171: Chapter 171 The Flint Legacy

January 21, Monday, 9:00 AM.

At the Xinghuo Chip design center, this time of day should have been the most intense moment of keyboard clacking.

Engineers would usually be drinking coffee while discussing last night's simulation results, with whiteboards covered in scribbled formulas and architectural diagrams.

But today, the office area was unusually quiet.

In the workstation area for the "Flint 4" project team, more than thirty engineers sat with their heads down, no one speaking.

A stifling atmosphere filled the air.

In the corner, two young engineers were whispering to each other.

"My wife cried all night last night," said Zhang Ming, 28, who was responsible for the cache subsystem design.

"She said this time it was Director Lin, and next time it might be me. She wants me to quit and go back home to take the civil service exam..."

Beside him, Wang Lei, 27, responsible for the power management unit, gave a bitter smile.

"My mom said the same thing. She said, 'Son, Mom doesn't ask for you to be rich or powerful, I just want you to be safe.'"

"Then what will you..."

"I don't know." Wang Lei lowered his head. "I love this job, really. But..."

He didn't finish his sentence because Luo Qinghe walked into the office area.

Luo Qinghe, the 42-year-old Chief Scientist of Xinghuo Chip, was wearing a dark gray sweater with a white lab coat over it today—this was his habit when entering the lab, even though he didn't need to go into the lab today.

He didn't turn on the lights, letting the office area remain dim.

He walked to the whiteboard in the center of the office area and stood there quietly.

On the whiteboard, the architectural diagram Lin Haoran had drawn last Friday remained: the overall framework of Flint 4, the connection relationships of the seven main modules, and several optimization points marked in red.

Below the diagram, Lin Haoran had written a line in his uniquely elegant handwriting:

"Goal: Performance +35%, Power consumption -40%. RTL freeze by February 28."

The date was January 18, the day before the car accident.

Luo Qinghe looked at that line for a full ten minutes.

The office area was deathly silent; everyone was looking at him.

Then, he turned to face everyone.

His voice was calm, but every word reached everyone's ears clearly:

"Lin Haoran is my good friend. Although we have only known each other for a year, we joined Xinghuo together. We have stayed up through countless nights together, argued countless times, and cheered for every breakthrough."

"Now he is lying in the hospital. The doctor says he might wake up, but he may never be able to write code or draw architectural diagrams like before."

Luo Qinghe paused for a moment; his eyes were slightly red, but his tone remained steady:

"If we stop now, if we give up because of fear, then those who wanted Lin Haoran to fall, those who wanted us to stop, they will have won."

He walked to Lin Haoran's workstation.

The workstation remained exactly as it was last Friday: a computer that was on (already passed safety checks), with a screensaver of Lin Haoran's daughter's photo; a coffee cup with leftover coffee stains at the bottom; and a notepad with a few formulas scribbled on it.

Luo Qinghe carefully picked up Lin Haoran's ID badge, wiped it with a handkerchief, and then walked to the whiteboard, hanging the ID badge next to the architectural diagram.

"We are keeping this spot for him," Luo Qinghe said. "When he returns, we want him to see a stronger team, a team that has completed 'Flint 4'."

He turned on Lin Haoran's computer and pulled up the project progress document.

The screen showed: Overall progress 70.3%.

"Before Director Lin's accident, he had already completed 70% of the logic design. We will complete the remaining 30% together," Luo Qinghe said, his gaze sweeping over everyone. "Not completing it for him, but completing it with him."

He picked up a whiteboard marker and wrote four large characters next to Lin Haoran's line:

Passing the Torch

After writing, he turned to face the team: "Now, I need to know two things. First, if anyone needs to leave the project team temporarily for personal or family reasons, I understand and approve, and the company will arrange other work. Second, who is willing to stay and finish this 30% with me?"

Silence.

Five seconds, ten seconds, fifteen seconds...

Zhang Ming was the first to stand up: "Director Luo, I'm staying."

Wang Lei was the second: "I'm staying too."

Then the third, the fourth... all thirty-seven engineers stood up.

No one left.

Luo Qinghe nodded, the moisture in his eyes finally uncontrollable, but he quickly wiped it away.

"Good. Then from now on, the 'Flint 4' project team is entering wartime status. Working hours are flexible, but the goal remains unchanged: finish the RTL freeze by February 28. Any questions?"

"No!" came the unified answer.

"Get to work."

The sound of keyboard clacking resumed. This time, there was no hesitation in the sound, only determination.

That same afternoon, two pieces of good news reached Su Chen's office almost simultaneously.

The first piece of news came from the Huizhou chip factory.

The first batch of 14nm FD-SOI wafers, after tape-out on January 5, had just finished two weeks of testing, and the results were fresh.

Xinghuo Chip CEO Li Wanqing personally brought the test report to Su Chen's office, her face filled with uncontrollable excitement:

"Director Su, all tests passed! All electrical performance parameters met the standards, and several key indicators even exceeded expectations!"

