Digital Kingdom

Of course, the reason why no one chooses biological computers may also be because this direction is unreliable.

D-Wave released the first quantum computing prototype more than 10 years ago.

IBM has also laid out in this field for more than ten years.

The Optalysys company, which originated from the University of Cambridge, was founded three years ago and focuses on photonic computing. It has now received support from the Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) of the US Department of Defense.

Only biological calculations are still barren, sporadic theories or breakthroughs, and no climate.

If the Digital Group wants to work hard on this, it will face much greater difficulties.

The first problem is talent.

Today, the Digital Group is regarded as a top high-tech enterprise, and it is also attractive to world-class experts.

However, the world's research on photon computing is a bit confusing.

The combination of computer and biology spans two fields. It is very difficult to find a reliable team.

It can even be said that there are no experts available, so you can only study and learn.

Zhao Ziming also has no confidence in finding a qualified project leader.

However, this kind of contention involving dozens or hundreds of years in the future, no one can determine where the victory belongs now.

Moreover, the next generation of computers may not really replace all existing computer systems. It is very likely that the two coexist at the same time and combine with cloud computing to give play to their respective advantages.

For example, for quantum computers, major IT companies are investing in research and want to compete for the technological commanding heights, but the entire industry is still in the early stages of research, and many specific problems have not yet been resolved.

Similarly, the photonic computer is only a supplement to the existing computer and an upgrade of the existing architecture in the short term, and it cannot become a disruptor of the traditional computer.

In addition, the classic computer technology itself will continue to update and iterate. Even if quantum computing and photon computing are successfully developed, they may only replace supercomputers in certain areas.

You can pay attention now, but don't panic.

For Zhao Ziming at the moment, the main direction of the hardware field is neither assembling magic mirror products, nor the quantum and photon computing that has been hyped by the media.

It is the core of classic computers, the chip industry.

The hot sales of the Magic Mirror series does not mean that his efforts on this are successful.

Similarly, the package and sale of Magic Company does not mean to give up the hardware field completely.

Negotiations with Ali came to a deadlock, which forced Zhao Ziming to look for new possibilities.

For the valuation of US$50 billion, Alifang believes that it is too high. Although Magic Feiyue has achieved sales of 100 billion and the valuation is within a reasonable range, it does not have many core technologies in hand.

As a new generation of computing platform, the existing magic mirror series is still slightly inadequate.

On the other hand, hardware products are updated too quickly, and it is difficult to maintain the advantage of the magic mirror in sales of tens of millions for more than two years.

At that time, once the new product fails, the entire company is bound to suffer a major crisis.

For many reasons, the final price given by Alibaba is US$40 billion, and at the same time, Digital Group is required to provide one-year technical services to assist them in completing the development of a new generation of products in order to consolidate existing sales barriers.

Compared with the conditions given by Google, Ali appears to be too harsh. Zhao Ziming thought for a while and has instructed the negotiating team to suspend contact.

Ali is also very tacitly entangled. For them, the longer the delay, the better.

The only competitor, Google, is still running a relationship, and now it can't even talk about the qualifications to enter the game.

Other companies are either incapable or not interested. The Penguin Group is the representative. They don't pay much attention to VR hardware and have always been in the software field.

Ali Fang is right on his side, a bit of a bargain, of course, it can't be talked about despicable, commercial things, they are doing their best and intriguing.

It is rare in the entire history of human business to have such a tender feeling like Disney's acquisition of Pixar.

In the last hour of the sky-high price acquisition, Jobs told Disney’s CEO Yi Ge that he had cancer and would not live for a few years. Yi Ge did not take advantage of the fire and continued to proceed as planned.

This is just an exception and not the norm.

Zhao Ziming himself is not particularly concerned about whether Magic Company can make a move.

He just couldn't find a suitable CEO for the time being, and didn't want to waste things on trivial matters. It coincided with Google's proposed acquisition, considered this possibility, and by the way examined the value of Magic Company in the eyes of opponents.

So, let's not say that Magic has reduced the price. Even if the price is not reduced, if other conditions are not suitable, and there is no agreement on personnel placement and cultural integration, he will not consider selling.

