Courtyard House: A Major Power's Heavy Industry, Hand-Crafted Nuclear Fusion

Spring 1980, San Francisco, United States.

Moskny Conference Center.

Although this world-renowned conference center will not be officially completed for another year in real history, thanks to the butterfly effect brought about by Su Zheng, it has already hosted its first major event - the first Global Semiconductor Industry Summit.

This is a "grand gathering" initiated by the US Semiconductor Industry Association, aimed at establishing global electronics industry standards for the next decade.

Intel, Motorola, Texas Instruments, IBM, NEC, Toshiba, Siemens...

Almost every major tech giant that you could name sent its highest-level delegation. The air was thick with the smell of champagne, but also with the smell of gunpowder.

"ladies and gentlemen."

Standing on the podium was Andy Grove, the legendary CEO of Intel. He wore a dark blue suit, his gaze sharp as a hawk's, and behind him on a large screen was a giant "x86" logo.

"After fierce market competition, history has made its choice."

Grove's voice was full of confidence: "The x86 architecture will be the only universal language in the future computer world. We have reached a strategic partnership with IBM, and the personal computers of the future will only have one heart—that is, the heart of Intel."

The applause of the audience was thunderous.

Although the representatives from NEC and Siemens looked rather grim, they had no choice but to bow down in the face of Intel's strong technological barriers and IBM's market dominance.

"monopoly."

Sitting in the corner, Ye Xinyi coldly uttered two words.

She was dressed in a sharp business suit today, and the murderous intent in her eyes couldn't be hidden behind her black-rimmed glasses. Beside her, Su Zhengzheng was leisurely flipping through the conference agenda.

"Monopoly is good."

Su Zheng smiled. "Only monopolies can create oppression. Only oppression can breed resistance. Aren't we here today to hand these 'oppressed' people a knife?"

"Next, please welcome the delegation from China... Red Star Electronics."

The host's voice carried a hint of nonchalance, even a touch of mockery, "I heard they brought the globally popular Game Boy. So, Mr. Su, are you here today to teach us how to make toys?"

A burst of laughter erupted from the audience.

In the eyes of these chip giants, although Red Star Electronics is profitable, it is ultimately just a "toy maker." Although it has a few patents, they are more of a legal trick and not something to be taken seriously.

Su Zheng stood up.

He straightened his collar and, under the watchful eyes of over a thousand people, steadily walked onto the stage.

There were no formalities, no small talk.

He simply nodded to Ye Xinyi behind him.

The PPT on the big screen switched instantly.

There were no complicated charts, only a black image with red text. In the center of the image was a golden chip, surrounded by circuit patterns resembling giant dragons.

Below is a line of eye-catching English text:

Loongson-1: The World's First 32-bit RISC Processor.

(Loongson-1: The world's first 32-bit RISC processor)

"32 people?!"

The once bustling and laughing hall suddenly fell into a deathly silence, as if someone had grabbed it by the throat.

Grove's smile froze.

An IBM representative spilled his coffee on his pants.

在这个8086（16位）还在称王称霸，8088（准16位）还在大行其道的1980年，32位？那是还在实验室图纸上的概念！是属于未来的东西！

"impossible!"

Motorola's chief technology officer stood up and loudly questioned, "This is a scam! How could China possibly manufacture a 32-bit chip with its current technological level? You even have to boil tree roots for photoresist!"

"Whether it's a scam or not, you can find out by running a benchmark test."

Su Zheng snapped his fingers.

On one side of the podium, a prototype that had been prepared was unveiled with a red cloth.

The machine has no chassis; on the exposed circuit board, the golden "Loongson-1" chip shines brightly under the spotlight.

Connect the monitor.

Turn on.

Without lengthy self-test code, a graphical desktop instantly popped up on the screen—a demo version of the unreleased "Red Flag OS 1.0".

"Run the benchmark test," Su Zheng ordered.

The numbers on the screen started jumping wildly.

Floating-point arithmetic...integer arithmetic...multithreaded processing...

Finally, an amazing score was displayed on the screen.

CoreMark: 2.5.

What does this mean?

The Intel 8086, which was released around the same time, only scored around 0.3.

Even Motorola's most advanced 68000 only has a power consumption of 0.6.

Eight times that of Intel! Four times that of Motorola!

"Whoosh—!"

The venue erupted in chaos.

Everyone stood up and rushed towards the podium, eager to see if the machine was cheating.

"This is a RISC architecture."

Su Zheng's voice, delivered through the microphone, drowned out the noise of the entire venue. "It's like the 'inch punch' in Chinese Kung Fu. We've cut out those bloated, outdated, and rarely used complex instructions in the x86 architecture, keeping only the most core and efficient parts. So, we run faster, cooler, and... cheaper."

"Cheap?"

Someone astutely grasped the essence of this word.

"Yes, it's cheap."

Su Zheng smiled, revealing the fangs that instilled fear in his competitors. "But that's not the most crucial point. The most crucial point is..."

The screen switched again.

This time, what appeared was a huge declaration:

Open Source Architecture.

