The Red Era, the Opening University Speech

Chapter 132 General-purpose integrated circuit computer!

I originally thought that this title was definitely not as good as Director Ye Zhupei's, but I didn't expect that after he finished speaking, Mr. Xu suddenly exclaimed "Huh" in surprise.

"Li Mu?" He pointed at Li Mu, his eyes full of curiosity. "From Beijing Institute of Technology?"

"Do you know me?" Li Mu was surprised. Is he so famous? This shouldn't be the case.

Many people in the semiconductor industry know him, but his fame is limited to within the circle.

Unless his name appears in the newspaper one day, it will be impossible for him to be known to the public.

"Haha, of course I know. People often mention you to me. Come in and sit down." Mr. Xu warmly invited them into his home.

He made more tea and continued, "I wonder why Director Ye came to see me?"

"Mr. Xu, you should be familiar with the top-blown oxygen converter." Ye Zhupei thought for a while and said.

"Of course. I have studied materials science for half my life. How could I not know this?" Old Xu smiled and suddenly sighed, "It's a pity that our country is still using open-hearth furnaces to make steel."

"Without the right technology, we are still trying to meet steel production targets. As a result, the steel we produce is completely unusable. It's simply a waste of precious resources."

"Haha, I'm just complaining a few words, you guys just listen and forget about it, there's nothing wrong with this matter itself."

"It's just that the conditions are not ripe yet."

At his age, he is already in semi-retirement, but he dares to say things that others dare not say.

"What if I tell you that the conditions are ripe?" Ye Zhupei said.

Mr. Xu was surprised when he heard this: "Could it be that you have already developed a top-blown oxygen converter?"

"Ahem, it's not our research institute, it's Beijing Institute of Technology." Ye Zhupei coughed twice awkwardly and glanced at Li Mu who had been silent since he came in.

Seeing his eyes, Li Mu secretly thought that something was wrong.

Sure enough, the next moment Ye Zhupei said: "To be more precise, it was his research that succeeded."

"Him?" Old Xu looked at Li Mu in surprise and asked, "Isn't he researching semiconductors?"

Hearing this, Ye Zhupei was also stunned, and turned his head and asked: "Have you also studied semiconductors?"

"Well, I do have some knowledge of this. Mr. Xu, have you heard of me?" Li Mu coughed lightly and quickly changed the subject.

He has not only studied it, but is currently doing it.

The top-blown oxygen converter was just something I did as I went along.

Mr. Xu smiled and said:
"Haha, of course I know. Some people praise you as rare in heaven and unrivaled on earth!"

"I didn't quite believe it at first, but now I see that I really underestimated you!"

"From semiconductors to steel metallurgy, he even invented the top-blown oxygen converter. His talent is truly extraordinary!"

Hearing this, Li Mu reacted quickly.

He knew three people at China Europe International Business University, and since Mr. Xu's surname was Xu, the answer was obvious.

He asked curiously, "Are you Xu Qing's?"

"She is my granddaughter." Old Xu said with a smile.

Li Mu suddenly understood. No wonder Mr. Xu kept staring at him after he introduced himself.

He smiled and said, "That's a coincidence. I was wondering why she was so good, it turns out she has family background in learning."

"Alright, alright, stop carrying the bridal sedan. You didn't come here to chat with an old man like me, did you?" Old Xu waved his hand.

Li Mu glanced at Ye Zhupei, who smiled and signaled with his eyes.

He then said, "It's like this. We are now designing an industrial production workshop for a single 300-ton top-blown oxygen converter, but we have encountered problems with high-temperature resistant materials."

"Director Ye immediately thought of you and another professor, saying that you are the authorities among authorities in iron and steel metallurgy."

"Look, are you interested in coming out?"

Hearing this, Mr. Xu's originally smiling eyes suddenly turned serious, and he said, "Of course, no problem. I have no choice but to do this."

"Are you going to look for Old Sun next? No need to go, I'll talk to him."

"You just need to find someone to inform them about this matter. We are old enough to walk and can get there by ourselves."

"It's good that you agree, but we still have to go to Mr. Sun's place." Li Muxi said.

With these two old professors around, there will basically be no problems in the research of high-temperature resistant materials.

Afterwards, the three of them went to the residence of another Mr. Sun together.

