22: Core technology is the moat

Beijing

Red Star Headquarters, Wucai City Park

In the chip department's laboratory building, Dr. Lu was staring intently at the screen, waiting for the experimental results.

Behind him, some people were responsible for recording data, some were staring at the screen with him, and others were operating computers.

"Beep."

Chen Chen swiped his card to open the laboratory's access control.

He also changed his clothes and walked into the lab.

"Dr. Lu, has the simulation test for the Soaring Cloud S2 passed?"

As soon as he entered, Chen Chen asked Dr. Lu impatiently.

Dr. Lu, who was focused, looked up and saw it was Chen Chen, then replied:

"It's currently under testing; we're running the circuit-level simulation results right now."

He then explained, "Once the current circuit-level simulation passes, we will proceed with logic synthesis."

"That means converting the circuit into a gate-level circuit and performing simulation tests again. Only after that passes can we evaluate the circuit power consumption, timing satisfaction, and so on for our Soaring Cloud S2."

"Why don't you go rest in the lounge next door for a while? I'll notify you once there are results."

Just as Chen Chen was about to turn and leave, he heard Dr. Lu say, "Old Zhou said their fast charging technology has also had a breakthrough. You can go check it out first."

"Alright, I'll go see Dr. Zhou."

Chen Chen went out and took the elevator to Dr. Zhou's side. He had originally thought the simulation test would be quick, but he didn't expect it to be so complex. No wonder so many manufacturers couldn't handle chips.

It wasn't like a few years later when chips were constantly 7nm or 5nm; otherwise, with Red Star's current chip team, it would be impossible to complete chip design and R&D with a research team of just over a hundred people.

In the future, if you wanted to play with chips without an R&D team of several thousand people, you wouldn't even dare to greet others.

It was said that Huawei had an R&D team of over ten thousand people just for chips.

Chen Chen shuddered just thinking about that scene.

He arrived at the R&D department, which was actually right next to the chip department, except one was a four-story building and the other was a three-story building.

He skillfully swiped the access card; Dr. Zhou was also busy here.

"President Chen!"

Looking up and seeing it was Chen Chen, Dr. Zhou immediately put down his work and stepped forward to grab Chen Chen.

"President Chen, I was just about to call you. Our fast charging technology has had a new breakthrough based on your idea."

"It's perfect timing; let's go take a look together."

Arriving on the third floor, the dozen or so people in the fast charging team were preparing for a new round of experiments.

Seeing Dr. Zhou leading Chen Chen over, the person in charge, Ding Ping, also immediately stood up and came before them.

"President Chen, based on your type-c interface and our previous dual-path charge pump idea, we have developed a new generation of fast charging technology."

"It's simply a revolutionary technology!"

Unlike his previous life where he relied entirely on system-issued technical rewards, Red Star had its own research team. Sometimes, just by giving them an idea and a direction for the future, they could quickly achieve technical breakthroughs.

Chen Chen looked at the confident fast charging team and was also very curious. In the half-year since he brought over the 18W charging technology and the type-c interface, what kind of technical breakthrough could the fast charging team bring him?

Ding Ping led Chen Chen to a test bench, handed him a pair of goggles, and said:

"This is the dual-path charge pump fast charging system we made based on President Chen's high-voltage fast charging plan, combined with the dual-path charge pump we had already been researching."

Chen Chen looked at the phone in front of him, which had been modified beyond recognition, and signaled Ding Ping to continue.

"Our previous 18W fast charging used a high-voltage plan, but before the current enters the battery, there's a step-down process. This process loses some power, which not only reduces efficiency but also causes the phone's temperature to rise."

"At that time, I thought, since the step-down process loses efficiency, what if I add a charge pump?"

"The principle of a charge pump is to generate high voltage through the accumulation effect of capacitors on charges, allowing current to flow from a low potential to a high potential."

"President Chen, look here."

Ding Ping pointed to the modified Red Star Generation 1 on the test bench, and Chen Chen also noticed something different.

The power cable behind the phone's tail plug was composed of two lines, each connected to two power sources. There was a small device in the middle of the lines; that was likely the charge pump they mentioned.

"We input a high-voltage current of 20V 2A at the power end, and then this current passes through dual circuits. The dual circuits can split the 2A current, giving us two paths of 20V 1A current, which then pass through two charge pumps."

"The power cable here is also specially made, replacing the original copper wire with tinned copper, which can carry higher current and voltage."

"When the current passes through the charge pumps, they step down the voltage, giving us two paths of 5V 4A current."

"President Chen, look here again."

Chen Chen followed the direction Ding Ping was pointing and saw that the dual circuits converged again.

"The two circuits merge into one, giving us a large current of 5V 8A, achieving a 40W charging power of 5V 8A."

"Incredible, incredible!"

Chen Chen gave a thumbs up and praised, "This dual-path charge pump plan is indeed impressive. We've reached 40W with dual paths; have you tested a single path?"

Ding Ping immediately explained, "We've already achieved 33W with a single path. Any higher would pose safety risks and requires further research!"

"That's enough; 33W is sufficient for now!"

"We must hurry to apply for patents. I'm afraid other manufacturers will discover the role of the charge pump after dismantling our phones and chargers."

"Our patent is already first in the application priority."

At this point, Dr. Zhou chimed in.

As a veteran employee who had worked at Red Star for many years, he deeply understood the importance of this technology to the company. The patent had already been submitted, but since it was just after the Spring Festival, there was no news yet.

