618 is very important, and so is unbounded mobile phone!
But compared to the breakthroughs in the wafer fab process and the substantial improvement in the yield rate of the 28nm process, it is not worth mentioning!
The breakthrough of the 28nm process is the core foundation to ensure that Xingyi mobile phones and Unbounded mobile phones will not be stuck, and it is the most important.
So Wang Yi immediately changed his itinerary and went straight to the imperial capital.
I didn't even return home, so I went straight to the B1 factory of Xingyi Wafer Factory, the R&D factory.
When Wang Yi arrived, Mr. Hu was already waiting:
"Chairman, good news! The results of this trial production are out. The yield rate of our 28nm process has reached 85%, which is barely successful."
"Okay, very good, great!" Wang Yi said three good words in a row: "85% yield rate, how can we barely achieve it? Even if it is completely achieved, Mr. Hu, you are still as humble as ever."
Mr. Hu chuckled: "It's not enough. The yield rate of trial production is 85%. Once it is officially mass-produced, it will be about 87%. There is still room for improvement. When it reaches 90%, it is considered a success, and when it reaches 95%, it is considered excellent!"
"I can rest assured that Mr. Hu is doing his job. With the breakthrough of 28nm technology, I can breathe a sigh of relief." Wang Yi was extremely excited.
There is nothing more exciting than the breakthrough of 28nm process!
The simplest thing is that as long as there is a breakthrough in 28 nanometers, Xingyi Technology will have an extra layer of protection, and Xia Guo will also have an extra layer of protection!
Even in the next ten years, the 28nm process can meet more than 80% of chip needs.
It can be said that except for mobile phone chips, other chips do not need to use 7 nanometer, 5 nanometer, or 3 nanometer.
On the contrary, the more stable 28nm process is completely sufficient.
As for military chips, using 28 nanometers is considered a luxury.
Even ten years later, most military chips will be at 40 nanometers, 65 nanometers, or even 90 nanometers.
For example, Maozi's side doesn't even have 28-nanometer chips, but the supersonic missiles still make the US emperor's mouth water.
But unfortunately, ten years later, Maozi can only produce 90 nanometer and 65 nanometer, not even 40 nanometer and 28 nanometer, and can only rely on imports.
After the blast, various blockades made it difficult for Mao Zi to manufacture 65 nanometers, and they couldn't import them, so they could only magically modify those eliminated civilian chips.
For example, among the wreckage of the 9M277 "Iskander" cruise missile is Texas Instruments' 1988 entry-level civilian chip.
How many nanometers was a chip in 1988?
In 1988, chips had not yet entered the nanometer level and could still be used for cruise missiles.
Even the F-22 uses 65nm chips.
It can be said that the breakthrough of 28 nanometers will meet all military needs and more than 90% of civilian needs in the next ten years.
More importantly, the current 28nm mobile phone chips are still the most advanced!
The launch of the Apple A8 in the second half of next year will usher in the era of 20nm mobile phone chips.
As for Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 805 next year will still be 28nm, and the Snapdragon 810 the year after that will be 20nm.
In this way, Xingyi Technology’s 28nm process has caught up this year and will not fall behind next year.
There won’t be any generational differences!
As for Apple's A8 processor next year, the 20nm process will be stronger, but they will need to plug in the baseband, which will seriously hinder it.
The external baseband signal is very poor, generates more heat, and consumes more power.
Even if the A8 uses 20nm, due to the external baseband, it is not as good as Xingyi Technology’s 28nm Kunpeng 906 integrated baseband!
In fact, many Apple products use Qualcomm baseband, and the signal of Qualcomm baseband has always been very strong.
Both are Qualcomm baseband, but why is the signal of Apple phones so much worse than Android phones?
The reason is that Android phones have Qualcomm processors integrated with Qualcomm baseband, while Apple uses Apple processors with Qualcomm baseband plugged into them.
It is the external baseband that causes the signal of Apple mobile phones to be poor and not good at all.
In the underground garage, Huawei and other Android phones can surf the Internet smoothly, and Apple's WeChat has started to go around.
This has been the case with all generations of iPhones. There is only a difference between poor signal and worse signal. No generation of Apple phones has a good signal.
The root cause is the problem of the external baseband!
If you want to change this situation, unless Apple also integrates baseband!
This requires Apple to develop its own baseband and successfully integrate it.
Otherwise, the signal of iPhone will always be much worse than that of Android phones, even worse than thousand-dollar Android phones.
In his previous life, Wang Yi used several iPhone flagships, the ones starting at 9999, but the signal quality was really not as good as that of Android phones worth 1,000 yuan.
