Chapter 360 Future Strategy of Chip
"The main architecture of the next-generation chip remains unchanged, but we provide customers with more choices in the subdivision of the main frequency."
SIC's first generation of chips actually only had three models, and each model had only one specification.
The specification mentioned here refers to the main frequency of the chip, such as 5MHz for 8089A and 8MHz for 8089.
What Shima Masayoshi wants to do now is to provide different versions of main frequency parameters for each model of chip based on increasing the number of transistors.
"For example, the 80289M and 80289 chips are currently under development.
Although the address bus is 8 bits, both have a much larger number of transistors than the previous generation of chips.
According to Shima Masayoshi's plan, the 80289M (M stands for mini version) will have more than 60,000 transistors integrated inside, which is nearly half more than the more than 40,000 transistors of the previous generation 8089A.
At the same time, several different versions have been developed in terms of operating frequency: 5MHz, 8MHz, and 10MHz.
As its enhanced version, 80289, has more than 90,000 transistors inside, and has several different main frequency versions: 8MHz, 10MHz, and 12MHz.
What are the benefits of doing this? In addition to the same product line, there are three more products with different positioning.
This is also the first time that SIC has provided consumers with multiple options for the same generation of microprocessors, making its chip lineup more comprehensive and detailed.
At the same time, the new generation of chips will be compatible with the instruction set of the previous generation of chips, which means that after developers get the latest generation of chips from SIC, they do not need to re-familiarize themselves with the logic of the instruction set.
As long as you have previous development experience, you will be able to quickly get started using the new generation of chips.
This will greatly lower the threshold for SIC chip development and will also greatly facilitate the further promotion of SIC chips in the market.
According to SIC's vision, each subsequent generation of chips will continue this tradition, improving the architecture while enriching the instruction set.
After several generations of products like this, SIC's chips will truly develop into a family of products.
As the market expands, users will gradually become accustomed to the application of SIC architecture and instruction set.
By then, SIC's chips will become another mainstream in the processor market, and people will no longer easily change their usage habits.
Simply put, this generation of chips is improving internal strength and laying a foundation, and is the first step towards the familyization and inheritance of SIC.
The reason why Shima Masayoshi has such confidence is that SIC's chips have been widely recognized in Japan's domestic market.
Especially with the popularity of Fujitsu computers, more software developers have accepted the existence of SIC chips.
They are an important link in the chip ecological chain. If we hold them firmly, we will not have to worry about the market acceptance of SIC chips.
Through Shima Masayoshi's explanation, Shirakawa Kaede has roughly understood SIC's future strategic route.
"Besides these two chips, do we have any plans for higher-end chips?"
The low-end market is the basic base, but the profits from high-end chips are equally lucrative.
More than 300,000 16-bit chips brought Shirakawa Feng more than 10 billion yen in revenue. How could he not care about such a high rate of return?
“We are currently developing a new 16-bit chip model, the 80281, which has 160,000 transistors integrated inside.
There are also different versions of main frequency: 8MHz, 12MHz, 16MHz, and 20MHz. "
Shima Masayoshi also had high hopes for this chip. He introduced this most powerful chip of SIC to Shirakawa Feng in detail.
“Like the previous two, it is fully compatible with all three previous generation chips and can run all software written for its predecessors.
In addition, it will be SIC's last 16-bit chip and also the 16-bit chip with the most versions."
"The last 16-bit chip?" Bai Chuanfeng muttered strangely.
"That's right," Shima Masayoshi nodded, "80281 will be officially launched next year, which is 1983.
After this chip, we focused on developing SIC's first 32-bit chip, 80381.
According to the plan, this chip will be officially launched on the market around 1985.”
"32-bit chip..." Baichuan Feng was in a trance after hearing this number.
Because the 32-bit era is infinitely close to the computer configurations he was familiar with in his previous life.
As far as I can remember, in the 2000s, many computers still ran 32-bit operating systems.
Unexpectedly, it has appeared in the world since the mid-1980s.
Of course, it has gone through many updates and iterations, but this still does not affect Baichuan Feng's feeling about how fast time passes.
"Semiconductor processing methods have made great progress. The 1.5μm process newly developed this year is enough for us to try a larger number of transistors."
Today's semiconductor manufacturing process has developed to the 1.5μm era. According to news from Fujitsu, they will be able to reach this process next year.
With the premise of technical realization, Shima Masayoshi officially began to attack 32-bit processors.
"Mr. Dao, if you have any questions during the development process, you can always contact me. SIC will fully support the research and development of 32-bit chips."
This chip family, which will be used for nearly 20 to 30 years in the future, is worth Baichuan Feng's investment at all costs.
At the same time, he now has a hunch that if SIC's chips are to be passed down for a long time in the future.
Perhaps it is time to consider overseas markets. After all, the main development base of computers is in North America.
