18: Chapter 18 explains why ARM is not being used: future chip development will require self-developed chips.

"So that is... Zhou Fan, whom you mentioned before?"

"Mm, very young, right?" Lei Jun smiled, not at all surprised by Lin Wenwu's reaction.

"Old Lei, you should also know the reason why I came here; I didn't come to mess around. I truly want to come and join you in realizing what you said..." Lin Wenwu's tone carried a hint of gravity, but even more seriousness, before he paused slightly and spoke again:

"I strongly agreed with the philosophy you mentioned when you wanted to start this business—to let ordinary people enjoy the fun of technology—which is why I came. I don't want this choice of mine to be a joke..."

"That philosophy... was proposed by Engineer Zhou." Lei Jun smiled and shook his head.

"He proposed it?" Lin Wenwu was clearly stunned for a moment, his gaze falling into the office.

Following Lei Jun into the office, several young people were gathered around an even younger figure.

Just as Lei Jun was about to step forward to call out to Zhou Fan, he was held back by Lin Wenwu.

"Wait!"

Lin Wenwu stared straight at the computer screen; the code on the programming interface immediately caught his attention.

After merely looking at a few lines of code, the look in Lin Wenwu's eyes changed.

"This is not a kernel program based on Linux or XNU..."

Lin Wenwu's expression immediately became serious, and he began to look at the code line by line, even more carefully.

For a top-tier software systems engineer, recognizing the core architecture of existing operating systems on the market—whether for computers or mobile phones—at a glance was just basic training; one also needed to understand their pros and cons.

"This is clearly a brand-new architecture... a brand-new instruction set..." There was a hint of disbelief in Lin Wenwu's eyes.

Kernel program... streamlined code... a disruptive logic architecture for writing code; one thing was certain... this was definitely a brand-new kernel structure he had never seen before.

In other words, they really were developing their own system... Looking at everything before him, Lin Wenwu already knew that the facts were right in front of him.

They had completely cast aside the underlying architecture of Linux and were rebuilding a new system; it looked like they were almost done with the kernel framework!

In such a short time... it was practically a miracle...

"Mr. Lei!"

The programmer who had been focusing intently turned his head subconsciously, and upon seeing Lei Jun appear, immediately called out.

As soon as those words were spoken, Zhou Fan's hands paused slightly, and he couldn't help but turn to look at Lei Jun.

However, before Lei Jun could speak, Lin Wenwu spoke first.

"Did you create this kernel architecture?" His tone was serious but clearly tinged with urgency, as if he had discovered a treasure, his gaze fixed on Zhou Fan.

Without even waiting for Zhou Fan to respond, he spoke again impatiently:

"This kernel is different from both the android and Apple kernel architectures. Can you explain your design philosophy to me?"

There was a thirst for knowledge and eagerness in Lin Wenwu's gaze.

That impatient appearance did not surprise the few young people; after all, when they had first learned about it, they had been even worse off than the person before them.

Zhou Fan glanced at Lei Jun, then fixed his gaze on Lin Wenwu.

"android uses a monolithic kernel, while Apple uses a hybrid architecture of monolithic and microkernels, whereas I am using a pure microkernel..."

"It only retains a few core functions like process scheduling, IPC, and memory management, combined with user-space independent sandboxes and service modules... By using formal verification for the kernel to reduce vulnerabilities, security can reach an industrial grade..."

"It's like a federal country; the service modules are the states, which can be highly autonomous, while the microkernel is equivalent to the federal government, only coordinating core affairs, thereby making the overall operation much more flexible..."

Zhou Fan explained, but Lin Wenwu clearly had deep research into systems, and he quickly raised a question.

"But in that case, too many IPC schedulers will lead to increased latency. How do you solve this problem?"

"At the current stage, this problem does not exist. Given that the response speed of other mobile phones is not fast either, this bit of latency can be ignored. As for the future... there will be ways... The advantage of a microkernel is its simplicity; the total number of lines of code will not exceed 100,000. When the time comes, we will optimize as much as possible, and the response speed will naturally be fast..."

"Not exceeding 100,000 lines..." Lin Wenwu's gaze stalled.

The total number of lines of code in the android system is at least ten million so far, and the Apple system has fewer, but no less than five million, yet 100,000...

Lin Wenwu did not delve into this issue to question it, because setting aside this uncertainty, the young man before him had a design for the system that was truly somewhat ahead of its time.

Microkernel design... casting aside the redundancy and bulkiness of a monolithic kernel... If it had calling logic not inferior to Apple's, then the system would be very capable of flexibility and change; the design thinking and philosophy were both very advanced.

Industrial-grade system security, such an advantage... as long as the verification had no issues, perhaps it could directly open up orders from domestic government and enterprise clients, which was equivalent to having a natural source of customers... and this source of customers was extremely huge and stable.

A brand-new instruction set... the self-developed system already had a prototype, and it had huge potential...

Once the self-developed system was successfully developed...

Lin Wenwu's heart couldn't help but surge, and his mood became increasingly excited!

A product comparable to Apple that was domestically produced... He could even imagine what kind of shock it would cause once it was released.

Domestic tech enthusiasts... would likely go crazy for it!

At this moment, he suddenly felt his shoulder being patted, which made him turn his head to look at Lei Jun.

"This is Lin Wenwu, former Deputy Dean of the Google Research Institute. When you are not around, he will be in charge of the system side..." Lei Jun introduced him to Zhou Fan with a smile.

Lei Jun also had some inner reflections; looking at Lin Wenwu, he knew that there shouldn't be any problems.

First there was Zhou Guangming, and now there was Lin Wenwu... With Zhou Fan around, recruiting people had become simple.

"One last question..."

At this moment, Lin Wenwu took a deep breath, trying hard to control the shock in his heart, and his expression became serious.

"The instruction set used by this kernel is one I haven't seen before; it's a bit like RISC... but more complete and systematic. Did you develop it yourself?"

Zhou Fan thought for a moment, but ultimately shook his head slightly. "This is an instruction set that has not yet been announced, but it is indeed based on RISC..."

He remembered that this instruction set was released as open source in 2011 in his past life; it took about three months to develop. After development was completed, it couldn't form a market scale, so they chose to open-source it directly.

Under the premise of needing speed, adopting this instruction set was undoubtedly the best choice.

"Why not use ARM? Current systems generally use this architecture; the technology is more mature, the ecosystem is much better, and it can save a lot of trouble in the future..." There was a hint of confusion in Lin Wenwu's eyes.

Zhou Fan glanced at Lei Jun and said, "Because I don't want to be controlled by others! Our self-developed system is a precaution. ARM is not completely open source; in the future, whether it's the system or the chips, we will be controlled..."

Lin Wenwu was stunned for a moment, while Lei Jun beside him had his eyes light up instantly; he stared wide-eyed at Zhou Fan. He knew that developing their own system was a precaution, but he didn't know the detailed ins and outs of it.

After this conversation between Zhou Fan and Lin Wenwu, he instantly understood Zhou Fan's plan: they would also develop their own chips in the future. This was an idea he had never even thought of in his heart, and he hadn't even dared to think about it.

Lin Wenwu was silent; he admitted that he had underestimated the other party's ambition.

In just an instant, he suddenly felt how wise his decision was.