377: Chapter 377 The Fire Dragon in Time to Save Us 801

That evening, a senior employee of Samsung Semiconductor posted on a forum:

"The Chairman came to inspect our work today and said a few very important words.

In short, we might need to get 14nm done within half a year.

The problem is that this is almost impossible.

Either we create a miracle, or we become part of the miracle."

The post was deleted less than two minutes after it was published, but it had already been screenshotted and shared.

"Samsung is anxious."

"It would be strange if they weren't. One Lithography Machine from Transsion has shattered the entire semiconductor landscape in East Asia."

"But is 14nm really that difficult? Intel has already figured it out; shouldn't a professional foundry like Samsung find it easier?"

"To the person above, foundries need to be profitable. They might still be researching 22nm, but actually jumping straight to 14nm requirements is still a bit difficult."

"Eh, but I remember they announced a breakthrough in 14nm earlier this year, didn't they? Why are they stalling again..."

"To the person above, you remembered correctly; it was indeed officially announced, but that was laboratory 14nm technology... some of their technology has even reached 10nm. But so what?

As long as you don't care about costs, you could even bring out 7nm, but what does that matter?"

"Doesn't that mean we get to watch a good show?"

"Absolutely!"

Meanwhile, Li Qing and Wang Hua saw the screenshot and both laughed.

Being forced is good!

After all, only when they are forced can they feel the insignificance of human nature, and this way, it only takes a little bit of effort to poach them.

Logistics Chief Wang Hua put down the latest detailed report in his hand and said to Li Qing:

"Samsung is preparing to catch up with 14nm. Based on the current detailed situation, they should be able to start large-scale trial production by the end of next year and start foundry services in early 2015. How is your public opinion situation?"

"What else could it be? Our technology can provide confidence to our countrymen, but it still can't cure those who are born with a bent back!

Once foreign countries develop some new technology, there is always talk like 'Transsion is in danger, how can Transsion be arrogant now?'

In short, this is a disease, but our medical skills aren't good enough yet."

Hearing Li Qing's words, Wang Hua was stunned for a moment, then laughed.

Indeed!

This really is a disease.

"However, most people are normal after all. Currently, we are leading in the semiconductor industry. Factory Manager Yuan has already started tackling 10nm technology. I believe by the time they break through 14nm and start ramping up, our 10nm technology will already be out."

After all, the breakthrough time for the 10nm process inside Huaxin is Q3 2014.

...

Meanwhile, on the other side, Qualcomm once again announced an emergency technical summit.

Although it was an emergency technical summit, the venue was not shabby; they chose the Hilton Hotel banquet hall near their headquarters.

The connections of an old-school king are not for show; this hall, which can accommodate 1,200 people, was completely full.

In the front were executives from major mobile phone manufacturers around the world, and in the middle were media reporters.

Of course, there were also some analysts and investors in the back rows. After all, due to the impact of Transsion, Qualcomm's stock price had been falling continuously, which was not a good sign for them.

Even if they didn't let reporters come, they had to let these industry analysts come.

In short, Qualcomm's stock price cannot fall any further.

At 10:00 AM, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs walked onto the stage.

This time, the stage design had a very Apple style; whether it was the lighting, sound, or smoke effects, everything was keeping pace with Apple's launch events.

Regarding this suddenly convened press conference, Jacob did not explain anything...

After all, if he really had to explain that Qualcomm felt scared because Transsion released their 7-series chip, that would be simply too embarrassing.

A flagship chip fighting a competitor's mid-range chip, and yet... does that mean they have actually become MediaTek?

[MediaTek: Have I become the protagonist again?]

"Ladies and gentlemen, last month we brought you the then-world's most powerful Fire Dragon 800...

As a result, a friendly competitor suddenly released their Taishan 7-series chip, making our number one an obsolete product. So today, we bring you the newly upgraded Snapdragon 801.

Originally, we didn't want to release this chip so early, but due to the competitor's provocation, we had no choice but to release a brand new product."

He gently pressed the remote control, and a rendered image of a chip appeared on the big screen behind him.

Relevant parameters also began to pop up one by one:

Snapdragon 801:

TSMC 28nm high-performance mobile processor.

CPU 400, maximum clock speed 2.55 GHz.

GPU: Adreno 330, 650MHz

Memory supports up to LPDDR3 23933MHz

Storage eMMC 5.0

Integrated 4G communication baseband, supports QC 2.0 charging.

While everyone in the audience was shocked, Jacob gently pressed the page-turner, and a shocking answer immediately appeared on the screen: AnTuTu benchmark score of 61,000 points.

When this number appeared on the screen, all the mobile phone manufacturers applauded involuntarily.

The previous generation Snapdragon 800's benchmark score was around 50,000, but that was data that could only be achieved by specially selected chips under specific environments.

This time, the Snapdragon 801... in short, it is the real deal, the world number one.

This score is more than 15% higher than the Taishan 910's score of just over 50,000.

Jacob's face was also plastered with a smile; this number meant that Qualcomm had once again snatched the title of performance king back from Transsion.

Qualcomm is the strongest in mobile processors, and 28nm beat 14nm, and it won.

Transsion is just trash.

"I know what you are thinking; higher performance means higher power consumption, right?"

Jacob paused deliberately, letting the people in the audience nod.

After all, they had also tested the Fire Dragon 800; because the clock speed was forcibly pushed up, the performance went up, but the power consumption went up too.

"But this time it's different. We adopted the Krait 400 architecture, which is famous for its low power consumption.

Coupled with TSMC's second-generation 28nm process, compared to the previous generation, we achieved an actual 30% performance increase, while power consumption only increased by 5%."

What's quite funny is that the PPT behind him showed 50%.

The manufacturers in the audience also smiled knowingly; the person who made the PPT will probably get their pay docked.

If it were 15%, they might think Jacob was joking, but 50% is too outrageous; it must have been a slip of the hand...

Hearing the laughter from the audience, Jacob quickly turned his head to look, and his expression instantly darkened.

"Sorry, our staff here made a mistake. This is not a paper launch; this chip can be mass-produced in December, and the first batch of devices will hit the market in the first quarter of next year."