Masashi Shima, who couldn't tell whether he was sad or happy, turned around and took off his glasses, and exhaled softly.

"Fortunately, Shirakawa-san."

Shirakawa Kaede stepped forward, stood in front of him and took a deep look, then bowed solemnly.

"The history of SIC will remember this day, Shima-san!"

Shimamasashi glanced up, and the crowd that was still cheering and applauding also sighed and smiled.

"It's all the result of everyone's hard work, which also reminds me of my experience when I first taped out."

Masatoshi put on his glasses and looked at the chip on the instrument again. I was stunned, as if I had fallen into some kind of memory.

"At that time, I was still abroad, and for two or three months each time I was preparing for tape-out, my heart was restless all day long, and I couldn't sleep.

I wonder all the time about what is right and whether there will be a problem.

When the chip came back and pressed RESET for the first time, I was extremely nervous again.

The moment you let go of RESET is the moment that separates heaven from hell. ”

Masatoshi sighed and gently stroked the device in front of him.

"If the figures displayed by the logic analyzer are confused, the mood will fall into hell and be speechless.

If everything is normal, it is as if people are in heaven.

It felt like the whole world was revolving around me, and I was the king of the world. ”

As if amused by his own childishness, Shimamasa shook his head with a smile.

"Okay, finally there is no problem with the overall architecture." Only then did he put his hands on his hips and let out a long breath.

"I've already recorded the garbled characters just now, and a small part of the circuit can be slightly modified.

There are also some small bugs that can be bypassed by software.

However, the mask may need to be remade two more sheets, and in the end, Shirakawa-san will have to add a little more money. ”

Looking at Shimamasatoshi's slightly apologetic eyes, Shirakawa Kaede happily took two steps forward and patted him on the shoulder.

"Shima-san, it's already amazing, and the success of tape-out is our biggest victory."

Hearing Shirakawa Kaede's approval, Shimamasatoshi also smiled and nodded.

In the end, everything went smoothly in general, and more than a billion yen was not wasted.

As for modifying some circuits and remaking two masks, this kind of small problem, Shirakawa Kaede didn't care about it at all.

The cost of making the board is 30,000 or 40,000 US dollars, which is only a few million yen. Compared to the tariff of hundreds of millions of yen, it is not worth mentioning.

The biggest fear of tape-out is that the overall architecture goes wrong, which means that all the designs need to be reversed.

Not to mention the time and effort, the hundreds of millions of yen that were taped out before have all been wasted.

Some small bugs, if you ignore them, Shirakawa Kaede can already declare SIC8081 officially developed successfully.

"Leave the part of the circuit repair to me!" At this time, Hui Yamazaki, who had just collapsed in his chair, had already gotten up again and was full of fighting spirit.

Looking at his confident look, Shimamasashi did not refuse. "Okay, I'll leave the adjustment part to Yamazaki-kun, and I'll review it myself after it's done."

"Hay!" Hui Yamazaki responded seriously.

Most of the later work is to put the finishing touches on the details and fix some minor bugs.

Yamazaki Hui, who has studied behind Masashi Shima for more than half a year, can also share the subtle work.

As for Masashi Shima, he has another part of his job. That is a simplified version developed on the basis of SIC8081.

If it's fast, it may be done in two or three months, after all, the general structure does not need to be moved.

If the knife method is accurate, after one or two sketch designs, it can roughly enter the next tape-out trial production.

Looking at the people who were still excited inside and outside the laboratory, Shirakawa Kaede finally let go of all his worries.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today is the most important day since the establishment of SIC, and history will remember it today!

This is also Neon's first completely self-developed commercial processor chip, which is not easy.

The success of SIC8081 is inseparable from everyone's hard work for more than a year.

Everyone here, you are all heroes of SIC! Your name should be on the monument of SIC! ”

"Oh~!!" Even louder cheers erupted again on the fifth floor of the SIC.

"Go get champagne, for today's success, we have to celebrate!"

Shirakawa Kaede waved his hand and motioned for the people below to bring the prepared champagne.

"Shirakawa-san, you" Shimamasashi looked at this scene with some tears and laughter.

The last time he went to Fujitsu, it was to increase everyone's confidence.

He once made a joke about getting the crowd ready with champagne for his triumphant return.

Now I didn't expect that Shirakawa Kaede would take it seriously.

Soon the champagne that had been prepared was served, but because it was a laboratory area, everyone carefully held their glasses for fear of spilling.

"The conditions are limited, and when the SIC chip is officially launched, we will hold a celebration banquet.

Then please now, King of the World! Saying that, Shirakawa Feng raised his head first and put a glass of wine into his stomach.

"Haha" Hearing Shirakawa Kaede's ridicule, Shimamasashi laughed, and then raised his glass and drank it all.

After completing the humble celebration ceremony, the wine glass was put away.

Everyone pressed down their excitement and began to devote themselves to the next step of work with confidence.

Although there were some small twists and turns in the initial tape-out of the chip, it was an overall success.

Therefore, the morale is boosted, and everyone is more looking forward to and full of confidence in the future work.

"The development of the subsequent version of the chip will be troublesome."

Shirakawa Kaede hopes that the enhanced version of the 8-bit processor will be commercialized this year, but in general the time is still a little tight.

