Chapter 269 I Wish I Was Twenty Years Younger
Passion, passion for scientific research!
At this point, it doesn’t really matter what your original intention was for embarking on the path of scientific research.

Qiao Yu didn’t say anything profound.

But for individuals, fame and fortune are the most basic driving forces.

If these people did not have aspirations for the future, they would not have spent so much time and effort applying for Qiao Yu’s project.

Just to get through the registration stage at the workplace, one has to go through many levels, and then one has to take an exam. Many people are so afraid of not being selected that they even use connections to get in.

After going through so much trouble to join the project team, everyone naturally has their own ideas. Not everyone has the same ideas, but most of them are motivated by their own future development.

It would be the best thing to realize your own value while gaining recognition from the country and the daimyo.

Although Qiao Yu did not mention it, they certainly knew how much resources would be needed to achieve what Qiao Yu said and design a consumer-grade computer that could be directly marketed.

But in fact, no one cares too much about these things. Qiao Yu probably didn’t expect that these people under him might believe in his ability to obtain resources more than he did.

This cognitive bias mainly comes from the two sides’ completely different views on the Fields Medal.

For Qiao Yu, the Fields Medal was too easy to win. He just regarded the medal as an ordinary honor.

If we must make an analogy, it’s probably similar to how high school students view the honorary title of Provincial Three Good Students.

But for those who have been in the academic world for half their lives, they know very well that the Fields Medal or the Nobel Prize is never just an honor.

Especially in the first few years after winning the award, they have never heard that those bigwigs who have just won the world’s top scientific awards want to do something but cannot get investment.

Not to mention that Qiao Yu is not only young and highly worthy of investment, but also well-known for his high output and efficiency. Recently, he has just suppressed the opposing technology companies and the entire financial sector.

It is no exaggeration to say that, at least in the eyes of the professors who worked on projects with Qiao Yu, it would be unfair if Qiao Yu could not raise enough investment for what he wanted to do.

The most important question facing us is, aren’t you afraid of those foreign high-tech companies and financial groups poaching your people? !

Not to mention that China has its own advantages.

Not to mention anything else, just talking about the world’s most basic power generation capacity, no country can compare with China.

Coincidentally, from Qiao Yu’s speech, we can tell that the future general-purpose quantum computer he will construct will be a combination of local computing power and cloud computing power.

Tasks that can be handled by classical computing and simple quantum computing can be completed locally. Complex quantum computing tasks must be handed over to the quantum cloud platform.

If general-purpose computers are used in this way, it means that enough quantum simulation cloud data centers must be deployed in various places to provide consumers with a good enough experience.

As we all know, this kind of large computer room has always been a big power consumer. So it is very suitable to be popularized in China first, and then promoted abroad.

And that seems to be the case.

When Zheng Xiwen submitted the report, no one dared to neglect it. It was quickly submitted to the Ministry of Science and Technology for review, and then to the Ministry of Commerce for investigation.

Soon the news spread throughout the technology community. Of course, such a large-scale R&D bidding could not be kept completely secret. No one intended to keep it secret.

The technological competition between the East and the West has already begun. If both sides want an advantage, then they can spend money together.

Just like the original planetary project, in the end, whoever has the most money will win. As for the losers, they can only play by themselves.

There are indeed many companies that are interested in me. Some are hardware companies, some are software companies, some are state-owned, and some are purely private. Of course, they are all large companies.

This was also within Qiao Yu’s expectations.

Really, he was really optimistic about this project. If he hadn’t considered that such a large project was not something a small company could handle, he would have let Xiyu Technology do it themselves.

Of course, this project will also have great significance for Xiyu Technology after it is completed.

Just as Qiao Yu said in the video conference, as long as you participate in this project and obtain first-hand information in advance, you can make a lot of money even if you do some related business in the future.

For him, there are so many things he can do. Apart from other things, if quantum simulation computers and new operating systems can be promoted in the future, he can make a lot of money just by providing developers with a development environment.

Of course, these are generally not aimed at individual users.

