Replay 07: Opening the Temple of Learning

Chapter 388 Chip must break through

Shen Qian was still the same as before, looking at Lu Shan with a smile and not saying much.

Lu Shan took the initiative to talk to Shen Qian, and finally after further questioning by Yang Chuan and others, everyone knew that Shen Qian still didn't have a boyfriend.

Because Lu Shan skipped three grades in college, he is now a second-year graduate student and lecturer at Jiangzhou University.

Shen Qian studied economics at Yenching University and became a true academic master.

Lu Shan looked at Shen Qian with an indescribable feeling in his heart.

The classmates joked and reminisced about their high school days.

After the holiday, Lu Shan returned to Jiangzhou and joined BanSi Company.

In order to ensure the greatest possible confidentiality of the company, the company is not high-end, and can even be said to be a bit simple.

BanSi Corporation is located in an inconspicuous low-rise office building next to Jiangzhou University.

Surrounded by scientific research buildings and laboratory buildings with a strong academic atmosphere, the surrounding environment is quiet and full of vitality.

Although the company is small, it is home to a group of passionate young people working towards a common goal.

Break through the bottleneck of semiconductor technology and embrace the revolution in future computing architecture.

As soon as they walked into the company gate, several employees noticed Lu Shan's figure and a hint of surprise flashed in their eyes.

Although Lu Shan is the boss, he is usually busy with company operations and external communications, and has not come to the company in person for a long time.

"Mr. Lu!" A young engineer in a laboratory coat saw Lu Shan and couldn't help but greet him with a smile, with obvious excitement in his eyes.

"Welcome Mr. Lu to inspect our work!" Another technician also walked over with a smile, polite and a little shy.

Lu Shan nodded and smiled faintly: "How is the company's progress recently?"

Zhao Kai is a technical support manager of the company. He walked forward, looking a little reserved, but still couldn't help but smile excitedly.

"Mr. Lu, we have made some new breakthroughs recently, especially in the research and development of memory and hard disks, and the progress is very fast."

He pointed to a nearby work area where several devices were being tested.

Lu Shan nodded slightly and walked in that direction.

He knew that although BanSi Corporation had not had large-scale external publicity in recent years, their name had gradually spread in the technology field.

Especially in the direction of innovation in chip materials, it has attracted a lot of attention in the industry.

"Where is Zhang Lingxi?" Lu Shan asked.

"Here, I'm preparing today's report materials." Zhao Kai replied.

Walking into the conference room on one side of the company, Lu Shan saw Zhang Lingxi fiddling with a laptop, seemingly checking his work report.

Zhang Lingxi is a graduate student at the School of Materials Chemistry of Jiangzhou University and also serves as the head of the companion silicon company. Although she is young, she has outstanding technical attainments and management capabilities, and is an indispensable core figure in the company.

"Mr. Lu, you're back." Zhang Lingxi raised his head and greeted Lu Shan with a smile, his eyes full of surprise.

Ever since the last business trip to Shenzhen with Lu Shan, the company was reorganized and Lu Shan has been busy and hasn't come to the company for a long time.

Lu Shan nodded, then looked at the report in her hand: "How is the work going? Any progress?"

"Not bad." Zhang Lingxi sorted out the report and began to report on the company's latest situation.

"The market feedback for the companion silicon memory, companion silicon hard disk and companion silicon motherboard is good."

“First, there is companion silicon memory, and the progress is very rapid.”

Zhang Lingxi said excitedly: "Our memory products have greatly improved speed and capacity compared to traditional memory."

"Currently, PC memory is about 2GB to 4GB, but our memory is not only super fast, but also has a capacity of over 10TB."

"It's also smaller in size. The only difference is that standard memory is in the form of strips, but according to your request, our memory modules are miniaturized and are about the size of a fingernail, which is one-third smaller than the previous generation."

"10TB?" Lu Shan was slightly stunned and turned his gaze to the experimental equipment next to him.

Apparently technology was advancing faster than he had imagined.

10TB of memory is an unimaginable number and almost exceeds the needs of conventional computers.