Especially iPhone xax, it doesn’t support 5G, and the signal is so bad that it makes no sound at all.
In order to change this situation, Apple spent huge sums of money to acquire Intel's baseband business in its previous life, investing huge manpower and material resources in developing 4G baseband, with the idea of ​​integrating it into its own processors to make it a SOC.
But it’s a pity that Apple’s R&D capabilities are so poor!
After years of research and development, the 5G era has arrived, but Apple has not yet successfully developed its 4G baseband.
In desperation, we had no choice but to give up the 4G baseband and start developing 5G baseband.
As a result, Apple's R&D capabilities are still too poor. After many years, Apple's 5G baseband has not been successful.
We can only wait until the 6G era arrives, Apple abandons 5G baseband research and development, and directly begins to develop 6G baseband.
But it’s hard to say whether Apple’s 6G baseband will be successful.
R&D capabilities are awesome!
In fact, Apple is only strong in its IOS system and brand, but its other R&D activities are very poor.
Fast charging, high flash speed, baseband, signal... are not as good as Android.
Even if the processor and GPU perform well, it is because there is no integrated baseband that allows Apple's GPU to exert stronger performance.
If it were to integrate baseband like Qualcomm and MediaTek, the performance of Apple's processors would be greatly compromised.
Otherwise, it will inevitably overheat, lock the core and reduce the frequency, and completely overturn the car.
Sugarcane cannot be sweet at both ends!
CPU performance, GPU performance, and baseband cannot all be fulfilled. Qualcomm and MediaTek can only make choices.
As for Apple's external baseband, the GPU can be made stronger, but the price is that the signal is the worst and the heat is extremely serious.
In the past, the iPhone was invincible thanks to its IOS system that crushed Android phones.
But now the XOS system is more powerful than the IOS system, with stronger performance and stronger signal, so there is really nothing wrong with the iPhone.
At least the current domestic sales of Xingyi mobile phones are much higher than those of Apple.
Not only did the sales of xphone 2pro far exceed that of iPhone 5, but also the sales of xphone 2 and xphone 1pro far exceeded iPhone 5.
That's right, many users would rather buy the 3999 xphone 1pro than the 3800 or so iPhone 5.
The iPhone 5 has been on the market for nine months. Due to poor sales, the domestic price has dropped to about 3,800, and in many channels it has reached 3,600, which is much cheaper than the Xphone 1pro.
But it still can’t be sold!
It can only be said that the current iPhone 5 has been shattered by the impact of the Xingyi mobile phone.
Just like the old Nokia, N8, N9, which one is not the king of legendary phones?
But he was still completely shaken by the impact of the iPhone, and his divinity was shattered.
Likewise, now it’s iPhone’s turn to be impacted by Xingyi Phone.
When the Xphone 3 is released, it will be equipped with the 28nm Kunpeng 902, and the shortcomings in the process will be made up, and Apple will no longer have to worry about it.
Wang Yi was in a good mood and couldn't wait: "Mr. Hu, what's going on at the wafer fab? When can the 28-nanometer Kunpeng 902 be officially mass-produced?"
Mr. Hu replied: "After the second phase of the expansion of the Imperial B1 wafer fab and the third phase was delivered in April, equipment installation and production line installation began. Now everything is completed and the final debugging is in progress."
"We will conduct trial production in a few days. If there are no problems, we can start full-scale mass production at the end of June or early July."
"Okay, very good!" Wang Yi nodded with satisfaction: "How is the production capacity?"
"The combined total of the second and third phases of the B1 fab can produce 50,000 wafers per month. Calculated based on a yield rate of 85%, it can produce approximately 28 million Kunpeng 902 chips per month. Calculated based on a yield rate of 90%, it can produce approximately 28 million Kunpeng 902 chips per month.
Produce about 30 million Kunpeng 902 chips!"
"Thirty million, that's good." Wang Yi nodded with satisfaction. With so much 28nm production capacity, it is enough for now.
"In terms of monthly production capacity, how are Kunpeng 902 SOC and Kunpeng 902C without baseband allocated?" Mr. Hu asked.
"How to distribute?" Wang Yi thought for a while: "15 million Kunpeng 902 SOCs are for xphone 3. 15 million Kunpeng 902C are for Xingyi TV 4K version and Xingyi Tablet 2pro!"
"Okay, leave it to me." Mr. Hu responded, then changed the topic:
"Now that the 28-nanometer process has been completed, the rest is to further optimize and continue to improve the yield rate, trying to increase it to more than 90%."