After all, language development requires commercial compilers to provide more advanced functions, optimization tools and technical support, various plug-ins and extensions, as well as development interfaces and software development kits, and so on.

In the past, Intel and Microsoft made this money. If quantum simulation computers can really start to seize the market share of classical electronic computers, this part of the money will naturally be earned by them.

If it really develops to that level, Xiyu Technology can also provide remote development environment to small startups.

When new technology comes out, we can make the old generation of products open source in exchange for various advertising fees and donations…

In short, the American technology companies have already had a complete set of processes for how to make profits from these basic technologies, and they can completely squeeze out the value. In this regard, we only need to follow the American technology companies to cross the river.

In short, as long as the project is successful, this is a blue ocean that no one has yet ventured into. Or it can be said to be the next outlet.

The only problem is that it requires a huge amount of capital to develop this blue ocean.

……

In the general manager’s office of Linhai Microelectronics Equipment’s headquarters building, Deng Maochang was carefully reading the document sent from the capital word by word.

This is not the first time I’ve watched it.

To be honest, for a state-owned company like Linhai Microelectronics, the general manager often has to not only consider the gains and losses in business, but also the attitude.

There is nothing we can do about this.

Officially speaking, they not only have to make profits but also bear more social responsibilities. Regardless of the actual situation, the legal interpretation is that state-owned holdings mean ownership by the whole people.

So many times, when the higher-ups need to do something from an overall perspective, naturally, such companies will be required to take on more responsibilities.

Of course, enterprises also have a certain degree of autonomy.

To be honest, Deng Maochang instinctively didn’t want to take risks.

At present, the main task of Linhai Microelectronics is the research and development and production of lithography machines. As we all know, China’s lithography machine technology is still relatively backward in the world, so Linhai Microelectronics’ research and development tasks are actually very heavy.

Now the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Commerce have jointly sent a letter asking whether they are willing to participate in the bidding for the development of future quantum simulation chip lithography machines, which makes Deng Maochang feel a little confused. They haven’t even figured out their own regular lithography machines yet, and suddenly they have been assigned a new task? And what the hell is this, and they have to bid for it?

But then again, there are actually only two companies in China that have the ability to develop lithography machines. In addition to Linhai Microelectronics, there is only Daming Laser in Shenzhen.

But one thing is that the company across the street cannot be compared with Linhai Microelectronics in terms of scientific research strength, technological accumulation, or current business volume.

After all, the company was originally engaged in lasers, and only six years ago did it enter the field of photolithography. Photolithography is currently a sideline business.

Therefore, Deng Maochang found the word “bidding” in the document interesting. This is also the reason why he read the document word by word.

There is no other way. This position not only requires considering company operations, R&D, and marketing, but also having to figure out the intentions of superiors.

Simply put, it depends on whether the higher-ups really want to push this matter forward.

If he really wants to make this happen in a big way, then just invest. Even if he doesn’t produce anything in the end, it can’t be blamed on his wrong decision.

But if the higher-ups don’t really want to do it, or have an ambiguous attitude, and this document is sent just to ask if you are interested in doing it, then he will have to consider it carefully.

If it can be done, then everyone is happy. But if a lot of money is invested and it doesn’t work out in the end, then there is something to be said.

If it gets serious, it may even affect his resume. Speaking of which, many people are coveting his position as general manager.

To be honest, Deng Maochang, who has a technical background, doesn’t really mind these things, but he also doesn’t want to be blamed for such inexplicable things.

“dong dong dong”

The knock on the door diverted Deng Maochang’s attention from the documents and he said loudly, “Come in.”

Soon the office door was pushed open, and the secretary leaned halfway in: “Boss Deng, Chief Engineer Xu is here.”

“Chief Engineer Xu, please come in.” He stood up and personally welcomed the Chief Engineer Xu he had mentioned into the office.

Deng Maochang still has great respect for Chief Engineer Xu.

Xu Haiwen is now a serious boss in China’s lithography machine industry. During the technological gap of lithography machines, he resolutely gave up his high-paying job abroad and returned to China to take on the leading responsibility.

