Los Angeles.
The International Integrated Circuit Design and Process Conference was held as scheduled.
As the top conference in the field of IC design under IEEE, this was not only an academic conference for industry scholars, but it was also a stage for major chip manufacturers to show off their technology.
For an industry like this that involved specific application fields, the boundary between academia and industry was not very clear.
Many scholars were engineers in companies, and many senior engineers in companies were reviewers of journals. There were even some big names who were technical directors and editors of journals under the IEEE. These were not rare.
Professor Michael Mayberry, who was standing on stage, was a typical example.
While serving as the dean of the Intel Semiconductor Research Institute, he also served as Intel's Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
At this moment, he was standing on stage. He was demonstrating Intel's latest consumer processor chips and next-generation core graphics cards to all the scholars, engineers, and company representatives present.
Among the dazzling results, the most eye-catching one was undoubtedly the announcement of the new "Silver Light" microarchitecture based on the 7-nanometer process technology.
The moment this content was presented on the PowerPoint, the parameters and concept diagrams immediately became the focus of everyone's attention!
According to Intel's description, this "Silver Light" architecture, which would be launched in the second half of 2022, would be based on the "Sunny-Cove" architecture introduced by Intel in 2019, and the performance of the chip would be improved by another level! The new chip would also be greatly different from the past in terms of integration and technology.
Michael Mayberry stood on stage and emphasized in an excited and affirmative tone that this was a technological revolution, and that Intel would redefine the future of chip technology … Even though everyone bragged about this every time, Mayberry's speech made a lot of people look surprised.
Everyone knew that the 7-nanometer process technology was close to the technological limit of major manufacturers. Even though it was possible to achieve 5-nanometer, it wasn't cost-effective.
When it came to 5nm and below, it would be a bottleneck at the theoretical level, including the limitations of the material itself and the quantum mechanical effects that could not be ignored. It would be very difficult to improve the chip's performance in the chip manufacturing process.
Because of this, in addition to looking for replacement materials, major chip manufacturers had begun to work on areas other than the process, trying to squeeze out the potential of silicon-based chips as much as possible.
The "Sunny-Cove" architecture that Intel released in the second half of 2019 and caused a lot of discussion in the industry was undoubtedly one of them.
The "Sunny-Cove" architecture based on the 10nm process technology directly increased the performance of Intel's Core and Xeon series chips by 66%!
No one was surprised that Intel was able to achieve the 7nm process, but to be able to make such a major breakthrough in the "Sunny-Cove" architecture, in the eyes of many in the industry, was tantamount to the level of "black technology".
Obviously, this conference had become a show off for Intel.
Qualcomm's chief engineer, Derek Wacker, sat in the audience with his legs crossed. He looked at Qualcomm's CTO on stage and couldn't help but have a look of envy on his face.
"Intel's black technology … Last time I heard Mayberry say that they were preparing to subvert the traditional architecture design. I thought he was bragging, I didn't expect them to actually do it."
Sitting next to him was Koch, the vice president of Qualcomm, who was also sent to participate in this academic conference. He looked at the person on stage and squinted his eyes with envy.
"… Intel's stock is going to skyrocket tomorrow."
Even though the relationship between Qualcomm and Intel wasn't that good, if Qualcomm could make money, Koch didn't mind investing in Intel in advance.
On the other hand, Mayberry on stage was getting thirsty. He even took a sip of water from a cup handed to him by a staff member.
He spent 20 minutes talking to Intel's partners or potential partners about the new architecture named SilverLight, as well as the chips that were introduced with this architecture.
Even though Mayberry's speech was full of boring bragging, no one in the entire venue dared to speak.
Everyone knew what Mr. Mayberry was like.
He might brag, but he wouldn't say anything.
Thirty minutes passed by in an instant. Michael Mayberry walked off the stage with his head held high.
The academic conference of the chip industry continued, but it was obvious that the focus of the audience had been completely taken away by Intel.
Mayberry, who was sitting in the audience, couldn't help but have a smug look on his face as he listened to the discussions and sighs coming from the side.
He was enjoying this feeling.
That's why he came to do this report in person.
Otherwise, he could have just left this kind of report to his subordinates.
The presenters on stage had changed several times. Whether it was Qualcomm, Samsung, or Apple, the results presented at this conference were overshadowed by their "silver lights".
Especially the Qualcomm technician on stage. When he talked about Qualcomm's update to the ARM-V9 instruction set, Mayberry was secretly pleased.
After the Qualcomm presenter left the stage, a Chinese man wearing glasses walked on stage.
His tall and thin appearance, coupled with his decent suit that didn't show much of an aura, made him look like an intern, student, or assistant rather than a professor or an engineer in a high position.
Mayberry was about to laugh at his competitors, but when he saw the presenter on stage, he couldn't help but look at him with contempt.
Whether it was Huawei's HiSilicon logo or the cautious expression on the reporter's face, none of it made Lu Zhou feel like the report was worth his time.
Also, what could an intern say at a place like this?
Mayberry didn't want to embarrass himself.
At this moment, Intel CEO Robert Swan, who was sitting next to him and had not spoken, suddenly spoke.
"I heard that they are no longer satisfied with their IC design. They are cooperating with China's policies to upgrade their industry."
Of course, he was referring to the HiSilicon presenter from Huawei.
Mayberry didn't look at him with contempt. He raised his eyebrows.
"Oh? Do you really think those high-tech Chinese companies can do that? "
Robert Swan said in a deep voice, "You'd better not underestimate them too much. After all, we've only touched the basics of nuclear fusion, and they've already built a cross-regional power grid to the entrance of our factory in Southeast Asia.
Nuclear fusion and chips aren't the same thing.
Mayberry curled his lips in disapproval. He obviously didn't take Swan's words to heart.
At this moment, the intern reporter standing on the stage finally spoke.
Maybe it was because this was the first time he was in a situation like this, but he looked a little nervous. He took a few deep breaths before he calmed down. He then gave a simple opening speech.
Several big names sitting in the front row gave this young man a kind and encouraging look. This included Robert Swan and Mayberry.
Their attitude toward harmless opponents was often sympathetic and tolerant. Even though they couldn't hide the contempt in their eyes, at least on the surface, they still looked like a humble scholar.
This was how adults behaved.
No matter how annoying a naughty kid was, they would usually hide their annoyance and look at the kid with love.
"This project is our … Huawei HiSilicon and the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study. It's been going on for almost two years. Actually, their research team was supposed to report, but because of the location and other considerations, they gave this opportunity to us. "
His voice, which was not very confident, caused many people below the stage to lose interest when they heard it.
Even though the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study attracted a lot of people's attention, they remembered that the presenter was just an intern, so almost everyone had the same look of disapproval on their faces.
They seemed to have noticed this as well.
Seeing that the big shots in the front row had their attention elsewhere, some of them even began to laugh softly, the presenter standing on the stage suddenly became a little anxious, so he sped up his speech and went straight to the point.
"I will explain the specific details in the PowerPoint.
"This project is about the carbon-based chips we are researching …"
He was only halfway through his sentence.
Suddenly, the presenter standing on the stage was surprised to find that the previously restless venue had become dead silent.
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