Chapter 257 Self-developed Chip
Qualcomm, a company that all mobile phone manufacturers cannot avoid.
Relying on 3G and 4G patents, Qualcomm can easily collect the "Qualcomm tax" from all smartphones in the world based on the price of the entire device.
It can be said that even if Qualcomm sits back and does nothing, it will still have a steady stream of rent income, just like the life of a landlord.
In addition to the "Qualcomm tax", Qualcomm itself also has unique achievements in the chip field. Relying on the architecture authorized by ARM, it has officially launched the "Snapdragon" series of chips.
In fact, many people had rarely heard of Qualcomm chips in the past, and Intel was the most famous company in the chip field.
This is indeed the case. Intel's X86 has an overwhelming advantage in personal computers and servers, and the computing power of a single chip can be dozens of times that of ARM architecture chips.
But because of this, the power consumption and heat generation of X86 chips are astonishing. To put it bluntly, the power consumption and heat dissipation are exaggerated, which is definitely a fatal problem for mobile devices.
Just think about how big a PC CPU cooler is. Even a laptop cooler is big enough to brick your phone.
This can be compensated by the ARM architecture.
Coupled with the problems with Intel’s own strategic direction, it directly lost the market in the smartphone chip field.
Qualcomm has seized this opportunity and started to get involved, and is considered a representative company that has tasted the sweetness of the smartphone era.
In the previous generation, Qualcomm's first quad-core processor, the 28nm APQ8064 processor, even surpassed the processor on the Fruit 5 in terms of pure running performance.
Last year, Qualcomm also officially launched the Snapdragon series of processors, but they were outperformed by Apple's self-developed 64-bit A7 dual-core processor. Although the Snapdragon 800 series has four cores, all four cores need to be fully turned on to barely match Apple's A7 dual-core processor.
After learning from its mistakes, Qualcomm, which had not yet developed its own 64-bit architecture, began to aggressively move into the field by relying on the ARM public version 64-bit architecture. Although it used a more advanced 20nm process, the product it produced was the Snapdragon 810, which was nicknamed the "Fire Dragon".
The processor has very high temperature requirements. Too high a temperature will affect the performance of the processor itself. For example, Intel's extreme processor performance testing environment even chooses to pour liquid helium!
Many materials can become superconducting under liquid helium...
Due to the extremely poor heat generation of Snapdragon 810, its actual performance at high temperatures is even worse than its previous generation processor, and is even beaten by the upcoming Fruit 6 self-developed A8 processor.
In fact, the processor used in Umbrella's mobile phone is Qualcomm's last year's Snapdragon 801 in order to meet the demand in sufficient quantities. In terms of performance alone, it is similar to Hanwei's Kirin 930.
If you want to purchase a processor temporarily, Qualcomm is the only one that is easier to get.
However, Qualcomm has just excitedly announced the release of Snapdragon 810, the first 64-bit quad-core chip, which is now in the limelight. Almost all of its production capacity has been invested in Snapdragon 810, and even as a result, we can still see new Snapdragon 810 phones a few years later.
He indeed looked down upon the order from Umbrella.
We have good cooperation partners in front of us, and the wafer factory’s output is limited, not much!
Although Umbrella has informed Four Star that it can help with OEM, Qualcomm is not a puppet and has its own ideas.
"Oh, they're still focusing on the previous generation of chips. Umbrella is really stingy. The price should be comparable to that of fruits."
After a salesperson hung up the call from Umbrella, he couldn't help but talk to his colleagues with a hint of sarcasm.
"But the other features of their phones are pretty good."
"So what if it's good in other aspects? This is a mobile phone after all, and the processor is the heart of it. And they have to pay us patent fees."
"That's right. No mobile phone manufacturer can bypass us..."
Not only Qualcomm's salesmen were chatting about this young man who had just entered the mobile phone field, but Qualcomm's senior management was also discussing it in their offices.