Deng Maochang knew that at that time, Linhai Microelectronics did not even have a complete prototype and could only rely on dismantling obsolete equipment from abroad to conduct research.

At that time, Chief Engineer Xu started to lead his team to do technical public relations from basic optics to precision machinery and then to control system modules. After more than 90 years of research and development, we have the current nm commercial lithography machine.

It can be said that everyone has gone through hard times together. The most important thing is that Xu Haiwen can not only endure loneliness, but also stay in the laboratory for several months, and his personality is very low-key.

Although he made great contributions, he never thought about fighting for power and profit, and was even too lazy to accept various publicity.

It can be said that he is a natural laboratory person. Even now, he is still keen on staying in the laboratory and leading the team.

“Boss Deng, what can’t you say over the phone? Why did you call me over? I’m busy in the lab.”

As soon as he entered the door, Xu Haiwen frowned and asked impolitely.

Deng Maochang didn’t care. The two had been working together for a long time and he knew the chief engineer’s temperament too well.

“Old Xu, the lab is not in a hurry right now. You are not young anymore, so let the young people do many things. Come, have a cup of tea first.”

“Yes, I’ll let them do it, but I’ll have to watch it to feel at ease. Forget the tea. I have everything I need. Let’s talk about it and save some time.”

“Okay, then you take a look at this first.” Deng Maochang nodded and handed over the document on the table.

Xu Haiwen took the document, sat down on the sofa and started reading it.

Unlike Deng Maochang who read word by word, the chief engineer put down the document in just over five minutes and said with emotion: “To cooperate with the development of quantum simulation chips and develop corresponding lithography equipment? This is an attempt to overtake others.”

“Hmm… maybe that’s what you mean? Do you think we are being too hasty? Can the quantum simulation universal computer mentioned in the document really replace the position of classical electronic computers?”

Deng Maochang asked directly.

Xu Haiwen was silent for a while, then shook his head and answered directly: “I don’t know. I am old, and I am slower than young people to accept these new things.

But I know this Qiao Yu. I watched the replay of his live broadcast not long ago. The quantum simulation technology he proposed does have application prospects.

But this project is too big, and judging from his age, he certainly has no experience in leading such a large-scale engineering project. But he is the most sought-after scientist right now. So I can’t say for sure.”

Deng Maochang knew that Xu Haiwen was not trying to shirk responsibility, he was simply telling the truth.

No one knows better than this generation of engineers how difficult it is to create something from scratch.

And to be honest, although they don’t have physical equipment as a reference, they at least have various technical parameters of foreign finished products to refer to.

However, the project proposed by Qiao Yu was first proposed by China, and there are currently no successful cases in the world. It is truly a research and development like a blind man touching an elephant.

The only advantage is probably that today’s China is no longer the relatively poor China of 2,000 years ago.

Moreover, the developments in the fields of microelectronics, computer science, quantum science, precision mechanics and materials science in recent years have accumulated a lot of technological capital to support scientific and technological innovation.

“That’s what I thought, too. I think this is probably why the higher-ups wanted to ask for our opinions. Do you mean that we won’t join in the bidding this time?”

Xu Haiwen thought for a moment and answered, “I am not completely pessimistic about this project. But considering the time factor, I think it is worthwhile to make a suggestion.

Let other companies do this. We are still focusing on the research and development of 28nm DUV lithography machines step by step. Even if this project is successful, electronic chips will not be eliminated from the market immediately.

Our project still has a place to go. If it eventually fails, at least we haven’t spent too much energy on it, and it won’t affect the current progress of the project.

For Huaxia Technology to develop, someone must look to the future, but someone must also do the bottom line work and focus on the present. Given our historical mission, there is no need to participate in such a radical project for the time being. Of course, this is my personal opinion. “

They were all old acquaintances, and Deng Maochang could sense a strong sense of loss from Xu Haiwen’s tone.

He felt that he could imagine the subtext that Xu Haiwen did not say: “If I were 20 years younger, I could do this.”

(End of this chapter)