Rewrite the Technological Landscape

Three days later, Meng Qian flew to Canada.

The first thing after arriving in Canada must be to visit Nortel Networks and sign some contracts by the way. As a result, Mike confused Meng Qian with enthusiasm.

Meng Qian took the opportunity of visiting Nortel Networks to take a good look at the status of the company, especially the status of the employees. The overall feeling is not bad, not as sad as it is rumored on the Internet.

Moreover, since Mike became the CEO of Nortel Networks at the end of last year, the stock price of Nortel Networks has been rising. It is estimated that many people are looking forward to Nortel Networks' further glory.

After leaving Nortel Networks, Meng Qian started a visit to Canadian companies for several days. Among them, Meng Qian is most concerned about, and also the most concerned by the media and the market, and must visit ATI.

Regarding the details of AMD's acquisition of ATI, there have been different opinions for more than ten years. I am afraid that only the parties involved know what happened behind the scenes. Even the reborn Meng Qian has no access to their internal affairs.

At present, there are only two things that are relatively certain. The first is that Intel has indeed proposed the willingness to acquire ATI. As for whether it really wants to acquire or simply wants to make AMD unhappy, it is unknown. Anyway, it did not acquire in the end. become.

In addition, there is another rumor that is probably true, that is, AMD did find Nvidia first and wanted to acquire Nvidia, but because Nvidia's old Huang Renxuan said that he wanted to be CEO, AMD disagreed, and the matter was blown, so AMD had no choice but to buy Nvidia. Go to Nvidia's rival ATI.

As for why AMD is so obsessed with acquisitions, of course it is to wrestle with Intel, and there are rumors in the market that AMD proposed the idea of ​​integrating CPU and GPU. Judging from the current public opinion, most of the media are very optimistic about this acquisition, thinking that it is a strong alliance, and that after AMD's acquisition, it will be able to compete with Intel.

Who would have thought that AMD would go downhill from the acquisition of ATI, especially in the field of graphics cards.

When Meng Qian came to visit, ATI's CEO David, of course, personally received him.

Shaking hands, taking photos, exchanging greetings, and simply visiting ATI, there are many processes to follow.

After grinding for more than an hour, I was finally able to talk about something serious, "Compared to Nvidia, ATI with a 20-year history is indeed more settled and heavy."

"Mr. Meng has been to Nvidia?" David immediately grasped the key to this sentence.

"The last time I visited the United States, I got a general understanding of Nvidia's views on the future."

David made a smile, "Mr. Meng said so, it is easy to arouse curiosity."

David must be embarrassed to ask directly, so he had to test like this, and he would listen to whatever Meng Qian would say.

"Actually, I didn't talk too much. As for the conclusion, let's talk about boasting. In the past, Nvidia can't compete with ATI. In the future, Nvidia can't compete with Dafeng Group."

David's heart was hanging on every word of Meng Qian, "Then I wonder if I have the honor to listen to Mr. Meng talk about the future?"

"Mr. David is polite. In Mr. David's opinion, is the GPU market big?"

"Of course, it can be said that GPU is about to enter an explosive period and has a broad market."

"What about the direction of the market?"

David blurted out, "Of course it's the entertainment industry."

Meng Qian just looked at David and was silent for a few seconds, "It's gone?"

This made David a little confused, "Mr. Meng thinks there is something else?"

Meng Qian doesn't keep it secret, this is what I want to reveal today, "Many people have overlooked one thing, GPU is far stronger than CPU in terms of parallel computing capabilities."

After hearing this sentence, David was still dumbfounded, and Meng Qian was also observing his expression, feeling that ATI probably hasn't realized this matter at the moment, and if he realized it, he might not have sold the company.

So Meng Qian continued, "Nvidia recently released a programming tool called CUDA, Mr. David must know about it."

"I know that it is to save developers' time. Through this set of tools, developers can easily let the GPU program every pixel on the screen at the same time, and let them complete some simple rendering tasks. In this way, developers There is no need to rewrite the code.

We are also developing such a set of tools now. "

"Based on this idea, we can actually go one step further. I have something here, Mr. David, that you can take a look at first." Meng Qian turned on the computer and showed David a short video.

In the video, there is a video about a large amount of calculations being performed by the GPU of the Dafeng Group. The video is very short and does not reveal much. video.

"This is... face recognition? But the amount of parallel computing." As a doctor of engineering, David finally saw something, "Is this a technology that Dafeng Group has already realized?"

"You can say that."

David really wanted to ask about the specific technology and technical principles, but he was a smart person, knowing that Meng Qian only showed him this because he was unwilling to disclose this technology.

As for what Meng Qian showed him, to put it bluntly, it is a little misunderstanding of GPU by many people. In most people's eyes, GPU is a graphics card, and a graphics card is something that affects image quality.

But until now, no one can tell whether it is a coincidence or whether Nvidia really has this vision. In 2006, Nvidia’s GPU development happened to meet the development of deep learning. At this time, Nvidia suddenly realized something.

In the choice between CPU and GPU, although each processor of CPU has higher calculation precision than GPU, there are generally not many computing units, and there is no advantage in speed for simple calculations. Instead, GPU can use some tools to let a large number of processors do it. Parallel computing has design advantages in the face of simple and massive operations.

Using this principle, deep learning researchers use GPUs to complete a large number of low-level calculations, thereby greatly improving the computing power of artificial intelligence.

In later generations, about 3,000 artificial intelligence companies around the world use Nvidia's chips to meet their needs for artificial intelligence. In this field, Nvidia has never missed an opportunity since 2006, and achieved an absolute monopoly many years later. There is no second company in the world that can compete with him.

