Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 378 The Moon Collector's Edition

"of course not.

This was an unforgettable experience. You get tired of looking at the moon all the time, but when you're working and take a break to look at it, the scenery becomes even more beautiful.

"Professor, wasn't the testing of the superconducting chip completed smoothly? Why do I see you constantly running to the lab these past seven days?" Lei Jun asked.

This has always been his doubt.

Lin Ran did not participate in the entire process of removing the ash. Every now and then, he would drive the lunar rover to the laboratory in the shadow area by himself, saying that he still had some work to do.

This piqued Lei Jun's curiosity; he was very interested in what kind of job it was.

Other jobs? Those must be very important jobs.

He simply couldn't believe that someone could come to such an ultra-low temperature environment, stay for a full seven days, and only do the most routine tests on the superconducting chip.

It was difficult to ask before, but now they're rushing back to Earth, clearly indicating this is a pre-departure interview program.

If not now, when?
Lin Ran looked at Xiaomi's glasses and said, "Well, Mr. Lei's sense of smell is indeed keen."

Lei Jun laughed and said, "Of course, we will also launch our first mobile phone-grade chip this year, Xuanjie 01. I have done a lot of research on chips."

I personally listen to our engineers report on the entire process, including design, testing, and packaging, and I make sure they explain things in a way that I can understand.

Under extremely cold conditions like the moon, many interesting phenomena can be observed, and some of these phenomena should be interesting to be applied to Earth.

There are several experiments that I can do, just from what I can think of.

This naturally occurring ultra-low temperature laboratory, which we've had for a full seven days, should be put to good use; it would be a waste not to make the most of it.

Lei Jun said that it is now 2024, and Xiaomi will release their second car and their self-developed chip at the fall launch event.

By saying this, he not only implied that he was somewhat of an expert, but also took the opportunity to promote their products.

Lin Ran clapped and said, "What President Lei said is very true. Indeed, the results we observed this time should be able to improve the chip's performance by half a generation."

To put it more accurately, it involves translating the device, interconnect, and packaging phenomena that occur under extremely cold conditions onto existing chips using engineering methods on the ground.

During these seven days, I did a lot of work in the lab, including power density and thermal diffusion model calibration, FBB coordination, DVFS coordination, and Coulomb corner recalibration.

I believe our consumers will soon be able to experience the effects of this lunar experiment.

The phenomena observed in these experiments will likely be used in publicly available consumer electronics products in about six months. We are collaborating with Huawei to release a lunar-themed flagship phone.

Compared to the previous lunar flagship edition, this lunar collector's edition flagship will use a chip equipped with lunar technology. Huawei is currently using a 5nm process, and I think our achievement should be able to improve its efficiency to the equivalent of 4nm.

The Ascend chip, in particular, will be gradually modified based on these achievements to launch computing cards with even stronger computing capabilities.

Lei Jun was shocked. No, if Huawei could launch a 4nm chip, it would be a fatal blow to Xiaomi's flagship models. This would mean that there would be no difference between Kirin and Qualcomm's current mainstream flagship chips at 4nm.

3nm is leading, but the lead is narrowing. Considering the performance gap, can Xiaomi's flagship really compete with Huawei's flagship equipped with 4nm?
At first, the live stream chat was filled with all sorts of emotional expressions, but now it's all just four words: "far ahead," nothing else.

Lei Jun swallowed hard. "Congratulations."

But both the audience and Lin Ran could tell that his congratulations were insincere.

Lin Ran said, "Mr. Lei, this is a good thing. With the success of this experiment, companies like Xiaomi that have a need for self-developed chips can also entrust their testing to me. We can then put this permanent ultra-low temperature laboratory in the shadow area of ​​the moon into use."

"It's not just Apollo Technology that uses it; other semiconductor companies can apply if they need it."

Another very important purpose of bringing Lei Jun here is to advertise the permanent ultra-low temperature laboratory on the moon.

There are so many things such a laboratory can do. Lin Ran hopes that since it has been built, it should be used to its fullest potential, rather than being kept to itself.

