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

Chapter 286 is out, but nobody wants it!
Silicon Valley.

A sneeze!

For some reason, Grove has been sneezing since he started work today, and I don't know why.

However, he was no longer in the mood to care about any of that.

"Grove, Grove!" Moore ran over excitedly: "Our 286 processor has already started tape-out!"

"Really? That's great news!" Grove said. "Let's go check out the chip factory!"

As he spoke, he stood up and strode out.

"Sigh, even if we manage to build our own 286 processor, its performance probably won't be as good as the Loongson-1. After all, the latter is a 32-bit processor, while we..."

"Let's not rush. We already have the 286, and the 386 will be here soon!" Grove said. "I have full confidence in the future of Intel! Let's go!"

Chip factory, packaging and testing workshop.

"Mr. Grove, this is our first 286 processor!" The testing personnel took out a black, square ceramic piece and said to Grove. The white letters "80286" on it were very eye-catching.

"Hmm, not bad. Pack this processor in the box. I'm going to take it to IBM to promote it. The Big Blue has always been our best partner..."

IBM, conference room.

"Our 286 processor is revolutionary. This processor accesses 16MB of memory, which is enough to support more programs, especially the ability to run multiple tasks simultaneously and switch quickly between them..."

Grove spoke at length about these things, but... the IBM engineer opposite him seemed quite disdainful.

Finally, Grove stopped talking and looked at the leader: "Skelly, what's wrong?"

“I… I’m sorry, I was a little distracted. Are you finished? If you are, then let’s end the meeting here. Don’t worry, we will consider your 286 processor,” Skyri said calmly.

Something's not right, something's not right, this guy doesn't like it at all!
Back then, IBM was the first to use the 8086 processor and create the world's first microcomputer, which caused a sensation in the entire industry. The world was full of praise for IBM. The Blue Giant has always been at the forefront of the world.

When Grove came to promote his product, the other party was incredibly enthusiastic. But now?
This indifferent attitude chilled Grove's heart.

"Mr. Skyley, may we place an order for a batch?"

"Ahem, well, there's no rush for now. Let's take a look first."

Back then, they placed an order for a million units before they even had a chance to research them, and now…

"Mr. Skelly, does your company... look down on our 286 processor? We are both American companies; we need to cooperate closely to strengthen our own semiconductor industry..."

“Mr. Grove, we do want to prioritize our selection within the country, but we are a company, and we must also consider our own interests first,” Skyry said. “Your 286 processor is simply too poor in performance. There is no point in using such a processor to assemble a computer.”

"The Loongson-1 is only powerful on the surface. Does your IBM company intend to use the Loongson-1 as a processor chip?" Grove bluntly stated, "That would be absolutely inappropriate!"

“No, no, it’s perfect,” Skyri said. “Take memory for example, it supports up to 4GB, while yours is only 16MB. That’s a huge difference. With this processor, we won’t have to worry about upgrades in the future. It has great potential.”

"No, no, no program needs to be that big now..."

"No one wants their computer to be obsolete in two years, right? They might not need it now, but they will in the future."

"Two years? No, no, Skyley, believe me, a 286 computer is enough, enough for the entire 1980s."

"Okay, so how much is your processor priced?"

"$360, the same price as the 8086."

"Do you know how much a Loongson processor costs?"

"How much?" At the time of the Loongson One launch event, only the performance was announced, not the price. Moreover, at that time, it was not common to build your own computer; most computers were branded. Therefore, the price of the Loongson One was not announced, since the price for each company might be different.

“$220,” Skyry said. “The starting price for 100,000 units is $220. We won’t hide it from you, after all, our new IBM microcomputer is about to be released. This computer has excellent performance! It has a 32-bit processor that can run stably at 30 MHz, 1 MB of built-in memory, and many sockets that can be expanded to a maximum of 32 MB. We’ve compared it, and the overall computing speed is hundreds of times faster than the 8086 computer. Even the 286 won’t be faster, so… we don’t need to choose an outdated computer processor… you should leave.”

Grove's face darkened: "Fine, since you already have this kind of computer, could you... sell us one?"

"Well, not for now. Once it's on the market, you can purchase it through official channels. All we can say is that this computer's performance is really good; it's comparable to some of our minicomputers."

Grove didn't know how he walked out of IBM headquarters; he just felt as if his world had collapsed.

It's over, it's over!

Even if they managed to manufacture their 286 processor, I doubt anyone would be willing to buy it!
If it doesn't sell, it means the huge R&D costs of the 286 processor cannot be recovered. This processor was forced to be hastily terminated before it was even released, which is a huge insult to Intel.

