Reborn Tokyo Golden Age.

Chapter 229 Chip Pattern
After discussing with Shimasa Toshi about the follow-up physical implementation of the chip, Shirakawa Kaede went to the third floor of the SIC again.

Another technology is being developed here, CD format storage technology.

"Hosono-san, change the storage object from sound to text, image, and even video.

Is it technically possible, and is the principle similar? "

Bai Chuanfeng looked at the CDs on the workbench and asked curiously.

These CDs are experimental products, and they look exactly like ordinary music CDs in appearance.

"Technically it's perfectly fine, and the way CDs are stored is pretty close.

However, due to the diversification of storage objects, information scanning speed and reading speed will vary.

In addition, there will be some differences in the production materials, especially the surface coating materials and information bands will be significantly different. "

Sushio Hosono is a professor of chemistry at Tokyo Institute of Technology. He is currently in charge of the research and development of CD surface coating materials.

In addition, there are physics professors here, who are responsible for determining the wavelength of the laser, the arrangement of the pits on the surface, and so on.

The development complexity of the new CD format is far beyond Bai Chuanfeng's imagination.

Originally, he thought that changing the format should be an easy task, but after actually doing it, he realized that it was still too simple.

It involves a combination of knowledge in multiple fields, and it is far from being done by one person.

For example, for surface coating materials, if you want to find the most suitable one, you can only try one by one in a certain category.

These all need to spend time and manpower and material resources to explore, and finally find a relatively suitable one.

"Hosono-san, don't worry about research and development, take it step by step. We have enough time, after all, it is related to the formulation of standards, and we must not be sloppy."

This is Shirakawa Electric's first attempt to enter the field of standard formulation, and it is understandable to spend more time.

Moreover, the real music CD player has not yet come out, and the extension of other formats has not been put on the agenda.

So the development here should be practiced, and there are more tasks waiting for SIC to explore and complete in the future.

After strolling around here again, Bai Chuanfeng is also planning to go back to Ota District.

About SIC, about chips, in fact, Bai Chuanfeng has also considered a lot recently.

At first, when making chips by himself, he considered serving CD players more.

After all, the direct quotation of 16 US dollars for a 360-bit chip really made him unacceptable.

But it turns out that it is somewhat reckless to directly enter the chip field.

It is too extravagant to develop a corresponding chip for only one product.

Maybe the final finished chip may be more expensive than the one you bought.

Later, after Shimasa Toshi’s explanation, Shirakawa Feng had a general understanding of the chip field.

Now that designing chips has indeed become possible, he simply plans to open up another track.

But this track is a bit special because its prospects are unclear.

Whether it's a Walkman, a handheld, or a CD player in the future, Bai Chuanfeng has a lot of confidence.

Only the chip, Bai Chuanfeng himself was a little uncertain.

It is not to say that chips have no future and no market.

On the contrary, it has too much future and market.

Even some governments do not hesitate to use national power to protect their rights and interests for this reason.

Yes, the US-Japan semiconductor battle in the next few years is the best evidence.

However, this involves not only chips, but also political factors and economic power.

The chip is only one of the concrete manifestations of this contest.

Although he knew that the future prospects were uncertain, Bai Chuanfeng still chose to enter the chip field.

Why?

Because he must leave enough competitive things for the future Baichuan Group as the core driving force or moat for its survival and development.

This must be sophisticated technology, but also must have broad market prospects.

The best future life is inseparable from it, and there are certain thresholds.

Engage in real estate?

There will indeed be huge profits for a certain period of time, but how long can it last.

And who doesn't know how to do real estate?Which of those chaebol giants didn't get involved in this?
Engage in energy?
To be honest, Bai Chuanfeng could not get involved in this part of the market.

Japan's energy market is basically monopolized by political families, and ordinary people can't get in at all.

Moreover, energy is scarce in Japan, and people with no background engage in energy.

I am afraid that soon there will be a sea view room at the bottom of Tokyo Bay.

Engage in consumer electronics?
Again, without our own core technology, everything is useless.

Moreover, there are too many people in this industry, and they are highly substitutable. Without their own characteristics, it is difficult to survive.

Engage in finance?
He is a complete layman. The so-called "high risk, high return" may be mostly high risk for him.

After thinking about it, maybe only the chip is the most suitable for him to get involved at present.

One is because the chip technology has just developed at this moment, and entering the track at this time can completely catch up with the opponents in front.

The second reason is that Bai Chuanfeng didn't just rush forward in one go.

He participates in chips selectively and conducts market competition selectively.

So far, Bai Chuanfeng has positioned SIC as a chip design company, not a chip design and manufacturing company.

Although there is only a difference of two words, the meaning is completely different.

The so-called chip design company, as the name suggests, only designs, not manufactures.

Also known as fabless semiconductor companies.

As for the reason for doing so, it is a choice based on the current environment and future expectations.