When the latter heard their purpose, he agreed without hesitation.

……

The next day, Mr. Xu and Mr. Sun rushed to Beijing Institute of Technology and began to participate in the research of high-temperature resistant materials.

But a week later, there was little progress.

Even though Li Mu pretended to have an idea and gave some thoughts, it still didn't have much effect.

The purity and proportion of the raw materials, as well as the temperature, pressure, time and other conditions during the synthesis process all require time to study.

……

After leaving the Iron and Steel Metallurgy Laboratory, Li Mu returned to the dormitory.

Sitting at the table, he sorted out his current research ideas.

As for materials, it is just the beginning and he cannot intervene too much, at least no breakthrough can be achieved in a short period of time.

Li Mu held the pen in his hand, frowning and thinking:
"The Semiconductor Research Institute has made some good progress recently."

"The integration level of the chip has been further improved, and now it has reached 2000, which has laid a solid foundation for research."

"I have learned almost everything about the various chips of integrated circuit computers. Maybe it's time to make it."

"Wait, I remember that computers can be used in materials research!"

As he was thinking about it, Li Mu quickly opened the historical development materials of semiconductors and searched in it.

Not long after, he found the corresponding information, and his eyes were filled with joy: "That's it, computational materials science!"

Computational materials science is an interdisciplinary subject between materials science and computer science. It can predict and design material structure and properties through theoretical models and calculations.

If it can be done, researching high-temperature resistant materials can save a lot of time and resources.

Thinking of this, Li Mu immediately rummaged through the pile of manuscript papers on the table, and then worked overtime to completely write out the chip manufacturing plans for the integrated circuit computer.

……

In the afternoon, he took time to visit the Semiconductor Research Institute.

As soon as I reached the entrance of the institute's laboratory building, I bumped into Wang Shoujue who was walking in a hurry.

The latter said with a smile:
"Hey, you're here so early. Have you finished your work with the iron and steel metallurgy department?"

Wang Shoujue’s teasing made Li Mu laugh and cry.

He complained: "You are wronging me. Although I am running over there, I have not fallen behind in my research here." "Haha, I was just joking with you." Wang Shoujue laughed twice and said, "But you really can't sit still. The research here has entered the stage of slow work, and you turn around and do steel smelting."

"Director Ye from the Chemical Metallurgy Research Institute called me yesterday and asked me about it. I was wondering why they also have a Li Mu."

"But you did a great job. The top-blown oxygen converter is of great significance to our country's steel production industry!"

At the end, he was full of emotion.

Li Mu smiled after hearing this and said modestly: "It's all thanks to those experts and professors. I just gave some ideas."

"Why does this sound so familiar to me? Have you said this before?" Wang Shoujue couldn't help but teased.

"Ahem." Li Mu quickly changed the subject and said seriously:
"Director Wang, I think our current chip integration has reached the basic requirements, and we can consider developing integrated circuit computers."

Hearing his question, the smile on Wang Shoujue's face disappeared, and his brows unconsciously frowned. He said: "This is the first universal integrated circuit computer in the world."

"We don't actually know how much integration is needed or whether there are any problems with other technologies."

"But since you think it's feasible, then go find Professor Huang and the others and have a small meeting to discuss it."

……

15 minutes later, in Wang Shoujue's office.

Huang Xinhua, Wu Xi and Huang Kun entered the house one after another and sat down on the sofa.

After everyone arrived, Wang Shoujue put down the last cup of tea and went straight to the point:
"Li Mu believes that we now have the foundation to develop integrated circuit computers. Professor Huang, what do you think?"

Hearing his words, the three of them were stunned for a moment, and then Huang Xinhua spoke first:

"It's a bit of a stretch, but with current CMOS technology, it's not impossible to support the development of integrated circuit computers."

"At least there aren't any major problems with the craftsmanship."

"Now that the research of each group has entered a state of steady development, I think it is possible for them to advance in parallel."

Wu Xi followed suit and expressed his support, saying with a smile: "The application research of J language has basically replaced the previous mechanical language."

"The work of compiling textbooks is also coming to an end, and there are basically no other tasks."

"I think it's possible to shift the focus to the development of general-purpose integrated circuit computers."

