Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 508
……

After listening to Fred Pollack, chief engineer of the Intel iAPX 432 project, for nearly half an hour, Tang Huan took a look at an opening and asked in a very gracious manner: "Needless to say, the design of Intel iAPX 432 is indeed very good. , but I need an intuitive understanding. For example, since its market competition target is Motorola's MC68000 series, compared with Intel's own Intel 80286, how much better is the operating efficiency?"
"Intel iAPX 432 is 32-bit, Intel 80286 is 16-bit, the instruction architecture of the two is completely different, and Intel iAPX 432 has not been really completed, so it should not be comparable." Fred Pollack's face flashed There was a hint of strangeness, as if he was somewhat resistant to Tang Huan's proposal.

Compared to the Intel 4004, Intel 8008, Intel 8080, Intel 8086, and Intel 80286 product lines that Ted Hoff was inspired by when he was triggered by a calculator order, the Intel iAPX 432 belongs to a The well-planned project fully exposed Intel's ambitions for the high-end processor market.

A major feature of Intel iAPX 432 is that it supports object-oriented programming at the level of hardware and microcode, which can be regarded as a high-level programming language computer architecture, and the high-level programming language implemented by Intel is Ada.

This programming language originated from a program of the US military.

After entering the 1970s, the number of programming languages ​​used in computer system projects affiliated to the U.S. Department of Defense increased day by day. By this year, 1983, there were as many as 450 languages.

Many of these programming languages ​​are very old or rely too much on hardware, especially without a unified code quality and safety standard.

The U.S. Department of Defense was very worried about this, so it established the High-Level Language Working Group in 1975. Its mission was to find or create a programming language that suited the needs of the Department of Defense in order to reduce the number of existing programming languages. The group's final work The result is the Ada language.

The reason why the name Ada is used is to commemorate Ada Lovelace, the daughter of the famous British poet Byron. The countess was a mathematics enthusiast and participated in the Paris project that had a huge impact on modern computers. Bache's research on the difference engine is recognized by later generations as the first computer programmer.

There is no doubt that with the participation of the military and the government, the commercial value of this market is naturally very considerable. Not to mention that Intel has high hopes for the Intel iAPX 432 project, even Tang Huan, a latecomer, is also actively participating in it. There are also projects related to Ada language in Zheru R&D Center.

The Ada language is expanded from PASCAL and other programming languages, and its main application fields are embedded and real-time system design.

Therefore, the important features of the Ada language are embedded style, modular design, compilation checking, parallel processing, exception handling and generic programming.

In particular, the compiling and checking of Ada language has important meanings of code execution safety assurance for operating systems such as avionics, aerospace vehicles, weapons, etc., which is exactly what the U.S. Department of Defense needs.

This kind of technology may be too abstract, but a slight mistake often means a major loss.

For example, in the original time and space in early June 1996, the first launch of the European Space Agency's Ariane 6 carrier rocket deviated from the scheduled flight path in just 5 seconds, disintegrated and exploded, ending in failure.

You know, the communication satellite on the rocket alone is worth 5 million US dollars.

The final accident investigation concluded that the computer controlling the inertial navigation system sent invalid data to the computer controlling the engine nozzles, which was caused by an overflow when converting a 64-bit floating-point number to a 16-bit signed integer, and Ada The language does not check this execution code security issue during compilation.

At present, the Intel iAPX 432 project is in great trouble in the development of the Ada language compiler, which leads to low efficiency of code operation.

It is completely predictable that if Intel iAPX 432 really competes with Intel 80286 in speed, it is not surprising that the horse stumbles, it is nothing more than a question of how far behind,
The R&D team headed by Fred Pollack had complicated and subtle feelings about this.

Intel iAPX 432 is obviously more advanced than Intel 80286, but its running speed is slower than the latter.

Andy Grove advocated cooperation with Tang Huan on the Intel iAPX 432 project. In addition to seeing the bright future of Fangyuan Computer Company's terminal products in terms of microprocessor demand, he also wanted to take advantage of Zheru's strong strength in the field of programming language compilers.

