Chapter 17 How Does It Feel?
Su Yuanshan and the others were very lucky—Deputy Director Zhou was in his office at the time. Like all researchers deeply devoted to their craft, Zhou Boguang was not very good at social interactions. Compared to Jia Jibing's arrogance, Zhou carried more of the stern, old-school scholar's aura.
After reading the introduction letter, Zhou Boguang made no comments, nor did he show any disdain. He simply took a sheet of paper from his drawer and handed it to Tian Yaoming. "Can you fill this out within ten minutes? Once it's filled, I'll sign it and Wenjie will take you to the fabrication center—you're aware of the fabrication costs, right?"
"We are, we're fully prepared," Tian Yaoming replied with a smile. If it had been in the past, entering a state-owned giant like Huajing would have been difficult. But now, with projects being rushed into production and funds extremely tight, Huajing was practically desperate for fabrication orders.
However, when he saw there was only one project form, Tian Yaoming chuckled bitterly. "Professor Zhou, one form isn't enough. We have three chips."
Zhou Boguang was slightly stunned. He hadn't expected the University of Electronic Science and Technology to produce three chips at once... But he figured they must have gathered results from several different research teams and were pushing them out through a private company—a relatively new form of commercializing technology that Zhou actually admired. He always believed that technology must be used; technology kept locked away, no matter how advanced, was ultimately meaningless.
Without comment, he pulled out three more project forms and handed them to Tian Yaoming. As he lifted his teacup, he casually asked, "What kind of chips are you making?"
"One chip for encoding Chinese information for wireless paging stations, one chip for decoding Chinese information for wireless pagers, and one control chip."
"Pfft..." Zhou Boguang almost spit his tea back into his cup.
Su Yuanshan and Qin Weimin exchanged smiles—this was the normal reaction they had been expecting.
Pagers had entered China in 1983, and for the past eight years, all paging systems and devices had been foreign brands without exception.
Realizing his slip, Zhou Boguang quickly regained his composure. He stared at Tian Yaoming and asked seriously, "Are you saying that your team at UESTC has completed a fully domestic Chinese-language pager system?"
At this moment, Qin Weimin spoke up. "Professor Zhou, it's not our university team. It's our company, Yuanxin."
"Your Yuanxin?" Zhou Boguang picked up the introduction letter. "The one co-founded by Associate Professor Su Xinghe?"
Qin Weimin nodded. "Yes, Professor Su is my mentor. This young man here is his son, Su Yuanshan."
When they had first entered, Chen Yujie had only introduced Qin Weimin and Tian Yaoming—one a master's student, the other a doctoral candidate. He hadn't bothered introducing Su Yuanshan, who looked at most like a college freshman.
Zhou Boguang took a deep breath.
As someone who had transferred from a semiconductor research institute and been responsible for technology for years, he fully understood how difficult it was to design an IC chip. Especially an encoding and decoding IC—these had long been monopolized by large foreign companies that started early and had overwhelming technical resources. Yet here, a private company had managed it!
"Do you have independent intellectual property rights?" Zhou asked sharply.
Qin Weimin replied proudly, "Fully independent intellectual property."
Zhou's eyes narrowed again. As a technical veteran, his first instinct was skepticism—was this just bravado? But then he immediately realized, if they had brought the design for fabrication, it must at least be real. After all, this wasn't some Department of Fortune; there was no reason to lie. And buying a design from abroad? For a market-blank product like a Chinese-character pager? Who in their right mind would design such a thing and sell it to a tiny domestic private firm?
Zhou's eyes flickered, settling finally on the youth who had been sitting quietly, smiling faintly, seemingly at ease even when surrounded by master's and doctoral students—and himself.
At that moment, the youth also looked back at him, eyes filled with both respect and the ease of an old acquaintance.
...
Su Yuanshan knew that Zhou Boguang's mind must be filled with a thousand questions.
Given Zhou's personality, if he didn't figure things out, he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
Thus, Su Yuanshan smiled slightly and took a hard drive from his briefcase.
"Professor Zhou, our chip designs took about two months. The main reason for our efficiency is the EDA software developed by Yuanxin. It currently has the strongest integrated circuit design and simulation capabilities on the market. Just yesterday, it passed layout compatibility tests at Jiangyin Factory."
"If you're willing, I can demonstrate our design and simulation features for you right here."
**
Su Yuanshan created a new project.
"Yuanxin EDA's user interface is similar to Cadence," he explained while operating, "but its functionality and automation levels are far superior. Our simulation tool is unrivaled—it incorporates over ten algorithm patents currently pending."
As he spoke, Su Yuanshan effortlessly laid down logic circuits, freely planning modules.
"Because it's a modular, intelligent design system, it requires relatively strong computer performance. Especially during simulations—if there are too many components, simulation can take longer. But according to Moore's Law, CPU speeds will keep increasing, so it's not a long-term concern."
He glanced back at Zhou Boguang's stunned face and smiled. "Professor Zhou, think of a simple need right now, and I'll demonstrate it for you."
Zhou licked his lips nervously. At the moment, he was so overwhelmed he couldn't even come up with a requirement. Thankfully, Chen Yujie, who was also deeply shocked, snapped out of it first.
"Design a chip for a card reader access control system," Chen suggested.
Su Yuanshan paused, then laughed. "That's not exactly simple, Senior Brother Chen. What network should it use?"
"Network? No network needed."
"Oh... I misunderstood. Alright then. Give me the specifications."
Chen Yujie rushed back to his office to fetch them.
Meanwhile, Su Yuanshan began planning the basic function modules.
If it had been a networked card reader, he wouldn't have been able to show off—because that would involve network protocols, data storage, switching—it would be even more complicated than designing a pager system. And unless he had months of development time, he wouldn't have been able to pull it off.
But a simple card reader was different—it only needed to recognize and compare high-frequency signals.
As soon as Chen returned with the parameters, Su Yuanshan finalized the module planning and started writing command instructions.
Two hours later, he input the final instruction and generated the circuit diagram. After a quick simulation that revealed two small bugs, he corrected them and started the full simulation process.
"A small chip—this simulation should be fast."
As the pins lit up one by one and green parameter lines filled the screen, the simulation completed within ten minutes, passing on the first attempt.
Su Yuanshan didn't even look at Chen Yujie, who was practically breathing down his neck in excitement.
"Professor Zhou," Su Yuanshan said calmly, "how do you feel about our product?"
Zhou Boguang had regained his composure, but his eyes sparkled like a starry sky.
In chip design at the same level of technology, what mattered most?
The tools.
Before EDA software existed, chip designs had to be drawn by hand. In fact, after Intel's 4004 was introduced, Chinese engineers managed to recreate the MCS-48 by manually drawing schematics—Zhou Boguang had been one of them.
Back then, everyone used the same tools—paper, pens, rulers.
But once EDA tools arrived, companies like Intel quickly leveraged these advantages to introduce new instruction sets, new products, and to erect massive patent barriers.
In short, tools were the primary productivity force in chip design.
And now, this young man had placed a dragon-slaying saber before him.
And asked: how does it feel?
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