The Meeting Missed the Point, So the Genius Chose to Sleep! (Please Keep Reading)

Xia Qing was a collaborating professor with Huaji, and the EDA division at Laboratory 012 was the project department she was working with this time.

The President Meng speaking with Xia Qing on the phone was Meng Xiangping, technical director of the Huaji Research Institute at Laboratory 012.

The EDA department had only recently been established. When Meng Xiangping heard that Xia Qing was looking for the EDA department, he laughed. "Professor Xia, you're being too polite. You're the department director. If you want to contact them, just do so directly. You don't need my approval."

Xia Qing had originally wanted to ask Meng Xiangping to join the meeting, but she did not bring it up at the last minute.

The EDA Software Luo Yao had developed himself was simply too unbelievable. Xia Qing decided to have the EDA department test it first before saying anything else.

After Xia Qing settled on a meeting time with the EDA department, she said to Luo Yao, "We're going to Huaji's Laboratory 012 now. Are you scared?"

Luo Yao looked at her with utterly calm eyes. "Why would I be?"

"Laboratory 012 is the center of Huaji's research. It gathers scientists and top engineers. Once they see your EDA Software, they'll definitely study it inside and out."

Xia Qing was reminding Luo Yao that if he insisted on going to Laboratory 012, the people there would see through the true nature of his software.

The trick would eventually be exposed.

Luo Yao was not afraid in the slightest. Anticipation gleamed in his eyes. "Are those people all very smart? When can we go? I do have some questions I'd like to discuss with them."

He really was not afraid.

Xia Qing fell silent.

Judging by everything Luo Yao had shown so far, the EDA Software on her computer had indeed been developed by him.

But was that possible?

Integrated circuit IC design tools alone had nearly twenty functional modules, not to mention everything else!

Could a freshman possibly create something like this?

Xia Qing found it inconceivable. The only explanation now was that Luo Yao had indeed developed an EDA program, but it was either a knockoff or one with stripped-down functionality.

However, regardless of which it was, Xia Qing felt that Luo Yao's abilities were far greater than she had estimated.

Laboratory 012 was located at Huaji's East City headquarters. Xia Qing drove Luo Yao straight there.

"Is this a resort?" The moment he got out of the car, Luo Yao was stunned by Huaji's office buildings.

Lush greenery surrounded one distinctive building after another. It was as though the Creator had spared no effort in displaying His aesthetic sense here, with every building blending into the surrounding plants. Even the sunlight seemed less glaring here, like the glow cast by a crystal chandelier, making one want to lose oneself in it.

This place was beautiful.

Having never been to such a beautiful place, Luo Yao could not help but glance twice more at the lake in the distance.

Before getting out, Xia Qing gave Luo Yao one instruction. "Once we're inside, don't be afraid. Just answer whatever they ask."

Luo Yao did not understand why Xia Qing was worried that he would be afraid. If he were truly afraid, he would not have come to East City.

Only after Luo Yao nodded did Xia Qing let him get out of the car. The two then entered a six-story building—the Huaji Research Institute.

After entering the Huaji Research Institute, Xia Qing led Luo Yao to the conference room.

When he pushed open the door, Luo Yao discovered that it was already full of people.

The moment they appeared, everyone's attention focused on Xia Qing and him.

Xia Qing placed her laptop on the conference table and got straight to the point. "There's an EDA Software here that I need everyone to take a look at."

"Old Peng, here's the laptop. Organize everyone to look it over." After saying that, Xia Qing handed the laptop to a gray-haired man.

He was Peng Li, the department's prototype verification review specialist.

The moment he received the laptop and clicked around a few times, his gaze immediately sharpened.

"Specification definition, functional simulation, CDC checks, RTL coding, clock tree synthesis, static timing, ECO, post-simulation—both front-end design functions and back-end functions are included!"

"Dai Guangchao, get your people over here to test this software immediately!" Peng Li shouted to the testing team seated in the corner.

Hearing Peng Li call out to him, Dai Guangchao hurriedly had someone bring over a computer and quickly walked over. Everyone else looked curious, not knowing what had made Peng Li so excited.

Apart from the occasional whispered discussions from the testing team, no one else in the conference room made a sound.

"No, testing this part alone isn't enough. We need architects and system solution engineers to look at it too." Dai Guangchao adjusted his glasses, stood up, and began searching the conference room for the people he needed.

"Manager Dai, the two of them are still at the R&D center. President Meng assigned them a task earlier. Xiang Yeming said they'd be here in ten minutes."

Dai Guangchao's eyes widened as he roared at He Shuzhen, the technical manager who had spoken. "Why wait ten minutes?! Get them here now!"

Was the situation really that urgent?

He Shuzhen could not figure it out, but she immediately sent Xiang Yeming a message through the internal IM system.

Before long, a man and a woman hurried in. The moment Dai Guangchao saw them, he immediately waved them over.

