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

Chapter 125 Imitation Requires Technology
In this era, the concept of intellectual property rights did not exist in the East.

Back then, in order to develop the DJS-050 microcomputer, Tsinghua University began to survey the 8008 chip. Because the chip processing technology at the time was not advanced enough, the whole chip could only be disassembled into 31 chips according to their functions. However, in recent years, chip technology in the East has been developing continuously. This year, Shanghai Component Factory No. 5 will join forces with Shanghai Radio Factory No. 14 to replicate the 8080 eight-bit microprocessor. As for the 8086, it will have to wait until 1980.

Intel's dissatisfaction was futile; the West was also copying it. For example, Germany's copy of the 8080 chip was only a year later than that of the East! This fully demonstrates that in the 1970s and 80s, the East's chip technology was not inferior. Although it couldn't compare to Silicon Valley in the United States, it was still stronger than Europe's!

The 8086 chip, with a 5MHz clock speed, a 16-bit processor, and 29,000 transistors, was ten times more powerful than the 8080! This processor would remain in use until 1982, when it would be replaced by the 80286 processor.

In the East, mass-producing the 8086 processor and creating the 8086 microcomputer would also be of great significance: various research institutions and universities would definitely flock to purchase it. The demand for tens of thousands of units is a conservative estimate. If the price is right, it is estimated that millions of units could be sold!

Not to mention that this processor is also used in radar and avionics!
If Factory 4433 can successfully replicate it, they will be able to pave a smooth road to success with this product! Now, it all depends on whether the other party has the determination!

The factories in the Third Front were tough, and Northwestern Polytechnical University was willing to help, but we definitely wouldn't provide direct support! If you want to transition from military to civilian production, you still have to rely on yourselves!

Li Guofu took a deep breath: "Alright, our Factory 4433 is originally a manufacturer of integrated circuits, so this imitation project won't be difficult for us! It's just..."

"You'll have to figure out the funding yourselves; Northwestern Polytechnical University doesn't have any money either." Qin Liang interrupted them directly. "We can only guarantee that once you've manufactured the chips, we'll purchase them in large quantities. Ten thousand yuan is the minimum. If you can manufacture them within six months, we might even be able to sell these microcomputers abroad and earn foreign exchange!"

Under the planned economy, everything depended on allocations from higher authorities, and there was no need to worry about funding. But now it's different; in the market economy, we have to find ways to solve our own problems!

“That’s right. We raised the funds ourselves to develop the microcomputer. Next, we plan to produce the microcomputer and we also plan to borrow money from the bank.” Director Meng said from the side, “You’ll have to figure out the funding for the chip-cutting yourself!”

"What? You plan to manufacture these microcomputers yourselves?" Liu Gensheng caught the implication in Director Meng's words and asked, "That's not what you wrote in your report!"
"Yes, assembling computers doesn't require much technical skill. We at Northwestern Polytechnical University can do this kind of small job ourselves, so it's perfect as an internship base for students," Qin Liang said. "High-tech work like chip manufacturing should be left to our sister companies. We believe that Factory 4433 will not let us down."

Assembling computers really doesn't require much technical skill. Even if a certain conscientious American company later became the world's number one, it would still just be an assembly plant! Our Northwestern Polytechnical University should just make do with this kind of low-tech work!
Liu Gensheng looked at Li Guofu with a complicated expression: "Old Li, this is a great opportunity for your factory to transform. You must seize this opportunity! Let me tell you, every project supported by Qin Liang has made money!"

"Leader Liu, our Factory 4433 is really struggling, the funding..."

"Regarding the funding issue, our electronics industry system will try to solve half of it for you. You'll have to figure out the other half yourselves."

"Great! We'll have to trouble Northwestern Polytechnical University to provide us with samples..."

"Of course, no problem. We'll give you two sets of the complete chip. Except for the memory, you'll need to replicate the rest. Trust me, as long as you can manufacture these chips, your factory will be living the high life from now on..." In 1978, the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences decided to develop 4KB memory chips. Compared to the capacity starting at gigabytes in later generations, it was a million times smaller. However, for the 1970s and 1980s, this capacity was already very powerful.

Therefore, we can rely on domestic companies for memory, but we have to produce everything else ourselves!
Looking at the dozen or so chips in front of him, Li Guofu took a deep breath: "Okay, we will work hard to complete the mapping and replication of these chips!"

After seeing off the superiors and heads of other units, Director Meng finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank goodness Liangzi came back, otherwise we would have suffered a great loss!"

"We can't let our guard down now," Qin Liang said. "As soon as our computers are sold, someone will try to steal them, so... we still need to raise the manufacturing threshold so that those who want to copy our products will have to give up..."

In the capital city, Chaoyang District, within a vast factory area, stands a magnificent pentagonal ring-shaped building, almost identical to the Soviet Union's Khrushchev Cable Factory. The entire factory area is essentially a replica of the Khrushchev Cable Factory, originally built according to Leningrad's design plans.

This is the largest cable television plant in the capital!

At that moment, in a conference room in the Pentagon, a group of people were angrily discussing the matter.

"From the very first computer, the Model 103, built after the founding of the People's Republic of China, all the computers in our country have been produced by us! The Model 104, Model 109, Model 119, and even the Model 320 with millions of calculations per second, which one wasn't a product of our factory? Now, Northwestern Polytechnical University is trying to produce its own microcomputers. They're breaking the rules!"

“That’s right. If we give it to Factory 4433, we have no objection. After all, Factory 4433 was built with our assistance back then, and there are many of our old comrades there. We can’t watch them go hungry. Now, Northwestern Polytechnical University actually wants to build it themselves. They have no sense of the big picture at all! We absolutely cannot stand by and watch this happen!”

After hearing about the outcome of Liu Gensheng's delegation's negotiation at Northwestern Polytechnical University, everyone was filled with righteous indignation!
"But now the higher-ups want to promote a market economy. Northwestern Polytechnical University has undertaken many projects. The Northern Institute wanted to modify the machine head and gave Northwestern Polytechnical University a sum of money. The higher-ups support what they are doing."

"Hmph, so what if the higher-ups support us? In the computer field, we're the only ones qualified to produce computers; the others aren't! We..." Engineer Fan Tongyu began, "Why don't we just buy one of their computers, then copy it! Then, Factory 4433 will produce the chips, and we'll produce the complete system. As for Northwestern Polytechnical University... they can just go cool off somewhere else!"

"Survey and replicate!" Upon hearing this, everyone got excited. Yes, that's what we'll do!
"Old Fan, this project is entrusted to you. We will coordinate with the relevant departments to get a computer back."

"Hmm, leave it to me! What kind of computer haven't we built? A tiny microcomputer is no challenge for us!"

(End of this chapter)