Back in 1978, I was admitted to Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Chapter 124 came at the perfect time, chipping the chip, imitating the 8086 chip!

“Director Meng, I think Qin Liang is right,” Zhu Xianghua began. “The students in Class 5381 didn’t go home for winter break; they stayed to work on research and development. Each of them received a subsidy of 1,000 yuan and ate meat every day. Our department’s students didn’t go home for winter break either; they ate steamed buns and pickled vegetables every day… It’s okay for us teachers to suffer a little, but our students are still growing…”

"Teacher, it's okay if we suffer a little, but if our department could build its own teaching building, our junior students would have a more spacious place to live..."

“That’s right, teacher. If their fifth department can build a building, our first department can too! Our department is so poor that we can’t even afford paper for calculations… We can’t live such a miserable life anymore!”

Director Meng took a deep breath: "Alright, then our department will manufacture these computers ourselves! Our department will borrow money from the bank to get the factory up and running. And if anything goes wrong in the future, I'll take responsibility!"

Although the higher authorities have been calling for opening up and reform, who can be sure that one day in the future we won't suddenly revert to the past? The lessons learned from cutting off the capitalist tail are still fresh in our minds! Doing this now will bring us a great deal of responsibility!
Teachers in this era have impeccable professional ethics! They are always willing to take responsibility!
Just then, a hearty laugh suddenly rang out from the doorway.

"Haha, that's great! Northwestern Polytechnical University is really amazing, making breakthroughs in everything. Now, we even have microcomputers!"

Liu Gensheng, the leader of the electronic system, has arrived! He is accompanied by several middle-aged men wearing four-pocket suits, each carrying a faux leather briefcase, clearly displaying the demeanor of a leader.

They were delighted to receive the report and took the train from the capital that very day. They arrived in Chang'an in the evening, ate a bowl of paomo (pita bread soaked in mutton soup) at the station, and came straight over without even going into a guesthouse!

At this moment, looking at the characters flashing on the computer screen, Liu Gensheng nodded repeatedly.

"A modern microcomputer should indeed look like this! We in the East finally have a modern microcomputer! Keyboard input, screen display, and it even comes with a general-purpose operating system... Next, we should start mass production. Come, let me introduce you. This is Comrade Li Guofu, the factory director of Factory 4433 at Base 083. Their factory..."

Director Meng looked grim.

I was careless! I was too naive and wrote a report of good news to my superiors in advance. I should have waited until Qin Liang came back to discuss it before reporting it. Now, the electronics systems department is taking it very seriously and has come directly with people from the factory. What should I say next?
"Our Factory 4433 has had a tough time!" Li Guofu sighed. "Back then, when we were all eager to go to the Third Front, countless good people left the big cities and went to the mountains to build the Third Front base. Now..."

The Third Front bases were a heavy historical burden. Qin Liang understood their plight very well. Back then, they left the big cities and went to remote mountain villages, and then... they found they couldn't go back. The higher-ups made them responsible for their own profits and losses. Countless Third Front factories went bankrupt, and countless people lost their jobs. Looking at his colleagues who originally stayed in the big cities, he could only lament the injustice of the world...

However, Qin Liang's understanding of them does not mean that he can tolerate them taking advantage of Northwestern Polytechnical University. Just because their third-line base is having a hard time, does that mean Northwestern Polytechnical University is having an easy time?
"Now that we have the 8086 microcomputer project, our factory has come back to life!" Li Guofu's face was full of anticipation: "On behalf of the more than 3,000 employees of Factory 4433, I thank Northwestern Polytechnical University..."

Considering that Factory 4433 was facing the most difficulties, all the other electronics factories in the capital gave up and handed over this precious opportunity to them! Li Guofu was overjoyed at this moment. The opportunity was too coincidental. He happened to be representing Factory 4433 to go to the capital to complain, and he happened to catch this good thing!

"Ahem, Leader Liu, Factory Director Li, about this matter..." Director Meng finally spoke up; he had to play the villain! "Director Meng, since Factory 4433 is in such dire straits, Northwestern Polytechnical University should help us out!" Qin Liang suddenly said.

Director Meng's eyes widened. "Liangzi, what do you mean? We helped Factory 4433, but what about our department's teaching building? What about the big TVs in every classroom? What about our research funding? We're all relying on this school-run factory!"

"Rest assured, once we receive the blueprints, we will begin production as soon as possible. We are a military factory, and we will adhere to strict military-grade quality standards..."

“Wait, Director Li, we don’t have the blueprints. You’ll have to figure that out yourselves,” Qin Liang said.

"What? You've already built the machines, how could you not have blueprints?" Li Guofu's eyes widened.

"We only have the circuit diagram, not the chip diagram. Your 4433 factory needs to use the chip-cutting method to draw the circuit diagram..."

Li Guofu was dumbfounded: "You mean...we're asking us to produce chips?"

"That's right, we've built the computer, but we still have to buy the key internal chips from abroad. This limits the large-scale use of our microcomputers and costs us precious foreign exchange. We were just worrying about this when you arrived! Director Li, this glorious and arduous task can only be accomplished by your third-line base!"

Director Meng's eyes immediately lit up.

Qin Liang initially brought back a hundred sets of chips, but they were later divided up in several batches. Now they only have about fifty sets, which can only be used to install about fifty microcomputers. What will they do next?
Continuing to buy chips would cost us precious foreign exchange! Now, having domestic factories imitate them would solve our immediate problem!
Can chips be copied? Of course! That's where the famous chip counterfeiting comes in!
Remove the ceramic casing covering the chip to expose the silicon wafer inside. Then, place it under a microscope, compare it with the internal circuitry, draw the circuit diagram, and then replicate it.

The resolution limit of a regular optical microscope is about 50 nanometers. Later chips, which are only a few nanometers in size, would definitely not be visible and would only be visible under an electron microscope. However, this was before the 1980s. The 8086 chip used the most advanced technology, which was at the 3.2-micrometer level and could be seen clearly under a microscope!

Li Guofu took a deep breath: "We...we're afraid we don't have..."

"If you don't have the technology, we'll go to the Shanghai Component Factory No. 5. They're currently replicating the 8080 and have a lot of experience. Our localization of the 8086 is even more significant, and they should be happy to accept it. After all, we roughly estimate that there's a demand of at least tens of thousands of 8086 microcomputers nationwide..."

Want to build your own computer? What's the point of our Northwestern Polytechnical University's school-run factory then? Since you're the elite of this third-tier base, you have to shoulder this glorious mission! Otherwise... just go to sleep!
　PS: The image shows the 8086 chip under a microscope.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)