1991 Starting from the core

After being packaged by Xinghai, Cyrix did not move out of its original office. On the contrary, because Xinghai increased its investment, it expanded its territory. Now we have rented a three-story building, and the number of people has doubled, which is like a change from a shotgun to a cannon.

And after the Xinghai Park is repaired, they will also have an independent office building, which can be said to be quite preferential treatment.

Qin Si was on the phone while driving, and soon made an appointment with Lin Benjian to meet at Hank's Cafe tomorrow afternoon. Then she took Su Yuanshan to the hotel and picked up Qin Weimin in the car.

Although Qin Weimin and Qin Si met for the first time, they knew each other and had the same surname, so they quickly became familiar with each other. They chatted all the way and soon arrived at Cyrix's current office building.

After entering Cyrix, Qin Si went to the rest area so as not to disturb the meeting of several people.

…

Sitting down in Claude's office, Su Yuanshan opened his briefcase and took out a CD.

"This is the module design and follow-up plan that the Yuanxin team has completed so far. You can design directly according to the plan."

Claude carefully took the disc and asked, "Where's the cache? Is there still no progress?"

"There is some progress, but it still takes time." When it came to the cache, Su Yuanshan was a little overwhelmed. He couldn't push it in front of Li Mingliu - he knew that Li Mingliu was more anxious and angry than him, but no one could make a breakthrough with his technology.

"Then let's just launch a CPU that doesn't require caching." Seeing Su Yuanshan frowning, Claude suggested.

It is not too common for today's low-end CPUs to not have caches - there are still a lot of 486s that don't even have FPUs.

Su Yuanshan shook his head decisively: "Claude, this is the first CPU released by Cyrix in Xinghai. We must get rid of the low-end image - we have carried out such powerful optimizations on the instruction set, if in the end what we release first is just low-end. CPU, that's bad for our overall strategy."

If you release a low-end CPU first, all you can achieve is survival - this is the route Cyrix has been taking before.

But it would be really boring to do this after entering the Xinghai, or the Yuanxin system.

According to the respective progress of Intel and AMD, in the next few years, the mid-to-low-end market will be the direction AMD is targeting.

If Xinghai wants to "alliance" with AMD to defeat Intel, it must have someone to occupy the high-end market and form a target for Intel's full line of products.

This job should be done by Xinghai, or Yuanxin.

And the most important thing is that Yuanxin and Xinghai still have time - MMX, which needs to be consumed in conjunction with win95 to be optimal.

This means they have nearly two years to hone this CPU.

"What about our products in the future? Will we still continue to polish the 486 series?"

"Well, to keep upgrading the 486 series, it is mainly to increase the frequency and solve the compatibility with FPU." Su Yuanshan said with a smile: "In the mainland market, our CPU sales are actually quite good, basically occupying the Half of the country is gone.”

Claude also smiled. After joining the Xinghai system, the marketing department was transferred to Xinghai. He no longer cares about the market, but concentrates on research and development. But every quarterly market report will still be sent to him, so he knows that the CX486 series is selling well in the mainland. In other words, they are selling very well throughout Asia.

In fact, this is also a tacit agreement with AMD - AMD is trying its best to seize the mid-to-low-end areas of mature Western markets, while the Asian market, which is relatively immature and mainly low-end, will focus on Xinghai.

Although both parties have a tacit understanding, there is still a long way to go before shaking up Intel. Especially this year, after Intel launched the Pentium, it couldn't even match the model number - Intel sang all the way and advertised the Pentium loudly.

It can only be said that AMD and Xinghai, the "brothers in distress", can barely survive.

"There is a poem that goes like this. It takes ten years to sharpen a sword, but the frost blade has never been tested. Today I will show you, no one will be unfair."

Su Yuanshan recited Jia Dao's famous poem in Chinese, and then explained with a smile: "It means that it took ten years to polish a sharp sword without showing it to anyone during this period. Today I finally showed it to you. May I ask? Among you, who needs a weapon for revenge?"

Claude blinked: "I don't really understand."

"What about a bird that didn't sing for three years and suddenly became a sensation? A bird didn't sing for three years and then shocked everyone when it started to sing."

"...I understand this. It means to build the CPU silently, and then when it is released, it will catch the enemy by surprise."

"Yes." Su Yuanshan smiled and nodded: "So now we are going to be assassins, waiting for the opportunity to give Intel a hard blow."

…

Then the three of them talked about a lot of purely technical issues. Claude knew Qin Weimin. When he learned that Qin Weimin came to the exhibition with a YX02 up to 100MHz, Claude couldn't help but feel a little emotional - Yuanxin is in the CPU The strength in the design field is really strong.

