Great Country Academician

When the finished driver IC chip was placed in front of them, both Yuan Zhouli, the leader of science and technology, and Ren Zhengfei, the president of Warwick, could not control the excitement on their faces.

Although both of them are currently in high positions, they are no longer engaged in specific research work, and they do not even have a clear understanding of some of the performance indicators of many basic products.

But the two people heard clearly the indicators introduced by Li Ming.

The more critical thing is that sentence. "The gap between carbon-based drivers and silicon driver chips on the market is not big, and they can completely replace each other. In some aspects, the performance is even far better than that of silicon-based driver IC chips of the same level!" "

The meaning of this sentence could not be clearer to them.

Carefully holding the encapsulated and tested carbon-based driver IC chip in your hand, it was like holding a shining sapphire, fearing that it would fall to the ground from your hands.

After staring at it for a while, Mr. Ren from Warwick took a deep breath, looked at the researcher named Li Ming, and asked seriously.

"I would like to ask, in addition to the basic functions just mentioned, have you installed it into mobile phones, computers or other electronic products for complete functional testing?"

After asking the question, Ren Zhengfei looked at the other party expectantly.

This question is important.

If it can be done, it means that it has full commercialization value to the market.

At least for Warwick, it can be used to replace part of the silicon-based driver IC chips.

For electronic products such as mobile phones, driver IC chips are essential parts. Just for this part of the patent and related fees, Warwick has to pay at least tens of millions of patent fees or purchase fees to foreign companies every year.

If the IC chip can be driven by carbon instead of silicon, then this part of the cost can be saved or no longer flow abroad.

"certainly."

Li Ming smiled and nodded, and continued: "We have already conducted a simple test on this part of the function."

"for example."

After a slight pause, he turned and walked to the experimental table behind him, picked up a small tablet from it, handed it over, and then said:

"For example, this e-book reader integrates a carbon-based driver IC chip, which we use for testing. It supports functions such as automatic page turning, adjusting font size and brightness."

"It's just that compared to the more mature silicon-based driver IC chips, the current carbon-based driver IC chips can not perform many functions. In other words, the performance of a single driver chip is relatively single."

"After all, this is a laboratory and is still under development. The subsequent multi-functional driver chips are still under development."

Taking the e-book reader from Li Ming, Ren Zhengfei lit up the screen with slightly trembling fingers and tried to use it.

On the side, Elder Yuan Zhouli also came over with some curiosity and studied this experimental product with him.

After a while, Ren Zhengfei put down the e-reader in his hand, looked at Xu Chuan and said with emotion: "Academician Xu, the surprise you brought me this time is really great!"

Xu Chuan smiled and said modestly: "The carbon-based chip project was able to quickly develop these products thanks to the contributions of HiSilicon, SMIC, Shuimu, Peking University and other institutions."

"Xinghai Research Institute is still a latecomer in this field and cannot do without your help."

Ren Zhengfei shook his head and said: "Although we have provided some help in circuit design and product research, the core problem is solved by you."

"There are so many companies and laboratories researching carbon-based chips, but no one has ever done it to this extent. Including the core number of integrated carbon-based transistors, they all rely on you and Xinghai Research Institute!"

After a slight pause, he looked at Xu Chuan and asked seriously: "Academician Xu, regarding this carbon-based IC chip technology, when will the development of driver IC chips for smartphones, computers, tablets and other electronic product series be completed? ?”

Hearing this question, Xu Chuan looked at Li Ming, the person in charge of Product Laboratory No. 2. He didn't pay much attention to the development process of this branch chip. To know the specific progress, he had to ask the person in charge on site.

Standing aside, Li Ming said cautiously: "Mr. Ren, do you mean to be mature enough to have commercial value and catch up with the current silicon-based driver IC chips?"

Ren Zhengfei nodded and said, "You can understand it this way."

Hearing this, Li Ming thought for a while before replying: "There are many types of driver IC chips for complex electronic products such as mobile phones and computers, from display driver ICs to touch screen driver ICs to audio driver power management ICs and cameras. Driver IC and so on.”