At this stage, the list of CPUs supported by the four major programming language compilers of Zheru, C, C++, and PASCAL, in addition to its own RISC processors, also includes Intel 8086 series, Zilog Z80 series, Motorola MC6800 and MC68000 series, MOS Technology MOS 6502 series has developed into a very popular commercial compiler product, not only adopted by various computer companies, but also used by many universities for teaching.

In addition, Zheru also has successful compiler implementations for application-specific programming languages ​​such as FORTRAN, COBOL, and Ada.

Before, Andy Grove got support from Tang Huan for the mainstream programming language compiler for Intel 80286. He wanted to extend this cooperation experience to Ada of Intel iAPX 432. The monk's decision to chant sutras was somewhat unconvinced.

Tang Huan didn't care what Fred Pollack and his group thought. He waved his hand with a smile, and quickly built a test platform with the engineers who came.

The same Ada evaluation program was run on Intel iAPX 8 and Intel 432 running at 80286 MHz respectively.

After the results came out, the faces of everyone present were very exciting.

Tang Huan took a deep breath and said, "No wonder advanced technology often does not mean commercial success. The running speed of Intel iAPX 432 is only a quarter of that of Intel 80286. Intel really gave me a class for free." Lively class."

Fred Pollack bit the bullet and explained: "This result is mainly caused by the Ada language compiler. I believe that after Zheru's optimization, it will definitely not be the current performance. In addition, the design and implementation of Intel iAPX 432 is very Complicated, it must run at a higher frequency to reflect the hardware advantages, and the current 8 MHz is too low."

"I can understand the problem of the Ada language compiler. After all, Intel iAPX 432 is a brand new CPU, and it really needs a process of continuous improvement."

Tang Huan nodded, "But since you know that the operating frequency is very important to the Intel iAPX 432, why is there only an 8 MHz version now? Is it because the manufacturing process is too complicated?"

Seeing that Fred Pollack was speechless, Tang Huan laughed aloud, "I just remembered, the current Intel 80286 only has a maximum version of 12.5 MHz. It seems that the fundamental business purpose of the memory business limits the The development of the processor sector."

"How do we R&D personnel know about company management matters?" Fred Pollack quickly found a step for himself.

Seeing that the successful attack on the Intel iAPX 432 R&D team is enough to guarantee his own right to speak in the next cooperation process, Tang Huan no longer embarrasses the other party, and waved his hands: "Anyway, we can try to cooperate .But one thing, it must be limited to one year. If Intel iAPX 432 still cannot show real commercial value by then, Zheru may choose to withdraw.”

At this point, Tang Huan realized that Andy Grove was not there.

"Where's Grove?" Tang Huan asked in surprise.

"He went to an impromptu meeting." Grove's assistant replied: "When he left, he saw that you were discussing very seriously, so he didn't disturb you. I'm very sorry."

"It doesn't matter." Tang Huan nodded slightly, "I'll go find him."

This time at Intel headquarters, in addition to taking advantage of the opportunity to discuss cooperation with the Intel iAPX 432 project, Tang Huan also planned to contact Andy Grove alone.

Regarding the major issue of transforming the main business from memory to processors, among the Big Three of Intel, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore are very conservative for various reasons, and only Andy Grove is very active.

It is a pity that Andy Grove's position in Intel is just a strict corporate management executive who sings bad faces. Once such a major decision is involved, his right to speak is very limited.

But Tang Huan still hopes to open a gap from Andy Grove, because he has taken a fancy to Intel's semiconductor factory.

If Intel decides to transform, these redundant memory production lines will inevitably need to be dealt with; even if Intel is hesitant about the transformation issue, in the current Japan-US semiconductor war, relocating the factory may not be a good idea for the sake of cost reduction.

The destination suggestion that Tang Huan wants to give is Mainland China.

Optimistic about the balancing role of China, a major country in the East, in the Cold War situation, the United States frequently extended an olive branch, and China, which started reform and opening up, also responded positively, and the relationship between the two countries heated up sharply.