"According to our current 40W charging power, it now takes less than 30 minutes to fully charge the Red Star Generation 1. In the future, as we continue to make breakthroughs, this power will keep rising."

"Alright, I'll wait for your good news. I wish you an early breakthrough to 120W or 200W!"

"If dual-path charge pumps aren't enough, then use three or four paths!"

Chen Chen's words elicited a burst of laughter from everyone in the lab.

Everyone was happy with the technical breakthrough.

In fact, none of the phones currently on the market even broke the 10W power mark; even the 7W HTC was considered to charge relatively quickly.

Of course, that was compared to Fruit, Samsung, and other manufacturers' 5V 1A. Compared to Red Star? Never mind the 40W in the lab now; even the 18W of the Red Star Generation 1 currently on sale would crush them.

"Can our 40W technical plan be applied now?"

Chen Chen asked another critical question.

The lab is the lab.

According to netizens, some companies have 200W or even 500W fast charging technology lying in their labs, but what they release is still the 'safe and fast' 5V 1A.

"Well... it's like this, President Chen. Our dual-path charge pump plan is fast, but..."

"Don't hesitate; if there's a problem, say it directly."

"Our type-c interface has 24 metal contacts, which can perfectly adapt to our new fast charging. But the original interface definitely won't work. The original MicroUSB interface only has 5 contacts, four of which are data contacts. Even if we modified the interface for the Red Star Generation 1 to support 18W, for the current 40W, we definitely can't use the Micro interface anymore."

"I thought it was something serious. In the future, all our phones will be type-c; in fact, the whole world will use the type-c interface. This isn't a problem."

"Also, the charger end hasn't been settled yet. The charger needs a built-in chip to automatically identify our phone's fast charging and adjust the voltage and current at any time."

"That's easy to handle. You're missing a charging management IC chip, right? Go talk to Dr. Lu about that. If you can handle it yourselves, do it; if not, go out and customize it. It can definitely be solved."

"However, the price of the dual-path charge pump is also an issue. In the coming time, while continuing to research the dual-path plan, you also need to improve the single-path plan as quickly as possible. Also, the cost should be as low as possible while ensuring safety."

"We're going to use it in this year's flagship model!"

"Yes, President Chen."

Just as he was about to leave, Chen Chen remembered something else.

"Since dual-path charge pumps could double the charging power, didn't some manufacturers in his previous life use dual batteries to double the charging power again?"

Thinking of this, Chen Chen turned to Ding Ping and said:

"Leader Ding, have you ever thought that since we can use dual-path charge pumps to increase power, what about using two battery cells?"

Chen Chen left after saying that, leaving Ding Ping stunned on the spot.

He immediately pulled out his notebook and recorded the plan.

While writing, he muttered something:

"dual battery cells, 4 charge pumps."

"200W, 500W."

Just as he left the fast charging group and arrived on the first floor, he heard the internal phone on the desk ringing.

Dr. Zhou stepped forward to answer the phone and immediately became very excited.

"Old Lu, did it succeed?"

"President Chen is here with me; we'll head over right away."

Putting down the phone, Dr. Zhou hurriedly pulled Chen Chen toward the chip department in the next building.

"President Chen, Old Lu just called to say the simulation test passed. Let's go take a look."

Swiping open the chip lab's access control, the cheers inside were clearly audible.

"President Chen, our Soaring Cloud S2 simulation passed; it's a success!"

"The chip's performance design has met expectations, the circuit power consumption is normal, and the functional modules are all usable."

Looking at the excited team members, Dr. Lu also had a smile on his face, but he still poured a bucket of cold water on everyone:

"Don't get happy too early. Although we passed the simulation test, the actual performance still needs to wait until after the tape-out to be determined. Whether the tape-out will be successful is also a question."

"We still have a long way to go. Only when our tape-out test is successful will it be true success."

Dr. Lu's words instantly quieted the entire lab. Everyone thought about it and realized he was right; passing the simulation test didn't necessarily mean the produced chip would meet expectations.

This was also closely related to the manufacturing process.

"It's fine, Dr. Lu. Everyone is just happy to have passed the simulation test."

Then Chen Chen looked at the team members in the lab and said loudly:

"Once your tape-out test is successful, I'll give you bonuses again. Starting this month, everyone in the chip research department will get a 20% salary increase!"

"Thank you, President Chen!"

"Thank you, President Chen."

Don't underestimate this 20%. You should know that these Engineers were all high-level talents poached from various places by the original Old Master Chen, and some were even poached as entire teams.

Their annual salaries were very high, so a 20% increase was no small amount.

However, compared to money, Chen Chen cared more about these talents. As long as he could keep the talents and the Engineers, he wouldn't mind even if he had to invest all of Red Star's profits into R&D.

Science and technology are the primary productive forces.

Engineers are a company's most precious talent.

Chen Chen had always kept these two sentences in mind and practiced accordingly.

He might make more money faster by using it for finance, but what would be the point of that?

Some technologies cannot be bought with money.

You can only rely on yourself to tackle them step by step and conduct your own R&D.

In scientific research, there is never such a thing as overtaking on a curve.

In just one day, Red Star's powerful scientific research had contributed two trump cards to him.

This would also become Red Star's moat.

Let's see who dares to say Red Star has no core technology in the future; Chen Chen was prepared to throw the chip and fast charging in their face.

For a technology company, core technology is the moat!