Wang Yi nodded: "Mr. Hu has to work hard for these things. Mr. Hu deserves the most credit for the breakthrough of the 28nm process and catching up with TSMC and Samsung!"
"It's not hard work, it's all what I should do." Hu Lao said with a smile, and then suddenly became serious:
"But there is still a gap between us and Samsung and TSMC. Our 28nm has not yet been mass-produced, but they have already broken through 20nm!"
"Samsung, for example, has mass-produced 20-nanometer 4G memory sticks in the first half of this year, and will definitely launch 20-nanometer mobile phone SOC chips next year."
"TSMC is about the same, even faster than Samsung."
Wang Yi nodded: "Yes, next year's Apple A8 will be made using a 20nm process."
Mr. Hu sighed: "So we have to start the research and development of the next generation chip technology as soon as possible, but we cannot continue to develop 20 nanometers. If so, we will only be slow one step, slow step by step, and we will always fall behind."
Wang Yi's eyes lit up: "Yes, if we start developing the 20nm process now, by the time we come up with the 20nm process in 2015, TSMC and Samsung have already begun mass production of 16nm and 14nm chips. They will still be a generation ahead of us. How about we do that?"
Just skip 20 nanometers!”
Mr. Hu beamed with joy: "I think so too. Give up 20nm and go directly to the next generation of 16nm. Only in this way can we hope to overtake in corners."
Wang Yi nodded: "That's it, but it's not 16 nanometers, but 14 nanometers!"
"Go straight to 14 nanometers and skip 16 nanometers?" Mr. Hu was a little surprised.
Wang Yi nodded: "I got news that Samsung will skip the 16-nanometer process and directly develop the 14-nanometer process, which is expected to be mass-produced in 2015. If we develop 16-nanometer, we will wait until the 16-nanometer mobile phone chip is mass-produced, even if it is very different from 14-nanometer.
Small, Samsung will also say that it is one generation behind their 14nm chips. And many users also think that our chips are a bit shorter than Samsung’s 14nm chips.”
Mr. Hu nodded: "That's right. Although the difference between the two is not big, it sounds like there is a generation difference. Then just skip 16 nanometers and start working on 14 nanometers! Anyway, the research and development difficulty is not big, so there is not much difference between the two.
"
"However, the 14nm process is much more difficult than the 28nm process. We are starting to develop it now and it is estimated that it will take two years, that is, mass production in mid-2015."
"No problem, if you need any support, just ask, the entire Xingyi Technology will be your backing!" Wang Yixiao said.
In 2015, Samsung's 14-nanometer chip was just launched. The Orion 7420, which surpassed the Snapdragon 810, is Samsung's first 14-nanometer chip. It is considered a masterpiece!
As for TSMC, it can only mass-produce 16 nanometers.
If Xingyi Semiconductor also realizes the 14nm process in mid-2015, it can be regarded as completely catching up with Samsung and TSMC and becoming a world-class one!
Hu Lao nodded solemnly: "Don't worry, Director Wang, 14nm will definitely be successful within two years!"
"Okay, then I will wait for Mr. Hu's good news and prepare a special gift for Mr. Hu when the time comes!" Wang Yi said with a smile.
As long as you break through the 14nm process, in addition to a year-end bonus of several million and an annual salary of more than 10 million, you will also be given a super gift!
At that time, part of JD.com's shares can be given to Mr. Hu, so that Mr. Hu can cash out on his own.
There is no other way. Wang Yi cashed out too much at once and could easily collapse the stock price.
But if it is distributed to Mr. Hu and other core senior executives, broken into parts, separated by a few people, and cashed out at the right time, then it will be stable!
Mr. Hu is watching over Xingyi Wafer Factory, and Wang Yi is very relieved.
In the afternoon, Wang Yi returned to Xingyi Technology Headquarters and held a high-level meeting.
Xu Mingyi, CEO of Xingyi TV Department, and Tu Hongyun, CTO, both of whom were far away in the island city, attended the meeting via video conference.
Wang Yiping said: "The good news is that our own 28nm process yield rate has reached 85%!"
"What?" Everyone was startled. This breakthrough was too fast. It only took a little more than a year. Then they were happy:
"What a good thing!"
"Very good!"
"Chairman, when will the mass production of 28-nanometer chips begin?" Zhu Changlin couldn't help but ask.
Wang Yixiao said: "The second and third phase production lines of the B1 wafer fab have been installed and are undergoing final trial production and debugging. As long as there are no accidents in the trial production, formal mass production will be possible by the end of June or early July.
The monthly production capacity is 28-30 million 28nm chips."