"If all goes well, maybe we can see it in the second half of the year."

For this, Shima Masashi can still be guaranteed.

SIC is currently well staffed, and the development efficiency will be greatly improved.

"By the way, do you have any ideas about the naming of the subsequent version?"

Different versions of chips will have models to make differences. The same is true for SIC chips.

What will be the name of the subsequent version? Shirakawa Feng thought about it for two seconds before announcing a name, "Let's call it SIC8089." ”

"Eh" Masashi Ijima didn't figure out what the meaning was.

"It's a little more powerful than an 8-bit processor, so let's go for 9." Shirakawa Kaede smiled and gave an explanation.

As for what happens to be a drop bigger than the chip 8088 that benchmarks Intel, that's a complete coincidence.

"Then 8089," Shimamasatoshi has no problem with such a name.

After a few more chats with him, SIC's work here is almost over.

The design of the chip is on the right track, and you just need to wait to see the next finished product.

As for commercial use, the promotion of 16-bit processors is choking enough, at least this year.

After all, the cost is high, and it is estimated that only some professional servers will use it.

But this part of the market is too small to scale.

At present, the mainstream in the market is still 8-bit processors, so the next 8-bit enhanced version of SIC is the main event.

Regarding its promotion, Shirakawa Kaede already has some ideas.

However, these should be put aside in advance, and the matter in front of me will be dealt with.

Ota-ku, Shirakawa Electric.

Shirakawa Kaede looked at the financial statements in his hand and sighed deeply, SIC just had some good news there, but Shirakawa Electric here is all bad news.

The Walkman business in March fell again from the previous month, and fell by nearly 18% on average compared to the second half of last year.

Almost one-fifth of the margin declines are already significant.

Sure enough, the market that can't be monopolized, the actual revenue has become rushed.

It is possible that the highest one-month profit margin in Japan will reach 2 billion yen, as was the case last year.

Putting down the local financial statements, Shirakawa Kaede picked up the fax from North America again, and as soon as he glanced at it, he became smiling.

Just over three months since the beginning of '81, Shirakawa Electric's Walkman has shipped a total of 2.4 million units in North America, and the growth is gratifying.

Sure enough, it is the world's largest market at this time, and the sales volume in three months is more than the whole year of Neon combined.

And most of them are mid-to-high-end models, especially SFM-01, which is simply the favorite of white-collar workers.

Its small, sleek, textured design, and unrivalled sound quality are the reasons for its popularity.

The price of $249 per unit is not a problem for white-collar workers who pay attention to enjoyment.

Thanks to the hot sales of high-end models, they are also very profitable.

In North America alone, the profit in the three months was as high as about 20 billion yen, and Shirakawa Electric's previously tight financial situation was instantly alleviated.

Shirakawa Kaede dared to borrow book funds and invest in Beidu Bank, which was also full of confidence in the North American market.

His adventure proved to be worth it.

It's still Mi Jinxiang, it seems that it's time for the North American factory to be put on the agenda.

Even for the sake of showing a gesture, an R&D center can be established.

You see, Shirakawa Electric also attaches great importance to the needs of the people of the United States.

Factory, R&D center, sales center, properly dressed in neon coat of rice company.

And in order to be on the safe side, Shirakawa Kaede also thought about building a joint venture with some local audio brands to build a factory.

Just like the joint venture car of the Celestial Empire, it must be more reassuring to do so.

However, there is no harm if there is no comparison, look at the market performance in North America, and then look at the local ones, the more frowning Shirakawa Feng's brows become.

Shirakawa Electric is like this, presumably Sony is not having a good time there.

Thinking of this, he picked up the phone and began to dial the number.

"Moxie Moxi?"

"Ohga-san? It's me, Shirakawa. Shirakawa Kaede held the phone in his ear while quickly sorting out the information in his hand.

"It turned out to be Shirakawa-san, I haven't seen you for a long time, how are you doing?" Norio Oga's voice sounded a little brisk.

Well? Shirakawa Kaede was stunned for a moment.

Could it be that Sony's Walkman business is going well and has not suffered any losses?

Or is there something else good?

Although he thought so in his heart, Shirakawa Kaede quickly replied, "Thanks to the blessing of Da Kasan, everything is going well." ”

"yes, that's pretty good." The voice in the earpiece paused slightly, "I wonder how Shirakawa Electric's CD player is progressing?" Is there a prototype coming out? ”

A touch suddenly flew from Shirakawa Kaede's eyes, "The CD player is far more complicated than imagined, and Shirakawa Electric is making slow progress here. Is it going well there for Sony? ”

"So-so" Norio Ohga's tone couldn't hear the ups and downs, "Thinking about the goal of commercial use next year, the time is really urgent." ”

"That's right," Shirakawa Kaede echoed, "By the way, I wonder if Ogaga-san pays attention to the walkman market?" ”

"Walkman? Well, it's a little fluctuating, but the specific data needs to be analyzed before you can see the trend. The sound of paper flipping through the earpiece was heard.

"That's nice, I'll visit you later when I have time."

After saying goodbye to each other, with a snap, Shirakawa Kaede hung up the phone, with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

(End of chapter)