Pre-Launch of the Press Conference

As time went on, the number of people following Future Technology online gradually decreased, and daily life became the norm for most people.

Although news about Future Technology on the internet was quiet, there were constant developments within the company during this period.

The day after the official Weibo account released its promotional material, Li Zhou had Weixi distribute the optimized Star Operating System version to every employee of Future Technology for full internal testing.

Immediately after, a number of company employees left the company according to the list provided by Weixi and traveled to hundreds of factories of various sizes across the country.

These factories were all capable of producing parts for photonic computers, as analyzed by Weixi through big data. As for the core of the photonic computer – the photonic chip.

Li Zhou decided to set up the photonic chip production line on Future Technology's -19F, controlled by Weixi to complete the automated production of photonic chips.

For a period, employees were out negotiating partnerships, while Li Zhou himself was busy in the -19F, covered in grime, tinkering with the photonic chip production line every day.

Many of the machines on the photonic chip production line could only be produced in the lab; they couldn't be purchased externally at all.

For this production line, Li Zhou was like a mechanic in a repair shop, coming home every day covered in grease.

On June 15th, Li Zhou single-handedly assembled the entire production line.

Looking at the photonic chip production line, which was only a little over twenty meters long, Li Zhou felt a great sense of accomplishment.

"Weixi, clean the production line."

"Understood, boss."

Soon, at Li Zhou's command, Weixi controlled the simple crawler robots to begin cleaning the production line.

Hmm! In Li Zhou's opinion, these robots couldn't really be called robots, as they didn't even have chips and were entirely controlled by Weixi. These robots could at best be considered mechanical equipment.

Weixi controlled the mechanical equipment, cleaning inside and out for over an hour.

After waiting for more than an hour, Li Zhou, once the production line was clean, activated all the equipment on the entire line.

Looking at the continuously cycling production line, some fine-tuning was still needed.

"Weixi, feed the single crystal silicon into the microelectronics laser machine."

The microelectronics laser machine was the core of photonic chip production. Inside the microelectronics laser machine, the laser would cut the single crystal into thin slices, then produce the prototype of the photonic chip. After that, through the subsequent production line, a usable photonic chip could be produced. The process wasn't finished here.

In the final step, the produced photonic chips would be tested. Qualified ones would undergo preliminary packaging and boxing, while unqualified ones would be automatically pushed into the waste recycling pile by the production line.

Weixi controlled the robotic arm, slowly placing the single crystal silicon into the material inlet, and then adding indium phosphide at another material inlet.

The light-emitting properties of indium phosphide and the light-guiding capabilities of silicon were integrated into a single hybrid chip. When voltage was applied to the indium phosphide, light entered the silicon wafer's waveguide, generating a continuous laser beam. This laser beam could drive other silicon photonics devices.

In this way, billions of circuits could be formed within the chip, thus composing a usable photonic chip.

As the materials were fed in, within ten minutes, prototypes of photonic chips began to be produced and flowed onto the production line.

Li Zhou followed the newly produced photonic chip prototypes as they moved along the production line.

When he reached the final inspection station, Li Zhou found that all the photonic chips were automatically being pushed into the waste recycling pile.

Li Zhou frowned and picked up a few photonic chips from the waste recycling pile.

Upon close examination, Li Zhou discovered that the solder points on one side of the photonic chips were welded crookedly.

Li Zhou adjusted the automatic solder point welding machine based on the photonic chips, and there was a noticeable improvement. However, the yield rate of the photonic chips was still not high, only less than 50%.

For the entire day, Li Zhou spent the whole day making micro-adjustments to the short twenty-meter production line. By the end, the yield rate of the photonic chips had only reached 71%. No matter how Li Zhou adjusted it, he couldn't break through the 71% yield rate.

Looking at the yield rate on the monitor, Li Zhou sighed softly.

"The industrial precision isn't up to par. A 71% yield rate is enough. Since it runs 24/7 without stopping, it should be barely sufficient."

"Boss, you're just too demanding. It's rare for a chip to have a high yield rate immediately after research and production. At least, in Weixi's opinion, a 71% yield rate is already quite astonishing."

Li Zhou shrugged and said nothing.

"Weixi, keep an eye on the production line, put the qualified photonic chips in the warehouse, and contact me if anything comes up. I'm heading home for the day."

After returning home, Li Zhou ate dinner, took a bath, and went straight to his room to fall asleep.

By the end of June, most of the components for the photonic computer had found contract manufacturers.

For over a dozen critical parts, no factory could provide contract manufacturing. Some were also for secrecy purposes, as Li Zhou had never applied for patents. He wasn't planning to apply for patents for these core components for the time being.

As for the less important parts, patents had already been approved. It was precisely because of the sudden application for a string of baffling patents by Future Technology that many netizens couldn't figure out what Future Technology was up to.

Given the time constraints, Xiong Kexuan directly had people acquire two factories in the county and began renovating the existing factories.

The projected plan was for the acquired factories to be able to operate normally within a month after the press conference, around early August.

The production by contract manufacturers would be monitored entirely by Weixi, and even the component blueprints would be distributed by Weixi in real-time.

If a factory was disconnected from the network, or if the network cable was intentionally cut, the distributed blueprints would be automatically destroyed.

On June 28th, with only two days left until the press conference, Future Technology released another official Weibo post.

—

Gather at Future Technology Headquarters for the Future Technology New Product Launch Event!

Simultaneous Live Broadcast Link:

This time, the news of Future Technology confirming the new product launch event was immediately reposted by major media outlets.

The release of the Intelligent Assistant brought convenience to everyone, and many people were looking forward to this Future Technology press conference.

For this press conference, Xiong Kexuan not only chose the ultra-large conference room on the 15th floor as the venue (the entire 15th floor, apart from the fire exits and Youdao, had only one ultra-large conference room).

Additionally, after obtaining the approval of her boss, Li Zhou, Xiong Kexuan booked two newly opened five-star hotels in Huo County to provide accommodation for the attendees of the press conference.

On the same day, invitations for the Future Technology press conference were sent out via courier to the invited individuals from various companies and multiple media organizations.

In Xiong Kexuan's office, everyone reported in an orderly fashion on all preparations before the press conference and contingency plans for unexpected events.