(Open Instruction Set Architecture)

"I know that most of you here, except for our friends at Intel, are not having an easy time."

Su Zheng looked at the NEC, Siemens, and Samsung representatives in the audience, whose expressions were uncertain, and said, "If you want to use the x86 architecture, you have to pay Intel exorbitant licensing fees. You're not just employees; you also have to be subservient to them."

"On what grounds?"

Su Zheng spread his hands, "Why should computer languages ​​be monopolized by one company?"

"So, I've made my decision."

Red Star Electronics will offer free licensing of its Loongson architecture instruction set to the world!

boom!

If the performance demonstration just now was a bomb, then this statement is a nuclear bomb.

free?!

In the semiconductor industry, where patent barriers are so stringent that even a single screw requires patent registration, how could someone possibly give away the most core CPU architecture for free?

"Mr. Su! Are you serious?" The Siemens representative's voice trembled with excitement.

"certainly."

Su Zheng looked at him and said, "As long as you join the Global Open Chip Alliance and promise that the technologies you develop based on this architecture will also follow the open source license, you can use the complete set of design drawings, compilers and development tools of Loongson for free."

"You can build your own 'Siemens-Loongson,' 'NEC-Loongson,' and 'Samsung-Loongson.' You don't need to pay me a single penny, and you don't need to be at anyone's beck and call."

Su Zheng pointed to Grove, who was sitting in the first row and whose face was ashen:

"Your only enemy is the one who tries to lock you inside the walls."

This is an open conspiracy.

This is a blatant attempt to sow discord.

But faced with enormous profits and the alluring prospect of "breaking Intel's monopoly," no non-American company could resist the temptation.

Even the second-tier companies in the US, AMD and Cyrix, began to have their eyes gleaming at this moment.

"This is dumping! This is disrupting market rules!"

Grove finally lost his temper. Disregarding his composure, he stormed onto the stage, pointed at Su Zheng's nose, and shouted, "You're destroying the entire semiconductor industry! Without patent protection, who will invest in R&D? You're insane!"

"Mr. Grove."

Su Zheng gently pushed his hand away, still maintaining that Eastern elegance, "I didn't destroy the industry, I just... gave the choice back to everyone."

"You're saying x86 is the only option?"

Su Zheng turned to face the hundreds of delegates below the stage, spreading his arms wide, like a prophet preaching:

"No, from today onwards, the world has a second choice."

"A stronger, faster, and... a choice for all mankind."

……

That evening, in the banquet hall of the Moskny Center.

What was originally a celebratory dinner hosted by Intel has now become deserted.

In the adjacent medium-sized conference room, however, the room was bustling with noise.

"Chairman Su, regarding the instruction set extension issue, NEC hopes to add Japanese language support..."

"Chairman Su, Samsung hopes to obtain priority adaptation rights for the memory controller..."

"Chairman Su..."

The CEOs of multinational giants, who were usually high and mighty, were now surrounding Su Zheng, waving the newly printed "Letter of Intent to Join the Open Alliance".

Su Zheng sat in the main seat, smiling, and answered each question.

At this moment, he was no longer a follower from a backward country.

He became the rule-maker.

He became the one dealing the cards at this huge gambling table.

"How are you feeling?"

Taking advantage of a break, Ye Xinyi handed Su Zheng a glass of water and whispered in his ear.

"I'm a little tired."

Su Zheng rubbed his temples. "But watching those foreigners fight tooth and nail over our standards... it feels really good."

Don't get too excited yet.

Ye Xinyi reminded her, "The U.S. Department of Commerce has already taken action. Agent Smith just circled the door several times, his eyes were very hostile."

"Let him be."

Su Zheng looked at the thick stack of letters of intent in his hand. "The tide has turned. Now it's not just us fighting; Siemens, NEC, Toshiba... these giants who act in their own interests will all become our allies. The Americans want to mess with me? They'll have to ask their allies if they agree first."

He stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window, the San Francisco cityscape is dazzling and captivating. The Golden Gate Bridge in the distance is faintly visible through the mist.

"Xinyi, look."

Su Zheng pointed to the bridge and said, "The door to the 1980s has been opened."

"In this decade, we will ensure that 'Huaxia Chip' is present in every corner that this bridge leads to."

"We want the world to know that Silicon Valley is not the only center."

"On the other side of the ocean, a giant dragon is awakening."

……

The next day, the headlines of major tech media outlets around the world were remarkably consistent:

The Roar of the Dragon: The Emergence of a 32-bit RISC Architecture!

The Cracks in the Intel Empire: The Birth of the Open Alliance

Su Zheng: The Man Who Changed the Rules of the Silicon-Based World

Behind all this commotion, a Boeing 707 bearing the logo of China Civil Aviation is carrying Su Zheng and his team, along with a thick stack of weighty agreements, through the clouds and heading east.

There, the expansion project of Workshop 701 has been completed.

There, the development of Red Flag OS was nearing completion.

There, a much larger battle, involving the upgrading of the entire national industrial system, awaits his command.