Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 496 A new wave of plagiarism against Zhiyun
On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, at the fruit company headquarters, a group of executives and technical experts surrounded the dismantled Yun VW in front of them.

But the expressions of many people present were not very good.

"We have basically confirmed that although Zhiyun's virtual device is very advanced in the hardware field, and the performance of many hardware has reached a level that we cannot achieve at present, this is not the point!"

"The key point is their system, which is the core system they call the VW2.5 intelligent system. This system is based on big data architecture. According to our many tests, it includes the basic operating system, motion control system, tactile feedback system, and picture simulation system of the entire system!"

"This is a much more complex system than the control systems of their intelligent robots!"

"Because they have kept the system program very confidential, we are currently unable to crack and extract the source code, so we have no idea how they implemented these complex systems, especially their motion control system, which combines human motion data processing, analysis, and prediction, and will continue to learn and further improve the accuracy with the individual user's motion habits!"

"This is beyond our comprehension!"

"It must rely on a more advanced, unknown underlying artificial intelligence algorithm, and we know nothing about this algorithm!"

"Compared to this system, its hardware field is something we can understand and even catch up with!"

"Among its many hardware systems, the core is their series of chips, including APO5000 graphics card or APO4600 graphics card, ZY34 chip or ZY38 chip, as well as X5 consumer graphics card that provides basic image support, and their server CPU based on 320-nanometer process, WZ, which has not yet been released."

"In addition, there are DDR5 high-speed memory, high-speed flash memory and other auxiliary chips!"

"The server GPU graphics card series, APO4600 is a product sold publicly by Zhiyun Group, and the APO5000 graphics card will soon be available for sale. Although we cannot make such server GPUs ourselves, we can purchase them from Zhiyun Semiconductor. If that doesn't work, we can also use AMD's RO platform."

"The ZY34 or ZY38 big data processing chip is quite special and has great technical difficulty, but it does not require much ecological support. Although it is complicated to design, as long as we are willing to invest R&D funds and a certain amount of time, we can make a similar ultra-large-scale data processing chip."

"For server CPUs, Intel and AMD both have similar products. Although they don't have 7-nanometer chips yet, they will have them next year or the year after."

"In the field of flash memory and memory chips, Four Star can also provide advanced products of the same level."

"The consumer-grade X5 graphics card is an NVIDIA product under the Zhiyun Group, but you can buy it at will!"

"As for the aforementioned core chips, considering that Zhiyun Group has been selling them publicly in order to seize the chip market, we are able to obtain all the other chips except the ZY series chips."

"In the field of sensors, other sensors are relatively conventional sensors. Their high-performance small laser radars and pressure sensor arrays with gloves and shoe covers have relatively high technical barriers. China also has many suppliers of laser radars. Qianshan Precision Technology, a subsidiary of Hailan Automobile, provides laser radars to the outside world, and Zhiyun Group's laser radars also come from this company. Although we can't get their top-level laser radar products, other products can be used even if their performance is slightly worse!"

"The pressure sensor array is a bit more troublesome. This thing is developed by Zhiyun Group for its own use. We can't find other suppliers. We can only support other manufacturers or develop it ourselves. But if we are given some time, we can still make it. The most we can do is that the performance will be worse!"

"Another technical barrier is the motor and corresponding control system on their universal treadmill. The movement is high-frequency and precise, which places very high demands on the motor itself and control technology. However, Japan also has corresponding motor products, and we can develop the control system ourselves!"

"Finally, there is a helmet display, the core component of which is the fifth-generation Micro OLED screen provided by Huaxing Technology. We can also purchase this screen. Although Xu Shenxue holds a controlling stake in Huaxing Technology, in order to compete with Four Star in the field of high-end screens, they have always vigorously promoted new products. We have already purchased some of Huaxing Technology's OLED screens. In the field of AR glasses or VR glasses and even future VR glasses, we plan to establish a cooperative relationship with Huaxing Technology."

"If that doesn't work, Sony in Japan can also provide inferior Micro OLED screens!"

"From a hardware perspective, we can actually solve these problems. Of course, the performance may be worse and the cost may be higher, but it can be done!"

"The problem is, even if we have all the parts ready and assembled, how do we control them?"

"We have created a body, but this body lacks a corresponding soul. What is the point of creating it?"

"Just like the previous intelligent robots, in fact, we, Google, Sixing or other companies have disassembled and studied Zhiyun Group's intelligent robots countless times. We are familiar with the hardware characteristics of each model and each generation of their intelligent robots. We can even develop the hardware part of similar intelligent robots now!"