"Don't go to sue, right?"
The CEO looked at some reports casually. In their eyes, new mobile phone manufacturers were fat meat.
However, Qualcomm is also having a headache as companies like Apple have to wait until they are sued before paying.
"No, they have submitted it. The information has actually been sent to your email."
"Well, their financial statements are not made public? Who would know if they paid less? Inform them and treat them the same as other manufacturers."
"They're not listed. This is Umbrella Corporation."
"What's wrong with Umbrella? They should be reasonable, they..."
But in the end, Qualcomm CEO softened his tone and said
"Be nicer and give me a gentle reminder."
“They also want to buy chips.”
"Sell, we still have plenty of Snapdragon 810 production capacity."
"What they want is 801. The production capacity that was previously released by the four-star team is what they connected to."
"What? What do they mean?"
Isn't this your flagship phone? What's the point of always buying 801? This is our last generation chip. Isn't this too stingy?
Now we are asked to use the newly added production capacity to produce additional previous generation chips?
Although they themselves know that the 810 has some problems with heat dissipation and power consumption, it is the first 64-bit quad-core after all, and it uses a 20nm process. Heat dissipation is a problem that mobile phone manufacturers need to solve. What does it have to do with us?
"We don't have much 801 inventory left, and many other mid-range mobile phone manufacturers have placed orders for a lot of them."
"Then tell them that 801 is gone, and they can choose 810 or not. It's not easy for Four Star to free up production capacity, so they will definitely make 810. If they are not satisfied, they can take it back and design and build it themselves. Haha~ Four Star freed up production capacity to give them face, but they also need to make money, so it can't be left vacant forever."
"See where else they can buy it besides us!"
Qualcomm does have this kind of dominance in the mobile phone field.
Even they themselves have not yet developed a 64-bit architecture and are still using the ARM public version. Currently, there are only a few companies in the world that can complete chip design!
Do you want love?
Umbrella also received this feedback.
We can even hear rumors from Qualcomm in the industry that the supply of 801 is tight. If we keep our eyes on 801, we will definitely have to wait a long time and may have a difficult birth...
…
Wang Yi, who was taking Qian Yayan and Liu Xiaoke rafting, was speechless when he heard the feedback from Lin Shiqin.
"Didn't we help them coordinate some of Four Star's production capacity? Is Four Star giving up the responsibility?"
This is Wang Yi's guess. After all, the field that Umbrella's mobile phone entered had a huge impact on the four-stars.
"No, Four Star relies a lot on us. They are arrogant when they should be arrogant, and very honest when they should be honest. It was Qualcomm itself that adjusted that part to 810."
After hearing what Lin Shiqin said, Wang Yi was speechless.
To be honest, Umbrella is already eye-catching enough now, and he is not prepared to enter the chip field so quickly.
Fortunately, the outbreak of infection in Seoul some time ago still left the influence of Umbrella's "I really have it", so it is not impossible to get some first.
I was forced to do this. There's nothing I can do.
It's a pity that the "I really have it" thing is the last trump card. Obviously, it cannot be shown frequently. Not only will it cause fear, but saying it too much will also reduce the deterrent effect. We can't just do this to them casually, otherwise it will be equivalent to breaking up with the whole world.
Some conventional trump cards need to be strengthened quickly, but the order has already been placed. For a ship of this tonnage, even if we pay extra to jump the queue, it will probably take at least a year.
Especially the three million-ton platforms, which will be built by each of the three parties in the Iron Triangle. If they can be completed in one year, it would take a lot of overtime work.
He had originally said that after getting two new immunoglobulins for Umbrella, he would go out to sea on a yacht to catch whales.
It now seems that we need to solve the chip problem first.
"Is there no problem with the design on your side?"
"No problem, it's the ARM public version of 64-bit, but ARM's authorization does not allow core modifications. If you want to modify it, you have to pay a lot of money. If you get the modification authorization, it can be improved a bit."
