From knock-off old-man's electric vehicles to industrial giant

Chapter 295 The Dazzling U9 Prototype
the other side.

Xu Yi received a message from Wu Zheng, got up from his ergonomic chair and went to the French windows, where he saw Wu Zheng getting out of a taxi.

Recently, StarCraft has been actively recruiting talent in the chip industry. They have contacted many Chinese executives or key R&D engineers like Wu Zheng who are engaged in chip R&D in foreign companies, and they are the key targets of their efforts.

Among them were Qualcomm chip engineers and related talents responsible for communication research and development, introduced by Wu Xinzhou, totaling more than one hundred people.

Although chips and lithography machines are considered treasures of foreign industrial chains, there are quite a few Chinese people working in this industry.

In particular, the proportion of Chinese talent is quite high in the fields of semiconductors and artificial intelligence.

Last year, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Research analyzed patent data and published a list of inventors in the fields of electrical engineering and semiconductors, showing that about 20% of them had Chinese backgrounds.

This ratio is terrifying.

It's important to know that Asians only make up about 7% of the total population of the United States, and Chinese are only a part of the Asian population.

Looking at Silicon Valley, the proportion of Asian engineers is said to be over 50%, and many of them are of Chinese descent.

At the company level, Chinese R&D engineers are a common sight at chip giants like Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm.

At that time, China lacked the conditions for developing high-end chips and semiconductors.

These highly skilled professionals can only seek better development opportunities in foreign companies.

Meanwhile, the domestic industrial chain is developing rapidly, taking advantage of the opportunity to open up a new track in the new energy industry, and after some persuasion and reasoning...

Okay, actually it was just the money that moved them!

They successfully attracted some of the talent back.

"Dr. Wu, welcome to Star Technology..."

Inside the reception room, Xu Yi shook hands with Wu Zheng with a sincere smile. Wu Zheng had previously held a senior management position at Samsung Semiconductor China, so he hadn't just returned to China.

Moreover, he also had experience in the automotive industry, and both parties were very satisfied after the background check.

"As long as you're willing to come to Starry Sky, the position of head of R&D is yours. We don't have a better candidate right now. In short, the most capable person will be promoted, and those who have made contributions will not be disadvantaged regardless of when they arrive..."

"Compared to other domestic companies that are still engaged in chip research and development, I think Xingchen's advantages have already been explained in our prior contact. As a car company, we can openly adopt our self-developed chip solutions for our vehicles. The actual sales volume of our vehicles is the natural soil for chip research and development. For example, for the Xingchen S7 and L7 models, we have invested a lot in intelligent driving chips and vehicle infotainment chips for each of our vehicles."

"We plan to invest heavily in independent chip design and production, not only to produce a few chips for our own use, but also to become a technology solution provider in the future."

Xu Yiwen delivered a gentle opening speech.

The style is straightforward.

Let's let the facts speak for themselves.

The early R&D path of companies like Horizon Robotics was quite tortuous. Even after they had thoroughly refined the first two generations of Journey chips from both software and hardware perspectives, they almost went bankrupt because no car companies purchased them, as they were domestically produced low-computing-power chips with only 4 TOPS.

Then Changan Automobile stepped in and purchased chips from Horizon Robotics, which, along with the purchase of Li Auto ONE, provided the company with the support to continue its development and raise funds.

But things are different on Xingchen's side.

As a new energy vehicle company that focuses on intelligent technology, we have an absolute need for intelligent driving chips and vehicle intelligent chips.

The fact that the Star Mini uses a domestically produced car infotainment chip is another matter.

For mid-to-high-end models, even with the large volume of Qualcomm 820a automotive chips they purchase, the cost per chip is still just over $70.

The Starry Night L7 and Starry Night S7 were in full production throughout the year, with a target of at least 300,000 units.

In addition to that, there are the NVIDIA autonomous driving chips they purchase, which is the real bulk of the cost.

The total cost of purchasing the DRIVE PX 2 chip and motherboard platform for mass production, including software licensing and technical support, is approximately $1500 per set.

Based on the annual sales volume of 12 to 15 units for the Starry Night L7.

The total expenditure on optical chips for the year exceeded two billion.

……

And this part of the cost will not be reduced.

Just like mobile phone SoCs, the computing power and manufacturing process of automotive chips and vehicle intelligent driving chips are improving every year.

Prices will only increase year by year.

Costs are getting higher and higher.

In the future, the procurement price of Qualcomm 8155 or Nvidia dual-origin platform will be higher than it is now.

If another semiconductor production shortage occurs, forget about negotiating prices; it would be a miracle if prices didn't rise!

Calculate it carefully.

It's not fair to blame new energy vehicle companies for consistently losing money.

First, they cut the price of battery manufacturers, then they get cut by chip manufacturers, forcing them to invest heavily in R&D and engage in configuration wars and price wars...

I will cry if I continue.

...

Wu Zheng carefully examined the young man in front of him. Although he had seen him in many videos and news clips, Xu Yi's overall demeanor was much more upright than he had imagined. His tone and voice carried a very direct and friendly feeling.

