whether it is the technology industry or food trade, it is enough to form a virtuous cycle. For example, as you think, in the future we may have some companies that overtake others in a certain field, and they will regard us as competitors. But... according to what you said, seeing them as threats, cutting off ties and strangling them directly at the national level... There is this possibility, but it seems unlikely at the moment."

Lu Yao did not refute his words.

Because he knows very well what his "positioning" is today.

I'm here just to ask for advice.

I would like to ask for your advice and also to show the importance of this article.

This is the purpose.

So he nodded:

"But... I think we should always prepare for the worst. The human heart is not a chip. A chip can be restricted by its performance, but the human heart... cannot be restricted."

"Huh, so you're a natural pessimist?"

"I guess so. Ever since I decided to work in this industry, I like to study things that interest me. As a result... the more I study, the more I find that our foundation is actually too weak. For example, lithography machines... even if we can get these machines from ASML, they are useless. I saw in the news that these professional systems are controlled by them, and they can shut down the production system remotely... This uncertainty makes me feel insecure."

Lu Yao's words were recognized by Shen Yi.

He nodded:
"Well, didn't a great man say that it is better to have something yourself than to have it from your parents? This is definitely forward-looking. But... how should I put it? Just like when we do research on international relations, we often give our own judgments. But this judgment often becomes a very absurd and unrealistic idea in the course of history. It is not inevitable, and history is full of contingencies. Your core idea is actually just one point, that is, starting now, we must prepare the semiconductor industry for the impact, right?"

"correct."

"Any deeper thoughts?"

"Yes, but... it's very empty."

"For example?"

Shen Yi became interested.

Lu Yao nodded:

"For example, while we are still in a good cooperative relationship, our consortium can initiate an acquisition... using money to exchange for a technological foundation. For example, Intel? For example, AMD. Of course, the X86 technical architecture is more sensitive. After all, the operating platform of all mainstream chips now includes..."

Having said this, he suddenly paused.

I almost said "military".

Quickly turned a corner:

"Including some of our own companies that develop their own CPUs, they prefer the X86 architecture, that is, they all focus on the PC side. But, this."

He took out his cell phone:

"The tiny chip market will obviously be the largest demand in the civilian market in the future. The smaller the chip, the lower the energy consumption, and the greater the market demand. Haven't you noticed that almost every young person now has a smartphone? And in the future, it may be an era of smartphones for all. I think this aspect is the biggest competitive market in the future. If we are strangled by others, then without a breakthrough, we can only continue to be a Foxconn."

Shen Yi understood his description, nodded and asked:
"But let's not discuss how the top management thinks about this kind of large-scale acquisition, let's just talk about our competitors. Suppose I have money and I want to acquire Intel or IBM, do you think they will agree?"

"That's why I said that now, while we are still maintaining good cooperation, there may be a chance. In the future... there may really be no chance. Because from various signs... I don't know if my thoughts are too pessimistic, but it feels like there are already such signs."

Now, Shen Yi had a completely new respect for the student in front of him.

Apart from anything else, Lu Yao's keen observation of various types of news far exceeds that of ordinary students.

Not to mention... he is not a professional.

So after thinking about it, he said:
“So, your article doesn’t have a solution.”

Lu Yao was speechless:

"Professor, if I had a solution, I could just write it down, right?"

"what."

Shen Yi chuckled:
"So you see, this is where we are passive. Everything you wrote in your article, the initiative is in the hands of Western countries. The best direction is that Western countries have no idea in your article at all. From semiconductors to macro-interests, we are all people in a global village, prospering and developing together. But once they have this idea, then the initiative will be in their hands. This is not our fault, it is determined by our position in the international environment. Sometimes, we know that if we continue with this matter, we will suffer losses, but we can only bite the bullet and respond to the moves. This is a very helpless thing."

"But I firmly believe that it will be helpful to prepare mentally in advance and develop backup plans."

"Of course."

Shen Yi nodded again, put his hand on the article, and fell into thought.

moment.

He said:
"How about this? Give me your article and I'll polish it. Where do you want to send it to?"

Lu Yao thought for a moment and said:

"School publication."

"Not suitable."

Shen Yi rejected it without saying anything:

"The viewpoints are too sharp, too profound, and even somewhat suggestive. Ordinary students may have other ideas after reading this article. It is not suitable for publication."

"That……"

"I'll polish it first, and by the way, I can select some topics from it and give them to my students to work on. As for when the article is finished... I'll finish it first, and then we can talk about it, how about that?"

"sure."

Lu Yao had roughly guessed what he was thinking.

Indeed, if it is the "first edition" of one's own article, that style of overt praise and implicit criticism is more suitable for a student's vision of the future.

But the views in this version, which has been revised several times, are indeed quite extreme.

But... this is really how the future is going.

I can only say that this world is sometimes full of makeshift teams.

This is also the main reason why he had to ask Sister Li to help find someone to take a look.

Looking is not the purpose.

The purpose is to see how many "others" can see it.

After Shen Yi said this, he felt relieved.

Because his purpose was not to publish it in the school magazine.

These things are useless when published in school magazines.

I'm sorry for his hard work.

……

"What did you do at noon?"

When he came back, it was already time for the afternoon gathering. Mr. Xu asked in confusion.

"I wrote an article that I wanted to publish in the school journal, and Sister Li introduced me to a reviewer to take a look at it."

"...?"

Master Xu asked with a puzzled look:

"A novel?"

"No, it's about the electronics industry."

"Oh oh... is it over?"

"No, they said it was not appropriate to publish the school magazine."

To Mr. Xu, his words were tantamount to denial.

Just nod and you won’t worry about it.

