King of Technology: A Fresh Start in 1983

"Bang!"

The laboratory door was pushed open.

Professor Li Mingyuan walked in with a young, unfamiliar woman.

The woman was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, dressed in a well-tailored dark business suit, tall and with striking features.

Especially those eyes, which exude an aura of confidence.

"Everyone, let me introduce myself."

Li Mingyuan's loud voice broke the silence, "This is Dr. Lin Wei, a PhD in Electrical Engineering from MIT, specializing in FPU/CPU microarchitecture design."

"Just returned from Silicon Valley and has unique insights into VLIW and multimedia acceleration."

"At the invitation of General Manager Chen and Engineer Su, I officially join Tiangong today!"

"Hello, Dr. Lin!" Zhang Wei and the others quickly stood up.

Lin Wei nodded slightly, her gaze sweeping over the architecture diagram on the whiteboard and the simulation data on the screen, her brows furrowing slightly.

Without exchanging pleasantries, she went straight to the whiteboard, picked up a blue pen, and quickly added several arrows and markings to the VLIW production line drawn by Zhang Wei.

"This is where the problem lies!"

Lin Wei's voice was clear and crisp, and she spoke very quickly, "You're scheduling scalar floating-point operations and vector operations all in the same VLIW instruction package. No wonder the conflict rate is high!"

She pressed her pen down firmly, "Disassemble! The scalar FP unit is independent! The vector operation unit for multimedia... is designed separately!"

"Scalar units employ a simplified delay slot design to ensure fundamental accuracy."

"The vector unit uses ultra-wide SIMD, mimicking but circumventing the patents, specializing in parallel throughput!"

"A high-speed buffer and dynamic scheduler are used for connection in the middle!"

Zhang Wei and the others' eyes lit up instantly!

"But...the size and power consumption..." Zhang Wei still had concerns.

"Making chips isn't like embroidery!"

Lin Wei interrupted bluntly, "A multimedia coprocessor's core function is peak performance in specific scenarios! It's not a general-purpose CPU!"

"Focus on the main problem! Intel's x87 is versatile, but it's also a burden! We'll go in lightly armed and target their weakest link!"

She turned to look at Li Mingyuan and Su Wanqing, who had walked in at some point. "Engineer Su, Professor Li, I believe that the FPU for [Pangu II] must be completely developed in-house!"

"Licensing is a short-sighted solution! The future lies in bypassing patents and starting afresh!"

Entirely self-developed! Bypassing patents!

The sound exploded in the laboratory!

Zhang Wei and the others were both excited and felt immense pressure!

Su Wanqing walked to the whiteboard and carefully examined the markings and ideas that Lin Wei had added.

She paused for a moment, then picked up a red pen and wrote a line next to "Dynamic Scheduler":

"Priority-based preemptive scheduling algorithm".

Write the following next to "SIMD width of vector unit":

"Initial goal: 64-bit parallelism (8x8 bits)".

Then, she looked at Lin Wei, her gaze sharp:

"Dr. Lin's plan is on the right track."

"However, the complexity of the hardware implementation of the dynamic scheduler, as well as the patent circumvention details of the SIMD unit, require rigorous verification."

"Zhang Wei, you will work with Dr. Lin to establish the 'Pangu II-FPU' task force. Lin Wei will be the team leader."

"The goal remains unchanged: within three months, produce a robust architectural prototype and simulation reports for key modules!"

A hint of surprise flashed in Lin Wei's eyes, which then turned into a burning fighting spirit!

She never expected this aloof industry goddess to make such a decisive decision!

She looked at Chen Jianghe, who had just entered the laboratory.

Chen Jianghe met Lin Wei's gaze: "Dr. Lin, welcome to Tiangong!"

"Mr. Chen, it's an honor to meet you! Just call me Lin Wei!"

"The FPU for [Pangu II] is now in your hands!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Chen!" Lin Wei's lips curled into a confident smile. "Three months! I'll give you a top-of-the-line Pangu chip!"

She turned to look at Zhang Wei, her eyes filled with challenge, "Team Leader Zhang, it's a pleasure working with you!"

Zhang Wei took a deep breath and extended his hand: "Team Leader Lin, please guide me!"

The battle cry for breakthrough in FPU technology of Pangu II has been sounded!

This time, the leader is a young, outstanding female PhD who returned from overseas!

Can her sharp mind cleave through the labyrinth of floating-point arithmetic?

A huge question mark hung in everyone's mind.

...

This day, at the ACL laboratory in Beijing.

The late autumn sunlight streamed through the huge glass windows, casting its glow on the spotless cleanroom floor and reflecting the busy yet orderly figures.

The air was filled with the slightly burnt rosin smell unique to solder, as well as the low hum of the instrument's cooling fan.

There's only one day left until the three-month commitment is fulfilled.

But when a group of young people in their twenties are together, the tension is no longer suffocating, but rather a focused tranquility.

Lin Wei was wearing a well-fitting white anti-static work uniform, her long hair neatly tied back, revealing her smooth forehead.

She was leaning slightly forward, carefully examining a silicon wafer the size of a fingernail through a high-magnification microscope.

On the chip, the nanoscale circuits, like meticulously crafted works of art, gleam with a cold metallic sheen under a microscope.

Zhang Wei and Zhao Lin stood on either side of her, holding their breath.

There were several young college students around, their eyes filled with anticipation.

"Voltage ready, 1.8V".

Lin Wei's voice was steady and clear.

"Voltage is stable! No short circuit!"

The technician in charge of power monitoring responded immediately.

"Start the FPU core self-test program."

"Instructions are loading..."

As soon as Lin Wei finished speaking, everyone's attention immediately focused on the screen of the logic analyzer connected to the probe station.

A waterfall of data began to flow, and the indicator lights representing the core status of the floating-point arithmetic unit flashed rhythmically, like breathing.

"Self-check...passed!"

Zhang Wei's voice was tinged with excitement.

"Run benchmark test: Linpack!"

On the screen, the numbers representing the floating-point operation speed began to jump!

10...15...20...

It finally settled steadily at 22.5!

"22.5 MFLOPS!"

Zhao Lin couldn't help but exclaim softly, a bright smile spreading across her face, "Exceeded the design target (20)! Faster than the Intel 387 (18)!"

"Power consumption monitoring! Peak power consumption!" Lin Wei pressed, her voice still calm, but a glint of light flashed in her eyes.

"Peak power consumption...1.22W! Below budget (1.5W)!"

The monitoring technician's voice trembled with excitement.

The FPU core module of the Pangu II chip has been successfully verified on its first engineering sample!

Both performance and power consumption meet the standards!

A burst of relaxed and enthusiastic applause and low cheers instantly filled the laboratory.

Zhang Wei patted Zhao Lin's shoulder hard, and Zhao Lin laughed and punched him back.

Lin Wei straightened up, let out a long sigh, and smiled slightly.

Three months of relentless, round-the-clock work, countless simulations, adjustments, failures, and restarts…

"Quickly! Send the good news to General Manager Chen and Engineer Su!"

Lin Wei's voice was filled with excitement.

...

At this moment, Chen Jianghe was in the office of Tiangong Group (Pengcheng) headquarters.

A month ago, Tiangong's headquarters moved to Shenzhen, marking a crucial step in Tiangong's future strategy.

The aim is to align with the mature electronics industry chain and vibrant market atmosphere of the Pearl River Delta.

This place will become the forefront of the mass production of Pangu II and the research and development of future multimedia PCs.