Chapter 303

Several figures appeared at the doorway, Engineer frowned, then broke into a smile: "Director Zhou, what wind blew you here?"

The Director Zhou of the Computing Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences!

Hearing Engineer shout like that, Qin Miao also became alert. After all, his past-life memories told him that Engineer would be squeezed out of the Lsi Group, and this Director Zhou had played a major role—after all, back then the Lsi Group was still a subsidiary of the Computing Institute!

Back then, Director Zhou said: "Our country lacks no technical talent, but there are too few people skilled in market economics!"

On the surface this sounded upright, but… hehe, back then this guy's children were studying overseas, all thanks to connections arranged by Liu Zhonglie!

Now that this fellow has come… well, the lackey with a slicked-back side-part hairstyle standing beside him, wearing a fawning smile, with teeth protruding on both sides—couldn't that be Liu Zhonglie?

"Of course it's the good news that your Loongson No. 1 development succeeded!" Director Zhou said with a smile: "From now on our country has a microprocessor and can produce computers on its own! The company set up by our Computing Institute has existed for a while, but we never had a suitable project; Engineer Liu has been so anxious about it that he hasn't slept for days…"

Beside him, Liu Zhonglie quickly took up the conversation: "I don't mind personal hardship, but thousands of people in our Computing Institute rely on the company for food, drink, and livelihood! Although the big guy left the institute, he should still look after his old unit, right? What's the price of your processor? Don't cut it just because of our ties—we know it's not easy for you."

"'399.'"

"'That expensive? If so, the total cost of our computers would rise to over three thousand yuan… but we could accept it.'"

"'US dollars.'"

"'What?'"

Liu Zhonglie stared in shock: "Even Intel's 8086 sells for that price; how can our domestically produced processor compare to the 8086? Setting such a high price… is that appropriate?"

"'How can it not be comparable?' Qin Miao gave him a sideways glance: 'You don't even know the performance of our processor, yet you claim it's inferior to foreign products? Is foreign trash also good? Is foreign excrement also more fragrant than ours?'"

Liu Zhonglie's face instantly turned red.

Although it was their first meeting, he had long known Qin Miao's appearance through various channels; now being rebuked by Qin Miao, he really had no temper—let alone Ha Gong Da, even in China's scientific community Qin Miao carries great authority.

For example, he proposed reform opinions for the aviation industry system—nothing short of an earthquake!

Such a talent in market economics should, by rights, be on my side, yet this person… seems born to be hostile toward me.

Liu Zhonglie couldn't figure it out.

Director Zhou hurried out to smooth things over.

"'Engineer Liu, you should humbly accept Comrade Qin Miao's criticism! What's wrong with foreigners? Are foreign goods necessarily strong? Many products developed by Ha Gong Da are world‑first!'"

"'Yes, yes, Director Zhou, you're right, Comrade Qin Miao—I was wrong, I apologize to you!'"

"'Comrade Qin Miao, our Loongson No. 1 sells for 399 dollars on the international market, which isn't much, but… for us domestically that's rather expensive—could we… follow the practice of arms exports, keeping the amount unchanged, using dollars abroad and yuan at home?'"

"'No.'"

"'Why?'"

"'Because that would definitely attract a bunch of people posing as domestic purchasers, buying at our domestic price and reselling internationally for profit—under the current dual‑price system many already do this! Ha Gong Da has never tolerated such worms.'"

Director Zhou's face turned grim.

"'Alright, then we'll do as you say; the state exchange rate is currently 1.7…'"

"'No, no, we need to stay in sync with international markets, using the import‑export exchange rate, around 3.2.'"

"'What?'"

Now Director Zhou could no longer keep his composure.

At that exchange rate, the Loongson No. 1 would have to sell for over 1,200 yuan each—meaning the assembled computers would cost four or five thousand yuan or more!

It's clearly a domestic product, yet the result is… more expensive than importing from abroad!

"'Actually, this price is already low, after all, our Loongson No. 1 is a ten—'"

The bit width of a computer is the number of binary digits processed at once; a 16‑bit processor can handle two bytes of data in one go, so at the same frequency its processing speed is twice that of an 8‑bit processor!

At the same time, bit width affects addressing capacity; a 16‑bit processor can address 64 KB of memory.

Actually, this addressing capacity is still insufficient, so the next generation is planned as a 32‑bit processor, which would allow 4 GB of addressing—enough for more than a decade—and later, 64‑bit processors will be usable for many years.

"'In terms of manufacturing process, we're currently using a 1‑micron process—don't underestimate this tiny die, which integrates 150,000 transistors… By the way, how many transistors does that 8086 you always compare us to integrate?'"

"'Twenty‑nine thousand!' Engineer spoke up."

"'That means our processor should sell for five times the price of the 8086 to be fair—or are we selling it too cheap? Director Zhou, what do you say?'"

"'Ahem, well… well…'"

"'Today is the day our Loongson successfully rolled off the line—we must celebrate properly! Everyone, let's go to the cafeteria! Let's set up a victory feast!'"

"'Let's go!'"

The cafeteria of the microelectronics company.

Because work is usually so hectic that cafeteria staff often bring meals to the office area, with everyone eating at their desks and then continuing to work, the tables and chairs in the cafeteria are practically brand new, without a speck of dirt.

Today, a crowd came rushing in— the cafeteria staff were curious, and upon hearing the news they all broke into smiles; although they're just cooks, seeing everyone work so hard they felt sympathy, and now at last there is results!

Qin Miao glanced at the wine on the table: 'This Beidahuang won't do—someone, go buy Maotai!'

"'San Shui, no need—this Beidahuang is already quite good, we…'"

"'No, we must have Maotai!'"

"'That's not waste.'"

"'Anyone who participated in the development must drink Maotai!' Qin Miao said, then glanced at the few people who had come from the Capital, a look full of implication."

You guys drinking Maotai—that's the real waste!