Zhang Lingxi chuckled. "We're still following your request. We're still squeezing the toothpaste. In order to avoid too much surprise in the market and not disrupt the existing competitive landscape, we chose to upgrade step by step. The market now has a standard 2GB memory, and we have launched a 4GB memory stick. If the market launches a 4GB one, we will launch an 8GB one. We already have a technological breakthrough and can surpass it at any time."

Lu Shan laughed out loud, and Zhang Lingxi felt that he had inherited his true teachings.

Lu Shan nodded, "Where's the hard drive?"

"The situation is similar with hard disks." Zhang Lingxi opened another report and explained while pointing at a chart.

“传统硬盘大约在2013年是1TB到4TB，市场大多数人用的都是1TB或2TB的硬盘。”

"But the capacity of a single hard drive we have now can reach 1024PB - yes, 1024PB."

“Topological semimetals are so amazing!”

She said with a hint of pride, "But we also did not launch it to the market all at once, but adopted a strategy of gradual release."

Lu Shan listened to her words and was very satisfied.

Companion silicon's hard drive and memory technologies have surpassed the limitations of conventional technologies, and deliberately slowing down the pace makes strategic sense.

Lu Shan nodded. With Zhang Lingxi around, he really didn't have to worry too much.

"We need more resources to break through the technical bottleneck, especially in the production process of motherboards and hard drives," said Lu Shan.

"Yes, Mr. Lu." Zhang Lingxi agreed, "We will speed up the research and development progress."

Zhang Lingxi then reported on the company’s current operating conditions.

"At present, our products are mainly supplied to Shenchuan and some other computer manufacturers. Except for Lianxiang, almost all major manufacturers are purchasing our memory and hard drives."

“We have also started separate hardware sales, targeting some small businesses and scientific research institutions.”

"Overall, the company's revenue growth is very fast, especially in terms of hard disk and memory orders."

Lu Shan listened, a satisfied smile appeared on his face. "That's good."

He nodded and looked at Zhao Kai, the technical support manager, and asked, "What about the production line? Can it keep up with market demand?"

Zhao Kai immediately stepped forward when he saw Lu Shan asking this question. "Boss Lu, we have already optimized the production line. Although we cannot achieve ultra-large-scale production, we can already maintain a certain monthly output."

He continued nervously, "However, we still need more high-end equipment, especially in the process of producing topological semimetals. The efficiency of some links is not high enough and the production cycle is a bit long." Lu Shan frowned slightly after hearing this. "What technical bottlenecks have you solved? What else needs to be improved?"

Zhang Lingxi took over the topic: "We have made breakthroughs in some key technologies in semiconductor production lines, especially in the synthesis process of topological semimetals, and have achieved relatively stable mass production."

"However, due to the special materials, the temperature and pressure control requirements for production are very high. Some equipment will still experience certain fluctuations when running at high load, resulting in a slightly lower yield rate."

"So your current production is limited?" Lu Shan asked.

"Yes, Mr. Lu." Zhang Lingxi nodded, "We are accelerating the introduction of new production equipment, improving the degree of automation, shortening the production cycle, and striving to significantly increase production capacity in the next one or two months."

"Okay." Lu Shan pondered for a moment and asked, "When do you plan to expand your production line on a large scale?"

Zhao Kai replied: "We plan to complete a production line upgrade next quarter, focusing on improving the synthesis efficiency of topological semimetals."

“In addition, we also need to expand the hard disk and memory testing equipment to support more customized needs of customers.”

Lu Shan nodded, "Very good, implement it as soon as possible."

After that, he turned to Zhang Lingxi and said, "Since your research and development direction has been basically clarified, the next step is to scale up production and quickly advance into the market."

A determined smile appeared on Zhang Lingxi's face. "We will speed up and will never let you down."

Lu Shan looked at her with satisfaction, and then decided to go and check the production line in person.

After all, only by seeing every step of the production process with your own eyes can you have a clear idea of ​​what is going on.

In the past, there was a shortage of companion silicon. Through continuous optimization of the production line, the situation has improved a little. However, with the launch of the Zemeng system, companion silicon products began to be out of stock again.

After leaving the meeting room, Lu Shan, Zhang Lingxi and Zhao Kai went to the production workshop together.

