Countercurrent 1982

Chapter 1212 Software Development

The so-called EDA tool, also known as EDA software, is an important computer-aided design software in the process of electronic chip design, circuit board layout and integrated circuit simulation test.In the 70s and [-]s, when practitioners of integrated circuits designed circuit diagrams, they often used the most primitive way to draw by hand on the drawings.However, with the rapid development of the integrated circuit industry, thousands of units are often integrated on a more complex chip, and it has evolved into a multi-level three-dimensional structure. Therefore, with the birth of the computer, EDA software can be used on the computer Realize extremely complex chip circuit design.

Therefore, EDA software is called the mother of the electronics industry in the industry, and it is the most upstream and high-end industry of IC design and circuit board design.

In 1986, 17 units and more than 200 experts gathered from all over the country to BJ Integrated Circuit Design Center. Here, China will launch an epic battle in the integrated circuit industry. — Monopoly of EDA tools.

After 7 years of arduous research, the first EDA tool in China, the Panda system, was born. China finally broke through the Western EDA siege, and we have become one of the very few countries in the world with independent intellectual property rights of EDA.However, the good times didn't last long. Just when the domestic EDA tools were just ignited, European and American countries, which mastered the world's most advanced EDA tools, gradually relaxed the restrictions on the use of EDA in China.

Due to the low price of foreign EDA and the market pressure of packaging and dumping, domestic EDA tools were directly hit hard, and the road to commercialization was nowhere in sight. Domestic EDA has been in a slump for more than 10 years.

It is worth mentioning that Chinese EDA tools were once recognized by international customers in the 80s. However, since the ban on overseas EDA software was lifted, Chinese companies successively purchased overseas equipment, which eventually directly led to the development of domestic EDA equipment into a quiet period.In the past two years, although China has strengthened the emphasis on EDA software development, due to the serious shortage of talents, there is still a big gap in technology compared with mainstream EDA software manufacturers.

In the early days, Duan Yun basically used CAD software for the design of speaker circuits and later tape recorders and walkman circuits. However, with the development of electronic technology, especially the design of the chip industry has become more and more complicated, and there is no suitable software. It is simply impossible to design advanced chips and circuits.

The main reason why countries such as Europe, America and Japan are able to lead the world in chip design is that they have advanced design software, so if Duan Yun wants to overtake in the field of chip research in the future, he must also have a team to develop and design software .

"I'll call BJ later to see if they're willing to sell it," Huang Lingyi said.

"It doesn't matter if the price is higher. If it doesn't work, I will send someone to Zhongguancun to buy it. All in all, I will try to solve the software problem within a week." Duan Yun said.

Now money is no longer a problem for Duan Yun. He just sold an entire Walkman production line, which added $1550 million to the account of Tianyin Electronics Factory. This purchasing power is invincible in China, and he can do many things.

Duan Yun is going to buy a set of ready-made software first, so as not to delay the research and development work of Huang Lingyi's team as much as possible.

In the next step, Duan Yun plans to form another software R&D team to design EDA software with its own intellectual property rights.

"Understood." Huang Lingyi nodded upon hearing this.

"Go get busy." Duan Yun signaled everyone to leave.

After seeing Huang Lingyi and others leave, Duan Yun lit a cigarette and smoked.

As he expected before, his current chip research and development team is not enough to compete with the big international manufacturers. Regardless of the integrity of the system, technology accumulation or background, Duan Yun still has a long way to go.

For many Chinese people, they have long been accustomed to the cheapness and convenience of pirated software. In the later Internet era, using genuine software is more like a behavior of "people are stupid and rich".

But in fact, the development and upgrading of software is also quite costly and manpower-intensive, especially for the development of industrial software for chips, the development cost is very expensive, and the development cycle is also very long. Very difficult.

The Institute of Computer Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences where Huang Lingyi works does not have the talent to develop chips or software. The software they used to develop chips was also bought from the United States, and the functions must have fallen behind.

Because this kind of industrial software is not only used to design chip graphics, but also covers all aspects of IC design, wiring, verification and simulation. According to what Duan Yun and Huang Lingyi learned from the previous exchange, the software they use is only graphic design. The software sold to them by the Americans does not have the two functions of verification and simulation, that is to say, the software itself has been "castrated".

However, if Duan Yun wants to develop the most advanced chip in the world, he must have a set of design software that is at least at the same level as the world, which requires a dedicated R&D team for programming and design.

Since it is impossible for Huang Lingyi to help Duan Yun find such an industrial software design talent from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Duan Yun can only think of other ways.

But Duan Yun quickly remembered a person, that is Hou Weigui who just signed a cooperation contract with him not long ago.

Hou Weigui used to work in the Ministry of Electronics Industry, and as early as the early 80s, the Ministry of Electronics Industry had organized the development of EDA software with technical personnel from domestic institutions and units, and this software was also affirmed by foreign customers. , so Duan Yun wants to use him to find a few technical talents who can be responsible for developing industrial software.

Because Duan Yun and the ZTE Semiconductor Company founded by Hou Weigui are in a cooperative relationship, there are some things that Duan Yun absolutely cannot do, such as poaching technicians from the central semiconductor. This is a red line. Once Duan Yun touches, then he and Hou Weigui are very There is a possibility that it will be completely reversed.

But what Duan Yun learned before is that Hou Weigui’s ZTE Semiconductor Company is not involved in software development at present. His R&D team has only 13 people, mainly focusing on microelectronic circuit development. He has invested heavily in software development, so it is no problem for Duan Yun to ask Hou Weigui to help recruit software design talents.

Back in his office, Duan Yun immediately called Hou Weigui's company.

After the call was connected, after Duan Yun and Hou Weigui expressed their request, Hou Weigui on the other end of the phone readily agreed and asked Duan Yun to come to his company in the afternoon...

(End of this chapter)