"1,000 sets in 73 years, 3,000 sets in 74 years, 10,000 sets in 75 years, all in your company's wafer fab tape-out!" Zhang Heng added, "I don't know this, can your company consider my conditions?"

He didn't lie that this purchase quantity was very conservative, in fact, underestimating the capacity of the arcade market.

The three-year construction period of his own wafer factory is also a very conservative estimate, after all, he already has a suitable acquisition target in his plan, and it is impossible to really start from scratch.

Gilbo and Faggin opened their mouths wide in shock, looked at each other, and at the same time had a strong thought in their hearts: this guy in front of him must have found a big market for microprocessors.

It was Gelbo who had been on the battlefield for a long time, and he was the first to come back to his senses and asked with a smile: "Can you take the liberty of asking, what products is Mr. Zhang going to use our chips for?"

Zhang Heng glanced at him deeply, smiled and shook his head: "Before signing the relevant agreement, these should be confidential, and I can't agree to your request." ”

"I was reckless. A hint of disappointment flashed across Gelbo's face, and he nodded apologetically, his gaze on Fakin.

Fakin twisted his head towards the door, and Galbo immediately understood, and said with a smile, "This matter is not trivial, please wait a moment, we need to report to the company's senior management and wait for their reply." ”

Intel's female secretary didn't know how many times she added coffee to Zhang Heng and the others, and finally waited for Gelbo and Fakin to come back, this time there was another person.

A handsome middle-aged guy with a ****** smiled and stretched out his hand when he came in.

"Hello, I'm Ted Hough, Head of R&D at Intel. ”

Not even one of the troika?

Zhang Heng was slightly disappointed, it seems that this order is still not worth mentioning for Intel.

In the past 72 years, Intel's marketing volume has reached 21 million US dollars, and even if it purchases 10,000 pieces of 8008, it is only worth one million US dollars.

There is a big guy with an employee number of 12, which can be regarded as giving him face.

Ted Hough is not simple, on the world's first commercial CPU4004 patent, he is the first inventor in the column, and the second is Fajin.

4004 was developed from scratch under his leadership, and a series of CPU projects from 4004 to 286 were all presided over by him.

This man left Intel in the early 80s to go to Atari as CTO, and he had always been interested in the application market before, and did not quite agree with Intel's marketing strategy of focusing on being an upstream supplier.

Look at Fa Jin, who will leave next year, and then look at Hough, combined with what happened to him today, Zhang Heng faintly confirmed the reason, or he hasn't received enough attention for a long time, and the engineers of a certain department have deep grievances!

Hoff first thanked Zhang Heng for his trust in Intel and 8008, and then frankly told him that it was difficult for the company to accept the buyout model, after all, it was likely to deprive the company of a long-term profit path.

Zhang Heng started from the processing level, promising that the tape-out of 8008 will be placed in Intel's wafer factory for a long time, and this part of the profit is not small.

"As far as I know, the 8008 was developed by your company for the Computer Terminal Company (CTC), but now the customer has given up on the chip and is working with TI. Then, Zhang Heng ruthlessly debunked the facts.

"Rather than let it fall to the same fate as its predecessors, it is better to find the best home for it. ”

Intel's CPU road was not smooth, the 4004 was bought out, and the 8008, which had to be redeveloped for CTC, was ruthlessly abandoned by customers, and finally the 4004 was still depressed.

This is also one of the reasons why Neuss and other high-level executives have been ignoring this product path until they were forced by the market to consider developing 8086 in 77.

Hove and Fakin's faces turned ugly at the same time, and after a moment of silence, Hove said: "Our R&D personnel are not responsible for the market part, and none of the three of us present can give you a clear answer to this matter. ”

Seeing his eyes on himself, Gerbo hurriedly smiled and said, "We will arrange the accommodation of several VIPs tonight, and I will also arrange tomorrow's meeting, I wonder if Mr. Zhang can accept it?"

"Then listen to it. "What can Zhang Heng do, if he doesn't look for Intel at this time, he can only go to TI, who is a big bully in the store, he doesn't want to be sent to the door to be slapped in the face.

Half an hour later, Palo Alto Cleveland Hotel.

After checking in, not long after entering the room, Gelbo went back and forth, telling Zhang Heng with a smile that Robert Noyce, president of Intel, was coming to prepare a banquet for the distinguished guests who came from afar.

Hearing this news, Zhang Heng was still very excited, as long as the students who study microelectronics, there must be a great god in their hearts that they appreciate and even revere.

But there are two people who are undoubtedly worthy gods of the gods: William Shockley, Robert Noyce.

Shockley Labs, Fairchild Semiconductor, Intel, these three companies almost encompass the main development history of the modern integrated circuit industry, as the well-deserved technology leaders of the three companies, these two are destined to have the status of the ancestors of the industry.

Zhang Heng asked casually, "Will Moore and Grove come?"

You think you're an executive from IBM or TI!

Girbo glanced at him, "They should have something to do, so only the president will come, and Mr. Hoff and Mr. Faggin, whom you met in the afternoon, will come with them." ”

Zhang Heng nodded, slightly relieved, Grove's thorn did not come, it was the best, in terms of business negotiations and specific management, Neuss was not as good as this tough Hungarian refugee.

Noyce is a tall and handsome middle-aged man, the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose make him look extraordinarily elegant, in a private room in the hotel restaurant, he shook hands with Zhang Heng and the others one by one solemnly and cordially, and did not despise anyone.

Zhang Heng secretly admired that the leader was really not casually talked, and it was difficult to say that this kind of personality charm was not innate.

After Noyce left Fairchild, several of Fairchild's key engineers chose to leave their jobs and stay at home before they knew his whereabouts, so as to wait for his summons as soon as possible, including Intel's No. 2 and No. 3 employees, Moore and Grove.

While Noyce was still at home with his wife and children, several bankers had already arrived from the east by plane, with cheques in their arms, even though he had not yet confirmed the direction of his business.

After everyone took their seats in order, Noyce did not mention business first, and pointed to a copy of Monet's "Blooming Water Lilies" on the wall and said:

"The first time I saw the painting was in 1956, when the original painting was bought by Rockefeller at a high price, and it caused a huge sensation. ”

"It was also in that year that William won the Nobel Prize, which also caused a huge sensation, so we all came here to celebrate him. ”

"A year later, under the same painting, eight of us, plus Arthur, Coyle, Richard, a total of 11 people, signed our names on a $1 bill. ”

"On that day, we decided to leave Shockley and start Fairchild Semiconductor. ”

His face was dark, immersed in memories.

Zhang Heng quietly listened to this legendary past of Silicon Valley, and he was familiar with these mentioned names.

William is William Shockley;

Arthur, whose full name is Arthur Locke, is an investment banker, the father of venture capital in Silicon Valley, a nobleman of Neuss, and the current chairman of Intel;

Coolle was Arthur's banking colleague;

Richard's full name is Richard Hodgson, the former vice president of the parent company of Fairchild Semiconductor, after Noyce served as the chairman of Fairchild Semiconductor, he served as president, and is currently a director and vice president of Intel.

"Intel was founded four years ago, and this is where we are, and I want everyone to learn about the past so that they can look to the future. ”

"Mr. Zhang, on behalf of all our hard-working colleagues, I would like to thank you for your trust in us. Noyce suddenly turned his head and looked at Zhang Heng deeply.

"Please understand our insistence, buy out 8008, it's better to forget it. ”