"To systematically complete these products, even if they are designed and developed based on silicon-based products, it will take at least about a year."

After a pause, he continued: "On the one hand, it is indeed difficult to catch up with the performance of silicon-based driver IC chips currently on the market, and it will take time."

"On the other hand, we currently don't have enough researchers and experimenters to develop and test every twig-driven classification at the same time."

Hearing this, before Mr. Ren from Warwick could speak, Yuan Zhouli on the side quickly asked: "What if we deploy manpower so that every twig driver category can be developed at the same time? How much can this time be shortened? ?”

Li Ming thought about it seriously, raised his head and replied: "If every twig driver IC chip has enough manpower to conduct simultaneous R\u0026D and testing, and it is just designed and developed after imitating silicon-based chip products, it will take 6-8 months. About time should be enough.”

After walking around the major research and testing areas in the carbon-based chip laboratory and gaining an in-depth understanding of the development progress and situation of some carbon-based chips, the group came to Zhao Guanggui's office.

After the assistant made a pot of tea, he consciously left the office and closed the door behind him.

Sitting on the sofa, the scientific and technological leader Yuan Zhouli picked up the porcelain cup, looked at Xu Chuan with a smile, and said happily:

"The breakthrough in carbon-based chip technology is a blessing to the country. Both Xinghai Research Institute and companies such as HiSilicon and SMIC that cooperate in research and development have made important contributions to the prosperity and development of the motherland."

"Although today is not a celebration banquet, and our heroes are not here, I still want to drink tea instead of wine and toast to you all."

From the Huaxing incident to the blacklisting of Huawei, Huake Sugon, Haiguang and other group companies, chips have already become a pain for the Chinese people.

Take mobile phones as an example. In 2020, about 70% of the world's mobile phones were made in China.

Based on this numerical ratio, it is no exaggeration to say that they are the kings in the mobile phone field.

However, there are about 20 chips in a smartphone, but less than 5% of these chips are made in China.

More than 90% of the remaining is imported.

As a result, they eat more than half of the world's chips every year and pay hundreds of billions of dollars for this.

Especially with the development of the times, under the premise that intelligence has become a standard feature of high-end manufacturing and high-end life, it can be said that not many products can do without chips.

Even in 2024, their self-sufficiency rate in chips, according to statistical reports, is still less than 22%.

Almost all of this 22% are mid- to low-end chips.

Even if we only count the chips manufactured by local mainland companies, the self-sufficiency rate in 2024 will only be about 12%.

This number is like that during a natural disaster, when you have money but no place to buy food; in the era of large-scale industry, you can build cars, ships, and airplanes, but you don’t have engines.

No country in the world has learned the lesson of being stuck more profoundly than them. From food to fuel to industrial products, they have been constantly stuck in this way and kept making progress.

And in the information industry era of the 21st century, they are stuck on the important 'food' of chips.

Huaxing was once a telecommunications giant that occupied 3% of the world market sales and ranked No. 2 in China. After being choked by others in the chip field, it was in danger overnight.

It was only after humiliatingly paying a fine of 1.19 billion yuan and a deposit of 1 billion yuan to the opponent that they were able to start again.

But now, they are finally qualified to stand on the world stage of chips and announce to the world that they have stood up!

The breakthrough of carbon-based chips is brewing a future full of infinite imagination!

Seeing the leader in science and technology pick up the teacup, Xu Chuan, Ren Zhengfei and Zhao Guanggui quickly picked up the teacup, toasted and said with a smile.

"Yuan Qi, you are too polite. The breakthrough of carbon-based chips is also inseparable from the support of science and technology."

Yuan Zhouli said with a smile: "Technology can really not help you much. I know this very well. This credit belongs to you! No one can take it away."

After a slight pause, he then sighed with emotion: "You don't know that although the current international situation is calm on the surface and the current trade between countries is relatively smooth, this is only a superficial phenomenon."