No, absolutely not!
"How about we go check out Apple?" Moore suggested.

IBM is undoubtedly the king. The only company that can compete with IBM in the field of microcomputers is Apple!

In 1971, Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve got to know each other and got along well. In 1975, they both joined the Computer Giants Club. Steve envisioned developing a typewriter with a keyboard that could be connected to a television as a screen, but his employer, Hewlett-Packard, did not approve of it and rejected it five times.

So the two decided to go it alone. In 1976, Apple Computer was founded in the garage of Jobs' parents. It was officially registered in 1977. In April of that year, the famous Apple II computer was launched and quickly achieved great success. Apple has grown into a large company with thousands of employees!

Moreover, Apple, being a young company, doesn't suffer from the chronic problems of established companies like IBM. Almost everyone is optimistic about Apple's bright future, and now...

Apple, also located in Silicon Valley, was still busy. When Grove walked in, he saw countless people working, and the sound of clicking and banging filled the air.

"No, no, I think this clock looks terrible and it has to be redesigned! Our graphical interface has to be beautiful enough, beautiful, you understand? If you don't, then go home, learn it properly, and come back!"

The loud voice was reminiscent of Grove's demeanor at Intel. Grove knew that this must be Jobs. He wanted to go over and see him, but was quickly stopped by the female secretary who was there to greet him.

“Mr. Grove, please come this way. Please have a seat in the reception room for a while. I will go and call Mr. Jobs for you.”

Grove could only walk into the reception room, but he didn't sit down. Instead, he looked out through the glass partition at the bustling Apple company. This company looked very energetic and much better than IBM.

Half an hour later, a young man walked in.

"Grove, what brings you here?" Steve Jobs, born in 1955, was only in his early twenties. He had a slightly long face, looked energetic, and had a bright and lively look in his eyes.

"Jobs, your new computer reportedly uses a Motorola 68K processor. That's outdated; its processing speed is only 6 megabytes per second. If you want to use a graphical interface, its performance is definitely insufficient! We at Intel have just developed a new processor..."

In this era, Motorola was also a leader in the chip industry. Early Apple computers used Motorola processors, and it was only later that they switched to the Intel platform.

Now, Apple is Intel's hope.

Grove's eyes were full of anticipation when he saw Jobs shake his head: "No, no, we're not using Motorola. Those chips are definitely not enough."

"Then what are you using?" Grove had a bad feeling.

"Of course it's Loongson. After Loongson was released, we contacted East. The performance of Loongson is too strong. It's a 32-bit processor with strong addressing capabilities and a high processor frequency. We ordered the 40 MHz version, which is more than enough... Does Intel have a processor that is stronger than this?"

Grove's heart sank completely.

It's Loongson again!

When Loongson-1 was released, its frequency was only 20 Hz, but this was just the starting frequency. IBM ordered 30 MHz, and Apple ordered the highest-end version, which can reach 40 MHz!
The highest frequency of the 286 processor is only 20 MHz, and it is 16-bit. Its performance is simply incomparable to Loongson. Now, these computer manufacturers in Silicon Valley are actually switching to Loongson.

"Jobs, you...you support the East's chips like this, aren't you afraid that the East's semiconductor industry will grow bigger and stronger? If this continues, our Silicon Valley will decline."

"How could that be? Technology knows no borders! We definitely want the most powerful one! Besides, it's cheaper. The biggest problem with our new product is that the price might be very high. Fortunately, Loongson helps us control costs..."

Technology knows no borders? Nonsense! That's something we only said when America was technologically powerful! Now, America's technology has fallen behind. If we continue to support the technology industry in the East, one day we'll suffer the consequences!

"Jobs, if you support Eastern companies like this, then when the Eastern semiconductor industry rises and even surpasses the island nation, then... our entire Silicon Valley will suffer the consequences."

"Then keep up the good work. If you can produce a processor with the same performance, we'll buy your products. If you can't, then forget it..."

Ultimately, it all comes down to product performance. If the product quality is poor, then what's the point of talking about it?

Jobs's eyes were full of contempt.

After a long day of running around, it was already night when he returned to the company. Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of his office, looking at the city lights, Grove slowly clenched his fists.

"Immediately notify all engineers to come to a meeting!"

"But... the tape-out was just completed today, and the engineers have all gone home."

“Then call them back immediately,” Grove said. “We have no time to rest now. We must seize the time and continue to fight to defeat our competitors. Intel’s hope, Silicon Valley’s hope, rests on their shoulders!”

