Chapter 361 Future Strategy of Chips

Author: quiet thoughts

Chapter 361 Future Strategy of Chips

"The main architecture of the East Generation chips has not changed, but they have provided customers with more choices in terms of main frequency subdivisions."

There are actually three models of SIC's first-generation chips, and each model has one specification.

The specifications mentioned there refer to the main frequency of the chip, such as 5MHz for 8089A and 8MHz for 8089.

What Masatoshi Akejima wants to do is to provide different versions of main frequency parameters for each type of chip based on increasing the number of transistors.

"For example, the 80289M and 80289 chips are currently being developed.

Although the address bus is both 8-bit, the number of transistors in both of them has been greatly improved compared to the previous generation of chips."

In Masatoshi Shima’s plan, the 80289M (M stands for mini version) will integrate more than 60,000 transistors on its exterior, which is nearly half more than the 40,000-plus transistors of the previous generation 8089A.

At the same time, several different versions of 5MHz, 8MHz, and 10MHz have been developed in terms of operating frequencies.

As an enhanced version of 80289, the number of external transistors has reached more than 90,000, and the main frequency also has several different versions of 8MHz, 10MHz, and 12MHz.

So what are the benefits? In addition to the same product line, there are three more products with different positioning.

This is also the first time that SIC has provided consumers with multiple choices of microprocessors of the same generation, making its chip lineup more comprehensive and detailed.

At the same time, the new generation of chips will be compatible with the instruction set of the previous generation of chips, so developers do not have to re-familiarize themselves with the logic of the instruction set after getting the latest generation of SIC chips.

As long as you have previous development experience, the use of the new generation of chips will be quickly available.

That will greatly lower the threshold for SIC chip development, and will also greatly facilitate the further promotion of SIC chips in the market.

According to SIC's vision, every future generation of chips will continue that legacy, improving the architecture while also enriching the instruction set.

After several generations of products go east, SIC's chips will truly develop into family products.

As the market expands, users will gradually become accustomed to the application of SIC's architecture and instruction set.

By that time, SIC chips will become another mainstream in the processor market, and people will no longer change their usage habits easily.

To put it simply, the chips of that generation are repairing external skills, laying the foundation, and making the first attempt to make SIC family-friendly and inheritable.

The reason why Shima Masari has such confidence is not because SIC's chips have been widely recognized by Neon's local market.

Especially the popularity of Fujitsu computers has allowed more software developers to accept the existence of SIC chips.

They are a highly sought-after link in the chip ecological chain. If we firmly grasp them, we will not worry about the market acceptance of SIC chips.

Through Shimamasato’s explanation, Hongkawa Kaede has roughly understood Hongkawa’s future strategic route for SIC.

"Apart from those two chips, do they have any plans in the field of higher-end chips?"

The low-end market is not basic, but high-end chips are equally profitable.

Tens of thousands of 16-bit chips have brought Hongchuan Feng more than 10 billion yuan in monthly income. How could he not care about such a high rate of return?

"For the 16-bit chip, they are currently developing a new model 80281, which has 160,000 transistors integrated externally.

There are also several different versions of main frequency: 8MHz, 12MHz, 16MHz, and 20MHz.”

Shimamasa didn't have high hopes for that chip. He introduced the most powerful chip of SIC to Hongkawa Kaede in detail.

"Like the two previous generations, it is compatible with all designs of the three chip generations and can run all software written for its predecessor processors.

In addition, it will be SIC’s first 16-bit chip, and it will also be the most versatile 16-bit chip.”

"A 16-bit chip?" Hongchuan Feng said strangely.

"Yes," Shima Masato nodded, "80281 will be officially launched next year, that is, in 2083.

After that chip, they concentrated on developing SIC's first 32-bit chip, the 80381.

According to the plan, that chip will be officially launched on the market around 2085."

"32-bit chip." Hong Chuanfeng was in a trance after hearing that number.

Because in the 32-bit era, it was already infinitely close to the computer configurations he was familiar with in his previous life.

It seems from my memory that in the 10th year of the millennium, many computer operating systems still did not support 32-bit width.

Unexpectedly, it has appeared in the world since the mid-1980s.

Of course, it must have gone through many updates and iterations, but that still does not affect Hongchuan Feng's feeling that time passes so quickly.

"Nowadays, semiconductor processing has made great progress. The newly developed 1.5μm process next year will be enough for them to try more transistors."

