Chapter 335 - 327: Exchange_1

Pressure is applied, but business still needs to be done; without doing business, on what can the capital feed?

Although on the surface the attitude toward China’s semiconductor industry is one of suppression and disdain, not to mention, the vast market is simply too significant to forsake.

The bill could restrict only a few high-end fields, consumer-level electronic products are mostly not included.

If John refused to sell iPhone 8 or any Core CPUs to China, he might need to ride in a car equipped with lightning protection every time he went out; Wall Street would be itching to get rid of him as quickly as possible.

However, the restrictions in these high-end fields weren’t a small sum of money either. Even without the emergence of ternary technology, these semiconductor companies would still do business in roundabout ways, just not as eagerly as now.

The Science and Technology Commission and the domestic Semiconductor Industry Association briefly assessed the products and technologies foreign manufacturers were willing to exchange privately and made their own judgments.

Firstly, there was indeed sincerity; not only were they willing to sell the high-end products banned from export through loopholes but some technologies previously tightly held were now offered for exchange under the common practice of cross-licensing by technology companies.

Of course, there were some tricks involved, such as inclusion of technologies with promising prospects but immature development to inflate the numbers, like Zhang Siren noticing Intel’s Optane phase-change memory technology.

It was a new generation technology developed jointly by Micron and Intel, acting as a bridge between traditional storage media and volatile non-permanent storage media, capable of serving as both an ultra-longevity high-speed storage and a buffer between dynamic RAM and hard drives.

On the surface, it seemed like an excellent catch-all solution, and Intel had already implemented it in their first generation Xeon server platform.

But Zhang Siren immediately noticed the carefully obscured issue of cost; although listed as early development stages with costs expected to drop after technological advancement, the uncertainty was clearly implied.

These lists of technologies would have greatly pleased domestic interests in the past, but now, although still perceived as good, they seemed to fall short as trade for the licensing of the underlying ternary technology patents.

Especially after the technology arms race unfolded and research into ternary integrated circuit technology deepened.

Due to its inherent characteristics, ternary computers had a significantly higher fault tolerance and reliability than traditional computers.

This wouldn’t affect everyday environments, but in space, the bombardment of semiconductor chips by cosmic high-energy particle streams had always been a concern for scientists.

This is why the chips used in space actually have low levels of technological sophistication, as the smaller and more densely packed transistors are, the more likely they are to fail after a particle stream or ray bombardment.

Ma and the Pentagon were launching the yet-to-be-networked first-generation Star Chain in an attempt to save costs, utilizing many consumer-grade chips.

These chips, far superior to aerospace-specific chips and cheap due to their vast market volume, made "Star Chain" appear both economical and effective.

However, a minor solar storm or an exceptionally strong electromagnetic interference could directly destroy these chips.

Traditional satellites may temporarily malfunction when interfered with, but they can be rebooted and continue to function after the interference passes, typically lasting over a decade. The lifespan of "Star Chain" satellites, however, was completely up to luck.

Good luck could mean continuous operation; bad luck could result in a lost connection upon launch...

This was only considering satellites and spacecraft operating around the Earth’s surface and within its magnetic field, which naturally weakens incoming cosmic rays.

Venturing out of Earth’s orbit towards the Moon, Mars, or into deep space, various harsh radiation would severely disrupt the chips.

Why were the Artemis and Dawn missions each sending one unmanned and one manned spacecraft to circle the Moon?

It was because beyond Earth’s orbit, they would pass through the high-energy radiation belt. Without the protective magnetic field of Earth, the cosmic rays would become even more intense, posing serious threats to astronauts.

Including spacecraft computers: the more complex and vast the mission’s requirements for performance were, the greater the need for an accumulation of protective measures and redundant modules to ensure reliability.

However, ternary chips, compared to binary ones, were more reliable, especially with nearly zero errors in addressing positive and negative issues, which allowed for continual enhancement of performance while maintaining reliability.

What’s more promising was the potential of artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Falling behind in traditional computer science, China had started early on research into photonic and quantum computing in hopes of "overtaking at the bend," accumulating experience that even surpassed America and Europe.

After obtaining ternary technology, the quantum laboratory at Beijing Science and Technology University was the first to realize its principles were similar to quantum computing and attempted to build upon it for quantum computing.

A few days ago, Peng Jianfu led yet another breakthrough, creating a ternary/quantum dual-computing platform using ferric oxide that achieved its first test run.

The artificial intelligence laboratory in Anhui also delivered good news, claiming significant progress in big data models for learning-type artificial intelligence, highly likely to evolve the world’s first super AI.

It was for reasons like this that Zhang Siren was very aware of the weight of the chips in his hand; exchanges were not out of the question, but what had been offered so far was far from enough.

Unlike being caught off guard by a sudden bill in the original timeline, this time, due to the existence of the space race, there was always preparation for pressure in other areas. Although unexpected, there was no lack of countermeasures.

Especially in the critical semiconductor field: while the development of ternary technology hadn’t yet reached a point to replace the current one, its promising prospects at least solved most of the usability issues, and it prevented becoming a target for forced compromises or stubborn resistance.

Of course, China’s ternary technology wasn’t in the hands of the officials; tracing it back, the actual controller was none other than the president of Xinyuan Company, Lin Ju, who was constantly launching rockets.

Although he never interfered with the development of ternary technology or demanded any benefits, everyone knew his irreplaceable decision-making power.

Which ternary technology patents could be traded for some advantages and which should be kept tightly in hand, all needed to be discussed with others, and the benefits obtained also had to be shared.

...

"Technology licensing? I’m just an outsider on this matter; professional issues should be left to professionals. I’ll find someone to analyze it.

Yes, sure, thank you for your concern... I’m on it, I’m on it, no worries..."

Lin Ju hung up the red telephone on his desk, next to which was a similarly shaped old-fashioned black telephone.

Just now, a leader had called to personally discuss the foreign semiconductor manufacturers seeking access to ternary technology. After chatting for over ten minutes, the conversation ended with Lin Ju partly agreeing.

Exchanging some non-critical fundamental technology patents for benefits was no big deal, but it was essential to ensure a leading position and to strike a bargain that was just right to get a satisfactory return.

Xinyuan, what does Xinyuan need?