In 1978, I was admitted to Harbin Institute of Technology

Chapter 141 Based on the low-end chip HZ80, another experimental class leader emerges
“Is this being marketed?”

Seeing the finger-wide LCD display in Xie Wei's hand saying to directly produce calculator samples, Liang Hongbin's mouth twitched.

In his opinion, this thing is simply a low-quality product.

"It's enough as long as it can meet the functional requirements! Moreover, with this, we can definitely develop more small things, such as electronic watches, which have simple technology and high technological content..."

Xie Wei thought of the electronic watches that were selling like hot cakes in the 1980s. Those things looked high-tech, but in fact, they had almost no technological content.

Even in the 1990s, it was still selling very well.

"..."

Liang Hongbin looked at Xie Wei in amazement.

Xie Wei invested more than one million yuan to develop advanced technology, but he actually wanted to push such a low-quality product to the market...

What can be said?
"Xie Wei is more familiar with what products are suitable for the market than we are. What we need to do is to help him develop the technology instead of questioning him. Do you know more about technology than he does?"

Du Guowang scolded Liang Hongbin in a bad mood, even though Liang Hongbin was his brother-in-law, "We still need to increase investment. The display screen required by our CNC system is definitely not suitable for current technology."

"..."

Liang Hongbin was even more speechless.

Don’t you know it yourself?
Just look at Xie Wei.

"In fact, the requirements for CNC systems are not that high. At most, we can add graphic display, but there is no need to display colors..."

Xie Wei thought about it and realized that with early CNC systems, the display only needed to display numbers and letters, and at most it could simulate the tool path generated during the program execution.

Compared to the need for televisions to display a variety of colors and higher resolution, the requirements for CNC systems can be said to be not much different from those of calculator displays.

The only difference is that the monitor needs to show more things and the screen size needs to be larger.

"Whether it's high or not, it's not available now, right? For the CNC numerical control system, samples need to be manufactured for testing before they can be improved. The control system has always been lagging behind..."

Du Guowang looked at Xie Wei with dissatisfaction.

Since Xie Wei came to the school, Du Guowang forced the principal to ask for two funds. The CNC numerical control system and PLC programmable controller can be said to be the earliest.

As a result, other projects have emerged, and these two projects...

"Director Du, the control system was previously delayed because of the chip..."

"Restricted by chips? Chip samples were provided years ago. What have you been doing in the past few months?"

Du Guowang suddenly interrupted Xie Wei rudely.

Excuse!

All Xie Wei said were excuses.

"You yourself kept emphasizing how important CNC machine tools are in the future, how critical they are to the upgrading of the manufacturing industry, and even how they are related to national defense security. What is the result? What is the result of doing it according to your requirements?"

Du Guowang seemed to be extremely angry at this moment, and vented all his dissatisfaction towards Xie Wei.

He went to Chengdu personally to pick up the person.

result……

"Well, Director Du, the chip is the core! Without the chip, everything is useless."

After hearing Du Guowang's words, Xie Wei felt that he was irresponsible and had abandoned her.

In fact, from the very beginning, he showed no interest in this regard.

I provide that paper just to thank Du Guowang.

I never thought that Director Du would misunderstand me.

However, without the funding for these two projects, nothing would be possible.

"The chip worked!"

"..."

Xie Wei remained silent.

At present, we must stick to our own ideas. After the calculator is developed and put on the market, we will use the calculator as a basis to expand its functions, especially the graphics processing function, so as to develop a special computer specifically for auxiliary design.

With the HZ-80 chip, the National University of Defense Technology's supercomputer should be ahead of schedule. If the school has money, Xie Wei will not hesitate to ask Li Rui to buy one from there for some key projects of the school.

However, in each sub-project, microcomputers are more suitable.

Then use the supercomputer as a server to form a local area network with all the computers in the school, integrating all the computing power in the entire computer network.

The entire project involves a lot of future high-tech.

Only when the foundation is in place can other aspects develop better.

"Director Du, both PLC programmable controllers and CNC numerical control systems are indeed crucial to the future manufacturing industry. Both PLC programmable controllers and numerical control systems are inseparable from the development of computers. In the field of computers, we are not far behind the world's advanced level..."

Xie Wei emphasized.

The development of computer technology is the key to the future.

“I didn’t say computer skills aren’t important.”

Du Guowang's voice became much quieter.

In the end, Xie Weixian was no longer required to spend time on the CNC system and PLC.