"But this is useless. We lack the underlying control system. We can't make robots with the same hardware performance level reach the level of flexibility of their robots!"

"The intelligent robot we tested internally at the beginning of the year is not much worse than the first generation Zhiyun robot in terms of hardware, but it will fall down if it walks a little faster, not to mention doing other complex movements!"

"The core here is still artificial intelligence, and in this regard, we are still far behind!"

As this person continued to speak, the others present remained silent. After a long time, someone said, "So, we can't make this virtual device either?"

After the man finished speaking, he looked around again, and then said in a very heavy tone: "But this represents an important technical direction for the future. This is a virtual device that represents the future virtual era!"

"We can't give up, there's no way we can give up!"

"If we give up, then in a few years when the virtual era continues to explode, we will be ruthlessly abandoned by the times!"

“Just like the intelligent robot project, we know it’s difficult, but we have never given up. Even if it’s not possible now, we will still maintain research and development. We don’t need to be as good as Zhiyun’s robots, we just need to be better than other manufacturers’ robots. The robot market will be a huge market worth hundreds of billions or even trillions of dollars in the future. As long as we are ranked second in the industry, it will be enough to support our stock price!”

"There is also the smart electric vehicle project. Although our Titan project faces many problems, the smart electric vehicle market is also an extremely huge market in the future. As long as we stick to the autonomous driving technology route, we will be able to achieve L4 level autonomous driving for Hailan Automobile sooner or later. Even if we cannot achieve L4 level, as long as we can reach L3 level, we can also set off a huge wave!"

"Now, the same is true for virtual devices. Is it difficult? Of course it is difficult. This is a top-notch product that Xu Shenxue has polished for many years. Whether it is from the hardware equipment or the operating system, it represents the top level of contemporary human technology!"

"But this is the future, and we can't give up the future!"

"Just like smart robots, we are lacking in the field of artificial intelligence, so we don't need to compare with Zhiyun's virtual equipment, we just need to do better than other manufacturers!"

"The virtual market in the future will be large enough. Zhiyun cannot take over all the market, at least not the American market. We just need to make it. Even if it is a little worse, we can still take over the corresponding market share!"

At this time, another senior executive said: "I have also carefully read the technical analysis report of Yun VW. The current difficulty lies in the motion system and the picture simulation system!"

"So can we do some subtraction, discard the motion system that is technically difficult and cannot be replicated, and just focus on the picture simulation?"

"Just like what you said just now, we can purchase the fifth-generation Micro OLED screen, and the X5 graphics card that provides picture support is also available. As for the physical simulation characteristics of the picture, can we develop a system ourselves to solve it? Although the Zhiyun Simulation Engine they announced is not open source, we can also refer to it!"

"In this case, can we create a highly immersive virtual device that can be operated by traditional mouse or keyboard, gestures, etc.?"

"In this way, we can avoid the most critical artificial intelligence technology!"

"As far as I know, Zhiyun Group's virtual division has revealed in the industry that they are about to produce a simplified virtual device that removes the motion system. Can we also make one?"

As soon as this person said this, Cook, who was at the top, finally spoke up: "The virtual age has arrived. We can't just ignore it. We can't make a complete virtual device with a motion system for the time being, but we still have great hope for a simplified version without a motion system!"

“Let’s set up a virtual equipment project team, integrate the VR project team that is currently developing it, and increase the recruitment of top talents. I need to see a prototype of this virtual equipment in a year!”

The fruit company has made corresponding decisions, and several other large companies are no exception and have followed suit!

Google and Facebook overseas have both established corresponding virtual device project teams!
Several large domestic high-tech companies, mainly large Internet companies, have followed suit.

Even Yihai Technology itself is trying to create a simplified version of the virtual device.

What’s interesting is that their virtual devices all avoid motion systems that require artificial intelligence technology support, and instead focus on visual immersion!

To put it bluntly, they actually want to make a pair of VR glasses with ultra-high-definition images, and then imitate certain visual simulation effects as much as possible, that is, various physical special effects, while the operation methods are still various traditional operation methods, which can be regarded as a pseudo-virtual device.

It's a bit like when Apple's smartphones first came out. Other mobile phone manufacturers didn't have technical solutions such as multi-touch, so they used keyboards, trackballs and other methods instead, and came out with a lot of pseudo-smartphones.

This is not the first time that major companies have imitated Zhiyun Group.

Whatever Zhiyun Group comes up with, they all want to imitate it. Sometimes they succeed, but sometimes they fail.

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At the same time, the Yun VW virtual device was launched to great fanfare, and Zhiyun Group previously released the Yun Robot, an intelligent robot that no other company has been able to imitate so far.