"I agree, but I'm afraid we need to solve a problem first." Huang Kun frowned, seeing everyone looking at him, and said:

"We don't have the storage technology needed for integrated circuit computers yet. Do we still have to use the old storage?"

"Although dynamic random access memory has been developed before, this storage method will lose data once the power is cut off."

"The first general-purpose integrated circuit computer cannot be released with such a huge flaw."

After he finished speaking, Wang Shoujue and the others couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

The advent of the integrated circuit computer was certainly a major scientific achievement that shocked the world.

There is no way we can lose face internationally.

Li Mu hesitated for a moment and said, "Don't worry about the memory yet. I'll find a way. Let's first solve the more important chip problems such as the CPU, GPU, and DSP."

After that, he took out a stack of manuscript paper from his bag and put it on the table: "These are some of my ideas about these chips. Please correct me first."

The first thing he did this time was to raise questions and build an overall framework for the research.

The development of integrated circuit computers is a large-scale systematic project. It is impossible to solve all the problems at once and it needs to be advanced slowly.

"What!" Wang Shoujue, Huang Xinhua and others widened their eyes in shock after hearing this.

Compared with the chip problem, the memory is nothing at all. It seems that Li Mu is picking the most difficult one to deal with first!
Without caring about the storage device, several people hurriedly picked up the manuscript paper on the table.

After just a cursory glance, they were amazed at the rigor and meticulousness of the plan.

"It's totally feasible! We can officially launch the project!" Not long after, Wang Shoujue was the first to draw a conclusion, then looked at Li Mu and said with praise:
"I thought you were busy with the top-blowing oxygen converter and didn't have time to continue your in-depth research on semiconductors."

"I didn't expect you to be ahead of us!"

"We can put the memory problem aside for now. Now that we have the development direction and plan for various chips, we can prioritize them and focus on computer chips first."

Huang Xinhua and the other two nodded. Now was the time to race against time, so they naturally couldn't get stuck on the memory.

……

Afterwards, after determining the research task, Wang Shoujue and others quickly took action, gathered people and began to prepare for the research.

Naturally, Li Mu had to follow along to assist and first build a rough research framework, and then leave the rest to Huang Xinhua and others.

It sounds easy, but it took him a whole night to complete the chip.

……

After riding his bike back home, Li Mu fell asleep and didn't get up until noon.

While washing, he sighed and said, no wonder those handsome scientists in later generations became sloppy in appearance later on.

Staying up late every day to do scientific research, no matter how handsome you are, you can't stand this!

After getting up and having lunch, and teaching his two younger sisters to recognize words for a while, Li Mu returned to his room to think about the solution for the storage device.

First take out a piece of manuscript paper and write the three words "memory" on it.

Then, he opened the memory portion of the integrated circuit computer data in his mind to see if he could find any ideas.

Semiconductor memory is basically used in later generations, which requires a very high level of integration, which is definitely not achievable now.

The next best option is CD-ROM storage, but this has a fatal flaw: the writing speed is too slow, which is also not acceptable.

Taking another step back, Li Mu's eyes moved slightly: "Tape storage, this seems to be okay."

The emergence of magnetic tape storage can be traced back to 63, when Filopro invented the cassette tape, which was then gradually used to store computer data.

The storage capacity is large, the memory medium can be reused, the recorded information can be stored for a long time without being lost, and can even be saved offline...

These advantages are not as good as three words - low price.

"This is it. Make it and sell it to Emperor M to make a lot of money!" Li Mu made the decision quickly.

The technical content of magnetic tape storage is not high and the cost is low. Emperor M cannot make it now, so if he wants to use it, he can only buy it from them.

Although M Emperor will be able to develop it in two years, but in two years, with sufficient financial support, he may be able to develop semiconductor memory as well.

As long as those M emperors want to use it, they have to pay him!

Three days later, Li Mu found Wang Shoujue with the magnetic tape storage device development plan.

The latter's look was somewhat surprised, but he was used to it.

Anyway, whenever there is a difficulty that requires a lot of time to overcome, Li Mu, the super genius, can always solve it in time!

After reading the content, he immediately expressed that he could set up an integrated circuit computer development team and officially start development.

Li Mu also officially joined and served as the leader of the relatively easy tape storage research team.

(End of this chapter)