142? Not Even Half My IQ! (Please Keep Reading)

Dai Guangchao drew a breath and looked at Luo Yao in disbelief.

"You mean the chip power-consumption calculation errors could be completely avoided during front-end design?"

"That's right. Combined with the other modules, it can perfectly support designs on processes below 7 nm."

"Below 7 nm?!"

Everyone in the conference room was stunned, because they all knew that was something only the three major EDA vendors could accomplish.

Other EDA software could not support chip designs below 7 nm, which meant that even with a lithography machine capable of sub-7 nm processes, chips below 7 nm still could not be manufactured.

Luo Yao thought they were making too much of a fuss. Ignoring them, he continued, "I came into contact with linear models and ensemble models in machine learning during middle school. For this part, a random forest model from the ensemble-model category is clearly more suitable."

"You were already exposed to machine learning in middle school? How did you encounter it so early?"

The EDA department staff exchanged glances, wondering when China had become so advanced that middle school students were learning machine learning.

"I barely attended class in middle school. Whenever I had time, I went to the school library to read. The books there were old books collected by the teachers from all sorts of places. There was every kind of book, and I wasn't picky. Usually, I just read whichever one I picked up."

Xiang Yeming frowned and asked, "Why old books? Shouldn't the school buy new books for the students' health?"

Luo Yao gave him a baffled look and said, "How could the school buy new books if it didn't have money?"

Xiang Yeming regretted what he had just said. From Luo Yao's description, the place he had lived in did not seem to be a major city.

"Director Xia, did you just say that this EDA was developed by this young man?" Dai Guangchao shifted his attention to Xia Qing.

"He developed it. Luo Yao just entered his freshman year at our university."

"A freshman???"

They knew Luo Yao looked young, but they had not expected him to have only just started university.

"Young man, how old are you?"

"Sixteen."

Sixteen years old, yet he had developed a complete EDA Software suite comparable to Synopsys.

It sounded utterly absurd.

Peng Li asked in his kindest tone, "Young man, did you really develop this software all by yourself? Did no one else help you?"

By now, they no longer had the slightest doubt about the originality or authenticity of the EDA Luo Yao had produced. They only wanted to know whether someone had been working with him behind the scenes.

After all, developing a full EDA suite alone presented enormous workloads and technical challenges.

How could a sixteen-year-old child accomplish that?

"I started conceiving it when I was ten. I've been working it out in my mind for six years. Before this, I only typed out the code in a simple form. It wasn't until I went to the supercomputing center at East University of Technology that I transferred the code into programming tools."

Damn! He had started at ten and spent six years conceiving it!

The people in the conference room had never encountered anything so outrageous.

Xiang Yeming said even more bluntly, "Impossible. How could a child like you do this without downstream market data to support you?"

"Because I know how to think."

"Downstream market data is derived from user feedback, so all I need is to understand the users."

"I used all my time online to look up chip manufacturers' customers' reactions and infer the demands from them."

"Impossible. Even if you could infer the demands, you still couldn't solve every problem!"

Luo Yao was getting annoyed with explaining. Looking at Xiang Yeming, who kept arguing with him, he asked, "What's your IQ?"

Xiang Yeming answered proudly, "142."

Hearing that number, Luo Yao became even less inclined to pay attention to him. He simply plopped down in a chair and asked curiously, "142? That's not even half my IQ. Why do you think I couldn't do it?"

142, not even half his IQ?!

What, was his IQ over 300?

He really knew how to brag!

That said, everyone only dared to mock him silently in their hearts. No one dared to show it.

The reason was simple: Luo Yao had a complete independently developed EDA suite in his hands. No matter how dissatisfied they were, they had to put up with him.

"Luo Yao... is indeed a genius student recruited by our university. His abilities are stronger than those of ordinary college students. How about this? I'll have President Meng come take a look before we discuss anything further." Xia Qing had a terrible headache over Luo Yao's personality, but at this moment, she could not worry about that.

If the EDA Luo Yao had developed was real, the entire chip market would undergo earth-shaking changes.

After Xia Qing finished her call with Meng Xiangping, she received a call from her teaching assistant.

"Professor Xia, you have class this afternoon. It starts in ten minutes."

Xia Qing could not concern herself with the university right now.

Class?

She had something far more important to deal with here!

"Help me take leave. I have something to handle."

After the teaching assistant agreed and hung up, they were still wondering why Xia Qing, who never took leave, had suddenly asked for it today.

Elsewhere.

After receiving the news, Meng Xiangping arrived at the conference room. Once he had listened to everyone's reports, the stunned Meng Xiangping walked over to Luo Yao, who had remained silent the entire time.

"You're Luo Yao, right, little brother? Do you want to sell this software, or cooperate in some other way?" Meng Xiangping struggled to restrain his excitement as he looked at Luo Yao expectantly.

"Not selling."

Not selling?

Meng Xiangping felt as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head.

"I want to continue with technical R&D, but I need people who can provide me with support."

So he wanted to cooperate!

Hope immediately rose again in Meng Xiangping's heart upon hearing Luo Yao's words.

As long as he made demands, it would be easy to handle!

What Meng Xiangping feared most was Luo Yao saying nothing and asking for nothing. Then they would have no way of knowing what he wanted, much less cater to his preferences.

"Rest assured, we will absolutely provide you with every bit of support you need. Project staff, resources, funding—we'll equip you with everything. As for the EDA..."