Is there any familiar application scenario for this thing, that is face recognition, and it is not the face recognition on mobile phones. In most countries in the world, Nvidia’s GPU is used in the Sky Eye project. As for whether Huaxia uses it? Meng Qian is not sure about the Nvidia GPU.

Therefore, in the future, Nvidia's GPU will no longer be used in computer game consoles, but artificial intelligence. This is a super broad future market.

Because there are not many things to show David, Meng Qian can only use his ability to fool around, "I have always said that Dafeng Group is always on the way to the future. This is not an empty slogan, but what we are really doing. Things to do.

We have found a broader future for the GPU, a future that is broader than the entertainment industry, so I am looking for peers, a topic I have never shy away from, the Dafeng Group is a company that lacks the past, this is the fact, there is nothing to hide Covertly.

But even so, Dafeng Group is always able to lead the future, so I came to ATI with pure purpose, I want ATI.

What kind of trouble ATI is in now, the whole world knows, but after handing itself over to AMD, what will happen? I am very clear about AMD's cash flow. After buying ATI, can AMD support two-line operation?

ATI and Intel have been good friends for many years. Mr. David must know more about Intel's development than I do. Can AMD really win? What's more, there is now an additional competitor, IBM. In my opinion, the future computer chip market belongs to IBM and Intel. As for AMD, I personally am not optimistic.

So whether he still has the financial resources and energy to support the development of ATI after the acquisition, this is the reality. "

Meng Qian's words were all in David's heart. After all, this is indeed the reality. However, Meng Qian's flickering is not over yet. What I said just now is based on the analysis of the overall situation. Next, Meng Qian will analyze it from the individual.

Because Meng Qian also discovered an interesting thing when investigating Canada. Almost 80% of Canadian high-tech companies are managed by professional managers, not by founders or start-up teams.

As for professional managers, it is very realistic that their value in the circle of professional managers is more important than that of the company. Including the founder of ATI, He Guoyuan, said in an interview that if he was the CEO of ATI at that time, he would never sell the company to AMD.

So in addition to thinking about the company, Meng Qian also has to think about David, "Now that I've said this, let me focus on the main point first. Dafeng Group also wants to acquire ATI. We have evaluated ATI and we think AMD's offer Clearly undervalued."

Meng Qian first asked David to take a look at the price. AMD's offer price was 5.4 billion yuan, while Dafeng Group's offer price was 6.5 billion yuan. If the company is finally to be sold, for David, selling to Dafeng Group is obvious. sell more successfully.

At the same time, Meng Qian also gave David other plans, "Our Dafeng Group has always advocated the strategy of acquisition without excessive intervention. The acquisition of ATI this time is to better grasp the future of the GPU market, so as to compete in the GPU competition. stand out.

For this reason, I actually prefer Mr. David to continue to be the CEO of ATI. At the technical level, ATI’s accumulation can be gradually transferred to Dafeng Group. In the future, whether ATI continues to be independent or establishes a new company, David The husband can also connect well and manage it all the time. "

David's mentality has changed significantly. From the perspective of the enterprise, if what Meng Qian showed him is true, the combination of ATI and Dafeng Group is likely to create an industry pioneer, which will help ATI return to the top. Not impossible.

And from the perspective of the enterprise, Dafeng Group also makes GPUs, so it can’t buy ATI. Dafeng Group can also rely on its own GPU, but in the field of deep learning, this buddy sitting in front of me is the foundation of deep learning theory. Dear Meng Qian, there are still people nicknamed Patent Maniac.

AIT is currently at a disadvantage in the GPU market. Even if we use the little information about the future we learned from Meng Qian to do it ourselves, can we find a specific direction? Engage in deep learning, can you avoid the patent barriers of Dafeng Group? Meng Qian was not sure, would he reveal it to himself?

And if ATI really does this, Dafeng Group can also find Nvidia to cooperate with the worst move, and I am afraid that killing ATI will be the same as playing.

From my own point of view, ATI has returned to the peak, and my value has increased by three or five times. In terms of the purchase price, it is true that Dafeng Group takes ATI more seriously, and this price is also good for itself.

You must know that David’s value in the industry has dropped sharply recently. From the past history, AMD kicked him out just after the acquisition. David is so good, why are you kicking him away when you are so good?

After that, David didn't have any brilliant performances again, and the CEO of ATI was already at the pinnacle of his career.

Moreover, AMD and Dafeng Group have really different attitudes towards ATI. Although they are both for better integration, no one feels comfortable with AMD's superiority. Doesn't he just know that ATI can't get along now? With 1.1 billion yuan left, the result was a loss of 600 million yuan in the first quarter, and there are still more than one billion yuan in debt.

But Meng Qian's attitude here is much better, and he is respectful and well-planned.

If you want to acquire ATI, it is definitely impossible to talk about it once. Today, Meng Qian is satisfied that he can shake David, and the next step is to continue to communicate again and again.

But Meng Qian was not at all relaxed, because he estimated that the United States would make a move nine out of ten, and there are two cards he can use now, IBM and Nortel Networks.

But Meng Qian really wants ATI. In the first half of this year, the company hardly spent a lot of money. It has been saving money for ATI. As he said today, this will not only affect the future entertainment field, but also the artificial intelligence field. .

Looking up at the sky, Meng Qian said with a wry smile, "If it is really possible to buy any giant company if you have the money, as written in the online novel, even the giant companies in the United States, how great it would be."