That sounds very sincere!

It's quite touching.

of course.

He was more concerned with the actual content.

Compared to Horizon Robotics, Star Group's advantages are too obvious.

Also seated in the reception room were Wu Xinzhou, the vice president of intelligent driving, and several directors of the intelligent driving department, including Li Ligeng.

Due to the rapid expansion of its workforce, Xingchen Group conducted a round of job level calibration before the end of the year, refining the original system into nine levels: L1–L9, with each level further divided into T3/T2/T1.

Job levels correspond to corresponding compensation and authority. Wu Xinzhou, Vice President of Intelligent Driving, is ranked L8 (T2), responsible for algorithms, data closed-loop, and mass production delivery; Sun Pengfei serves as Vice President of Vehicle R&D...

Next to the intelligent driving R&D center, Xingchen has built a complete chip R&D flow, from front-end RTL/verification regression to back-end synthesis, STA, P&R, and physical signature. The server room is equipped with a high-performance server cluster dedicated to nightly regression and signoff, along with license management and task scheduling.

These are just the basics.

Xu Yi valued Wu Zheng based on a variety of considerations.

According to background information, during his time at Samsung, Wu Zheng also customized mid-to-low-end mobile phone chips for the domestic market, leading the team from chip definition, SoC architecture planning, front-end and back-end design, tape-out to commissioning, and then to the entire process of BSP / AP + Modem Solution development.

They not only develop intelligent driving chips, but they also laid the foundation for designing mobile phone chips.

"President Xu, I'd like to see the progress of Xingchen's internal autonomous driving project..." Wu Zheng had something on his mind and was preparing to learn more about Xingchen.

“Of course,” Xu Yi readily agreed.

After inspecting the development environment of the R&D center, the group went to the testing ground set up inside.

Wu Zheng first saw several test engineering vehicles.

However, unlike the Starry Night test vehicles that have been revealed to the outside world, these vehicles are not equipped with huge and conspicuous lidar. Instead, there is a semi-elliptical device on the roof that he has never seen before.

"This is the latest semi-solid-state lidar sample sent by Hesai. Its size is several times smaller than that of traditional mechanical lidar, and the emitted laser beam has increased from 40 linearity to 128 linearity, generating 153 million point clouds per second..."

Wu Xinzhou pointed to the vehicle's hardware and explained.

“Previously, we relied on a pure vision solution. AEB has achieved full-range recognition at speeds of 4-135 km/h, but it still has limitations in complex lighting and harsh environments. However, after strengthening the semi-solid-state LiDAR solution, the engineering vehicle has been tested for hundreds of thousands of kilometers with zero false touches.”

Starry Sky's AEB algorithm is visually superior to other AEB solutions in the industry, thanks to its self-developed filtering methods and algorithms that enhance the recognition of infrared band features.

Now that lidar is installed on vehicles, it's like making up for the last shortcoming.

of course.

AEB is only one part of the improvement.

The biggest boost will come from the application of intelligent driving scenarios in urban areas.

Wu Zheng stared at the brand-new semi-solid-state lidar. Xingchen Technology has single-handedly driven the entire upstream and downstream industrial chain of new energy. Even Hesai Technology, which makes lidar, has invested heavily in it.

He exclaimed in surprise, "I've heard of semi-solid-state lidar based on the prism principle before, but I didn't expect it to have been developed already? This must be quite expensive, right?" The cost of a mechanical lidar is as high as 80,000 to 100,000 yuan, while the semi-solid-state lidar solution is said to have significantly reduced costs. But no matter how much the cost is reduced... at this stage, it probably won't be less than 10,000 to 20,000 yuan per unit.

Even for mass-produced cars in the 300,000 yuan price range, the pressure is immense.

"Yes, the cost of lidar is high at this stage. Even the semi-solid sample costs more than 30,000 yuan per unit. This cost will gradually come down after Hesai's production line is completed and mass production begins."

Xu Yi said with a smile.

But then he added something outrageous.

"But it's not like you can't get on the vehicle at all right now; there are actual vehicles undergoing closed-loop testing over there..."

Wu Zheng looked closely and then, at the farthest point in his field of vision, he saw a car located in a closed test track.

...

It was a car with a futuristic and highly distinctive design, featuring a sci-fi aesthetic, with a mecha-like "scale-like" headlight structure covering the entire vehicle and a wraparound LED screen, creating a strong visual impact...

A semi-solid-state lidar is seamlessly integrated into the vehicle's design, appearing perfectly natural.

"What...what is this car?"

It features a continuous taillight and an active rear wing.

Wu Zheng gasped, utterly shocked.

Well known.

Some car companies always have some secret weapons and some rather outrageous test vehicles inside.

But he never expected it.

Xingchen... actually secretly built a supercar behind the scenes?!

If this gets leaked, who can withstand it?
This is absolutely big news!!
"This is a concept car, initially positioned as a high-end series above one million yuan, codenamed Brilliant U9... In terms of price, it will be comparable to imported luxury cars in the one million yuan range. Some of our internal experimental technologies were developed on this concept car."