Usually the cost of equipment and raw materials required for integrated circuit manufacturing is very huge, and ordinary companies simply cannot afford it.

And once the process node is changed, the company may need to spend quite a lot of money to replace the existing process equipment, all of which require high costs.

Based on the current size of SIC, if it enters the field of chip manufacturing rashly, it may be directly dragged down.

Moreover, there are currently five semiconductor manufacturing companies in Japan, all of which are giants, and SIC takes the lead to compete with them.

Without technology and talents, SIC has basically lost its way to semiconductor manufacturing.

Another reason for Bai Chuanfeng to avoid physical manufacturing is the semiconductor dispute between the United States and Japan in the next few years.

Since then, Japanese semiconductor manufacturing companies have either died or are dying.

Factory closures, equipment obsolete, and manufacturing processes rendered useless are huge cost losses.

Tens of billions of funds are in vain, Bai Chuanfeng can't afford the money, and he is afraid that his heart can't bear it.

So from the beginning, SIC did not intend to set foot in the field of manufacturing.

Also, what does SIC do?
Processor chip is an integrated circuit with information processing, calculation and control as the core.

What we usually call CPU and GPU are one of them.

At present, what chips are the most used in the market, or what chips are other Japanese semiconductor manufacturers best at?
In other words, what kind of chip did the semiconductor dispute between the United States and Japan start after 85?

The answer is memory chips, or DRAM chips.

Intel, which became famous after 1981, is now mainly engaged in DRAM memory chips.

Yes, at this time Intel was still working on memory chips.

As for the processor chip, it is only a small piece of the incidental business.

Similarly, several other semiconductor manufacturers in Japan are also specializing in DRAM memory chips at this time.

To what extent?
In 1973, led by the Japanese government, NEC, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Toshiba, and five semiconductor manufacturers jointly developed memory chips.

This is the national project of "DRAM Manufacturing Innovation" launched by the Japanese government, which has organized more than 800 technical elites.

Among them, the government invested 320 billion yen, five companies contributed 400 billion yen, and a total of 720 billion yen was invested in the research and development of memory chips.

This joint action is led by the Japan Electronics Research Institute and the Computer Research Institute.

To this end, a specific national scientific research institution, "VLSI Institute of Technology", was established.

After paying such a high price and concentrating on major tasks, it is not difficult to imagine that Japan will soon catch up in the DRAM field.

As for the United States, the development model is still to inject funds into start-up companies through venture capital.

Startups get support, innovate technology, boost company valuations and go public.

Finally, the venture capital sold the stock, and finally exited with a profit.

This model is completely market-oriented, high in efficiency but small in size, and each works independently.

Obviously, in the face of Japanese companies with the background of national power, they will definitely be beaten helplessly in the future.

Although Japan currently accounts for less than 20% of the memory chip field, this situation will soon be broken.

This is the main pattern of the chip market in the world at present.

So what about processor chips?

It's amazing that everyone doesn't pay much attention to it.

In the United States, only Intel and Zligo are doing related business, as for Japan...not at all.

The reason for this situation is that the development of personal computers has just started, and the market scale has not yet formed.

All demand is determined by the market, and the same is true for chips.

Computers are definitely a luxury in the current era, and the price in Japan is generally above 20 yen.

And the United States is also around seven or eight hundred dollars. Both the people of the United States and the people of Nihong said that they can't afford it! PASS!

So the market is too small, and the demand for processor chips is much less than that of memory chips.

This is why no one pays attention to processor chips now.

However, Bai Chuanfeng chose the "unpopular" field in the chip.

The advantage of "unpopularity" is that in the future semiconductor battle between the United States and Japan, it is very likely that processor chips will be spared.

Because counting the time, the development of personal computers has not yet entered the fast lane after a few years, and it is likely to continue to be ignored.

In addition, SIC has absolutely no competitors in Japan.

Even if it is sanctioned in the future, it should be able to survive only by relying on the local market of Neon.

Even currently, there are no dedicated chip design companies in Japan.

Isn't it strange that Japan, which is already very technologically advanced, does not have a dedicated chip design company.

This is also related to Japan's special corporate structure, and those large companies are involved in many fields.

For example, Sony has a dedicated chip design department under its group.

If necessary, you can directly delegate the task to the following departments for execution, and there is no need to entrust other companies to design.

However, such large companies are in the minority after all. If most companies need processor chips, they basically purchase products from the United States.

Or those with certain research and development capabilities, like Sharp and Toshiba, can purchase foreign mature chip architecture copyrights and do secondary development by themselves.

So in general, does chip design have a future?
Yes, for sure.

Bai Chuanfeng's decision to open up the track is also after careful consideration, and there is no doubt that the chip is definitely in the advanced field.

It is enough to serve as the moat of the future Baichuan Group, and Baichuanfeng is also devoted to it.

After coming out of the SIC building, when Bai Chuanfeng was about to talk to the first persuasion silver, he received an unexpected call.

(End of this chapter)