After the three of them came to the laboratory, Nick handed the report of the test results to Ling Shizhe and said, "Boss, the test results are very ideal, the power saving has reached 50%, and the use effect is very stable. ”

Ling Shizhe flipped through the report, looked at the sample again, not bad, judging from the sample, the chip used in the power management technology of the National Semiconductor Company is the power supply IC, as a power manager, this is the mainstream in the future. The last time Ling Shizhe went to Silicon Valley, he invited Spot to join his company and was rejected, and learned that they were doing the development of power management technology, so I chatted with him and mentioned to him that they used power supply IC for energy-saving management, and it seems that they listened to Ling Shizhe's words.

From the point of view of this power IC chip, the current function is still very single, can only be engaged in simple voltage stabilization and energy-saving control, from the overall structure, their power management technology is achieved through the power IC plus some electronic components and through the brush software, there is nothing unusual in technology, but the price of this power IC chip may be higher, using 10 micron process, with the current semiconductor hardware manufacturing cost, no 30 US dollars may not be able to take down, in addition to software and some technology licensing or something, If you don't have more than $35, you can't get it at all, so it's difficult to do, and the cost has risen too much.

Sure enough, hearing Bol's offer, $36, definitely not, this price, after thinking about it, Ling Shizhe said: "Bol, $36, this price is definitely not good, if we use this, the cost will be too high, can you think of a way to keep the cost down, otherwise we can't procure, although it's very good." “

Bol also knows this situation, but with the current semiconductor technology to do this is already the limit, in the pressure, it is no longer possible, for a while Bol is also embarrassed, suddenly, Bol frowned, thought about it, and said: "Ling, I think, can you use this method, using embedded technology, to cut the software and hardware?" ”

Ling Shizhe was stunned when he heard this solution, looked at him, and then looked at the circuit board of his camera, he suddenly woke up and knew what Bol meant, Bol asked Ling Shizhe to take the camera's circuit and the power management technology developed by the National Semiconductor Company as a whole to be redesigned, rather than considered separately, so that after redesign, some unnecessary circuits and components and software can be cut, so as to reduce costs without affecting performance.

The cost of the lowest 287 US dollars fixed focus camera on the market is 179 US dollars, and the cost of the computer system inside is as high as 110 US dollars, accounting for more than half of the cost of the camera, if you add the power supply technology of the national semiconductor company, the overall cost is as high as 156 US dollars. The new computer circuit system can control the cost at about 130~115 US dollars, which can greatly save the cost.

Why this approach will reduce the cost is related to the scope of embedded system technology. The embedded system is application-centric, based on computer technology, and the software and hardware can be tailored, which is suitable for the application system to have strict requirements for function, reliability, cost, volume, and power consumption. Electronic product engineers use this embedded idea to design the overall electronic system of electronic products, which is indispensable for embedded system software engineers.

However, in this way, the power management technology of the national semiconductor company is not so mature now, and there are many key things that cannot be solved, that is, the core technology of both sides.

But it is not impossible to force it, the key is that the national semiconductor must make concessions, but will they give in, if they do not give in, they must come up with a more mature plan, otherwise no one will use his power management technology. And even if the national semiconductor company gives in, it still can't be done, friends are friends, business is business, they all rely on technology, technology is the foundation of survival, no company will let their core technology to other companies know, including the national semiconductor company They themselves don't want their core technology to be known.

"Bol, I understand what you mean," Ling Shizhe pointed to the camera on the table and the samples of the cameras that had been matched, organized his language, and said: "But in this way, we must carry out a comprehensive and seamless cooperation, and cut the excess things, so that the cutting will not only subtract mine, but also minus yours, how will this price be calculated at that time?" And it will also involve the core secrets of both sides, which is not easy to do. ”

As soon as Bol heard it, he thought of the key point here, yes, in this way, when the time comes, whether to subtract mine or subtract yours, just for the sake of subtracting whom, the two sides will be inextricably contested, and this also involves the core secrets of both parties, this is only involving Ambrera Company, and other camera companies, don't think about it, it will definitely be a disaster then, thinking of this, Boer couldn't help but shake his head, until now he found that his company's power management technology is still not mature enough, and further research is needed, in order to reach commercial use. For a moment, Bor felt discouraged, and squatted on the ground in frustration and buried his head.

Ling Shizhe saw Boer shaking his head in discouragement, he was not in a good mood for a while, he didn't want to see his friend so sad, and wanted to find a way to help his friend, but he couldn't think of any effective way for a while, but unfortunately he only knew about power management technology in his previous life, but he was not proficient in this thing, otherwise, he could help his friend.