"Experimental technology?"

"Yes... experimental level!"

...

As the group approached, Xu Yi waved, and the employee in charge of testing the car brought over an electronic watch.

"This is the UWB module transmitter. Actually, we've already implemented the high-speed navigation function on major roads. Although we haven't implemented intelligent driving in urban areas yet, we've also developed some additional ecosystem interconnection functions..."

"For example, this watch has an integrated UWB module, which was recently developed and can perform some small functions."

As he spoke, Xu Yi fastened the watch face to his wrist.

Although it's called a watch, the electronic screen on it doesn't actually have any of the functions of a modern watch, because it's a semi-finished product still under development. However, it does have the functions of unlocking and interacting with vehicles.

After confirming that the link was correct.

Followed by.

"Snapped!"

He snapped his fingers.

The car in front of us has come to life!

The entire vehicle's lights came on, with thousands of LED daytime running lights illuminating the front and rear of the vehicle in succession. The digital light screen on the side of the vehicle flashed like shooting stars, with beams of light streaking across the scene.

Next, the square active air intake grille on the front is awakened, with each scale opening autonomously like a living creature, connected to the cooling system at the front of the car and the perforated air ducts on the hood!
This air duct is clearly designed, possessing a unique aesthetic appeal, and is completely hollow rather than solid.

The active rear wing slowly rose, and with a "thud," the suicide doors opened automatically...

To know.

The design of the double doors is already quite pretentious.

And the opening angle reaches an astonishing 90 degrees!
Showcasing the luxurious interior!

...

"..."

Wu Zheng is difficult to describe in words.

It's so damn sci-fi!

"Of course, this car has no direct connection to autonomous driving. What I'm trying to say is that Xingchen's ultimate goal is to become a world-class car company, with its models ranging from low-end to high-end, and even ultra-high-end..."

There will be more room and cost for further verification, including for future chips with higher computing power and more complex manufacturing processes. Everyone can go for it!

Xu Yi said.

Why did Horizon Robotics only make Journey chips with 2-4 TOPS from the beginning?
The main reason is cost constraints.

Designs that are too complex will result in losses during manufacturing, making it difficult for automakers to buy them.

But Xingchen is different. They can afford the cost, supported by sales of mid-to-high-end models, and can also upgrade the specifications of their self-developed chips.

"Dr. Wu, I've introduced you to all the colleagues in the Intelligent Driving Department. Tomorrow, I'll introduce you to the head of Xingchen Mobile and introduce you to Bai Yongxiang and Li Nan..."

After visiting the test site.

The group strolled all the way to the tea room on the top floor.

After taking his seat, Xu Yi spoke up as well.

Wu Zheng had heard about Xingchen Group's idea to manufacture mobile phones, and he approved of Xingchen's path of developing its own intelligent driving chip.

Because we have already witnessed the other party's leading position in intelligent driving algorithms for vehicles.

Once the independent intelligent driving chip is developed, the increase will be far more than just 1+1.

-

However, when it comes to the field of mobile phone chips, he feels somewhat confused.

The chip industry chain is extremely complex. Even just the upstream design, the cost and workload of developing a flagship mobile phone SoC is extremely high. It involves a lot of patents and experience, and is much more difficult than visual computing chips such as intelligent driving chips!
“Mr. Xu, are you going to start making mobile phones from scratch with your own SoC? I’m afraid that’s difficult to achieve in a short period of time…” Wu Zheng said cautiously.

The difficulty in this regard is clear from looking at companies like Huawei and HiSilicon.

With no sales in the mobile phone business, it's unbelievable that StarCraft could create a SoC that can stand on the market on its own.

He would have described other companies as "a pipe dream".

"No, no, I think you've misunderstood. Our initial goal was to create a camera sub-chip, which is a dedicated chip that is integrated in addition to the system-on-a-chip (SoC)..." Xu Yi said.

This design is quite common in mobile phone hardware; many mobile phones use an external communication baseband.

The real breakthrough in the development of external secondary chips can be traced back to the "professional-grade image processing chip" in domestic flagship phones.

Xiaomi's "Surge C1" in 21 can be considered one of the earliest, followed by vivo and OPPO.

It's important to understand that the biggest difference between Android phones and Apple phones, besides the deep compatibility of the iOS system and self-developed chips, lies in the image quality optimized through algorithms, which is the so-called camera function.

Nowadays, focusing on camera functionality has become a trend in high-end smartphones.

This year's flagship phone from Huawei is being marketed primarily for its optical zoom capabilities.

This trend in flagship phone configurations will continue to strengthen even after all other aspects have reached their limits.

For example, even 25 years later, you can still see mobile phone manufacturers routinely boasting about chip benchmark scores, and then spending half an hour bragging about the camera!

Although it has already made many people tired of it.

But there is no doubt about it.

The imaging capabilities of current flagship Android phones are one of their biggest selling points.

Whoever can do this well will be able to carve out a niche for themselves in the high-end field.

　I'll be going out for a few days to gather material during the New Year period, so I'll try to keep updates consistent...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)