In the afternoon, normal military training.

After the group disbanded, around five in the evening, Tian Dazhuang "knocked" open the door of Room 305 again:

"Lu Yao, let's go play ball."

"I can't go. I have something to do."

"?"

Tian Dazhuang walked over with a basketball in his arms, looking puzzled. He looked at the various software programs on Lu Yao's computer screen that he couldn't understand at all and asked:
"What's the matter?"

"I found something that's interesting, and I plan to study it."

"Uh……"

Now, Tian Dazhuang couldn't say anything.

He was specially recruited as a sports student, and his academic performance was incomparable to that of the top student in the country, let alone those of students who were admitted through normal examinations.

Naturally, I don’t understand the world of “academic masters”.

However, there is one thing that children in China almost have in common.

That is, when facing classmates who are good at studying, since you can't "play together", try not to disturb them.

So, Mr. Xu, who had just returned from taking a shower, was grabbed by the neck and dragged out by Tian Dazhuang before he could figure out what was going on.

"Fuck... Tian Dazhuang, there's something smelly in your armpits..."

As Mr. Xu wailed and the door closed, Room 305 fell silent.

Yu Kun logged into YY, clocked in for 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 glass of water and moved closer to observe.

Then I found a lot of things that were like reading a book from heaven.

Lu Yao said:

"The TV University has just deciphered a circuit design paper on a high-performance CMOS analog low-pass filter. I'm quite interested and am currently researching it."

"What the hell?"

Yu Kun didn't quite understand.

But it's normal. Freshmen don't even understand the most basic design principles of chips, so it's normal that they can't understand these things.

So Lu Yao continued to explain:
"It's a paper on electronic communications. Just think of it as a radio frequency generator. It has many application scenarios. I'm quite interested in it, so I'm researching it."

"????"

Yu Kun was even more confused.

But I didn't ask.

Because... it's useless to ask. It's useless to study something you don't understand at all.

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 tutor...

As for why he wanted to watch it, the answer was simple.

Strictly speaking, this was his first time to engage in research on a project with a high level of confidentiality.

The final result of this project research is the satellite navigation terminal launch front-end chip.

Having said that, perhaps many people don’t understand what it is.

But it has another famous name in later generations - Beidou-3 radio frequency transmission front-end chip.

As for what use it is...

Well, in short, this chip is the most basic link for all Beidou user information transmission and reception.

It is also one of the most important research results of the 29th Institute where Lu Yao worked.

But it is not for civilian use.

His plan was simple.

Personally speaking, he has worked with Huawei in the microchip industry and is quite familiar with the architecture of the Kirin chip. But it is useless... Huawei is still working hard on K3V2. They don't even know the benefits of MALI.

As for the school, although he knew that at least in the graduate-level laboratory, he could get access to all chip license architectures including X86... but he couldn't see it at the undergraduate level. Even if he wanted to participate, no one would pay attention to him.

What grade are you in? Join our study?
Therefore, he cannot get started in microchip research and design now.

But it's okay.

Microchips are not the only thing he knows.

Some things involving confidential content may not use ARM.

Therefore, his second step was to build on the research he had experienced.

And now is the best time.

Because last year Beidou just announced that it had entered the third-generation iterative research stage.

Coincidentally, my senior's 03 paper was used by the institute to carry out front-end chip design research.

Because he and his senior had the same mentor, he naturally got involved in this project, and almost completed all the front-end chip design work from scratch.

Of course, having said that, the workload of this front-end RF chip is very large. Whether it is the RF filter, differential amplifier, low-pass filter, etc., it is not something that can be completed by one person.

But...it doesn't matter.

The first link of this chip, that is, the high-performance CMOS analog low-pass filter designed by my senior, was decrypted in 08. And the most important low-pass filter of Beidou's front-end RF chip is this one.

He has now started making plans.

I plan to set up an experimental recruitment plan on the campus website first.

But regarding this matter... maybe I'll have to go find Wang Tianming.

As a doctoral supervisor, he certainly has this right.

After recruiting a few people from the communications industry to replicate the filter, he could then "accidentally" have a flash of inspiration and come up with the circuit diagram and calculation formula for the differential operational amplifier.

This picture... he is really too familiar.

Back then, a group of people almost pulled out all their hair to achieve this result.

just now……

Well, bring it here!

Next is the trial 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 has anything to do with electronic communications only needs to take a look at it to understand what this ancestor is.

Being able to get this ancestor out... Let alone anything else, a researcher-level person deserves to lie in the arms of this ancestor and draw a salary for nothing for the rest of his life.

And the following variable gain amplifiers, driver amplifiers, etc...are actually the work of communications talents.

Lu Yao doesn’t understand, but as long as he can find someone who does, that’s fine.

After finding it, what he had to do was just like what his mentor did back then, which was to give directions in a timely manner, obtain research results, and then take the research results of the communications department and start the layout design of the transmission front end.

As long as the project reaches this stage...there will be almost no difficulty.

It may be difficult to start from scratch, but as a person who has witnessed the project and a time traveler with a 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 on the 100th day.

As long as this chip is successfully developed...

Then, Beidou will enter the civilian market at least 5 years earlier.

At the same time, each of the hypersonic missiles will be equipped with a radio frequency navigation chip that can respond quickly through satellites at hypersonic speeds.

The accuracy can be extremely high.

When……

"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 me a message.

Lu Yao took a look and threw it aside.

He saw the content.

But it didn’t enter my mind.

He has no intention of going back now.

Let’s talk about it later.

　At 3: in the morning, the revision was finally passed. Oh yeah! I caught up, caught up, brothers, please give me some monthly tickets!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)