"No need, let's just go with the public version architecture design. What is the current level of craftsmanship?"
Samsung has brought back some obsolete equipment from its wafer fabs, and with some domestic support and the already available DUV lithography machines, after a little integration, the 20nm level process can be achieved quickly, and there will be no problem in simultaneously entering the 14nm stage next year.
However, the equipment shipped back from Four Stars still needs time to be debugged, and cannot be produced immediately. We can only use the freed-up production capacity of Four Stars to quickly produce some.
UMC's technological breakthrough has encountered a bottleneck, but the current technology is sufficient for manufacturing, and they are just waiting for the rice to cook, and they can also send some to them for OEM.
Chip design capabilities, that’s normal right?
Normal chips would need at least three to six months of trial production, which is also called tape-out. The purpose is to produce dozens of chips in small quantities for testing to see if they meet the requirements.
If the test passes, mass production can begin.
If there are any problems, some modifications will need to be made.
The structure of the chip itself is too complex and dense, so it is quite normal for problems to occur.
However, this chip was designed by Lin Shiqin. It can be said that as long as it can pass the four-star process, there will be no problem of failure after passing Lin Shiqin's simulation.
This can greatly reduce the process and time to mass production!
Chip name, White Queen V1.0!
There is no doubt that the performance has been improved after replacing the "White Queen" chip, so we can directly define this batch as the plus version and the price can be targeted at the same level as the fruit .
It's impossible to improve the performance while keeping the price the same. This would be unfair to customers who bought in advance.
Well, the production of the plus version may be higher than the regular version in the future!
…
"Self-developed chips? Oh my god, Umbrella is really awesome. They have come up with another big move without making any noise."
"It's amazing. Even this is just an official announcement of plus, and there is nothing special to say. This is the confidence."
"What the hell is this plus! Please let me buy the regular version first. My friends have started using Red Queen to play Star World."
"Shouldn't this be considered a cheat?"
"Does it count? Just use the physical hack, click on the elf, it's your fault that you don't have it."
"It's painful. I can only exchange it for fruit."
"It seems that the other ones have also updated Red Queen's connection one after another. Although other aspects are not as good, at least I can use it when the new version comes out."
"Umbrella is so stupid to cultivate a competitor like this."
"Haha, Umbrella only taxes 5% for all ordinary smartphones and 10% for high-end smartphones. Why would you work so hard when you can just do nothing?"
"And the screen and camera are also theirs, don't forget the battery too! If the function of their chip is really as described, then the chip can also be torn open."
"So other mobile phones are just sold by brand?"
“You really make money just by lying down?”
"Good boy, I'm convinced."
"But Umbrella's research and development capabilities are really strong. The performance of the White Queen they have produced so far is even better than that of the same model of fruit just by looking at the parameters."
"Otherwise, why do you think it's called 'Umbrella'?"
"Fuck, go check out the internet, it's awesome, it's from Red Queen's phone!"
"What happened again?"
But now with simultaneous translation, it has become quite easy to understand. When I went out to take a look, I saw that the hottest topic at the moment was a young man on TT lying on the hospital bed excitedly talking about his experience.
"Brothers, I was saved by the 'Red Queen'!"
As he finished speaking, he took out his mobile phone. The Red Queen phone, which had never been broken before, was now covered with cracks and even deformed.
But seeing the cracks and deformations, no one thinks that the quality of the Red Queen phone is poor!
Because, there was a bullet embedded in the cell phone, a bullet stained with blood!
The bullet was firmly stuck in the phone.
The battery that was penetrated did not explode at this time.
Then, the young man on the bed said to the screen:
"Brothers, the unfortunate news is that I broke two ribs, so I need to be hospitalized now, but fortunately, I survived!"
"Thank you Umbrella, thank you Red Queen, thank you my phone!"
"I will treasure it forever and pass it on because it saved my life!"