This has once again made major companies realize the importance of artificial intelligence technology!
The underlying technology of these two terminal devices is artificial intelligence technology!

As a result, before the virtual equipment projects of major companies were even launched, Zhiyun Semiconductor received a new wave of orders for its APO series graphics cards.

Many companies are asking when the APO5000 graphics card will be available for sale, and they can't wait to place an order.

And the purchase volume will be staggering.

In this regard, Zhiyun Semiconductor did not keep its customers waiting too long!
One week after the launch of the Yun VW virtual device, Zhiyun Semiconductor held a new product launch conference for the industry.

Officially released a number of new products!

Fu Zhengyang, senior vice president of Zhiyun Group and CEO of Zhiyun Semiconductor, introduced their latest APO series graphics card: APO5000 at the press conference.
"Our APO5000 uses an equivalent 3-nanometer process, with a transistor density of 80 million per square millimeter. The GPU core has 2 billion transistors, and is equipped with HBM high-performance video memory developed by Zhiyun Storage. The standard video memory is GB, and the bandwidth reaches TB per second."

“The new GPU architecture supports the new generation of YT5.0 communication and interconnection technology!”

"APO5000 has significantly improved hardware performance compared to APO4600, with a bridge speed of 800GB per second and PCLE4.0 bandwidth of 64GB per second."

"Our APO5000 graphics card also has a larger high-speed flash memory capacity and uses the more advanced HBM3 high-speed memory technology, which gives this graphics card a stronger ability to process large-scale data and complex computing tasks."

"In terms of specific computing performance, its FP32, or floating-point operations, reached 22.8 TFLOPS."

"The previous generation APO4600 only had 32TFLOPS of FP16 computing power, which is a % increase!"

"Thanks to the new computing architecture, our APO can perform AI tasks with a training speed 4600 times faster than APO, and a calculation speed times faster!"

When Fu Zhengyang was bragging about it, he actually didn't tell anyone that this powerful APO5000 graphics card was actually a castrated version...

There is also an AI6000 graphics card above that uses the same GPU core but has more powerful performance!

As the AI6000 graphics card used by Zhiyun Group, Zhiyun Semiconductor used 160GB of HBM3 high-speed memory for it. It also adopted its own exclusive interconnection technology and computing architecture, making the AI6000 more suitable for processing big data training, that is, for training and running artificial intelligence.

Using its own version of interconnection technology and computing architecture, the AI6000 graphics card has the same GPU core as the APO5000 graphics card, but with double the video memory, if used to run AI, its training performance can be improved by times, and its inference performance can be improved by three times!
Although both graphics cards use the same GPU core architecture and the same generation of high-speed video memory, the different memory capacities, interconnection technologies, and algorithm architectures used lead to huge performance differences in the AI ​​field.

This is overlooked by many people... After all, Zhiyun Group never discloses these things to the public.

Outsiders know that Zhiyun Group has its own version of AI series graphics cards with better performance, but they don’t know that the performance difference is so great.

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Besides, outsiders are lucky to be able to buy the APO5000 graphics card...otherwise, there is nothing you can do if Zhiyun Group says it won't sell it.

You can't really use AMD's RO platform's garbage computing power card, right? AMD doesn't use its own RO graphics card to train its own GTAI2 artificial intelligence, but instead purchases Zhiyun Group's APO series graphics cards...

After all, the latest model of RO graphics card developed by AMD itself only has a 4500-nanometer process, but it can't even reach % of the performance of APO graphics card.

Compared with APO5000, its performance is several generations behind.

Zhiyun Semiconductor officially announced the release of the APO5000 graphics card, which is a major step forward in the field of server computing power cards. It also released several other chip products.

This includes the W1160 chip that uses the seven-nanometer process technology, which is the mobile phone SOC for export. This is currently the third chip in the Fruit A series that uses the seven-nanometer process, second only to the Zhiyun S series. In the future, it will be used in the flagship phones of major mobile phone manufacturers, such as the Little Blue MAX series from Wecoo Electronics.

The PX5 chip, also based on the seven-nanometer process, is the latest generation of medium and large-scale general-purpose terminal computing chips released by Zhiyun Group, providing top-level computing platform solutions for major automobile manufacturers.

There is also an EYQ5 chip, but this chip is used by the group and its sister companies, so it is not announced to the public.

In fact, the PX5 chip is also a scaled-down version of the EYQ5 chip... The core architecture of the two is the same, but the functions are limited.

It also released the APS series of consumer-grade graphics cards based on the second-generation 10-nanometer process. This is a consumer-grade graphics card separated from the early APO graphics cards. It mainly focuses on the field of office graphics. It is a more professional graphics card. It is generally purchased by enterprises and mostly used in graphics workstations. The sales volume is average.