The sound of keyboards grew even more intense throughout the conference room. At that point, the remaining people in the room could no longer sit still and all went over to watch.

Not long after, system solution engineer Xiang Yeming sat up straight in disbelief.

Xia Qing could not help asking, "How is it?"

"There isn't a single issue with the internal logical flow of the entire system." Xiang Yeming did not take his eyes off the computer screen. As he answered, he continued watching architect Pei Yun operate it.

"Unbelievable! This architecture isn't from Synopsys, nor is it from Cadence or Siemens. To be precise, it has nothing to do with any mainstream EDA Software currently on the market, yet it has every functional module!" Pei Yun's tone was filled with disbelief.

"You have to understand that EDA functional modules are complex and diverse. Every function is supported by an entire set of tools or software. That's why, aside from Synopsys and Cadence, there has never been a third EDA Software suite on the market capable of covering the entire chip design process!"

"Not even Siemens reached this level through acquisitions!"

The reason Synopsys and Cadence could command two-thirds of the market was that their software offered the most comprehensive features. Users did not need to hunt down one piece of software here and another there to piece things together.

"Our testing team tested it as well. Every function worked properly, with no lag whatsoever. It also had a supercomputing module built in, which meant it could support supercomputers in real-world applications to improve overall computing power."

"Supercomputing, not cloud computing?" Xia Qing recalled Luo Yao asking to borrow her authorization to use a supercomputer.

"We confirmed that it was supercomputing. It was not meant for ordinary commercial software. The developer apparently did not want the software connected to cloud servers in its early stages. That actually aligns quite well with our R&D philosophy—high-end cutting-edge technology should not be opened up for use at the beginning."

To establish a technological barrier, the most crucial thing was proper confidentiality. Otherwise, once the technology leaked, what barrier would there be left to speak of?

Supercomputers were indeed less scalable than cloud computing. Cloud resources could be flexibly expanded in performance and scale according to users' needs, but supercomputers could not; every node and bandwidth requirement was strictly regulated. However, connecting to a supercomputer offered far greater confidentiality than cloud computing.

"For developers, moving to cloud computing would be far too easy. It would only take adding another module!"

"Also, its front-end compilation processing engine was fully capable of handling the design and launch of various types of projects. Put simply, if someone wanted to use it, the initial deployment would cost next to nothing while still being enough to support their business. That would be enormously beneficial for the companies using it."

"Which company developed this EDA?!" Pei Yun's voice trembled slightly. What she most wanted to hear now was that a Hua Nation company had developed this EDA.

If this EDA had been developed by a Hua Nation company, she had complete confidence that it could compete head-on with Synopsys and Cadence!

"Not a company." Xia Qing did not even need to look to know that everyone in the conference room was staring at her.

"Not a company? Then which R&D center?" Xia Qing's words successfully piqued Peng Li's curiosity.

"It was..." Xia Qing instinctively looked for Luo Yao.

How strange. Luo Yao had been right beside her just a moment ago. Why was he gone now?

Xia Qing looked behind the crowd and discovered that Luo Yao was stretched out in a chair, fast asleep.

???

You really weren't nervous at all, were you?

Xia Qing was truly speechless. With everyone watching, she had no choice but to walk over and wake Luo Yao.

"Luo Yao, why did you fall asleep? Everyone is waiting for you to talk about the EDA you developed."

Everyone in the conference room froze when they heard Xia Qing's words.

What did she mean?

The EDA Software they had been praising back and forth had actually been developed by this kid standing before them?

What kind of international joke was this?!

Luo Yao woke up and became a little more alert when he saw Xia Qing.

"They didn't get to the important part. I got too sleepy listening, so I fell asleep." Luo Yao was telling the truth. He had not rested at all lately; whenever he had time, he coded, and he had not been sleeping well.

Just now, since he was not particularly interested in what the people in the conference room were saying, he found a comfortable chair and went to sleep.

"..."

The entire conference room fell silent.

What had this kid just said?!

They had not gotten to the important part?

They were among the country's top engineers, yet he said they had missed the point. What gave this kid the right to be so arrogant?

Sensing that the atmosphere in the conference room had turned sour, Xia Qing quickly said, "What important part? Explain it to everyone."

Luo Yao sighed, carrying the disappointment of a down-and-out painter whose masterpiece had gone unappreciated.

"Actually, the best-designed part of this system is its front-end design."

"More and more transistors can now be integrated into a single unit area of a chip, so chip power consumption and heat generation have become issues. You should all know that this can easily lead to electromigration effects."

"The current solution is to check using the power calculation tools in EDA, but traditional methods take too much time and are inaccurate. That can cause problems during later verification, and once that happens, the entire delivery schedule has to be extended again."

"That was why I built a logic circuit average switching-rate prediction architecture based on a random forest model, using machine learning to predict power consumption."

Dai Guangchao's eyes went wide as he listened.