"If you can truly do what you said, I'm willing to cooperate with you." Luo Yao spoke calmly. He never listened to how wonderfully others talked things up; he only watched what they actually did.

Meng Xiangping excitedly agreed again and again.

It was no wonder he was showing his emotions so openly. They had originally planned to spend five full years developing a brand-new EDA suite, but Luo Yao had directly saved them those five years!

How many five-year periods did a person have in life?

How many five-year periods did a company have?

How many five-year periods did the market have?

Even launching a product one day early gave an advantage, let alone five whole years!

Meng Xiangping tried hard to calm himself before stepping out to call Rao Huiling, the technical president of Laboratory 012.

Half an hour later, Meng Xiangping returned.

"Student Luo Yao, stay in the park tonight. We have a dedicated rest area here, just like a hotel." Meng Xiangping gave Xia Qing a meaningful look.

Xia Qing had no choice but to say, "I'll explain things to the school for you. Get some proper rest here tonight. I'll stay here with you."

Though Luo Yao was young, he knew that once he had presented the complete EDA suite, there was no way he would be allowed to simply walk out of here.

As a major technology R&D company, Huaji was surely connected to the authorities in countless ways.

Now that an EDA capable of saving the chip market had appeared, there was no way the authorities would not be alerted.

Having thought that through, Luo Yao said, "All right. Do you need to write test cases? I still have some time to work with you now. Later, I want to go read."

Upon hearing this, Meng Xiangping hurriedly beckoned Dai Guangchao over.

"Manager Dai, I'm leaving the testing to you. Make sure you cooperate properly with Student Luo Yao!"

After making the arrangements, Meng Xiangping led everyone else to another conference room.

"No one is going home today. Also, sign the confidentiality agreements. You are not to reveal anything related to Luo Yao or the EDA he developed."

"Understood?"

Although everyone was unhappy with Luo Yao's attitude, they all understood the seriousness of the situation now.

They had been transferred to the EDA department specifically to develop an entirely new EDA suite, so they naturally had a strong sense of confidentiality.

They simply had not expected that before they had even properly started work, the job would already be finished.

"Damn, are we the most miserable department? Before our work even really got underway, it was gone." As he spoke, one person made this expression: _(ツ)_/

"That's a good thing, though. We have a finished product now. We only need to think about launching it and what comes afterward." Pei Yun's words carried an unmistakable hint of delight.

"The testing team will probably be pulling an all-nighter writing test cases tonight. We shouldn't sit around either. Let's sort out everything we can do." Peng Li was also extremely excited. A full-flow EDA suite—he had never imagined it even in his dreams!

Meng Xiangping smiled. He completely understood how they felt. After giving them a few reminders, he went outside and found Xia Qing.

"Professor Xia, we may need to trouble you with something." Meng Xiangping said somewhat awkwardly.

"Is it because of Luo Yao?" Xia Qing replied.

Meng Xiangping nodded. "We'd like to look at the surveillance footage from your school's supercomputing center. Would that be convenient?"

"You know as well, Professor Xia, that we can't use software of unknown origin, so we need to investigate Luo Yao's situation thoroughly."

Xia Qing nodded. She knew Meng Xiangping was right. The EDA Software Luo Yao had provided was intended for commercial use, and commercial use involved copyright and patent issues, so Meng Xiangping had no choice but to investigate it clearly.

"Then come back to the school with me. We'll check the surveillance footage."

"All right."

Xia Qing and Meng Xiangping hurriedly drove to East University of Technology. Just as she returned to her office to get the access card issued by the school, her teaching assistant appeared.

"Professor Xia, you're back just in time. The principal is notifying everyone about a meeting."

Xia Qing quickly said, "Help me ask for leave. I have something urgent to deal with." With that, Xia Qing left.

The teaching assistant had never seen Xia Qing in such a hurry before, so when reporting the notification situation to the principal, they specifically mentioned it.

After learning that Xia Qing had taken the entire afternoon off, the principal worried that something might have happened and called to check on her.

"Principal, I'm fine. I've just been busy with the Huaji project." Xia Qing had no choice but to make up an excuse.

Sure enough, once the principal heard that it was because of the Huaji project, he did not ask any further questions.

Xia Qing took Meng Xiangping to review the supercomputing center's surveillance footage. When they saw that Luo Yao really had been programming alone in the supercomputing center, their hearts finally settled.

"A genius. A true genius. Did you see how fast he was coding? He barely stopped at all!"

Xia Qing, however, still had doubts. "How could he possibly complete such a massive project by himself?"

Meng Xiangping smiled. "Didn't he say so himself? He wrote the code alone beforehand, probably saved it in a text file, and only migrated it over once he got here. He knew how difficult it was to develop EDA on an ordinary computer, so he had to wait until he came to the school to get the chance."

The footage showed that Luo Yao had indeed typed every line of code himself without referring to anything, which both surprised and reassured Meng Xiangping.

He did not even use GitHub, the essential tool for programmers. That proved that all of Luo Yao's code was truly original.

"Director Xia, if my judgment is correct, Luo Yao is probably even smarter than those people who received offers from our Genius Youth program!"

"With you saying that, I'm relieved. This child is not only smart but hardworking as well. I hope you, President Meng, won't let me down."

"Director Xia, you've brought us such a genius. Of course we'll cherish him."

"At present, President Rao's side has already issued the highest-level notification."

Xia Qing's eyes lit up. "You mean..."

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