Half an hour later, dark circles appeared under the eyes of many people in the conference room, and some were even yawning.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that Loongson has begun to invade Silicon Valley. Companies such as IBM and Apple have chosen Loongson as their processor. Now, Intel is at a critical juncture of life and death! At this time, we must seize the time and continue to develop the 386 processor. As long as this processor comes out, it will definitely defeat Loongson. Other companies will surrender to the East, but we will never surrender. We, Intel, are the hope to defeat the East!"

The distinctive Austrian-accented English echoed in the meeting room. In the past, this would have energized the employees, keeping them focused on their work. But now…

These people seem to have lost their motivation.

"Gerald, as the chief engineer, what do you want to say?" Grove began calling on people.

"I've heard that the East is already developing the Loongson 2," Gerald said boldly. "If nothing unexpected happens, this processor will be manufactured using a 0.8-micron process, with a clock frequency starting at 50 MHz..."

Everyone's eyelids were twitching.

If it starts at 50 Hz, it means that subsequent versions may have frequencies exceeding 100 MHz, which would be a huge leap forward!

In the chip industry, falling behind even one step means falling behind at every step – this is no joke, it's a reality!
Even if we can quickly develop a 386 processor, it won't make a difference; we still won't be able to sell it, and we'll continue to be outmatched by Loongson.

If the 286 was such a tragedy, what about the 386?
If the latter development fails again, then the entire Intel company will be completely finished!
"Gerald, what do you mean by that? Just because Loongson is more advanced than us, does that mean we shouldn't develop it? Then we'll be forever behind! We need to hurry up and catch up. We need to develop the 386 in six months, and the 486 in another six months. By the time we get the 486, won't we still be able to catch up with them?"

Gerald shook his head: "Impossible. A large number of Chinese engineers have left our company. They... are the backbone of our company. Our R&D speed will not be faster than that of the East."

“It seems we have no choice but to take legal action.” Grove gritted his teeth. “We’ll sue Dongfang. They poached our employees and stole our company secrets. During the litigation, at least we can prevent Loongson from listing in the United States…”

"Their technological approach is different from ours..."

“But the judge doesn’t know that. That’s exactly the time we need,” Grove said. “I’ll handle this personally.”

When you can't win through direct competition, you have to resort to all sorts of means!
It's a pity that we should have taken action when we discovered that the Easterners were using imitations of the 8086 processor to dominate the market. We were fooled by the Easterners back then, but this time, we absolutely cannot hold back!
Now, a large number of Intel experts have gone to the East, to Northwestern Polytechnical University. This is a fact. We must stir up this mess and let the whole of America know that the strength of the East's chip industry is due to the malicious competition from Northwestern Polytechnical University!

They must be punished!
The engineers dispersed and resumed their grueling work, but Moore remained in the office, looking at him with a complicated expression: "Grove, due to the poor sales of the 286 processor, we are unable to break even. Currently, the company's cash flow is not very high, and we are afraid we cannot support the research and development of the 386 processor."

This isn't something you can just talk about casually; it requires a lot of research and development funding!
“Yes, we need funding, we need to find investors,” Grove said. “You don’t need to worry about that, I’ll go find someone on Wall Street.”

Besides being the head of Intel, Grove also has another identity: he is a Davidian! This group has many interactions; they may not be very close in ordinary times, but in crucial moments, many will help each other.

Now is the crucial moment!

Grove took a passenger plane overnight to Wall Street, and the next day at noon, he arrived at an unassuming steakhouse on Wall Street.

"Grove, there are so many financial giants on Wall Street, how did you find me?" a middle-aged man said. He was not tall, and his eyes gleamed with a sharp light.

“Because your Sassoon family suffered a great loss in the East. With so many losses, shouldn’t you find a way to retaliate?” Grove looked at the person opposite him: “Albert, you shouldn’t have forgotten the hatred your family has for us, should you?”

Albert's expression was complicated: "Those are all things of the past. In World War II, the losses suffered by the Davidians were enormous. If we were to seek revenge for everything... it would be endless. You should know that we are willing to cooperate with our enemies in order to make money."

"Okay, let me put it another way. Do you want to make money? We, Intel, are the number one chip company in Silicon Valley. Right now, we are experiencing some operational problems. If you invest now, it would be an excellent opportunity. It's like a windfall."

"Tell me about it?" Albert asked, intrigued.

　PS: Chapter 287 was accessed in the early morning and exited around 3 AM. All readers are welcome to revisit it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)