But you can still play games on it. After all, it still uses the same Zhiyun GPU development ecosystem. However, using this thing to play games is not worth the effort. It is better to directly buy an NVIDIA brand gaming graphics card for a higher cost performance... because this thing is also quite expensive, costing several thousand yuan.

There is also a more important ZY38 chip, which is also a self-use chip, so it has not been released to the public.

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Just a few days later, Wichi Technology, a subsidiary of Zhiyun Semiconductor, also held a press conference and officially launched a series of CPU products based on the seven-nanometer process.

The server CPU WZ320 chip adopts the -nanometer process and its comprehensive performance has surpassed Intel's server CPU chip.

This chip uses a 7-nanometer process, and its transistor density reaches 100 million per square millimeter. Even if it is made with the powerful flying brick method, it can still beat Intel's 14-nanometer process. Intel's 14-nanometer process still has a transistor density of more than 40 million per square millimeter.

This server CPU chip has great ambitions. In addition to being used by itself and related institutions, it is also intended to compete for the commercial server CPU market. This market is also very large, but it has been occupied by Intel for a long time. Now, Weizhi Technology, a subsidiary of Zhiyun Semiconductor, plans to use the seven-nanometer process as a killer to grab a wave of market share!
Enterprise users don’t have any brand reliance. If your server CPU is good, they will purchase and use it!
The WZ320 chip with -nanometer process is the gift specially prepared by Vichi Technology for these corporate users!
At the same time, there are also desktop versions of the WZ7000 series CPU and mobile versions of the WZ7000U series CPU. However, in order to control costs, this series of consumer-grade chips uses the second-generation ten-nanometer process.

The mobile CPU chips will be used in Zhiyun Group's new generation of business notebooks, and some desktop chips will be used in all-in-one computers, mini hosts and other PC products.

At the same time, it is also trying to compete for external markets as much as possible and increase the market share of consumer-grade CPUs to more than 30%... This is not easy. Intel's brand advantage in this regard is too great, and consumers recognize Intel's CPUs. This is also a difficult thing to do.

Many times, just because something is good doesn’t mean it will sell well!
In this regard, Wichi Technology, a subsidiary of Zhiyun Group, needs to continue its efforts and continue to use its technological advantages to challenge Intel's leading position in the CPU field, and finally bring them down!
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A few days later, NVIDIA, also owned by Zhiyun Semiconductor, held a new product launch conference in the United States, releasing the consumer-grade flagship X5 graphics card based on the seven-nanometer process.

This thing is used to continue to maintain the brand's high-end attributes and lead the consumer graphics card market!

At the same time, the 20 series graphics cards based on Zhiyun Microelectronics' second-generation -nanometer process were also released, which is the main product with high sales volume.

After other graphics card manufacturers purchase this 20 series GPU core, the price of the entry-level version can be around two thousand five hundred to three thousand yuan.

During this period, Zhiyun Semiconductor Headquarters, Weichi Technology, and NVIDIA, all chip brands under Zhiyun Group, have successively released various chips based on the seven-nanometer process and the second-generation ten-nanometer process.

A new chip competition has started!
In response, Qualcomm also quickly released their 7-nanometer process SOC chip, using TSMC's process.

Warwick also launched their seven-nanometer process SOC chip, which uses the process of Zhiyun Microelectronics.

AMD also soon announced their 10nm CPU and GPU chip plans, and they plan to use Quadcore and TSMC's process for foundry.

Intel also announced their 10-nanometer process chip plan, but it's just a plan...

Because they have not yet been able to solve the problem of using DUV immersion lithography to produce their ten-nanometer process.

It is mainly Intel's 10-nanometer process, which is actually similar to Zhiyun Microelectronics and TSMC's 7-nanometer process. The transistor density reaches about 100 million per square millimeter.

Now Intel has given up using DUV immersion lithography machines and is preparing to use EUV lithography machines in one step... So their 10-nanometer process chip is just a plan. As for when it will be mass-produced, it will probably have to wait until autumn or even later.

Although ASML's fourth generation, which is the first generation of commercial mass-production EUV, has begun to be gradually supplied, its production capacity is not large, and TSMC, Samsung and Intel are competing for production capacity, so the trouble is still quite big.

Unlike Zhiyun Microelectronics, it has exclusive access to the production capacity of Gulf Technology's EUV lithography machines.

But no matter what, after entering January 19, major chip manufacturers dare not relax in the new round of chip competitiveness promoted by Zhiyun Group, and they are all chasing closely.

