Great warships

Chapter 1224 Artificial Intelligence
Loongson Corporation.

"Boss Qin, we discovered this situation last year. Because our chips developed too fast, they gradually exceeded customer demand." Mr. Ni said with embarrassment, "Customers can't use our advanced chips at all. Now, we are selling Loongson 5 in the market. The main frequency of this processor is as high as GHZ, which ordinary customers can't use at all."

Loongson 055 was once a flagship processor and was never put on the civilian market. It was used in various domestic advanced equipment. For example, the destroyer was equipped with Loongson to meet the needs of intercepting ballistic missiles. However, with the successful development of Loongson , Loongson began to be put on the market.

However, the Loongson 5 is not as popular as before. Its powerful computing power can support military use, but many armies dare not use it. For example, the United States dares to use the Loongson processor in its weapons and equipment? Of course not. If there is a backdoor on the processor, can their weapons and equipment still be under their control?

I dare not use it for military use, and I cannot use it for civilian use. After all, after you buy a computer, you can only use it when copying the machine, but you will never need it in normal life!

If you spend a lot of money to build a computer and then are surprised to find that you don't even need one percent of the processor's performance, is it worth it?
The performance of the previous Loongson 4 processor is already sufficient for use!

In this situation, processors naturally began to have overcapacity, and everyone felt that there was no need to continue updating their computers, as they are now running very smoothly!
"Yes, with the development of technology, there will be overcapacity of chips sooner or later." Qin Tao nodded. He was mentally prepared for this situation.

Let’s look at the future. There was a certain assembly plant in China that once claimed that it was the world’s largest computer manufacturer. Then what happened? The computer era was over, and the mobile phone era was on the rise. Many functions of computers can be done by mobile phones, so computers began to sell poorly, and this assembly plant also began to go downhill.

Mobile phones have not been popular for many years. After all, when the market began to become saturated, especially when people's pockets began to shrink, it was impossible to change mobile phones frequently. No matter how mobile phone manufacturers fooled people, it was impossible for them to change their mobile phones every two years as they imagined. How much is it worth to change a kitchen knife or a vegetable bowl?

Any market will gradually become saturated.

The computer market has become saturated. What should we do?
Although the shipment volume of mobile phone chips is still large, and although Dongfang is still a strong player in this field, Mr. Ni is still very worried. After all, for Loongson Company, it started with computers, and they do not want to see the computer market gradually shrinking and computer products gradually being marginalized.

But they couldn't think of any other solution, so they could only throw the problem to Qin Tao. Qin Tao was definitely smarter and more far-sighted than them.

"At present, our Loongson 6 is mainly pursuing multi-core and improving multi-tasking processing capabilities. However, because our processor is too advanced, the performance is definitely still excessive." Qin Tao began to analyze: "Therefore, the research and development process of the processor can be slowed down, and there is no need to upgrade too early. At the same time, we need to launch some low-priced products to expand market share."

Loongson has always been high-end, so the price is naturally not low. After all, only when the price is high enough can there be enough profit to invest in research and development. The price of the chip cannot be calculated based on the value of the sand.

As for the low-end market, it is left to Intel and its ilk to survive.

Since the high-end market is already saturated, let’s develop towards the low-end!

"The market for processors that cost one or two thousand yuan, or even more, is definitely limited. We can reduce the price to a few hundred yuan. For example, if the processor costs more than one hundred yuan, the price of the entire computer can be reduced to about one thousand yuan. In this way, computers can enter thousands of households, and even those people living in mud houses in Africa can afford them."

Mr. Ni nodded: "This is a solution."

"At the same time, in order not to affect the premium ability of our Loongson, we can give it another name or another series. Loongson is still high-end, and this new one will focus on the low-end market."

Mr. Ni nodded.

"Of course, this is not enough. We still need to explore new markets. Although the performance of general-purpose processors is in excess, the performance of graphics processors will never be in excess. In the future, we must vigorously develop graphics processors."

Mr. Ni looked at Qin Tao in surprise: "Use a graphics processor instead of a general-purpose processor?"

"Yes, they are different, and the objects that need to be calculated are also very different."

In the earliest times, computers only displayed characters. At that time, there was no need for a special graphics card, only a character conversion circuit. Later, when the graphical interface was introduced, a graphics card was needed to be responsible for the conversion. In the 3D era, a large number of graphic displays required the assistance of a graphics card.

Specifically, for example, when playing shooting games, how the characters in the game hold their guns, how the bullets are aimed and fired, and what the trajectory is, all of these require general-purpose processors to calculate.

However, in order for the gun to show the metallic texture, the surface needs to be rendered, the special effects of the bullet flying out need to be rendered, how the blood spurts out when the bullet hits the opponent's body, and how the opponent reacts all require the graphics card to calculate.