This is a unique research and industry accelerator.

The new chip to be released at Huawei's upcoming fall launch event will be the best advertisement.

Lei Jun understood. "Professor, do you mean that it can be used in many fields and can serve many enterprises?"

And not just exclusive to Apollo Technology?

Lei Jun continued, "I would like to say a few words to the viewers who are watching the live stream."

Lin Ran nodded, signaling him to speak first.

“In the past, research on ultra-low temperature science on Earth, especially at temperatures as low as -173 degrees Celsius, was commonplace and widespread, but very rare, almost non-existent.”

The key factor behind this is cost. Building such a laboratory on Earth and maintaining such an environment requires extremely high costs.

Currently, only the National Institute of Standards and Technology in America, CERN, and the Cryogenic Physics Laboratory of our National Academy of Sciences have such environments on Earth.

There are no companies involved. On the other hand, I know everyone is curious as to why other countries don't conduct tests in Earth's ultra-low temperature environment first, and follow China's ultra-low temperature superconducting chip technology roadmap.

It's like walking on two legs: focusing on building a lunar base on the moon while conducting preliminary research on Earth. This way, once the lunar base is built, the superconducting chip can be transported to the moon for testing immediately.

I want to tell everyone that it's impossible. I've discussed this issue with experts at Qualcomm. Currently, all cryogenic laboratories on Earth face a problem: vibration—the vibration from the cryocoolers. This means that while you can study the properties of superconducting materials themselves on Earth, you can't put transistors made from superconducting materials into them for experiments.

Lin Ran added, "That's right, so our chips also have to be transported to the moon for experiments. On Earth, we can only test the properties of the materials themselves. We can't do chip-type experiments because too many unnecessary influencing factors make it difficult to observe valuable phenomena and indicators."

Lei Jun nodded and said, "Another very important reason is that they are not confident that they can really build a lunar base in a short period of time."

Therefore, for a long time, the environment of extremely low temperature and no vibration, such as the lunar shadow region, is unique.

It plays a vital role in the semiconductor industry.

If cryogenic superconductivity becomes feasible, we can utilize the cryogenic environments on the surfaces of satellites like Europa and Titan.

Ultra-long-distance communication technology will also be further developed, and in the future, our cloud computing will truly be in the sky and truly in the cloud.

Cloud computing is a long-standing concept, but in the past, the cloud referred to services that were not located locally.

After listening, Lin Ran said, "Yes, just like the nuclear fission power plant we tested this time, it can generate electricity stably. Do you know what that means?"

This means that within the next three years, we can create a comprehensive and complete map of the moon.

We can deploy a small nuclear fission power plant and an unmanned probe in each region, say, in units of 500 square kilometers.

Then this unmanned probe will run around in this area, and when it runs out of power, it will return to the nuclear fission power plant to exchange for electricity.

They don't need to be charged. In addition to generating electricity, the nuclear fission power plant also has a battery swapping function, allowing the rover to travel endlessly all over the moon.

We are able to create detailed maps of the moon.

Then large-scale development began.

This is an ambitious plan, and also a prelude to the development of Mars and other planets in the solar system. We will gain a lot of experience in the process.

In the same process, some of our achievements will also be shared with all of humanity.

For example, companies like Xiaomi can submit their testing needs to me.

After the live stream ended, they embarked on their journey back to Earth.

Throughout the live stream, we talked about a lot of things, such as insights, personal journeys, the history of Xiaomi's founding, knowledge related to superconductivity, and so on. The content was very rich.

But what the outside world is most concerned about is how effective the so-called chip performance improvement is, how the lunar cryogenic laboratory provides services to the outside world, and what about Xiaomi's self-developed chip? Is Surge really coming?
Because they compete with Apple, many phone launch events are held in the fall.

They also need to bring Apple up for comparison, laying out all the specifications. Huawei's most important product launch this year is also in the fall, but not in Shenzhen, but in Shanghai.