At this time, Nien said: "Mr. Bol, can your company adopt this method, that is, you integrate all your power management technology into the power supply IC, and then open the circuit interface and related parameters of the power supply IC, you directly sell the power supply IC to the customer, and at the same time guide the customer how to correctly use the power supply IC for the overall design of the computer circuit."

Hey, this is a good way, integrate power management technology into the chip, and sell power supply IC directly, aren't those power technology companies in later generations like this, Ling Shizhe's computer camera, itself is the integration of point-and-shoot cameras and digital cameras in later generations, he himself is a mobile terminal, and those power technology companies in later generations are not directly selling power IC chips to those electronic consumer manufacturers, and then they get power IC, in the overall design of their electronic products, It's much better in this way, you don't have to worry about the leakage of your core technology at all, thinking of this, everyone can't help but turn their heads to look at this Bol.

Seeing so many pairs of eyes staring at him, Bor was a little embarrassed, and said, "I'll discuss this method with my technician." ”

Ling Shizhe pointed in the direction of the reception room outside and said, "If you need it, the reception room is over there, and there is a phone inside." Bol went to the reception room with a few of his technical assistants.

Thinking that Bol and they couldn't discuss anything in a short time, Ling Shizhe and Alison said a little and left the laboratory. As soon as I got to the door of the laboratory, I heard Nien shouting, "Boss, wait a minute, I have something to talk to you about." Allison saw that they had something to talk about, so she left the lab alone. After returning to the lab, Ling Shizhe sat down in a chair and said to Nien, "Is there something wrong, Nien?" ”

Nien brewed a cup of milk tea and put it on the table in front of Ling Shizhe, he knew that Ling Shizhe liked to drink milk tea, so he specially mixed a cup for him, and then sat down on the chair opposite Ling Shizhe, and said: "Boss, you have merged the semiconductor laboratory and the electronics laboratory now, what are you planning to do now, and what are you going to let it do in the future?" ”

Ling Shizhe understood what Nien meant, when Ambrella's computer camera was listed, sales gradually improved, and there was a rumor that the Chinese hired computer experts in North America to design computers for them, and then they used China for military rumors, Ling Shizhe heard it, and stopped the semiconductor laboratory and merged him with the electronic product development laboratory, now that this matter has passed, Nien wants to re-establish him.

Ling Shizhe didn't know how to answer Nien for a while, he fell into thinking for a while, took the spoon in the cup, stirred, and released a whole sound of "ding, ding, ding, Nien didn't urge him, let him think slowly, for a while, except for the occasional ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,

The laboratory in Hong Kong is currently working on the overall design of the new semiconductor manufacturing process, and has not yet carried out the design and R&D of the CPU. And the North American laboratory here is designed and developed on the basis of the ARM chip architecture designed by Ling Shizhe, this kind of RI chip was designed by Ling Shizhe after he arrived in Canada, and it is a complete clone of the design of the RIM chip of the later ARM company, and then set up ARM+1, Cortex--A, Cortex--R, Cortex--M series on the basic architecture, In the future, he also plans to add a series of design and development work on this basis, such as CIASSIC processors and Securcore processor chips, and DesingnstnRT hard core processors for accessing processor IP in the network era, just like the later Arm companies.

However, what happened some time ago had to make him vigilant, he was afraid that one day, the patent of the reduced instruction set CPU he designed was suddenly declared invalid by Western countries, and he didn't receive any news in advance, so suddenly his technical achievements for many years were gone, so he stopped the design and development of the semiconductor laboratory in North America, and focused on Hong Kong, so that he felt at ease. But now, this crisis has been resolved, this worry does not exist, but he is a little worried about that place in Hong Kong, it doesn't matter now, but in the future, when Hong Kong enters the countdown to the return, what should someone do if someone has this idea, how can we protect their own interests to the greatest extent? It is not feasible to place all of them in Hong Kong and all of them in Canada, and they must be separated in order to maximize risk diversification.

But how can the two sides coordinate again, this is not the later Internet era, both sides are the same streamlined instruction labs, that is not repeated investment, the capitalist has spent the minimum cost to obtain the maximum profit principle, obviously does not conform to the principle of profit maximization. And some books in later generations say that two identical labs, everyone does the same research to compete with each other, this sentence is purely not through the brain. First of all, how is this possible, to put it nicely, is to introduce a competition mechanism, let them compete with each other, in essence, is it completely a duplicate construction, a capitalist will not do this, this phenomenon will only appear in the later Celestial Dynasty government, playing the miracle of the performance project.