Therefore, the emergence of graphics cards will make games more realistic. As the graphics become more and more exquisite, the graphics card needs to have stronger computing power. As for general-purpose processors? It only needs to be able to perform basic calculations, and the graphics are all set off by the graphics card.

If the graphics card is not powerful enough, the picture may be stuck, giving people the worst experience.

Over the years, the performance of display devices has been continuously improved. At the beginning, the resolution was only 800*600, and then it was gradually increased to 1024*768. Later, 1080P appeared, which is 1920*1080. Later, there will be 2K and 4K. The resolution is getting higher and higher, and the performance of the graphics card required is getting stronger and stronger.

The refresh rate of games will also become higher and higher. In the past, 30 frames were enough, but now it needs to be 60 frames, or even more than 100 frames...

"Boss Qin, are you talking about playing games? We..."

Mr. Ni is in the chip business, so naturally he hopes that the chip market will grow bigger and bigger. However, he also has a bottom line. He certainly knows that if he continues to promote games just to sell chips, it will definitely harm those students who have no self-control.

Therefore, Mr. Ni does not want to promote the game, especially to promote it without any bottom line.

"The game is only part of it. More importantly..." Qin Tao thought for a moment and said, "Do you know our future city?"

Mr. Ni nodded: "I know."

Future City is an important project of Mingzhou Group. The city is designed according to the future. It is very grand and full of science fiction, etc. President Qin will not speak casually. By saying this, does he want to express that a large number of chips will be needed in the future?

"The city of the future is very smart, and this intelligence needs to be based on a large amount of computing, and parallel computing is more convenient."

In later generations, artificial intelligence has become popular and has penetrated into all aspects of society. When buying a ticket, commonly used software will quote a high price, but if it is a novice, it will give a low price. This involves the calculation of big data.

Big data is still just a very low-level type. Advanced artificial intelligence has made it difficult for people to distinguish between truth and falsehood. In the past, if an acquaintance asked to borrow money on WeChat, you could just make a video call to confirm the authenticity. However, with the development of artificial intelligence, what you see with your eyes is not necessarily real. It may very well be synthesized by artificial intelligence.

This kind of artificial intelligence does not rely on human imitation, but on autonomous learning. When it sees a face, it will analyze it, build a relevant model, and then perform calculations. In this process, the programmer does not need to make any intervention.

When it comes to model building and learning, parallel computing will be involved. These are data-intensive and compute-intensive operations, and parallel computing is the best algorithm.

If you want to use parallel computing, graphics cards are the most suitable.

A single-core general-purpose processor can only queue up tasks, one by one. Although it seems that it can handle multiple programs at the same time, such as opening QQ, watching movies, and taking care of PPt's work, in fact, there is only one processor, which queues up different task processing requirements.

A multi-core processor can process a number of tasks simultaneously depending on the number of cores it has. The maximum number of cores is usually about ten or eight, which is not a lot.

Graphics processors are very different.

Graphics cards have hundreds or thousands of processing units. The common 980Ti has 2816, the 1080Ti has 3584, and the more powerful 4080 graphics card has .

Each processing unit is very weak and can only process some simple data. However, with so many processing units working in parallel, the computing power is quite powerful!
It is precisely because graphics cards have this advantage that they have become the main tool for parallel computing and a powerful assistant for artificial intelligence. In order to study artificial intelligence, various companies use graphics cards worth hundreds or thousands of dollars to perform calculations.

Still worried about chip surplus? Graphics cards never become obsolete!
After hearing Qin Tao's introduction, Mr. Ni gradually relaxed.

"Next, in order to seize the commanding heights of future technology, we will vigorously develop artificial intelligence technology. Tencent will be responsible for the software, and our Loongson company will be responsible for the hardware. We will develop more powerful graphics processors to serve scientific research and people's lives."

Mr. Ni nodded: "Okay, Mr. Qin, I feel relieved when you say that. In the future, we will develop more display chips and strive to make our country develop rapidly in artificial intelligence!"

Playing games? Mr. Ni doesn’t want to provide advanced chips for gamers, but for scientific research, it is a must!

"In the future, as artificial intelligence develops rapidly, high-tech companies around the world will pay attention to the use of this technology, and we will need to make some restrictions. For example, the most advanced chips can only be used by ourselves and will never be exported!"

"Yes." Mr. Ni nodded: "Just like our Loongson processors, we also use the high-end ones for ourselves and export the low-end ones."

"Just identify the direction and work hard. By the way, do you have any other questions?"

"Boss Qin, before you came, we thought of many ways, and some people even proposed to create factory accidents and artificially cause chip shortages in the market. Those are not the right way. After listening to your arrangements, we are finally relieved." Elder Ni said: "By the way, Boss Qin, what do you think of quantum computers?"

Factory accident? That's not the behavior of a gentleman. Qin Tao certainly won't use it. As for the quantum computer...