Competition in the chip field is fierce. Once you fall behind, you will lose a lot of market share, so no one is willing to give up easily.

Of course, sometimes it’s not so easy to follow!

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In the current semiconductor field, the most advanced process is equivalent to the 7-nanometer process, or the 10-nanometer process mentioned by Intel...

The two are actually the same thing, both of which belong to the logic chip process with a transistor density of about 100 million per square millimeter.

Use the quadruple exposure technology of DUV immersion lithography machine, or the single exposure technology of EUV lithography machine with a resolution of 13 nanometers.

Up to now, only Zhiyun Microelectronics and TSMC have solved the technical problems of the 7-nanometer process and carried out large-scale mass production. Samsung and Intel cannot do it. As for other semiconductor manufacturers, they can't even do the 10-nanometer process, and the 14-nanometer process technology is still a stretch.

In other words, the current global 7nm process production capacity is extremely limited, and 7nm process chips are more complex, more difficult to design, have higher tape-out costs, and higher production costs!

Due to a series of problems such as large investment, high technical difficulty and high cost, only top-level mobile phone SOC chips currently use this process, in addition to Zhiyun Group's own series of computing chips.

The only exception is that in order to open up the market in the server GPU field, Wichita Technology boldly adopted the seven-nanometer process and developed a server GPU: WZ320 chip.

In addition, there are no other seven-nanometer process chips for the time being.

It’s too expensive, I can’t afford it!
This is also the reason why Zhiyun Microelectronics continues to work on the 12-nanometer process and the second-generation 10-nanometer process... Many chips nowadays do not actually require such expensive advanced processes as the 7-nanometer process. A 12-nanometer process is sufficient, and high-end products only use the 10-nanometer process.

For the cost of the 7-nanometer process to drop, it will have to wait until EUV lithography machines are put into large-scale use, and only after the huge investment costs of chip manufacturers have been diluted in two years can the cost be reduced.

However, even so, Zhiyun Microelectronics is still not worried about the idle production capacity of the 7-nanometer process, and is even continuing to expand the production capacity of the 7-nanometer process on a large scale.

In addition to the large production capacity and demand of mobile phone SOC chips, more importantly, a large number of Zhiyun Group's computing chips require the seven-nanometer process.

The GPU cores of the AI6000 and APO5000 chips both require the use of seven-nanometer technology.

In addition, the EYQ5 chip also uses a seven-nanometer process, the PX5 chip also uses a seven-nanometer process, the ZY38 also uses a seven-nanometer process, and the light terminal computing chip LC2 also uses a seven-nanometer process.

This is due to the characteristics of computing power chips. For computing power chips, the higher the process, the better, and the price of computing power chips is high enough to support its high cost.

These computing chips are very large in area and occupy a lot of the production capacity of the seven-nanometer process.

Top-level mobile phone SOC and computing chips all require top-level technology...

Although Zhiyun Microelectronics' current 7-nanometer process production capacity is not small, it is still tight in use.

Considering that future chips will be largely switched to seven-nanometer technology, such as consumer-grade CPUs, consumer-grade GPUs, and SOC chips for mid- and low-end mobile phones, the demand for seven-nanometer technology capacity will be even greater.

Therefore, Zhiyun Microelectronics is still continuing to expand the production capacity of the 7-nanometer process, and it is expected to reach 100,000 pieces per month by the end of the year and 150,000 pieces per month next year.

The monthly production capacity of 7-nanometer process is 150,000 pieces, which is the short-term goal of Zhiyun Microelectronics. In the future, depending on market changes, the production capacity of 7-nanometer process may be further increased.

At the same time, Zhiyun Microelectronics is also actively improving the yield rate of the seven-nanometer process...Not all of the monthly silicon wafer production capacity is turned into seven-nanometer process chips, and a considerable portion of them are scrapped, which is greatly affected by the yield rate.

If the yield rate can be improved, even if the production capacity of the semiconductor factory itself remains unchanged, it will still produce more finished chips.

Therefore, Zhiyun Microelectronics is continuing to build factories to expand production capacity on the one hand, and on the other hand it is trying to improve the yield of the seven-nanometer process as much as possible.

At the same time, we are also stepping up efforts to develop an equivalent five-nanometer process!

In early January, Xu Shenxue also met with Ding Chengjun and his team from Zhiyun Microelectronics and held a small meeting on the seven-nanometer process and the future five-nanometer process technology.

Semiconductor technology is the core industry supporting the development of Zhiyun Group and many other high-tech industries!
Xu Shenxue has always attached great importance to it and taken the lead personally!
(End of this chapter)