After all, a company is like raising a grown-up child by hand. If you are not sure about the future glory, then he will not give in.

Since Ali wants to play some tricks, or the facts are true, he will not think too much for the other party.

Only temporarily stranded, waiting for a clear opportunity.

After all, such a huge amount of money is involved, and within a few months or even more than half a year, there will be no results.

He is not Zuckerberg. He can negotiate a $10 billion merger and acquisition in a few days. In Zhao Ziming's character, caution and risk coexist.

The biggest gain for Zhao Ziming from Magic Company is not hundreds of billions of sales, nearly 50 billion US dollars of wealth, or tens of millions of magic mirror sales, subverting the new ecology of the film industry, but the overall grasp and insight of the industry.

When he really came into contact with the hardware field, Zhao Ziming discovered that the understanding between them was too shallow.

As the core of modern technology, chips are basically available for processing information, including communication chips, server chips, mobile phone chips, computer chips, and so on. Only by burning time and money can you gain something.

Speaking of it, it may be a bit ashamed.

At present, the overall level of domestic chips is almost at the stage of just achieving zero breakthrough.

The six cores of the chip-silicon raw materials, chip design, architecture, wafer processing, packaging and testing, and related semiconductor equipment, are still in a long way to go.

In fact, around 2000, the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences began the road of domestic chip design research.

Since the earliest domestically produced CPU "Loongson One" developed in 2002 (Loongson and Hanxin cannot be confused), the Loongson series of processor chips have been benchmarking against top international giants such as Intel, AMD, and IBM.

After so many years of hard work, great success has been achieved in technology (Chinese military chips have basically achieved self-sufficiency).

But because the chip is only the core of the computer, a very large and complex system, without the follow-up of peripheral supporting equipment, it is very difficult on the road to commercialization.

There is almost no control in the upstream and downstream industrial chain.

From silicon raw materials (electronic-grade high-purity silicon used for chips) to wafer fabs (industry with few official routes), from architecture to design and manufacturing, from core equipment (lithography machines, etching machines) to packaging and testing , The country is still in a daze stage.

Because of the magic mirror, Zhao Ziming also has an in-depth understanding and thinking about the entire industrial chain, and he feels the gap between them, which is desperate.

It is even said that it can not only be solved by burning money.

However, if you don't burn money, it will definitely not be solved.

Of course, for this situation, the country will not wait to die.

The government has clearly stated that by 2030, the main links of the domestic integrated circuit industry chain will reach the international advanced level, a group of enterprises will enter the first international echelon, and the industry will achieve leapfrog development.

Whether it can succeed depends on personal struggle.

For ambitious companies, this is a huge opportunity.

A person's success depends not only on personal efforts, but also on the historical course.

Only through the fog of the future can we truly ride the wind and waves.Only by grasping the general trend of the country can you get in the water.

Through the exchange of artificial intelligence algorithms, the Digital Group exchanged from Intel for the lithography machine quota of Asimer in the Netherlands, and worked hard to take a difficult step.

Although it will not be delivered until 2017, the preliminary work must be done in advance.

One year is not necessarily enough for site design, personnel recruitment, production line commissioning, etc.

Just the requirement of a "clean room" can cost a lot of effort, because the current transistor is too small, and no particles with a diameter of more than 0.5 microns are allowed in the clean room, and the air inside is filtered 10 times per minute.

Although as of April 2016, there were only two or three domestic fabs, it is expected that by the end of this year, there will be more than ten. Taiwanese and foreign companies are madly deploying in the mainland, competing with joint venture cars.

According to the information collected by Zhao Ziming, everyone chooses the 12nm production line, and the competition for talent is not unfavourable.

The only advantage of Digital Group lies in the lithography machine of Asimer.

The chip yield rate depends on the overall level of the fab, but the processing accuracy depends entirely on the core equipment "lithography machine."

Asim is sweeping the world. As the world's only high-end lithography machine manufacturer, whoever can buy the goods first will be the first to have the production process.

