Chapter 302

Producing dies requires a dedicated dust-free cleanroom, with several cleaning steps along the way to enter, but for the packaging and testing workshop, the requirements are much lower. Now, Qin Miao rushed over, entered the packaging and testing workshop, and saw a large group of people already waiting there.

Engineer, how is it?

Still under test, it'll be out in ten or so minutes…… Eh, Comrade Qin Miao?

Engineer turned his head, saw Qin Miao, and was instantly overjoyed: "Did you come specially for our Loongson No. 1 tape-out?"

Cough cough, how could our progress be this fast?

Of course, everyone is holding back their strength! Engineer said: "The state wants to develop the economy, research funding keeps being cut, our computing institute wants to make dies but has no funding at all! We can only watch helplessly as the gap with the US keeps widening!"

Yeah, after coming here, everyone works nonstop, always busy. Fortunately, our die factory is completed, the design drawings are out, so let's first do a tape-out test…… Engineer Huang beside him also said.

These people before us are the nation's top die design talents! For the same goal, they left the Chinese Academy of Sciences and joined Ha Gong Da! After arriving here, they overcame various life difficulties and resolutely threw themselves into die R&D!

At the same time, this is because the preliminary work was well prepared—the architecture and instruction set are ready; next is detailed design. And in this era, the integration level of dies is not high yet, so we managed to put it together!

Great! If the test has no problems, we should go into mass production! This die, once made, can solve our country's urgent need for microcomputers! As for sales, everyone need not worry—it will definitely sell well!

Everyone nodded.

Engineer, it's out, it's out, the test results are completely qualified! At that moment, a staff member in a white coat came out from inside.

Great, great! Come, let me take a look! Qin Miao pushed aside others and squeezed in.

On the project of independent processors, we in the East have taken too many detours!

In the 1980s, we were originally not far behind the West, but unexpectedly, the state scrapped the VLSI project!

No money, wanting to develop the economy—these are understandable, but look up how many small cars were imported each year back then…… It makes one furious.

By the 1990s, the importance of general-purpose processors was recognized, and they wanted to strongly support it, but then came the Hanxin fraud scandal, which defrauded the state of hundreds of millions in R&D funds. What's even more speechless is that not a single person involved in defrauding research funds or the reviewers received any punishment! Academic fraud has only worsened since then, starting from here.

And Loongson, which was approved earlier than Hanxin, is struggling to survive, having missed the best development window; the Wintel alliance has already built an ecological monopoly, leaving Loongson nowhere to develop……

Now, it's only the 1980s—Windows doesn't even exist yet! If we build our own Loongson, its ecosystem can be entirely self-built, and we could even strike at the Wintel alliance, carving out a share of the international market!

This is a square circuit, ceramic-packaged, with leads on all four sides, and white characters sprayed in the center.

Loongson No. 1 is written in the most prominent position, with a line of English letters underneath.

Godson.

Looking at this name, Qin Miao's mood grew heavier; he clearly remembered that this name does not mean 'son of gold,' but is a direct English translation of 'dog leftover.' Giving a lowly name makes it easy to raise, and back then Loongson truly received very few resources……

San Shui, this English name was decided upon after our discussion and engraved here; if you don't like it……

Like it, this name represents our spirit of self-reliance and hard struggle. Qin Miao said: "By the way, how is this processor's performance?"

16-bit processor architecture, initial clock speed 6 megahertz, internally integrated 150,000 transistors, manufactured using a 1-micron process……

1 micron? Qin Miao widened his eyes; if he didn't misremember, Intel's processors also use a 1.5-micron process! Now our side's process is actually more advanced than Intel's?

That's right, the process is handled by Professor Xu and his team; the current product proves the process is fully mature and reliable. Engineer said.

Advanced process means low heat generation; our side uses a complex instruction set, which also means high program execution efficiency. Thus, we can definitely knock Intel down in the international market!

Not bad, not bad, great! Qin Miao nodded: "Our Loongson No. 1 is absolutely the world's most advanced general-purpose processor! The first batch of tape-outs will be sent to our Ha Gong Da! Department Six can assemble it into a microcomputer, and Department Nine can use it in airborne radar……

Later airborne radars are all dedicated DSP processors, but early ones could only use general-purpose processors; the famed AWG-9 radar on the Tomcat uses an 8086 processor! Now that we have Loongson, of course we should use it as the brain of airborne radar, the brain of fly-by-wire control……

This processor appeared at just the right time!

Good! San Shui, the pricing of this processor……

Even though they're all inside Ha Gong Da, they still need to follow commercial procedures!

If the price is too low, we won't make money; if it's too high, we might meet resistance in the market.

What is the current price of an 8086 processor?

$399.

Okay, then we'll set the price at $399!

In RMB?

Of course it's in dollars! Qin Miao said: "Our processor will be sold worldwide at a uniform price! Domestic buyers must also use our foreign trade settlement exchange rate when purchasing."

In this era, the official exchange rate hovers around 1.7, but that's just the official rate, not a practical reference. To solve export losses, the state formally adopted the foreign trade settlement exchange rate in January 1981, raising it to about 2.8, and by year's end this year it has depreciated to about 3.2.

According to this rate, each chip is over a thousand RMB! In the early 1980s, that was definitely a huge sum!

Everyone was stunned.

San Shui, is this price too high? Domestic……

Engineer, how much money did we spend developing this processor? Next, should we continue developing Loongson 2 and Loongson 3? Where will the R&D funds come from? We can't keep having Ha Gong Da foot the bill, right? This price is not expensive at all!

Just then, a hearty laugh came from outside.

Haha, heard that Loongson No. 1 is out, we specially came from the Capital! You've brought us honor! You've also opened a bright road for our nation's computer industry! If the total price of a computer could drop to a thousand bucks, we could popularize computers!

Everyone's faces changed.

A thousand bucks can't even buy a CPU!