Reborn in 2010, the AI ​​in my mind is too powerful.

Chen Yiran hung up the phone and walked out of the exhibition hall. Gao Dewei had already made a reservation at a restaurant, which wasn't far. It was a steakhouse next to the Anaheim Convention Center, only a ten-minute walk away.

I thought it would be a big event, but when I arrived, I found there were only two people. Sitting opposite Gao Dewei was a man in his fifties with gray hair, wearing round-framed glasses and a flight jacket; he looked quite energetic.

Upon seeing Chen Yiran arrive, Gao Dewei stood up, pulled out a chair for him, and quickly introduced him: "This is Liu Zhihong. We've known each other for almost twenty years. He's an exceptionally capable senior, a graduate of Tsinghua University, and a PhD from Berkeley."

In 1993, he founded Celestry Design Technologies in Silicon Valley, making SPICE simulation tools. It was a top-tier company in the industry, and many companies still use his patents. Ten years ago, he sold the company to Cadence, my former employer.

Liu Zhihong waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright, stop bragging. If you keep bragging like this, I'll have to help you out later to repay the favor. Chen Yiran, right? Let me tell you, the QPlace placement engine was mainly created by Gao Dewei. If he weren't so timid, he would have become a billionaire long ago."

Gao Dewei said helplessly, "I mean, are you praising me? You're being sarcastic. You're really disrespecting me in front of my boss."

Liu Zhihong laughed loudly, "How can I not be flattering you? What I'm saying is very helpful to you. Your boss knows you won't quit easily. He's timid and doesn't dare to start his own business. Just give him a tiny bit of shares so he can experience the feeling of entrepreneurship, and you can boss him around."

The waiter came over at this moment, and Chen Yiran ordered a medium-rare ribeye.

Liu Zhihong stopped arguing with Gao Dewei, ordered a filet mignon, and turned to Chen Yiran: "You're quite famous in our Chinese community. You got 200 million from Microsoft at eighteen, impressive. Now you're even more ruthless, getting into EDA. Do you know who the last eighteen-year-old was in the EDA industry?"

Chen Yiran was a little curious, as he really didn't know. Just as he was thinking of replying, Liu Zhihong gave him the answer directly.

"Don't even think about it. You're the first person to do this at eighteen. I'm here to see you because I have something to discuss with you. I'm here on behalf of the Chinese American Semiconductor Association to invite you."

Gao Dewei explained from the side: "The Chinese American Semiconductor Professional Association (CASP) was founded in Silicon Valley in 1991. As the name suggests, it's the world's largest professional organization for Chinese semiconductor professionals. Basically, any Chinese person working in the chip industry in the US, regardless of which company, is a member. It seems to have more than 6,000 members now."

Liu Zhihong nodded and added, "I served as president a few years ago, and now I'm just a nominal director. There aren't many people in the association who run their own EDA companies, so of course we wanted to invite you to join. To be honest, we didn't know you had an EDA company before, considering your last project was quite different from this one. This path isn't easy, especially these past two years."

However, an 18-year-old with two hundred million US dollars has limitless possibilities for the future. So, how about we go in? There's plenty of delicious food.

Chen Yiran didn't answer immediately. He didn't know about this organization in his previous life, so he chose to ask Jasmine first when in doubt.

I couldn't find any relevant information. It's up to you, boss. See if this organization is worth joining.

Chen Yiran had no choice but to ask himself, "I don't know anything about this organization. Could you give me a detailed introduction? First of all, you must have to pay to join this association, right? What will I get in return?"

Liu Zhihong said with a smile, "That membership fee is no problem for you, but if you're kind-hearted, you can pay according to the company's fee. That way, stingy people like Gao Dewei can save on their membership fees."

The Chinese American Semiconductor Association is essentially a network for the Chinese chip industry in Silicon Valley. At its most basic level, it holds an annual meeting once a year, organizes technical seminars every quarter, and may also organize some social events on a regular basis.

There are many advantages. For example, if you're recruiting, you're more likely to find Chinese engineers here who you can't find on LinkedIn. I'm pretty sure that if the headhunter you hired when you started your company was Chinese, they must have contacted the people Huamei helped you gather.

