I Am the President of the University

The world's top three IC design companies: Qualcomm, Broadcom, and NVIDIA.

In the past chip market, Qualcomm chips have always monopolized the high-end mobile phone market.

It's just that Qualcomm's life is not as bright as it seems. The world's top three mobile phone manufacturers Samsung, China Renaissance, and Apple all have self-developed chips and have put them into use.

The Chinese market has always been valued by Qualcomm. Although Huaxing has its own Kirin chips, it will also purchase some Qualcomm Snapdragon chips.

Although the revenue from the chip sector has been declining year by year, he can still live a comfortable life. But when Optical Core came out, it immediately turned the table for him.

Anmeng's face was full of annoyance, and he couldn't think of a way to break this situation.

As a chip design giant, he knows the performance of optical cores better than anyone else.

"How come the optical core was developed? It's unreasonable!" An Meng thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out.

With the current level of science and technology, photonic technology is obviously still in development. Technologies such as optical computing, optical storage, optical computing, etc. are all in their infancy.

There may be differences among major scientific research institutes around the world, but the differences are not big.

A Chinese university called Guanghua actually developed an optical core. According to this calculation, the other party's technology in the field of photonics may already be the world's best.

And the first place here is the kind that beats the second to tenth place in the world combined.

"Farke! Farke!"

An Meng became more and more angry and couldn't help but swear.

"Are we going to give up on the high-end chip market?" An Meng said depressedly.

Qualcomm's main business is divided into three parts: QCT, QTL and QSI.

For example, revenue in 2017 was approximately US$23 billion, of which QCT business revenue was US$16.5 billion, accounting for 72% of total revenue, and the pre-tax net profit margin was only 17%.

In the past three years, the ratio of QCT business to revenue has been declining year by year, and QTL has increased. It may seem healthier?

But the truth is worse!

That's because Qualcomm's position in the chip market is not as good as it used to be.

Optical cores can be said to be atomic bomb-level weapons. Whether they are Qualcomm Snapdragon or Huaxing's Kirin chips, Samsung's Exyons chips and Apple's A-series chips, they all have to be marked GG.

Just looking at the current situation, Guanghua's positioning should be the flagship mobile phone chip. \\b

If Qualcomm changes its positioning from high-end chips to mid-to-low-end chips, it may still be able to survive.

But losing the high-end chip market means losing core competitiveness and may be eliminated at any time.

The huge Qualcomm company naturally does not only have chip business. After so many years of development, it has already branched into many fields such as wearable devices, mobile computing, XR, automobiles, Internet of Things, smart homes, smart cities, etc.

But without the high-end chip market, Qualcomm will also fall from its position as a mobile phone chip giant.

But it was an “ordinary” university in China that brought them down from the altar.

"It's really disappointing..."

An Meng looked dazed.

In 1996, Anmon joined Qualcomm as an engineer.

On January 4, 2018, Anmen became president of Qualcomm.

On June 30, 2021, Anmen became the company’s CEO. This is also the fourth CEO in Qualcomm’s history. \\b

For a young Brazilian to reach his current position as an engineer is both luck and strength.

But who would have thought that the chip design giant Qualcomm, which has been established for 36 years, was not defeated by its peers Broadcom and Nvidia, nor by mobile phone manufacturers Apple, Samsung, and Huaxing, but by Guanghua University from China.

Absurd to the extreme.

\\b……

Also worried about Anmon is Intel CEO Robert Swan.

It’s 12 o’clock Beijing time, but it’s already 8 o’clock in the evening in California.

Swan, who usually works out at home, is still stuck in the company's laboratory.

"Dr. Philip, stop your analysis. This is not an academic lecture hall, but an Intel laboratory, okay?"

Swan suppressed his inner anger and asked as calmly as possible: "I just want to know if the other party will be involved in the field of computer processors!"

"Just tell me the answer!"

Dr. Philip pondered for a moment, not noticing that his boss was already on the verge of going berserk. He even said with some admiration: "The data we have is not enough to prove whether the optical core uses the ARM architecture. Normally, mobile phones Chips all use reduced instruction sets, and it is impossible to use complex instruction sets in mobile phones. \\b"

"If the other party uses the ARM architecture, it must obtain the patent authorization from the British company.\\b"

"However, the optical core uses photoelectric computing. Even if it is an ARM architecture, the performance is enough to handle computer computing, and the performance is even far better than our Intel chip."

Philip's tone made Swann very dissatisfied, and he couldn't help scolding: "Dr. Philip, you are an employee of Intel and the chief scientist of Intel, not a professor at their Guanghua University!"

“Oh God, thank you for the kind reminder.”

Phillip shrugged and muttered, "If they are willing, maybe I can become a professor at Guanghua University. I heard that Ludao's climate is the same as that of Hawaii. It may be a good retirement city."

"Hmm? I don't know if I can adapt to the food there. If it's too spicy, my stomach will probably protest..."

Intel's chief scientist is naturally a big figure in the industry. If Intel dares to kick him, it can find a new employer at any time. There is no need to look at Swann's face.

Philip: Kick me if you can, and you can take some compensation and go to Ludao to retire.

Of course, Swann would not do such a stupid thing. He was so angry that his face was livid, but he could only suppress the thought of strangling the old man in front of him.

"\\bI'll leave it to you, Dr. Philip, in the laboratory. I have to leave beforehand."

With a polite smile, Swann hurried away.

He had to contact the British company quickly to see if Guanghua University had obtained authorization for the ARM architecture. If so, that would be bad.

If not, it might be even worse.

Within half an hour, Swann finally contacted the British company.

It’s just that the answer is surprising.

Swann exclaimed directly in the car.

"What? Didn't you obtain the patent authorization from your company?"

"You don't know either? Okay, thank you."

British companies are also very depressed. They have been paying attention to the news since Optical Core made news, and they are also thinking about charging the Chinese university a patent licensing fee.

It doesn't matter whether it's an American chip company or a Chinese chip company. The more chips you make, the more royalties they charge.

It’s just that after waiting for more than half a year, the other party has not contacted them at all.

Don't they use ARM architecture?

How can mobile phone chips not use ARM architecture?

This is impossible!

Swann's head was buzzing. The optical core does not use the ARM architecture, and it is obviously impossible to use the x86 architecture. So what is the situation?

"It can't be that it's using an all-trust architecture, right...?" Swann murmured.

Then he shook his head violently.

"No, this is impossible! How can there be other structures? This is unrealistic!"

Swann began to worry about gains and losses again. He didn't know whether the architecture used by the other party would allow Optical Core to get involved in the field of computer chips.

If Intel completely loses its computer chip business, it will end up worse than Qualcomm, shrinking by two-thirds.

A generation of computer chip giants has since fallen.

He had no other choice but to hope that the other party would not enter the computer chip market.

"God, please bless your devout followers..."