As he spoke, he looked at Xu Chuan and said with a smile: "Since we completed the controllable nuclear fusion technology under the leadership of Academician Xu, Western interest groups have never stopped making small moves against us."

"For example, in the field of the Large Strong Particle Collider, Academician Xu knew very well that we had already negotiated cooperation with the CERN institution at the beginning, but later the merger was abruptly stopped. In the end, the CRHPC institution and CERN also There was intense competition.”

Hearing this, the other two people in the office looked at Xu Chuan curiously. It seemed like they had never heard of this news before?

They all know about the establishment of the CRHPC organization, but there are so many things ahead, so they really don’t know much about it.

On the sofa, Xu Chuan nodded lightly and said: "The United States interfered in the operation of the CERN institution, which led to the breakdown of the originally negotiated cooperation. This matter is not very glorious. It was not reported much over there, and we were not interested at the time. External reporting.”

Of course, everyone within the physics community is basically aware of this matter, but it has not spread outside the circle.

Opposite the sofa, Yuan Zhouli smiled, and then said: "The competition between CRHPC and CERN is just a small problem. Even if more than 100 billion are invested in building the collider, everything is worth it."

"There is also competition in the aerospace field, etc., but this is just part of the actions of forces that are unfriendly to us."

"For us, it's nothing at the moment."

"After all, after the controllable nuclear fusion technology is realized, we already have enough capital to compete with them."

"But what happens next may be a bit troublesome."

After a pause, he looked at Ren Zhengfei who was sitting next to him, and then said: "Let me tell you an inside story. It is still confidential, but you are all pillars of the country, so it doesn't matter if you reveal a little."

"According to reliable information, those Western interest groups targeting us are preparing a new action, targeting our field, most likely trade import and export, mainly in the industrial chain related to chips and semiconductors."

"This may cause a big blow to our development in the information field."

Hearing this, the three people in the office were stunned for a moment, and Ren Zhengfei frowned even more.

It is not good news for Huawei to take action against the industrial chain related to import and export, chips and semiconductors.

Both the former and the latter can be said to be the lifeblood of Huawei.

Although they amazed the world with the Kirin 9000s 5G chip and Mate smartphone two years ago, proving that Huawei has returned to the world arena.

But in fact, Huawei has not yet gotten rid of its difficulties, including in the chip field.

The Kirin chip series can indeed help them solve their current difficulties, but semiconductors are a complete industrial chain, and chips are only one of the core terminal products of this industrial chain.

The terminal products need a complete industrial system to manufacture.

Although SMIC has taken over the foundry of Kirin chips, it is enough for them to use now.

But with the further improvement of the nanometer process of silicon-based chips, the seven-nanometer engraving process of the Kirin 9100 chip is already a gap from the current top chips.

For example, the 17 that Apple will release this year uses the A19Pro chip, which adopts TSMC's 2-nanometer process.

Or Qualcomm Snapdragon series, MediaTek Dimensity series, and Samsung's Exynos series, all of which are two-nanometer or three-nanometer processes.

The reason for the gap is not that HiSilicon cannot design low-nanometer Kirin chips, but that SMIC, which manufactures Kirin chips, cannot produce them!

That's right, SMIC is also within the scope of suppression by the United States, and it cannot buy the top EUV ultraviolet lithography machine from ASML AMSL.

Without EUV ultraviolet lithography machines, it is difficult to produce chips with a process of 5 nanometers and below.

This is the current bottleneck and also China's biggest problem in the semiconductor field.

Because a chip is not just a chip, but the crystallization of a whole semiconductor industry chain.

But in this field, they are indeed lagging behind.

Although the Xinghai Research Institute led by Academician Xu has made a major breakthrough in carbon-based chips, it will probably take at least two or three years to bring the performance of carbon-based chips to the same level as high-end silicon-based chips.

Is it possible that Huawei has finally seen hope, but it will have to delay its development for a few more years?