That's where computer innovations are driven. After all, Japan is still too small.
However, SIC’s early goal is to survive, and Neon is the best choice.
Once the problem of survival is solved, it is time to consider further growth.
After going over SIC's development plan for the next few years with Masayoshi Shima, Shirakawa Kaede felt more confident.
In addition to Shirakawa Electric, another future technology giant has broken free from the cocoon that bound it and is about to spread its wings and fly.
As the popularity of SIC chips gradually increases, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry seems to have noticed us recently.
They communicated with me several times intentionally or unintentionally, but there were no direct requests. It seemed that they just wanted to understand the situation.
Since they didn't say anything, Baichuan Feng was too lazy to guess anymore and just did his own business.
I haven't broken any law and I've paid my taxes every year, so there shouldn't be any problem.
After all, compared with processor chips and DRAM chips, the latter's shipment volume far exceeds the former.
Chips are almost essential parts inside an electronic product.
There is usually only one processor chip, but there can be two or even four DRAMs.
For example, mainframes and compatible computers, which are still the mainstream today, have several times more DRAM chips inside than personal computers.
This is true for more complex products, which is why Japan's semiconductor manufacturers entered the DRAM chip business in the past few years.
The lack of development of processor chips is one factor, and the strong demand for DRAM chips is also one of the reasons.
However, with the development of personal computers in recent years, the shipment volume of processor chips has also increased year by year.
Perhaps in a few years, more and more semiconductor companies will enter this industry.
But by then, SIC will already be a pioneer in the industry, and its market share will become more stable.
This is the advantage of entering the market early, with few competitors, except for Intel, Motorola, and Texas Instruments, which are considered big companies.
Other semiconductor companies such as Zligo and MOS are still a little smaller in scale, but SIC, backed by Japan's domestic market, is no longer afraid of their existence.
The most important thing is that SIC has its own chip architecture. If it is given a few more years, it may be able to compete with Intel.
…
It’s December, the busiest time of the year.
Major companies are busy with year-end inventory and summary, and office workers are looking forward to the most generous annual bonus at the end of the year.
In order to harvest the wallets of office workers, businesses have spared no effort in launching various promotional activities one after another.
As a form of entertainment for the general public, the entertainment industry also holds various New Year's Eve parties and award ceremonies one after another at the end of the year.
As one of the most popular singers today, Seiko Matsuda also attended the awards ceremony of the Fuji Radio FNS Song Festival tonight.
Unexpectedly, he even won the FNS Song Festival Grand Prize with the song "Wild Rose Etude".
With the blessing of the grand prize , Seiko Matsuda should be in a happy mood.
But it was obvious from her puffy mouth as she just came out of the meeting place that she was not in such a good mood.
As for the reasons why she was in a bad mood, there were too many. The first one was Akina Nakamori, who was always being compared with her.
Because of the single "Second Love", it has now sold nearly 800,000 copies thanks to the popularity of CDs.
Akina Nakamori has undoubtedly become the brightest star in the pop music scene, and because her personality is completely different from that of Seiko Matsuda, people often compare them together.
For example, Akina Nakamori has a very strong personality of her own. She is definitely not a singer who allows herself to be manipulated by others, even when facing her own producers or agency.
She is very real and speaks so much so that she often has to say "Sorry, that's rude" out of politeness.
This kind of personality is unique among idols of this era, and is in sharp contrast to Seiko Matsuda.
Seiko Matsuda has a high emotional intelligence. She smiles at everyone she meets, is very friendly to everyone, and is very careful about what she says.
The songs she sings are all sunny, so she was given the title of "Girl of Light".
However, where there is light, there is shadow.
The appearance of Akina Nakamori fills the opposite side of Seiko Matsuda's star path. Her personality and her songs interpret the "dark" side very thoroughly.
Thus, the "Son of God Faction" and the "Mingcai Faction" came into being.
And who is the culprit behind all this? It's her own man, Baichuan Feng!
In Matsuda Seiko's opinion, the historic success of Akina Nakamori's "Second Love" was entirely due to the fact that Shirakawa Electric chose her for its advertising CM.
With the New Year's momentum, I believe that "Second Love" will be able to hit a million sales mark in the near future.
Millions of sales, a goal that is out of reach for many artists.
Her own "Wild Rose Etude" and "Second Love" were released at the same time, but they have only sold 200,000 copies so far. How can Seiko Matsuda not be jealous?
Why did this guy choose Akina Nakamori? It was her second time on the "Star Birth" show and she sang her own song.
I have so many songs and I am well behaved, but the CD player commercials didn't even consider me? It's outrageous.
Humph, let me show you how I punish you.
Seiko Matsuda has already decided that this time she will ignore him unless he coaxes me.
She kept chattering along the way and walked with her head down, but she didn't notice that a figure appeared in front of her.
