Chapter 174 Truly Understanding Lin Bencheng
After Xinghai acquired Cyrix, the company did not move out of its original office. In fact, thanks to Xinghai's increased investment, they expanded their space, renting three floors of a building and doubling their staff. It was a real "trading the musket for a cannon" transformation.
Once Xinghai's campus was completed, they would also have an independent office building—a considerable privilege.
While driving, Qin Si made a call and quickly arranged for Su Yuanshan to meet Lin Bencheng the next afternoon at Hank Café. She then dropped Su Yuanshan off at the hotel and went to pick up Qin Weimin.
Although Qin Weimin and Qin Si were meeting for the first time, they were aware of each other's identities, and with the shared surname "Qin," they quickly became friendly, chatting easily during the drive. Before long, they arrived at Cyrix's office building.
Upon entering, Qin Si headed to the lounge area to avoid interrupting their meeting.
...
In Claude's office, Su Yuanshan pulled out a CD from his briefcase after sitting down.
"This contains the completed module designs and upcoming plans from Yuanxin's team. You can proceed according to the plan for the designs," he said.
Claude carefully accepted the CD and asked, "What about the cache design? Still no progress?"
"A little progress, but it still needs time," Su Yuanshan replied, a little frustrated. Cache development remained a major headache—he couldn't rush Li Mingliu, who was already more anxious than anyone else, but technical breakthroughs couldn't be forced.
"Then why don't we release a CPU without cache for now?" Claude suggested.
At that time, it was quite common for low-end CPUs to lack cache memory—there were still plenty of 486 CPUs around without even an FPU.
Su Yuanshan immediately shook his head. "Claude, this is Cyrix's first CPU release under the Xinghai brand. We must shed the low-end image. We've made such significant optimizations to the instruction set—if we release a low-end CPU first, it will be disastrous for our overall strategy."
If they launched a low-end CPU first, all they would achieve was mere survival—something Cyrix had done for years.
Now that they were part of the Xinghai (or more accurately, Yuanxin) system, they needed a different strategy.
According to Intel's and AMD's progress, in the coming years, AMD would focus heavily on the mid-to-low-end market.
If Xinghai wanted to ally with AMD to defeat Intel, someone had to occupy the high-end segment and challenge Intel's entire product line.
That job had to fall to Xinghai—or Yuanxin.
And most importantly, Yuanxin and Xinghai still had time—MMX technology would be best paired with Windows 95, which meant they had nearly two years to polish their CPU.
"Then during this period, what do we sell?" Claude asked. "Continue updating the 486 series?"
"Yes," Su Yuanshan said. "Focus on boosting frequencies and improving FPU compatibility."
He smiled and added, "Actually, our CPUs are doing quite well in the mainland market—we already occupy half the market."
Claude chuckled too. Since joining Xinghai's system, the marketing had been handed over to Xinghai, freeing him to focus purely on R&D. But he still received quarterly market reports, and he knew that the CX486 series was selling well not just in China, but throughout Asia.
This informal understanding between AMD and Xinghai was working—AMD targeted the mature Western markets, while Xinghai focused on the developing, lower-end Asian markets.
Even so, both companies had a long road ahead before they could truly challenge Intel.
Especially since Intel had just launched the Pentium, making it harder for AMD and Xinghai to "piggyback" on their brand.
The two underdogs could only barely survive for now.
"There's a poem that goes like this," Su Yuanshan said in Chinese, quoting Jia Dao's famous work. "After ten years of sharpening a sword, its blade remains unused. Today I show it to you; who among you holds grievances to redress?"
Claude blinked. "I don't really get it."
"Alright, how about this: Three years without singing, but when it does, it shocks the heavens. Imagine a bird that doesn't chirp for three years—and when it finally does, it amazes everyone."
"Ah, that I understand," Claude said. "You mean, quietly develop the CPU, and when it's finally launched, it will catch Intel off guard."
"Exactly," Su Yuanshan smiled. "We must be like assassins—waiting for the perfect moment to strike hard at Intel."
...