"Great, the xphone 3 equipped with Kunpeng 902 SOC is completely stable." Zhu Changlin was in a good mood.
Kunpeng 902 has been developed for a long time, and the tape-out was very successful some time ago, but it is just short of mass production.
Now that everything is ready, xphone 3 can be launched strongly.
Wang Yi nodded: "Xphone 3 will be released in early September. Other models can take advantage of the 618 price reduction promotion and ship quickly!"
"Okay." Zhu Changlin nodded: "After the release of the Unbounded 1st generation, xphone 1 has been discontinued. Taking advantage of 618 to clear the inventory, it is expected to be sold out in July.
Unbounded note will be released in January, replacing xphone 1pro.”
"Okay!" Wang Yi nodded with satisfaction: "Before Unbounded Note is launched, xphone 1pro cannot have a large inventory, otherwise it will be difficult to sell!"
"yes!"
At this time, Xu Mingyi also spoke: "Chairman, the total production of 28-nanometer chips in July and August will be 60 million. Can you allocate part of it to our Xingyi TV?"
Wang Yi nodded: "Don't worry, we have them for you. In July and August, 60 million 28nm chips, 30 million Kunpeng 902 SOCs will be used to produce xphones, and 33,000 Kunpeng 902Cs without baseband will be used to produce Xingyi TV 4K
Edition and Xingyi Tablet 2pro!”
Xingyi TV X40, X50, X55, and X60 cover all product lines from 40 inches to 60 inches, but they are all 1080P.
Kunpeng 902C has been successfully taped out before, and its performance is extremely powerful. It will be put into mass production next month, so it is natural to launch the Xingyi TV 4K version.
In fact, Kunpeng 702 SOC can also drive 4K.
The original Kunpeng 702 has similar performance to the Snapdragon 600. It is very difficult to carry 4K. It is a small force pulling a big cart, which is very difficult.
But since the XOS system was upgraded, with a 60% performance improvement of the XOS system, the performance of Kunpeng 702 is no longer that of Snapdragon 600, but comparable to next year's Qualcomm flagship chip Snapdragon 805!
Even the Snapdragon 800 can handle 4K, not to mention the performance of the Snapdragon 805.
Therefore, there are no problems with Kunpeng 702 + XOS system with 4K.
The previous research and development of the second generation of Xingyi TV was carried out using Kunpeng 702.
However, the Kunpeng 702 has a baseband, and the cost is higher than the Kunpeng 902C without a baseband, so it is better to get it right in one step and go directly to the Kunpeng 902C.
Wang Yi continued: "The 4K version of Xingyi TV equipped with Kunpeng 902C was released in October this year. It has full performance, is high-end, and is targeted at high-end users."
"Okay, Chairman, what about the 4K version of Unbounded TV?" Xu Mingyi asked.
The TV division will update the new generation of Xingyi TV and the new generation of Unbounded TV every year, so Wang Yi does not have a dedicated Unbounded TV division.
On the contrary, Xingyi TV Division is still in charge.
Wang Yi thought for a while: "This year we will sell the higher-priced 4K version of Xingyi TV first. When the high-end market is saturated next year, purchasing power slumps, and the sales of the 4K version of Xingyi TV decline, we will launch the 4K version of Unbounded TV equipped with Kunpeng 706C, focusing on cost-effectiveness.
, it can also be regarded as a disguised price reduction, targeting mid- to low-end users.”
The 28nm upgraded version of Kunpeng 702 and the baseband-castrated Kunpeng 706C will be mass-produced in September and will be used for the 4K version of Unbounded TV next year.
Tu Hongyun's eyes lit up: "In this way, the Xingyi TV 4K version uses Kunpeng 902C as the high-end version, and the Unbounded TV 4K version uses Kunpeng 706C as the mid-range version, which can widen the gap."
Xu Mingyi also nodded: "If you like high performance and high quality, you should buy the more expensive Xingyi TV 4K version. If you are looking for cost-effectiveness, go for the Unbounded TV 4K version. With different performance and different positioning, Unbounded TV 4K will not overtake Xingyi TV.
4K is fucked!”
"Okay, let's arrange the TV business like this. I will leave it to you to develop new machines and adapt them to the Kunpeng 902C."
"Yes." Tu Hongyun and Xu Mingyi responded quickly.
Zhu Changlin said: "Chairman, when will the 2nd generation of Xingyi Tablet be released?"
There are currently three versions of the Xingyi Tablet 1, all of which were released last year.
Xingyi Tablet 1 and 1pro were released at the Global Communications Conference in March last year. They have been on the market for 16 months. It stands to reason that the Xingyi Tablet 2 should have been released long ago.