In the center of the stage, a huge curved screen slowly lit up, with a background of craters at the lunar south pole. These were taken by astronauts using wide-angle lenses at the lunar south pole, unlike past photos which were taken by satellite and then processed in post-production.

Therefore, the entire background vividly highlights the darkness, coldness, and desolation of the lunar south pole.

Several large words appeared on the screen:
"Transcending the limitations of Earth, heading towards the future of the Moon."

Yu Dazui walked onto the stage in a dark suit, and the audience erupted in applause. In addition to partners and employees, the audience consisted of tech enthusiasts and social media bloggers.

He held this year's most important item in his hand; under the light, the silver-gray body of the machine reflected a texture like rock.

"Hello everyone, it's great to see you again.

Today's launch event is very special because we're bringing you more than just a phone; we're presenting a technological gift from the moon.

He paused, the screen switched, and an animation appeared showing Lin Ran conducting laboratory tests in a permanently shadowed area on the far side of the moon.

"As everyone knows, there are some areas at the south pole of the moon where sunlight never reaches and the temperature is as low as minus 173 degrees Celsius all year round."

This might sound like an extreme situation, but some people have a very high level of vision and can see the problems on Earth that need to be solved from a cosmic perspective.

In Mr. Lin Ran's view, it is a natural ultra-low temperature laboratory.

When Mr. Lin Ran and our engineering team proposed that we could use the ultra-low temperature environment of the moon to solve the current predicament of chips, our entire team was thrilled. It was clear that this was a realistic and feasible path that could help us find a way to overtake others and even see the dawn of next-generation semiconductor materials.

Therefore, after working closely with the Apollo Technology team for over a year, we not only created the first ultra-low temperature superconducting chip demo, but also developed a process optimization path, using the ultra-low temperature environment to guide our manufacturing process.

The screen's perspective kept changing, from the lunar shadow crater to the superconducting chip test chamber, and then to Lin Ran's operation.

"At such temperatures, the noise of electron movement in silicon-based chips is significantly reduced, allowing us to simulate and verify a low-temperature optimized process."

Simply put, with a 7-nanometer process, we can achieve performance close to that of a 5-nanometer process; with a 5-nanometer process, we can achieve energy efficiency exceeding that of a 4-nanometer process.

This is similar to our new energy vehicles; they can have a range of 400 kilometers, and under suitable temperatures, they can stably reach 500 kilometers, while consuming even less power.

"Through our collaboration with Apollo Technologies, we sent a batch of special chip samples to the moon and put them into that cold, permanently shadowed laboratory for testing."

The results were impressive: at the same power consumption, the frequency increased by 17%; at the same frequency, energy consumption decreased by 23%; and core heat generation was reduced by nearly a quarter.

In other words, this represents a super-fast evolution of Earth-based technology within the lunar environment.

A comparison curve appears on the screen: Earth 5nm vs. Moon optimized 5nm ≈ Earth 4nm
A gasp of surprise rippled through the audience.

Yu Dazui added with a smile: "Some people ask if this means we have to put our phones in the refrigerator to use them? No, we don't! We've transformed the patterns we learned in the lunar laboratory into new design methods and heat dissipation packaging technologies, allowing us to replicate this advantage in a normal Earth environment."

This is our innovative breakthrough.

Lunar Collector's Edition Phone Unveiled

The screen shifts, and the phone slowly rises up, revealing a miniature lunar crater pattern engraved on the back panel, next to a small metal plaque that reads "Moon Shadow Lab Certified".

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am now going to formally introduce to you: Huawei Mate Moon Edition flagship phone."

This phone is equipped with a 5nm chip that we optimized based on the results of our ultra-low temperature laboratory on the far side of the moon. Its performance is equivalent to that of a 4nm chip on Earth.

Its AI computing power has been increased by 20%, making your video editing and AI drawing incredibly fast;

More stable game frame rates and longer battery life;
The cooling system uses our new phase change heat dissipation material, which is also inspired by the lunar environment.

This is not just a mobile phone; it's the first time humanity has brought extraterrestrial scientific research results back into our daily lives.

The audience erupted in cheers, everyone focused on one thing: the price.