With the LCD screen, Xie Wei felt much more relaxed.

Calculators, sample production has already begun in the metalworking workshop.

"Ah, if we had finished it two months earlier and participated in the Canton Fair, we would have received a lot of export orders!"

Yu Guofeng looked lost.

After he finishes it, he still hopes to export it and earn money from foreigners.

"We don't need the Canton Fair. As long as we open up the domestic market, there will be no problem. The biggest problem now is that we can't find a suitable production factory."

Xie Wei shook his head.

This is the most annoying thing. Even if the design is completed and all the technologies are mastered, it is not easy to put it into production.

In his time, China had the most complete supporting facilities in the world. If a design was made today, as long as the technology was not too complicated, samples could be obtained tomorrow and then put into mass production.

There are factories that specialize in proofing, as well as OEM factories.

And now, there is nothing.

"Factory 14 can produce it."

Yu Guofeng reminded Xie Wei, "There are no orders for some of the backward small-scale integrated circuits there. After they were transferred from the Shanghai Stock Exchange to the school, there was no production plan and everything depended on orders. And now there are not many orders for HZ80 chips..."

There is also a most realistic problem: even if there are many orders for HZ80 chips, the entire factory cannot produce at full capacity.

"That's just an electronic equipment factory. If we let them produce, we'll need to add injection molding machines, LCD production lines, etc..."

Xie Wei shook his head.

"What if we ask 770 or 774 to help with production?"

Yu Guofeng asked Xie Wei tentatively.

He looked a little nervous.

"???"

Xie Wei looked at Yu Guofeng in confusion, not understanding what he meant.

Didn’t we say before that Factories 770 and 774 can only produce on a small scale under laboratory conditions and are not capable of large-scale production?

Cooperation?

As soon as the idea came up, Xie Wei directly rejected it. "The foundations of 770 and 774 are not bad. Even if a production line is built, it will soon have the capacity for large-scale production..."

At this point, he paused, "However, they will not accept the conditions you proposed for cooperation with the school-enterprise office, and will not pay for the use of technology."

"Then why cooperate? We develop technology and provide it to them for free, then they make money, and all we get is the products they supply..."

Xie Wei rejected it outright.

Prostitution for nothing?

Impossible.

He knew clearly that under the current circumstances, no large state-owned factory would accept such harsh cooperation conditions as those of the School-Enterprise Office, which required not only paying technology usage fees but also sharing profits in subsequent production.

"If that doesn't work, we can only look for relevant factories in Shanghai. I guess the school-enterprise office will have to invest more to build a production line."

"..."

This is what Xie Wei is most reluctant to face.

There are products that can be marketed, but there is no supporting factory.

"The metalworking workshop of our school basically produces by hand. According to the current production model, the manufacturing cost of each calculator will exceed 800 yuan..."

Yu Guofeng reminded Xie Wei.

This cost is not high considering the function of the calculator.

But similar calculators available internationally are about the same price.

That’s the selling price, I don’t know how much profit is included.

"Chips and LCDs are the biggest costs. Just one HZ80 chip costs nearly 600 yuan..."

Speaking of this, Xie Wei felt a toothache.

After the management of Factory 14 was replaced, the yield rate was broken through again thanks to the hard work day and night by Factory Director He Kun and Deputy Factory Director Zhu Zhihe and others, and is now approaching 60%.

Because the Air Force ordered some of them, the cost of the production line was further reduced.

Currently, the cost price of each HZ80 chip has dropped to about 560 yuan.

Although LCD displays are only as small as the width of a finger, they are not cheap. If we calculate based on the production of 140 units, the R&D cost of each unit is around 200 yuan, and including the production cost, it is nearly yuan.

The calculator case, buttons and other electronic components, all added up, cost no more than 10 yuan.

Although the calculator you bought for $300 was developed by HP in 72, HP has newer ones that have been sold for who knows how many years, so the R&D cost is negligible.

After so many years of production, under large-scale production conditions, although we don’t know the actual cost, it is definitely not high.

"In fact, I think it's a waste of HZ80 chips to use this."

Seeing Xie Wei frowning, Yu Guofeng didn't know what he was thinking, so he didn't say anything. He just said what he thought, "In fact, the computing power required by the calculator can't even play one-fifth of the performance of the HZ80 chip... We can develop a simpler chip... This way, the cost will be greatly reduced..."