Ruming's semiconductor manufacturing process has developed to the 1.5μm era. According to the news from Fujitsu, they will be able to reach that process next year.

As long as there are prerequisites for technical implementation, Shima Masato has officially begun to launch an attack on 32-bit processors.

"Daosang, if you have any questions during the development process, you can contact him at any time. SIC will fully support the research and development of 32-bit chips."

That kind of chip family that will be used for nearly 20 to 30 years in the future is worthy of Hongchuan Feng's investment at any cost.

At the same time, he now has a hunch that SIC chips will be spread to the east for a long time in the future.

Maybe it's time to consider the overseas market, after all, the main development position of computers is in North America.

This is where we can drive computer innovation again and again, and Neon is not too small after all.

If SIC's early goal is to survive, Neon is the best choice.

After the survival problem is solved, it is time to consider further growth.

After going over SIC's development plan for the next few years with Masato Washima, Hongkawa Kaede felt more confident.

In addition to Hongchuan Electric, another future technology giant has broken free of its cocoon and is about to take flight.

It seems that as the popularity of SIC chips gradually increases, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry seems to have noticed it recently.

They communicated with me several times intentionally or unintentionally, but they did not have any direct requests. It seemed that they were just understanding the situation.

Since they didn't say anything, Hongchuan Feng didn't bother to speculate anymore, he could just do his own business.

He hasn't broken any laws and has paid his taxes in full every year, so there shouldn't be any problems.

After all, compared with processor chips and DRAM chips, the shipment volume of the latter far exceeds that of the former.

Within an electronic product, a chip is almost an essential part.

There is usually one processor chip, but there can be two or even four DRAM chips.

For example, the mainframes and compatible computers that are still the mainstream have external DRAM chips that are several times that of personal computers.

The more complex the product, the less likely this is, which is why Neon semiconductor manufacturers entered the DRAM chip business in the past few years.

The lack of development of processor chips is a factor, and the strong demand for DRAM chips is also a factor.

In recent years, with the development of personal computers, the shipment volume of processor chips has also increased year by year.

Perhaps in a few years, more and more semiconductor companies will enter that industry.

But by then SIC was already considered a pioneer in the industry, and its market share would become more stable.

That negates the advantage of entering the game early, and there is little competition. Except for Intel, Motorola, and Texas Instruments, which are considered major manufacturers.

The scale of other semiconductor companies such as zligo and MOS is not that bad, and SIC, which relies on Neon's local market, is no longer afraid of their existence.

The most important thing is whether SIC has its own chip architecture. If you give it a few more years, it may not be able to compete with Intel.

It's December, and it's the busiest time of the year.

Major companies are doing their year-end inventory, and workers are looking forward to the most generous annuity at the end of the year.

Whether merchants are harvesting the wallets of social workers, or whether they are sparing no effort to carry out various promotional activities.

As an artist who entertains the public, various New Year parties and award ceremonies are held one after another at the end of the year.

As one of the most popular singers currently, Seiko Matsuda will also attend the award ceremony of Fuji TV Station FNS Gayo Festival tomorrow night.

Even unexpectedly, he won the FNS Music Festival Grand Prize with the song "Wild Rose Etudes".

With the blessing of the grand prize, Seiko Matsuda should be in a happy mood.

But it was obvious from the puffy mouth that she had just come out of the venue that her mood was not that wonderful.

As for the reasons why she is not in a good mood, there are too many reasons. First of all, people often hold Akina Nakamori who is wrongly compared to her.

Because of the single "Second Love", it has sold nearly 800,000 copies thanks to the CD.

Akina Nakamori is now undoubtedly the brightest star in the pop music world, and because her personality is completely different from that of Seiko Matsuda, some people often mistakenly compare them together.

For example, Akina Nakamori has her own personality. She is a vocalist who can never be manipulated by others. Even if she meets her own producer, the same is true for her agency.

She is very sincere and says whatever she has to say. She often has to politely say "Sorry, I'm rude".

Such a character is unique among the idols of the current era, and it is in stark contrast to Seiko Matsuda.

Matsuda Seiko has a very high emotional intelligence. He smiles and is kind to everyone he meets, and he cares about propriety in everything he says.

The songs she sang also all followed the sunshine route, so she won the title of "Girl of Light".

But where there is light, there is shadow.
To be continued...