Furthermore, if you're looking for cooperation opportunities in China, we organize annual study tours back to China to meet with local governments and visit industrial parks. Even if you're not physically in China, the Chinese American Association can help you observe various domestic policies, such as where is the best place to develop, and can even help you directly contact people involved in the National High-Tech Research and Development Program of China (863 Program).

Chen Yiran felt a little embarrassed; he had encountered a major problem. He quickly asked Jasmine in his mind: What is the "Core High-Tech Foundation" (核高基)? What kind of technology is it?

I don't know ╮(╯▽╰)╭

After a few seconds of silence, Chen Yiran felt she still had to ask, even if it was embarrassing.

What is "Core High-Tech Base"?

Liu Zhihong paused for a moment, then laughed even harder: "The National High-Tech R&D Program for Nuclear Materials is a domestic support policy specifically for things like semiconductors. Look, you don't even know this? You really need to join our Chinese American Association!"

While eating the steak that had just been served, Gao Dewei added, "Huamei, to put it bluntly, is like a LinkedIn, a business association, and a hometown association for the Chinese chip industry. You can't say it's extremely useful, but it's somewhat useful."

Chen Yiran felt persuaded, mainly because it seemed like there were no downsides to participating in this.

However, he was still a little hesitant, mainly because the all-Chinese organization worried him. After thinking for a moment, he asked in a low voice, "Chips are all high-end technology. Since everyone is Chinese, won't we be targeted? Won't we run into trouble? Also, if I go back to China for research, will I be targeted in the US?"

Liu Zhihong shook his head: "Why be afraid of this? Don't underestimate the US government, and don't overestimate yourself. In recent years, more and more Chinese have returned to China, and our association has helped many people go back. I just established a new company in Shanghai this March, called Gailun Electronics. We are currently working on general-purpose parallel circuit simulators, which is the verification stage."

Chen Yiran thought about Liu Zhihong's position, and then about her own current position, and felt that her paranoia had deepened.

"Okay, I'll join."

Liu Zhihong raised his water glass, clinked it against Gao Dewei's, and said, "Another company with our own people doing EDA, that's not easy. In the thirty years of the EDA industry, all the major breakthroughs in placement—force-oriented, analytical methods, multi-level partitioning—were pioneered by Americans and Germans."

Chinese engineers participated in the development of every product line, but they were more like readily available cogs in a machine. No one defined the direction. Now, let's see if you can pull it off.

The conversation became more relaxed afterward, with Liu Zhihong asking Chen Yiran about his experiences with DAC. He jokingly remarked that it was fortunate Chen Yiran was working on the physical design and optimization phase; otherwise, if he were also involved in verification and simulation, he might not be able to outperform the younger generation.

Chen Yiran secretly made up his mind that a complete EDA platform should be formed by combining physical design and simulation verification. He resolved to collaborate with them in the future, and ideally even acquire some shares to achieve full-chain complementarity.

The atmosphere at the meal was great, and everyone seemed happy.

Before leaving, Liu Zhihong invited Chen Yiran to join him.

"There's a quarterly gathering in July, but I won't be attending because I've already returned to China. However, I heard there's an organized inspection tour to China in September. If you're interested, you can go home to visit your family and check on the current state of the production lines. Or, you can come visit my company. If you have any ideas to help us develop, we're open to investment, haha."

Chen Yiran was somewhat tempted. Going back to China to see the current state of related industries seemed necessary, so he could know what preparations he needed to make.

Besides, he hasn't even been back to China to see his parents since he made his fortune, so he should at least check out the new house.

The next few days were uneventful; aside from encountering some new technology papers, I didn't gain much.

Chen Yiran did try sending out three more offers, but not everyone would choose him because of his reputation.

Han Yu's desire to return to China is understandable, but those who are naive and easily fooled are few and far between.

Most people still prefer to work for a large American company, and besides, Chen Yiran's area of ​​expertise is too far removed from the chip industry.

Chen Yiran, exhausted from her journey, was recharged at the airport, where Hannah and Pidan came to pick her up.

As Pidan ran over, it started whimpering, making Chen Yiran feel that she hadn't spoiled the dog for nothing.

Hannah seems to have become even more beautiful after just a few days.

When Chen Yiran got home, he felt his energy return and prepared to have a million-word battle with Hannah.

Hannah handed him an envelope first, then laughed and said, "Here you go, look at the envelope and you'll know what it is, right? You can finally go buy a gun, you violent maniac."