Deng's visit to the United States in January 1979 started a series of high-level and important exchanges between the two countries.On March 1 of the same year, the two countries officially established embassies in BJ and Washington.US Vice President Walter Mondale paid a return visit to Chief Deng in August.

With the deepening of high-level and working-level contacts between the two sides, the two countries began to conduct dialogues on a wider range of issues, including global and regional strategies, politics, military affairs, disarmament, the United Nations and other multilateral organization affairs, and signed a number of Bilateral treaties, especially exchange activities and trade exchanges in the fields of science, technology and culture.

These include the "Treaty on Scientific and Technological Cooperation", as well as some treaties signed in September 1980 in the maritime field and civil aviation connections.

In May 1982, US Vice President Bush Sr. visited China again.

On August 1982, 8, China and the United States signed the third joint communiqué, the "August 17 Communique".

As 1984 is approaching, Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States and US President Reagan's visit to China, these two high-level activities are ready to go.

In short, the current situation of Sino-US relations is very good, and cooperation in the high-tech field can be further borrowed.

Tang Huan has wooed Motorola to build a semiconductor factory in China, and Intel is his next lobbying target.

……

However, Tang Huan would not have imagined that the topics being discussed in the Intel conference room at this time were not friendly to him.

In addition to the Intel Big Three, the participants included major shareholders of Intel and Apple, Arthur Locke, who is known as the father of venture capital, and Don Estridge.

"I know that Fangyuan Computer Company has signed an order for Intel 80286 with Intel, but IBM is willing to pay a high price to buy all Intel 80286 and be responsible for compensation for breach of contract." Don Esterlich, who was authorized by the headquarters, said with great wealth.

Seeing that Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore did not express their opinions immediately, but turned their attention to themselves, the upright Andy Grove said directly: "This will affect Intel's reputation in the industry. Last time IBM tried to use Intel. The 8088 order squeezed out the entire production capacity of Intel 8086, but in fact, apart from making Tang Huan dissatisfied with us, it did not affect the manufacturing process of Fangyuan PCs at all, and they had enough alternatives.”

"The situation is different this time." Don Estrich smiled confidently, "Intel 80286 has gone through many bug corrections since it was released last year. Therefore, even if the second supplier's license has has been issued, but currently only Intel has the ability to supply batches. I believe that this time difference can be as small as half a year, just enough for the IBM-PC/AT, which was launched later than the third-generation Fangyuan PC, to regain its disadvantage and snipe Fangyuan PC’s advantages in the mid-to-high-end market.”

Robert Noyce spoke at this time, "IBM has promised to support our memory business."

Gordon Moore continued: "Fangyuan Computer Company only needs the 12.5 MHz high-end version Intel 80286. Although the remaining low-end products are purchased by Fangyuan PC compatible manufacturers, they are not as convenient as IBM's full acquisition."

Arthur Locke finally added, "IBM owns 20.00% of Intel's shares, and I agree with this transaction. So, no matter what, the decision will pass. But I have to analyze for everyone, IBM-PC only uses Intel's CPU , but the microprocessors of Fangyuan personal computers also include MC68000 series and MOS 6502 series, as well as the Z80 series used by Radio Shack's Tangdy computer. From this perspective, it is self-evident how to choose to maximize the benefits .”

"Since you have all discussed it, why did you bring me here?" Andy Grove muttered to himself, and glanced at everyone present speechlessly.

The information revealed in their eyes made Andy Grove suddenly realize, "This is to make me a villain, come forward to negotiate with Tang Huan, and bear the wrath of the richest man in the world."

"Don't order such a fool!" Andy Grove almost jumped up, but he held back immediately, and sighed inwardly, "Isn't that what my duty is?"

"If this is the final opinion, I submit to the decision of the board of directors." Andy Grove said in a muffled voice, "I hope that the struggle between the two giants, IBM and Fangyuan Computer Company, the old and the new, will not affect Intel as much as possible." Ordinary supplier."

(End of this chapter)