Huawei's products have always been expensive, leading some to accuse them of exploiting consumers.

Of course, judging from sales volume, many people are willing to bear such a high premium in order to avoid being held back by technology, and to enable China's technology to make breakthroughs and to be free from America's constraints in the semiconductor field.

In the past, people would be willing to pay for it. Now, with a lunar collectible edition phone like this, the technology it carries is beyond doubt and unique in the world, so people are even more willing to pay for it.

Let alone a premium of several thousand, there are plenty of consumers willing to pay a premium of tens of thousands.

“至于我们的定价，我们的定价非常良心，提供两个版本，定价只比Pura 70 Ultra贵2000，16GB+512GB售价11999元、16GB+1TB售价12999元.
However, production capacity is indeed limited. As everyone knows, Mr. Lin only returned from the moon in August, and we only just received the lunar data. We only started optimizing the process last month, and only started small-scale mass production of this new Kirin chip last week.

Production capacity may only be 20,000 to 30,000 units per month, which is really limited.

In the initial phase, we will only be able to sell a limited number of units on the Huawei online store during specific times. We apologize to those Huawei fans who are unable to purchase them!

Yu Dazui bowed to express his apology.

Following that was the Huawei PUA70 series, which, after the Lunar Edition, became rather uninteresting.

Just as everyone started pulling out their phones to post comments on various social media platforms, eagerly anticipating the Lunar Collector's Edition, the background music gradually swelled, and a slogan appeared on the screen:
"The next generation of computing starts on the moon."

"Friends, we were just talking about mobile phones."

But Huawei's mission goes beyond that. We aim to address not only individual user experience, but also the computing power needs of the entire industry and society as a whole.

The screen switches from the cryogenic experimental chamber in the lunar shadow region to a rendering of the chip accelerator card.

"In the ultra-low temperature laboratory on the far side of the moon, we not only tested a specially made version of the mobile phone chip, but we also brought a specially made version of the chip based on the Ascend AI chip design concept to conduct experiments."

"Many thanks to our partner, Apollo Technology, for their cooperation. And thank you to Mr. Lin Ran. I want to say that these experimental results could only have been observed and the underlying patterns discovered by Mr. Lin Ran himself, guiding industrial processes on Earth. We are truly grateful."

After speaking, Yu Dazui bowed, this time as a gesture of gratitude.

The audience erupted in applause, and the camera focused on Lin Ran, who was sitting in the front row. Lin Ran smiled and nodded in acknowledgment.

"The test results were very impressive."

In an environment of -173℃, the thermal noise of the circuit is significantly reduced, which means that the calculation is more stable;
Voltage and timing can be adjusted more aggressively, resulting in a 28% increase in computing power at the same power consumption;

More importantly, there was almost no thermal decay under long-term load.

What is this like?
Just like the same engine running in the cold environment of a lunar laboratory, it not only runs faster but also maintains peak performance without failing.

The Ascend computing card has been unveiled, with a real-world image displayed on the screen: a black and gold computing accelerator card with a "Moon Shadow Certified" nameplate on the side.

"Based on this achievement, we have created the brand-new Ascend MoonShadow computing card."

Its performance indicators are:
Through optimization in the lunar laboratory, we achieved an equivalent 4nm level under the same power consumption conditions;

The computing power of a single card is 30% higher than the previous generation, and the energy efficiency ratio is 25% higher.

We also incorporated low-temperature phase change materials into the heat dissipation design, enabling this computing card to partially replicate the low-temperature effects of the lunar environment in data centers on Earth.

So we hope everyone can understand that we are also building Ascend computing cards at the same time, and the order from Crimson has already been placed on our desks.

If it's not delivered soon, the lunar cryogenic laboratory might not let us go up there again.

Therefore, please forgive the delay in the delivery of the Lunar Collector's Edition phone.

I also believe that with the collaboration between Apollo Technology and Huawei, we will catch up with Nvidia sooner or later!

The audience erupted in enthusiastic applause, and everyone stood up to applaud.

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(End of this chapter)