"No, the HZ80 chip must be used for this!"

Xie Wei looked determined.

How could he not know the performance of the chip he designed?
Calculators are common items at the lowest end, and the chips they require are very low-end.

"Cost... Currently, some companies are importing HP calculators..."

Xie Wei looked at Yu Guofeng in surprise.

He didn't expect that Yu Guofeng was not the kind of person who only focused on scientific research and not the development of related technical products. Even people in the industry might not be able to get such news.

"Cost is something that needs to be considered. This calculator can be used as a high-end product. But designing and developing a chip for low-end products is not something that can be completed in a short period of time..."

Xie Wei was helpless.

It would be a waste to use the HZ80 chip in a calculator. This chip, which can perform calculations at a speed of over 30 times per second, can be used as the CPU of a microcomputer.

Only with wider use can production costs be further reduced and more advanced chip designs be stimulated.

“The low-end chip design is already done.”

Xie Wei was stunned.

When did this happen?

He didn't know anything at all.

"After the success of the HZ80 chip, I arranged for people to reverse-design it based on the design of the HZ80 chip... It's not easy to design a more advanced one, but it's easy to design with reduced functions. In addition, I also sent the design drawings to Factory 14, and the tape-out was successful..."

What else can you say?
Xie Wei looked at Yu Guofeng speechlessly.

"After all, you are the one leading this project. Besides, it costs money to produce samples. Even mass production costs money... This chip is only 4 bits, with 1328 transistors inside. The computing speed is relatively slow, only about 4.8 times per second, but the cost is very low. Even if it is manufactured in small batches, the cost of each chip is only more than 120. For large-scale production, it should be able to be reduced to less than 40..."

"Then let them make a batch of chips and produce a batch of samples!"

Without thinking, Xie Wei made the decision.

"Use the HZ80 calculator, make some modifications, add graphics functions, and since it is for mathematical calculations, it is best to have function graphs, etc., as a high-end calculator; use a calculator with a 4-bit chip as a low-end product."

Xie Wei’s meaning was clear: using a high-end calculator like HZ80 is actually a scientific research tool that has some of the functions of a computer, and is no longer just a simple digital calculation.

As someone who has been through this, he also knows very well that many places where a calculator is needed actually only use the simplest addition, subtraction, multiplication and division calculations. Calculation functions such as logarithms, functions and square roots are basically not used.

"That's fine."

Yu Guofeng breathed a sigh of relief after getting Xie Wei's consent.

He was worried that Xie Wei would object.

After all, the school did not provide any funding for the newly designed low-end chip, and all the funds used came from the calculator project.

In this regard, Yu Guofeng actually did something quite unkind.

I have always felt guilty, but I couldn't find a chance to talk to Xie Wei. Now Xie Wei not only didn't say anything, but supported me, so I naturally felt relieved.

"Director Yu, who is responsible for designing this low-end chip?"

Xie Wei asked Yu Guofeng curiously.

As soon as he asked the question, Yu Guofeng's heart, which had just been relieved, became anxious again. Looking at Xie Wei's expression, it seemed that it would be bad not to answer.

"From your experimental class, Yao Xinwei."

What the hell?

The fifth one in the dormitory?

Xie Wei's eyes suddenly widened. Usually, that bastard made a fuss every day, saying that college life was not a living thing, and even his academic performance was at the bottom of the class.

Now, Yu Guofeng told himself that Yao Xinwei had become another big shot emerging in the experimental class after Tang Long!
"Didn't he join the computer project team after the New Year? How long has it been now?"

All in all, it’s only been more than four months, right?

"He has not been in the computer project team for long, but he already had a good foundation in electronic technology before he came here... Moreover, he is the last one to leave the laboratory every day, and he won't leave unless others chase him away..."

Damn it!
Xie Wei cursed in his heart again.

Every time Zhang Jingyan, Feng Ke and others insisted on studying, this bastard always sang the opposite tune and made all kinds of reactionary remarks. It seems that he is secretly working hard.

"I understand."

Xie Wei really understood it. He thought that it was probably the chip designed by Yao Xinwei himself. After learning about it, Yu Guofeng helped to send it to Factory 14 for tape-out.

Perhaps, people still think that Yao Xinwei is a second-generation Harbinger, and his parents are friends with Yu Guofeng.

"What do you unserstand?"

Xie Wei's eyes made Yu Guofeng's mouth twitch.

(End of this chapter)