The workshop environment is clean and tidy. Although it is not particularly spacious, every corner is arranged in an orderly manner.

As you walk in, a slight electronic smell hits you in the face, and the air is filled with a faint metallic and chemical scent.

"Mr. Lu, this is our newly upgraded semiconductor production line."

Zhang Lingxi introduced, "This is the synthesis equipment we use to produce topological semimetals, which is now in full automated operation."

Lu Shan looked at the machines of various sizes in front of him. He had the impression that these devices were not particularly high-end, but each one was operating in an orderly manner.

The most eye-catching thing is the huge furnace in the middle. Through the glass window, you can see the metal inside melting at high temperature.

"This device is a key synthetic device for topological semimetals."

Zhao Kai went on to explain, "We used low-temperature plasma technology, using this high-energy plasma flow to break up the metal molecules and then recombine them to form the molecular structure of topological semimetals."

“This process has extremely high requirements for temperature, pressure, gas flow, etc., so the production process needs to be precisely controlled.”

Lu Shan carefully observed the situation in the furnace. When he saw the molten metal flashing blue and white light, he frowned slightly.

"How long has this equipment been in operation? Has there ever been any equipment failure?"

"This furnace has been running for nearly half a year and its overall stability is very good."

Zhao Kai said, "But because of long-term high-temperature operation, the equipment wears out quite a lot, so we need to regularly replace some core components to ensure stable production."

Lu Shan nodded, seeming satisfied.

He continued walking deeper into the production line and saw a memory module testing machine being assembled.

The workers skillfully loaded micro memory sticks into the machine, and the testing machine began to run automatically, displaying groups of data.

"These are our newest companion silicon memories."

Zhang Lingxi said, "The capacity of each memory block has exceeded 10TB. Although it is still in the testing stage, its performance has far exceeded similar products on the market."

"What we are doing is to continuously improve the stability of memory and ensure its reliability under long-term operation."

"These high-performance products will not be sold for the time being, but are intended for use in supercomputers."

Lu Shan walked to the machine and saw the test data displayed on the screen, which was full of green pass marks. He nodded with satisfaction. "The yield rate is good."

Next, they walked to the hard drive production area on the side.

The production line here is somewhat similar to the memory production line, the difference is that the hard drive assembly process is more complicated.

It is necessary to install various modules such as memory chips, interfaces, power supplies, etc. into a metal casing and then conduct rigorous temperature and pressure tests.

"The production process of hard drives is relatively complicated, especially in the production of high-capacity hard drives, where control accuracy and stability are crucial," explained Zhao Kai.

Lu Shan looked at the hard drive in front of him and nodded. "Who are your current customers?"

"Except for Shenchuan, we can provide customized services for hard drives from other manufacturers, including some small manufacturers."

Zhang Lingxi said, "But in terms of capacity, we will keep it at 1TB, which is higher than the common 256GB and 500GB on the market, to avoid pushing it to the market all at once, which may result in low customer acceptance."

Zhang Lingxi joked: "In fact, apart from our motherboards, many other manufacturers' motherboards cannot accept higher memory and hard drives."

This is indeed the case. Products that are too high-end cannot be adapted by external hardware devices.

So squeezing toothpaste is actually to cater to the outside market.

In the future, companion silicon will break the limitations of traditional semiconductor technology and bring about a hardware revolution.

As long as the bottleneck of the production line is broken, the market reaction will be more violent.

After taking a walk around the workshop, Lu Shan saw that everything was going smoothly, but he didn't relax.

Although the hardware production line has begun to get on track, some links still need further breakthroughs, especially in the design and production process of semiconductor chips.

Although some of the current technical bottlenecks have been resolved, the limitations of lithography machines still exist.

To make further breakthroughs, we must find new ideas from the fundamental level.

After returning to the office, Lu Shan convened an emergency meeting of the company's core R&D team.

Zhang Lingxi, Zhao Kai, and several senior engineers and technical managers arrived one after another, and the atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became solemn.

Lu Shan sat at the table in the conference room with a serious look.

He looked around at the expectant faces and could almost hear their heartbeats.

"In today's meeting, the topic we discussed is the breakthrough of semiconductor chips."

(End of this chapter)