They can't be separated, and the two sides can't engage in duplicate construction, and they have to be separated, thinking of this, Ling Shizhe made a mistake for a while, thought about it, and suddenly thought of one thing, the future semiconductor chip CPU, out of the RISC reduced instruction set mode currently under development, there is also a CISC complex instruction set mode, and now the laboratory in North America has been studying the RISC model for a while, why not continue to study? The North American laboratory is responsible for the design and development of RISC chips, while the laboratory in Hong Kong specializes in the development and design of CISC, which is the chip of Intel, X86. Isn't that what separates him? In the establishment of a technical reserve platform, they have not only achieved mutual division of labor, but also achieved mutual contact, hehe and the two are not delayed.

For the design and development of RISC in the North American laboratory, Ling Shizhe decided to let him embark on the road of the future ARM company, to provide customers with processor design and technical solutions, and TSMC can be integrated with it, that is, to provide them with technical solutions, they can be foundry, to buy our technical solutions, you must find us foundry, design fees and foundry fees, you can refer to the later generation of ARM and TSMC, simply merge the two, like the later generations of ARM companies, Provide technical solution packages at different price points, customers buy that piece and we will produce that piece, there is nothing you want, it doesn't matter, we can also design you individually, unique design.

After the design is out, sell the chip to them, and then seize these two things, it is difficult not to make a fortune, think about the future generation of ARM series of chips, the annual sales of the world are as high as more than 40 billion, think about how much profit there is, it is definitely a promising industry.

If you don't want us to produce, you can, the production drawings can be handed over to you, and you can handle the production yourself, but you have to charge design fees and patent licensing fees, think about the future generations of arm companies, but they are all according to the difficulty of development and design, to charge at different prices, in addition to this fee, every time you produce one of their chips, they have to pay a part of the patent licensing fee, this fee is not low, and the future generations do not know that the arm company is famous.

If it is handed over to us for production, the patent fee will not need to be released, and it will be saved, but the design fee will still be paid, and in the end you will only pay the design fee and buy the chip (the price refers to the chip foundry fee + patent licensing fee in later generations, but it is cheaper). What, you don't even want to pay for the design fee, what are you good about, you Grande, you see that I make money I make it easy for me, just a little hard money you have to deduct a little bit of it, forget it, meet you, who called you God, do it with you, I will sell the chip to you, but this money has to be more expensive, because I have a design cost in addition to the production cost, the price, of course, it is a little more expensive, how expensive, it depends on the cost,

In a word, it is flexible and diverse to provide customers with a complete service plan.

When Nien listened to Ling Shizhe's whole plan, he looked at him with strange eyes, Ling Shizhe was furious in his heart, and asked, "What's wrong, is there a problem?" Why are you looking at me like that? ”

"No, boss, your design is really genius, yes it's genius," Nien hurriedly explained, secretly wiped his sweat, and said: "But, who will ask us to design chips now, now the computer factories in Silicon Valley have their own chip designers, and we don't need to design them at all, and we don't have any chip factories at all, how can we produce for them?" If they go outside to find a foundry, then who should they find, you must know that the boss, the chips of the current computer companies are designed by themselves and produced by themselves, and they will not fake others at all, just like IBM and DEC companies, so as to ensure that their core secrets are not leaked, although now our company's chips, there are currently foundries, but they can only be current, these foundries have their own chip development tasks, for example, the national semiconductor company that does foundry with us, they have their own chip business, power supply IC. Once their power supply IC is put into production, it will affect our processor foundry, and then we can only find another one, but which one should we go to, this is another question, you know, we were looking for these foundries at the beginning, but we were looking for ourselves, so who should they find? ”

Ling Shizhe was splashed with a basin of cold water, and instantly drenched the hope in his heart, although it was not lightly splashed. Nien looked at Ling Shizhe with trembling in his heart, for fear that what he had just said would make him angry, but Ling Shizhe didn't bother with him at all.

Hearing Nien's words, Ling Shizhe knew that he was too optimistic, the current integrated circuit has just started, and it has not yet reached the clear division of labor like in later generations, and there is no business to receive at this time, even if a customer comes to you to design for him, then how do you solve the production problems for him, there is no professional foundry now, you can only design for him to produce, but do you have a chip factory, no one outside to give him OEM, and you can't provide production, what should you do then, hey, It seems that to implement this plan, the chip factory must be solved first, and now the National Semiconductor Company and the Signatix Semiconductor Company are currently doing foundry for him, but they both have their own chip business in development, once their chips are put into production, who should I go to? To launch this plan, you have to get the chip factory in place before you can do it, and you have to have a lot of wealth before you can start providing design and production to others.

Now it's time to solve this matter, but unfortunately the chip process production line in Hong Kong is still being designed, and I don't know when it will be built, so I will set the chip production line on the market now, and start construction immediately, it will take 2 years, but now time waits for no one at all, the best way is to buy a ready-made factory now, but where is this factory there? For a while, Ling Shizhe was anxiously scratching his ears and cheeks.