When he learned that the YX architecture even established a 338 patent wall similar to the X86 architecture, Claude looked at Qin Weimin with admiration.

Of course, Claude didn't know, and Qin Weimin didn't need to publicize it everywhere. The overall structure of YX was actually designed by Su Yuanshan.

The deeper Qin Weimin got into the YX structure, the more he understood that Su Yuanshan's original "discussion" with him was purely to "lead" him, and Su Yuanshan's self-proclaimed "immature little suggestions" made Qin Weimin less likely to leave. There have been countless detours.

Three hours later, Cyrix's data was ready.

Su Yuanshan also took out the licensing agreement from his briefcase.

——No matter whether Xinghai \u0026 Cyrix has the right to authorize it, or whether the authorization is valid or not. Regardless of the fact that Xinghai and Yuanxin are sister companies, the process must be followed.

"This is the authorization letter for the new architecture, MMX instruction set, and microcode part. You sign it in duplicate, and then I sign it to Carly."

"Okay." Claude said simply, and at the same time handed Su Yuanshan his various technical documents, including the FPU: "Let Carly compile it into an authorization letter and sign it."

Su Yuanshan put the CD box into his briefcase, took the documents, and looked down one by one.

He looked at it very carefully - because it involves the ownership of the CPU in the future.

When he saw the authorization section related to the X86 architecture, he paused, picked up a pen and checked off all these technologies.

"Intel should complete the settlement with Xinghai after this exhibition. The bottom line should be limited authorization - which means that Xinghai cannot authorize it to others."

Claude said in surprise: "What about Yuanxin?"

"It's very simple. After the CPU comes out, Xinghai can release it first. At that time, Yuanxin will directly use MMX to Intel in exchange for X86."

"If it is not exchanged, it is very simple. Xinghai and Yuanxin jointly establish a company in China, and Xinghai shares hold the majority."

"In short, there are always more solutions than difficulties."

Su Yuanshan said calmly.

…

After having a simple lunch at Cyrix, Su Yuanshan and the others returned to Xinghai. Here, Qin Weimin and the others focused on communicating with the mobile phone business department - discussing what chip should be used to carry the baseband for the next signal mobile phone.

According to Wang Rui's idea, mobile phones will definitely have more and more functions in the future, so the higher the chip frequency, the better. But Howard had a different opinion, saying that integration should be prioritized before processing power.

Today's mobile phone motherboards are very low-integrated - Yuanxin is no exception. At first, even Tian Yaoming wanted to use a hodgepodge of DSP + microcontroller + ROM to develop the baseband... Fortunately, YX01 came out early, and the power consumption is very low , very suitable for use on mobile phones, thus eliminating the need for microcontrollers and DSPs...

However, since there is no dedicated SOC, current motherboards are still densely covered with components.

At the end of the debate, both sides let Qin Weimin, the chip provider, make the judgement.

This immediately put Qin Weimin in a dilemma - he was only responsible for the overall architecture of YX. To develop a highly integrated SOC with baseband, he had to get another doctorate in communications.

"But I personally prefer Howard's idea." Qin Weimin spoke slowly in English that was not very proficient. Unexpectedly, he did not side with his "junior brother" Wang Rui: "When communication technology fails, Before any breakthrough progress is foreseen, the current YX01, not to mention YX02, can meet all the requirements. But to do such complex integration as SOC, it will take a long time for technological breakthroughs..."

"Wang, look." Howard spread his hands to Wang Rui: "If Tian Yaoming comes over, he will definitely support me."

Wang Rui smiled and shook his head: "Then I don't care. Anyway, you are the technology provider, and I am only responsible for the technology implementation."

Not long after, Su Yuanshan came out of Carly's office and rushed over when he saw the excitement here.

When he heard several people discussing what direction the baseband chip should go, he almost said without thinking: "Is this still going to be a fight? It's obviously going towards SOC integration..."

As Su Yuanshan spoke, he glanced at the engineering machine named TH117 placed in front of Howard, shook his head and said: "Today's mobile phones are thick and stupid, how can you tolerate it?"

"Oh... you guy." Howard was very happy to see Su Yuanshan supporting him. Unexpectedly, Su Yuanshan said that the mobile phone was thick and stupid, and he immediately shouted: "Our mobile phone only weighs 200 grams! You actually said that it is thick and stupid!"

"Yes, it's thick and stupid." Su Yuanshan picked up the phone, played with it, and weighed it again: "It feels good in hand, and it can break someone's head when thrown."