Digital Group can be regarded as mastering a big killer in advance, and has the capital of the game for the next cruel market competition.

Other companies can only import lithography machines from Japan’s Nikon and Canon, but the technology is far inferior to Asim’s. Although it is not unreasonable, it has already missed many opportunities.

But having a lithography machine does not mean sitting back and forth. You have to know that the core equipment of a fab is an etching machine and an ion implanter.

Compared with the lithography machine, the domestic etching machine is much better. The 16nm etching machine has been mass-produced and the 7-10nm etching machine is also on the way. The American Emperor has also very intimately relieved the Chinese etching machine. Blockade.

However, the ion implanter is in a shabby condition. Up to now, there is no domestic commercial machine, and 70% of the market share is American Applied Materials.A "glued developing machine" is needed to coat photosensitive materials, and Tokyo Electronics Corporation of Japan has taken 90% of the market share.Even the auxiliary materials such as photoresist are almost monopolized by Japan's Shin-Etsu and American Dow.

There are many difficulties, but no matter how difficult it is, it is worth it.

Of course, here is the foundry, which only manufactures but not design.

As chips become more complex, design and manufacturing are separated.

Some companies only design but not manufacture, such as Huawei HiSilicon, and of course Qualcomm and AMD.

Some companies only manufacture but do not design. For example, TSMC, Taiwan is a giant here, and the United States and South Korea have to stand aside.

Huawei and TSMC are also old partners. Huawei designs chips and TSMC manufactures chips.

The only breakthrough that Digital Group can choose at present is the fab, and there is nothing it can do in other areas.

In terms of silicon raw materials, although there are many silica materials, high-precision silicon is too difficult to manufacture. High-purity silicon used for solar power generation is 99.9999%, and more than half of the world is produced in China; high-purity silicon used for chips requires 99.999999999% (11 9), almost all depends on imports, the traditional overlords are Germany and the United States.

In the field of chip design, not only money is burned, but also time is burned. It is a core technology with a long trial and error cycle. Think about it, 7 billion transistors form a circuit in the size of a fingernail, and electrons run around on the chip. If there is a problem with the PN junction, the electronics will be stuck in traffic.There is only one way to judge whether a circuit design is reliable or not, and that is to use it on a large scale and for a long time, and to learn from practice.

In this way, the digital group can only start from the foundry. After all, it is a good field. Although it is still subject to others (the 7nm or even 3nm lithography machine that Asim is developing), the road has to be taken step by step. Will fall a big somersault.

Besides, if the manufacturing plant is completed, it may not be impossible to turn over.

As the largest company in Taiwan, TSMC has contracted 56% of the world's foundry business, ranking first in the world in terms of scale and technology, and even surpassing Intel in market value, becoming the world's number one semiconductor company.

Zhao Ziming's brain is complex and complicated. One thinks of the future, another contemplates the present, various inspirations are intertwined, various ideas emerge, and even somehow think of the recent carnival.

It may be regarded as another degree of heart flow. He can hardly feel the passage of time. I don't know how long he has passed. He wakes up from thinking, a little bit tired, and doesn't know whether it is due to excessive indulgence or too much brain use.

Picking up the water cup on the table, there was no trace of temperature, and he smiled and shook his head.

It may be that the flow equipment has been used too frequently recently. Since the last experience in the brain-computer company, Zhao Ziming has naturally installed corresponding equipment in his office and home to assist his work and practice, and has made unimaginable progress.

An obvious feature is that when a person sits alone, it is easy to enter that immersive state, the brain is active, and the time is not felt, and the usual troublesome questions will be easily answered.

If it were not that the side effects were not obvious, he would almost have to promote it throughout the company. Even so, under his indulgence, many project teams started to use equipment to improve research efficiency.

For this phenomenon, he didn't know whether it was good or bad.

Specific to oneself, there is a subconscious disgust. For a person with strong self-control, all things addicted to it will always make people uncomfortable.

Looking out the window, the sky was fine, Zhao Ziming remembered Xiao Shui's phone call, so he informed the office, got up and left the digital building.