She opened the report:

"Xinghuo 14nm FD-SOI Process Verification chip Test Report"

chip Model: Flint 3 (Test Version)

Wafer Size: 300mm

Transistor Density: 44.7 MTr/mm² (million transistors per square millimeter)

Performance: Maximum frequency 3.2 GHz at 0.8 V operating voltage

Power Consumption: 38% lower than TSMC 1FET at the same performance

Yield: 71.7% for the first batch, expected to increase to over 83% for mass production

Reliability: HTOL (High-Temperature Operating Life) test 168 hours, zero failures

"The most important thing is this," Li Wanqing flipped to the last page. "We used it to run a complete AI inference task—image recognition—comparing it to Nvidia's T4 inference card. At the same precision, our chip's power consumption is only 60% of the T4, and latency is 25% lower."

Su Chen carefully read the report, confirming every piece of data repeatedly. "Mass production time?"

"The production line is ready. We can do small-batch mass production in March, with a monthly capacity of 5,000 units. We will reach full production in June, with a monthly capacity of 30,000 units," Li Wanqing said. "Huawei HiSilicon, Unisoc, and ZTE Microelectronics are already queuing up. Especially for automotive chips—our low-power characteristics have an absolute advantage in smart cockpit and autonomous driving fields."

"Capacity allocation principle?" Su Chen asked.

"According to your instructions: prioritize Red Flag Automobile and Huaxing Mobile Phone, then strategic partners like Huawei and ZTE. External clients... need to wait in line, and they must share test data."

Su Chen nodded. "Very good. Notify the media department, they can prepare for the press release. But keep the wording low-key; emphasize 'meeting design goals,' do not use words like 'surpass' or 'leading'."

"Understood."

The second piece of news came from the underground laboratory.

André Dupont, that 65-year-old Academician of the French Academy of Sciences and former Chief Optical Scientist at ASML, was excitedly describing something in French mixed with English during a video call. Beside him, device development lead Anderson Li was responsible for translation and supplementation.

"Mr. Su, our prototype—I'm used to calling it 'Dawn 1'—has completed 85% of its integration." Dupont's English carried a heavy French accent. "For the most critical dual-stage system, we skipped the traditional mechanical alignment scheme and adopted magnetic levitation nano-positioning technology."

The screen showed the real-time scene of the laboratory: a huge white cabinet containing complex mechanical structures and optical components. Most striking were the two silver platforms, suspended in a magnetic field without any physical contact.

"The theoretical positioning accuracy is 0.5 nanometers, which is 1.5 times that of ASML's latest model," Dupont said proudly. "But we have encountered a problem: the control system. The control algorithm for the magnetic levitation system is extremely complex and requires real-time compensation for thermal expansion, ground vibration, and even minute changes in atmospheric pressure."

Anderson Li interjected: "We need the help of the Xinghuo AI laboratory. We need to use deep learning models to train the control system's response under various disturbances. This requires massive simulation data and powerful computing power."

Su Chen looked at another person in the video window—Lin Yusheng, Director of the Xingchen AI Research Institute.

"Yusheng, can you do it?"

Lin Yusheng nodded. "Yes. The 'Yu' large model we are currently training is intended to optimize complex system control. Give me two weeks, and I can provide a base model, which will then be continuously optimized through actual data."

"What about the timeline?" Su Chen asked Dupont.

Dupont looked at the countdown board in the laboratory: 58 days until the prototype integration is complete.

"If the control system problem is solved, we can complete the prototype integration by the end of March and start testing in April," Dupont said. "But Mr. Su, I must remind you: even if the prototype is successful, there is still a long way to go before mass production. ASML spent twenty years to reach its current level, we..."

"We don't need twenty years," Su Chen interrupted. "We just need to prove that this path is viable. Once the prototype is successful, people will believe, people will follow, and an ecosystem will form."

He paused. "Professor Dupont, when you left ASML, they said you were crazy, said that the Chinese would never be able to build a lithography machine. Now, you are only 58 days away from proving them wrong."

In the video, Dupont was silent for a few seconds, then smiled, his smile containing the purity and persistence unique to a scientist:

"Mr. Su, I have done many crazy things in my life. But the craziest one might be believing that a Chinese entrepreneur could complete a dream that even Europeans gave up on."

"Then let us be crazy to the end together," Su Chen said.

The video conference ended.

Su Chen leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes to think.

14nm chip mass production is imminent; this is his hole card—it can generate revenue immediately, support company operations, and prove the feasibility of the technical route.

The 16nm lithography machine is entering the final sprint; this is his trump card—once successful, it will completely break the blockade and restructure the global semiconductor equipment landscape.

And the "Flint 4" 7nm chip design continues to advance; this is the future—even if Lin Haoran has temporarily fallen, the technology inheritance has not been interrupted.

Three lines advancing in parallel, generational alternation. This is the resilience of Xinghuo, and also the confidence Su Chen had in setting the "twelve-month window" in the European Union negotiations.

Outside the window, Shenzhen was just lighting up.

A war without smoke was raging fiercely in laboratories, on production lines, and between lines of code. And what Su Chen needed to do was ensure that every battlefield had enough ammunition and determined soldiers.

The phone vibrated again. This time it was the hospital.

"Director Su, Mr. Lin has woken up."

Su Chen stood up immediately: "I'll be there right away."

But before leaving the office, he first sent a message to Luo Qinghe:

"Haoran has woken up. Tell him the project hasn't stopped, the team is waiting for him."

Some news is more healing to wounds than any medicine.