Wang Rui was not bothered by being undermined by two fellow disciples one after another. He smiled and said: "The one we designed is only 175 grams."

Howard: "...you don't want to show it."

Wang Rui shrugged: "You can see it when the booth is set up tomorrow. It is now in the lock box of the hotel. What do you think?"

"…Beware of thieves!"

Wang Rui laughed: "Haha, we have a dedicated person guarding it 24 hours a day!"

Su Yuanshan and Qin Weimin looked at each other, shook their heads and smiled at the same time.

…

That night, everyone from Yuanxin held a cocktail party with senior executives from Xinghai, which ended at eleven o'clock in the evening. Early the next morning, Tang Wenjie and Yang Yiwen rushed to the airport - Jiang Wanchao and Qu Hui arrived.

At ten o'clock in the afternoon, Su Yuanshan stood at the door of the villa, welcoming the two of them with a smile.

"You guys... you don't avoid suspicion like this, right?" Qu Hui punched Su Yuanshan on the shoulder when they met, and said angrily: "It's fine if you don't come with us, and you won't even come to the connection machine?"

"Didn't my sister-in-law and senior brother go there?" Su Yuanshan rubbed his shoulders and smiled.

Several people here have known each other since Yuanxin was first established, so it is best for Tang Wenjie and Yang Yiwen to pick them up.

"Attitude, do you understand!" Qu Hui snorted twice and said to Jiang Wanchao: "Lao Jiang, do you think so?"

Jiang Wanchao didn't answer her questions, he just looked around the room with a smile.

Qu Hui asked again: "Yiwen, is this the villa we bought when Xinghai was founded?"

"Yeah. Come on, I'll show you around."

…

After lunch, Qin Si rushed over from Xinghai Venture Capital and picked up Su Yuanshan to go to Hank's Cafe.

Hank's Cafe is located in the northeast of Silicon Valley. The location is a bit remote, but very close to Leading.

And what's different from Fields Cafe is that it has a large second-floor terrace, where you can enjoy the sunshine while drinking coffee or afternoon tea.

Stepping onto the second floor, Su Yuanshan saw Lin Benjian standing up.

Lin Benjian looks to be in his fifties, not tall and looks very thin. He looked at Su Yuanshan with a smile on his face.

"Hello Mr. Lin."

"Hello, Mr. Xiao Su."

After the two parties shook hands, Su Yuanshan sat diagonally opposite Lin Benjian, while Qin Si sat on the other side, and the three of them formed an equilateral triangle.

After the usual greetings, Lin Benjian quickly got to the point and asked: "Mr. Xiao Su, I have heard of Yuanxin's name, and I have witnessed the rise of Xinghai."

Su Yuanshan bowed and said with a smile, "Thank you, Mr. Lin, for your compliment."

"But I don't know why Mr. Xiao Su is...interested in Lead Innovation." Lin Benjian looked at Su Yuanshan with burning eyes: "Our business is mainly to provide technical support for the lithography process - it seems that Yuanxin or Xinghai Well, there is no corresponding demand.”

Since Yuanxin does not disclose its performance and financial reporting structure, few people know that Yuanxin develops lithography machines at Hecheng Optoelectronics Research Institute.

“Or, did you just choose to acquire this humble little company, Leading, for the sake of expansion?”

After Lin Benjian finished speaking, he crossed his fingers and looked at Su Yuanshan carefully.

Su Yuanshan smiled and asked: "For Mr. Lin, is the reason for the acquisition important?"

"Of course it's important." Lin Benjian said seriously: "I don't even know why Mr. Xiao Su noticed us."

"That's because... I also study physics."

"I also think that X-rays can only be used in dental clinics." Su Yuanshan pursed his lips and smiled.

Lin Benjian was startled for a moment, then laughed heartily.

——In the past twenty-two years, he has dedicated all his youth to IBM. With his plain nature and aloofness, he was called "Grandpa Burn" by his juniors at IBM.

However, in the last years of IBM, the deep ultraviolet laser project he was responsible for encountered its biggest opponent-the X-ray lithography process project team responsible for his boss.

In terms of personnel, funding, and resources, the X-ray project team far exceeded his deep ultraviolet project.

As a result, X-ray quickly achieved a phased breakthrough. His boss was so excited that he gave everyone a T-shirt with "X ray works" printed on it (X means useful!).

When Lin Benjian got the T-shirt, he silently added a line of words underneath.

——For the dentists (used in dental clinics)

Then... Lin Benjian, who could no longer see a future at IBM, chose to leave and start a business.

When Su Yuanshan said his silent words of resistance, Lin Benjian felt that this young man understood him too well.