They continued discussing technical details for a few more hours. Claude was already familiar with Qin Weimin's reputation, but when he learned that Qin was bringing a 100MHz YX02 CPU to the exhibition, he couldn't help but feel impressed—Yuanxin's CPU design capabilities were clearly formidable.
When Claude further learned that the YX architecture even had its own version of a 338 patent wall (like Intel's in the X86 architecture), he regarded Qin Weimin with newfound respect.
Of course, Claude didn't know—and Qin Weimin wasn't about to brag—that the YX architecture had actually been designed by Su Yuanshan himself.
The more Qin Weimin delved into the YX architecture, the more he realized that Su Yuanshan had been "guiding" him all along during their early "discussions"—those so-called "immature suggestions" had saved him from countless detours.
Three hours later, Cyrix's team had finished preparing all the technical data.
Su Yuanshan pulled out the authorization agreements from his briefcase.
—Regardless of whether Xinghai and Cyrix had the actual rights to grant licenses, and regardless of whether such licenses would be legally effective, all necessary formalities still had to be followed.
"This covers the new architecture, MMX instruction set, and parts of the microcode," Su Yuanshan said. "Two copies. You sign one, then I'll get Carly to sign the other."
"Got it," Claude replied crisply. He also handed over their internal documents—including FPU designs—for Carly to compile into a formal licensing agreement.
Su Yuanshan carefully packed the CDs back into his briefcase and flipped through the documents one by one.
He was extremely meticulous—after all, this concerned the future ownership of key CPU technologies.
When he reached the section dealing with X86-related licenses, he paused, picked up a pen, and crossed out all those parts.
"Intel should finalize their settlement with Xinghai after this exhibition.
The bottom line will be a restricted license—meaning Xinghai won't be allowed to sublicense to others."
Claude looked surprised. "Then what about Yuanxin?"
"Simple," Su Yuanshan said. "Once the CPU is released, Xinghai will launch it first. After that, Yuanxin can trade MMX for an X86 license from Intel."
"If Intel refuses, we'll set up a joint venture in China between Xinghai and Yuanxin, with Xinghai holding the majority stake."
"In short," Su Yuanshan said calmly, "there are always more solutions than problems."
...
After a simple lunch at Cyrix, Su Yuanshan and the team returned to Xinghai.
There, Qin Weimin and the others focused on coordinating with the mobile division—discussing what kind of chip would carry the next generation of mobile phone baseband signals.
Wang Rui argued that as mobile phones became more functional, higher chip frequencies would be necessary.
Howard disagreed, saying integration should take precedence over raw processing power.
At that time, phone motherboards were still very low in integration—Yuanxin included.
Initially, Tian Yaoming had even suggested using a hodgepodge of DSP + MCU + ROM for the baseband solution.
Fortunately, YX01 came out early, with low power consumption, making it suitable for mobile phones, eliminating the need for separate MCUs and DSPs.
Still, without a dedicated SOC, motherboards remained densely packed with components.
In the end, both sides asked Qin Weimin, the chip provider, to make the final call.
This put Qin Weimin in an awkward spot—his expertise lay in the YX architecture, not designing highly integrated baseband SOCs.
"Personally, I lean toward Howard's view," Qin said slowly, in his not-very-fluent English. "Until there's a breakthrough in communication technology, even YX01 can meet all current needs.
Pursuing an SOC now would require many years of technical breakthroughs..."
"You see, Wang," Howard said, spreading his hands, "even Qin agrees with me. If Tian Yaoming were here, he would too!"
Wang Rui laughed and shrugged. "Fine. You're the chip guys; I just handle the technical implementation."
Soon after, Su Yuanshan emerged from Carly's office and joined the lively discussion.
Hearing them debate the future direction of baseband chips, he didn't hesitate.
"This is even a question? Of course it should move toward SOC integration!" he said.
Picking up the TH117 prototype from the table, he weighed it in his hand and shook his head. "These phones are bulky and clumsy. How can you guys tolerate it?"
"Hey, come on now," Howard protested.
"Our phone only weighs 200 grams! And you call it bulky?"
"Yes, it's still bulky," Su Yuanshan teased, tossing it lightly. "Feels solid, though. Could probably knock someone out if you threw it at their head."