However, the competitors are so unsatisfactory that they don’t even need to release a second generation. They just upgrade the first generation with Kunpeng processor and XOS system and crush them all.
Even the latest fourth generation iPad released at the end of October last year is no match for the first generation Xingyi tablet.
Yes, the fourth generation iPad equipped with A6X is not as good as the first generation Xingyi Tablet equipped with Kunpeng 506 + XOS system.
Not to mention the Xingyi Tablet 1pro equipped with Kunpeng 700, and the Xingyi Tablet 1Ultra equipped with Kunpeng 702 SOC.
There is no need for a second generation!
There is no way. In the era when our competitors were still using 32-bit applications, Xingyi Technology's 64-bit processor + 64-bit XOS system + 64-bit applications were able to achieve 160% performance, which was a bug-level existence.
There is no solution at all.
Unless Apple and Android also fully popularize 64-bit processing + 64-bit systems + 64-bit applications.
But it's hard, very hard.
Even if Apple can launch a 64-bit A7 processor + 64-bit IOS7 system in September this year, it will not be able to upgrade all applications to 64-bit.
This process is difficult even if it takes several years.
So the second generation of Xingyi tablet was developed, but it was delayed again and again.
Now that the time is right, Xingyi Tablet can completely upgrade to the 28nm chip and launch it strongly.
Wang Yidao: "The 2nd generation of Xingyi Tablet will be released together with Xingyi TV in October."
"Xingyi tablet 2nd generation, equipped with Kunpeng 706C, eight-inch small screen."
"Xingyi Tablet 2 pro, adapt to Kunpeng 902C as soon as possible, 3-inch large screen."
Wang Yi originally planned to release the second generation Xingyi Tablet in September, but the time was too tight to catch up with the Kunpeng 706C.
Only Kunpeng 702 SOC can be used, and Kunpeng 706C will be upgraded later.
As a result, the cost of the Kunpeng 702 SOC with baseband is higher, and it is very troublesome to upgrade the chip in the future.
It is better to release the Xingyi Tablet one month later, to October, and then you can directly use the Kunpeng 706C.
"That's good. One month later, we can get it right in one step!" Zhu Changlin also agreed.
Coincidentally, in October this year, new iPad products are expected to be released.
It is unlikely that the iPad will be the 5th generation, but it will most likely be the iPad mini2.
The 2nd generation Xingyi tablet equipped with Kunpeng 706 SOC can completely beat the iPad mini 2 equipped with A7.
Xingyi Tablet is released globally and has an international start. Naturally, it has sufficient configurations to fully defeat the new iPad.
Wang Yi wants to create a "personality" for the Xingyi Tablet, a "performance monster" persona.
As long as this concept is deeply rooted in people's hearts, there will be no worries about subsequent sales.
Wang Yi continued: "At the moment, 618, and the following months of July, August and September, it is time to reduce the price a little and quickly ship the goods, clear the inventory, and make way for the second generation of Xingyi Tablet."
Once the 2nd generation of Xingyi Tablet is released, the sales volume that was already severely declining in the first generation will only continue to decline.
When the first generation of Xingyi Tablet was first released, the combined monthly sales of the two models exceeded 10 million.
The combined monthly sales of the three models now total only five million.
When the second generation of Xingyi Tablet is released, the combined monthly sales of the three models of that generation will probably be only 3 million, with an average of 1 million per model.
A single model cannot sell tens of millions of units a year.
Then there is no need for production at all. It is better to stop production in September and clear the inventory!
Technology products are updated rapidly, and consumers prefer the new and dislike the old.
The simplest thing is that Xingyi Tablet 1 Ultra does not support fingerprint unlocking, but Xingyi Tablet 2, even the lowest version of 8 inches, comes with fingerprint unlocking as standard!
This is the difference.
There’s also performance. The performance of the lowest-end Xingyi Tablet 2 is even higher than that of the top-end Xingyi Tablet 1 Ultra!
Consumers naturally like the new and hate the old.
After making arrangements for the 3rd generation Xingyi mobile phone, 2nd generation Xingyi tablet, and 4K version of Xingyi TV in the second half of the year, Wang Yi communicated some details with everyone, and then the meeting ended.
The next step is to fight fiercely on 618 and quickly clear the inventory.
In fact, the 618 promotion started on June 1st.
But everyone knows that the big sales in early June are all fake sales, and they are not the lowest prices.
The real lowest price will have to wait until tomorrow at 8pm on June 17th to 12pm on June 18th.
Chapter completed!