"Quantum computers are indeed a new research direction. After all, as our chips continue to develop, they will sooner or later hit physical limits, and Moore's Law will also come to an end."

Chips cannot develop indefinitely. When the manufacturing process reaches 1 nanometer, it will encounter the basic law of force: the quantum tunneling effect. Simply put, two close circuits will discharge and electrons will pass through them, so that the circuits will not be able to work normally.

At the same time, chip manufacturing requires a photolithography machine, and the wavelength of the photolithography machine is also limited. It is impossible to continuously lower it. When the photolithography machine cannot accurately etch the circuit, it naturally reaches its limit.

If you want to break through this limit, you have to look for more advanced technology, and quantum computers came into being in this context.

Unlike the chip principles of conventional computers, quantum computers use a brand-new quantum technology. Its basic unit is the quantum bit, which uses two quantum states to represent 01 and 1, such as the polarization direction of photons, the spin of electrons, etc., and performs calculations through quantum superposition and quantum entanglement. The computing speed can far exceed that of computers built with transistors, and it will not encounter those physical limits.

Moreover, another more advanced feature is that this method of quantum computers is very suitable for parallel computing, so quantum computers and artificial intelligence are the best match.

"Since you are interested in this computer technology, of course you can start research." Qin Tao nodded. Now it is still a long way from the physical limits of chips, but it is best to prepare for a rainy day.

When new technology replaces old technology, it will go through many twists and turns, just like electric cars replacing fuel cars, which will cause a backlash from fuel car companies. Quantum computers will also encounter this problem when they replace conventional computers. If conventional computer manufacturers are to develop them, it will be different.

"Okay, then should we study it secretly, or..."

"Quantum computers can be researched secretly, and we can make this artificial intelligence public, and we can also incorporate it into our future city project."

Advanced artificial intelligence will definitely be used in the future city. Everyone who enters the future city will be managed by artificial intelligence. When they walk to the gate of the community, the door will open automatically, and when they walk into the house, the water heater will be ready. How advanced is that!
"Yeah." Mr. Ni nodded.

A few days later, Loongson held a press conference.

"Our Loongson company will set up a special artificial intelligence research and development center. We believe that this technology can benefit mankind!" Mr. Ni stood on the podium and spoke to countless cameras.

"First, let me introduce to you what artificial intelligence is. This technology is based on computer science and integrates interdisciplinary subjects such as psychology and philosophy. It is mainly used to simulate, extend and expand human intelligence. Through these studies, intelligent machines that respond in a similar way to human intelligence are created."

Now, Loongson has become a leader in high technology, not only capable of developing advanced machines but also formulating various concepts.

Artificial intelligence was proposed by Loongson Technology!
"Are you going to develop a robot?" a reporter asked below.

"In many science fiction novels, there are robots that look exactly like humans. But we don't necessarily have to develop machines that look like humans. We study thoughts, machines that think in the same way as humans do," said Ni. "For example, language recognition, image recognition, language processing, etc. are the primary forms of this kind of artificial intelligence."

Artificial intelligence sounds very grand, but it can actually be explained very simply. You say hello to it and it says hello back to you. You ask questions and it answers, all in accordance with human thinking. This is artificial intelligence.

For example, smart customer service staff do not answer questions according to pre-set answers, but can analyze customers' questions and then find the most appropriate answers. This is artificial intelligence.

It is even possible to allow two AIs to talk to each other and chat for a whole day and night, and what they say can still be normal. This is a qualified AI.

Following Mr. Ni’s speech, the topic of artificial intelligence research and development instantly became a hot topic around the world.

Some media outlets expressed support.

"Our future world must be intelligent. With artificial intelligence to help us, we can make the future world a better place!"

"In the future, if you feel lonely, you can always find artificial intelligence to keep you company!"

“AI can do everything except give birth to babies!”

The topic started to deviate here.

Some people also expressed concerns.

"Artificial intelligence will be the most dangerous technology of our century. This technology will lead to the extinction of mankind!"

This may sound a bit sensational.

Qin Tao sneered at this argument.

"They are afraid that our technology will improve, so they are exaggerating the dangers of our technology. If they were the first to come up with this technology, they would advertise everywhere how advanced their technology is."

"Yes, these people have no ability, they just envy others." Zhang Dong, the person in charge of Tencent, spoke up. He received a message from Qin Tao and came to report on his work.

"However, Mr. Qin, this should be in the software field. We can just leave it to Tencent. Isn't Loongson a hardware company?"

Over the years, Tencent has developed a lot of software, especially smart driving for cars and airplanes. In his eyes, this is within the scope of artificial intelligence, so this artificial intelligence should still be a project of Tencent!

"You have more important things to do." Qin Tao said, "Compared to that, artificial intelligence is just child's play. If it works well, we can be more powerful than Soros!"

(End of this chapter)