Wang Rui laughed. "Ours is even lighter—175 grams."
Howard grumbled. "Yeah, but you're not showing it."
"It's locked in the hotel safe!" Wang Rui grinned. "You'll see it tomorrow when we set up the booth."
"Watch out for thieves!" Howard joked.
"Relax, we have round-the-clock security," Wang Rui replied proudly.
Su Yuanshan and Qin Weimin exchanged a glance, both laughing silently.
...
That evening, Yuanxin and Xinghai's teams held a lively banquet that lasted until eleven o'clock.
The next morning, Tang Wenjie and Yang Yiwen headed to the airport—Jiang Wanchao and Qu Hui had arrived.
At noon, Su Yuanshan stood smiling at the villa entrance, welcoming them.
"You—avoiding suspicion doesn't mean you have to avoid us too!" Qu Hui grumbled, punching Su Yuanshan playfully on the shoulder. "Not even coming to pick us up?"
"My sister-in-law and Senior Brother already went, didn't they?" Su Yuanshan said, rubbing his shoulder.
They had all been close since the early days of Yuanxin, so it was only natural for Tang Wenjie and Yang Yiwen to handle the reception.
"It's about attitude, you know?" Qu Hui huffed and turned to Jiang Wanchao. "Right, Lao Jiang?"
Jiang Wanchao just smiled and looked around inside, not taking the bait.
"Is this the villa Xinghai bought when it was founded?" Qu Hui asked Yang Yiwen.
"Yeah. Come on, I'll show you around."
...
After lunch, Qin Si arrived from Xinghai's venture capital division and picked up Su Yuanshan to head to Hank Café.
Located in northeast Silicon Valley, Hank Café was a bit out of the way but close to Lintron.
Unlike Fields Café, Hank Café had a large outdoor terrace where you could enjoy the sunshine while sipping coffee or afternoon tea.
When they reached the second floor, Su Yuanshan immediately spotted Lin Bencheng rising to his feet.
Lin Bencheng looked to be around fifty, small and thin.
He smiled warmly at Su Yuanshan.
"Hello, Mr. Lin."
"Hello, Mr. Su."
After a polite handshake, Su Yuanshan sat at an angle across from Lin Bencheng, with Qin Si taking the other side—forming a perfect triangle.
After the usual pleasantries, Lin Bencheng got straight to the point.
"Mr. Su," he said, eyes sharp, "I've heard of Yuanxin's reputation. I even witnessed Xinghai's rise firsthand."
Su Yuanshan leaned forward slightly and smiled. "Thank you for the kind words."
"But I don't understand," Lin continued, "why Mr. Su would be interested in acquiring Lintron. Our business mainly provides technical support for photolithography processes—neither Yuanxin nor Xinghai seem to have such needs."
Because Yuanxin's internal R&D and financial structures were not publicly known, very few people realized they were developing a lithography machine.
"Or are you simply expanding, and we're just an easy target?"
Lin Bencheng crossed his fingers and stared seriously at Su Yuanshan.
Su Yuanshan laughed and asked back,
"Mr. Lin, does the reason for the acquisition really matter to you?"
"Of course it matters," Lin said solemnly. "I don't even understand why you noticed us."
"Because," Su Yuanshan said, smiling faintly, "I also studied physics."
"And because... I too believe that X-rays should only be used in dental offices."
Lin Bencheng was momentarily stunned, then burst into hearty laughter.
For twenty-two years, he had devoted his youth to IBM. A naturally peaceful and unambitious man, he had been affectionately called "Grandpa Burn" by his juniors.
Yet, in his final years at IBM, his Deep UV laser project had been suppressed by his boss's X-ray lithography project.
The X-ray team had more staff, more funding, and more resources—and they soon achieved a breakthrough.
His boss, in celebration, distributed T-shirts with the slogan "X-ray works!"
When Lin Bencheng received his, he quietly added a line underneath:
"For the dentists."
Later, seeing no future at IBM, Lin Bencheng chose to leave and start his own venture.
When Su Yuanshan referenced that old act of defiance, Lin Bencheng realized—this young man truly understood him.
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