Why Should They Show Mercy?

Sanhua Company was located on Floating Continent. Early that morning, Rao Huiling set off with Yu Bei, Luo Yao, and the others.

As soon as they landed, they saw Director Lin from Dongtou had driven over to pick them up.

Director Lin truly deserved his reputation as a seasoned veteran who had spent over twenty years navigating the business world. After seeing the Huaji group, he did not mention the previous matter at all.

After briefly exchanging pleasantries, he got straight to the point. "President Rao, President Yu, is your EDA really usable?"

"Our own factories have already started using it."

Huaji had always operated this way: use its products internally first, then promote them once they proved reliable.

After completing the data migration, Haixin, Huaji's chip manufacturing plant, began operations. The logic diagrams and circuit layout diagrams could be used directly.

The user interface Luo Yao designed was simple and clear, significantly lowering the learning barrier for the drafters.

It was easy to use and smooth. In particular, its power consumption analysis tool, lithography OPC, and several other modules completely crushed Synopsys. That was the genuine feedback from the chip drafters.

"Director Lin, you'll know once you try it." Rao Huiling's confidence came from Luo Yao. If his software had not met her standards, she would never have dared to be so confident.

Although Huaji could have used its connections to force Pangu EDA onto the market, it was still a tool. If users did not recognize it, forcing it through would only lead nowhere.

Whether Pangu EDA could survive depended entirely on the market.

"Fine, then let's go right away. Zhao Pei from Sanhua hasn't slept well these past few days. After the incident, she called me and asked me to find a solution."

"I really didn't expect Synopsys to give Sanhua trouble just because of that complaint."

"Looks like you were right before. Those foreigners only ever see greater profits. They really have no sense of mercy!"

Rao Huiling and Yu Bei felt a trace of irritation at Director Lin's words. If he thought foreigners were so good, who else would they exploit if not him?

Luo Yao glanced at Director Lin and said in confusion, "Why should they show mercy?"

"Companies like Synopsys are betting that Hua Nation's companies won't dare to completely fall out with them."

"Hua Nation's companies depend on them to survive and cannot exist independently. That alone lets the other side easily control prices."

"You think they wouldn't dare because you see yourselves as consumers."

"You're the ones who worship that whole 'the customer is God' idea. But only God has compassion. Isn't it normal for companies like Synopsys not to?"

"Or is your brain just not good enough to see that?"

Rao Huiling and Yu Bei desperately wanted to laugh.

What the hell did he mean, only God had compassion and companies like Synopsys did not?

Luo Yao's jab was infuriating, but he was telling the truth!

Talking mercy with a pack of hungry wolves was either foolish or stupid!

Could they really expect foreign companies like Synopsys to lend Hua Nation's chip companies a hand just because they had not developed yet?!

Director Lin's expression turned wonderfully colorful, shifting between red and white. He had never felt so stabbed in the heart before.

Yet he could not find a single word to refute him.

Damn it! What exactly was this kid here for?!

When they finally arrived at their destination, the tortured Director Lin got out of the car before anyone else.

Taking advantage of the moment, Rao Huiling said to Luo Yao, "You called Director Lin stupid again. I'm deducting your salary."

Blinking, Luo Yao said seriously, "But I remember last time you told me I couldn't say, 'He's so stupid, how did he become an executive?' in front of Director Lin. I didn't say that just now, so the conditions for deducting my salary have not been met."

There had to be evidence when doing things. What was the point of saying anything without evidence?

In any case, Rao Huiling had not truly intended to deduct Luo Yao's salary, so she merely reminded him a couple of times and did not bring it up again.

They entered Sanhua Company.

The entire office building was deathly quiet, without the slightest sign of life. It looked exactly like an empty building.

A thin, haggard woman came out to greet them.

After both sides introduced themselves, everyone learned that the woman was Sanhua's general manager, Zhao Pei.

"President Rao, President Yu, you can see it yourselves. We've temporarily halted production. None of the orders in our hands can be completed, and our foreign clients are demanding to cancel their orders. If this continues, we really won't be able to hold on."

"We originally planned to purchase from Cadence and Siemens, but neither side has finalized anything. It looks like they don't want to cooperate with us either."

"Today marks the company's fifth year. Is it really going to be ruined in my hands?" Zhao Pei's voice carried a hint of tears. She simply could not afford to wait. Every additional day meant another day of losses.

If the losses continued, Sanhua could declare bankruptcy.

Rao Huiling walked over and comforted her. "General Manager Zhao, don't get worked up yet. We brought the EDA with us. We can test it on-site."

"Come with me." Although Zhao Pei had her doubts and felt that self-developed EDA was unreliable, she could only treat a dead horse as if it were alive.

When they arrived at the drafting room, they saw five people tinkering around inside.

"No, none of the functions can be used. We can't get around the access verification."

"Then what do we do? We can't use anything. Are we going to lose our jobs? It's almost the end of the year..."

Before they could finish, Zhao Pei walked in. "No one will lose their job. I'll do my best to protect you."

The five hurriedly stood up and awkwardly called out, "General Manager Zhao."

"We're installing new EDA software now. Cooperate with President Rao's side for the test."

New EDA software?

The drafters saw the confusion in each other's eyes. Had they purchased Cadence's EDA?

Hadn't Cadence still not confirmed the partnership?

"President Rao, are there any requirements for the computer specifications?" Zhao Pei asked worriedly.

"An ordinary drafting computer will do. There are no special requirements." After saying that, Rao Huiling turned to Luo Yao.

"Luo Yao, install and configure the equipment. The other drafters should prepare the logic diagrams and circuit layout diagrams first."

Two drafters ran off to retrieve the drawings. When they came back, they saw Luo Yao opening the EDA interface, and they became puzzled.

"Pangu? What kind of EDA is this? Is it a new version released by Cadence?"

Luo Yao ignored the two drafters and continued configuring it.

"This is EDA software independently developed by our company. Try it first." To protect Luo Yao's safety, Rao Huiling could not tell them that Pangu's developer was Luo Yao. These people had not received confidentiality training, so who knew whether they would leak the news?

"By the way, how long does it take you to draw this set of diagrams?"

"About a day." One of the drafters answered while staring at Pangu's operating interface.

"Too long. With Pangu, you only need around two hours to finish it." Luo Yao glanced at the logic diagram and circuit layout diagram in her hands. It's only a memory chip. Why would it take that long?

Two hours.

That was absolutely bragging.

Quite a few people in the room could not help thinking that.

They all looked at Luo Yao and could not help doubting just how reliable he really was.

"An engineering document is huge just to open, and we still need to run power consumption and other checks. EDA software can't possibly respond that quickly!" one tester argued.

"You'll know once you try it." Luo Yao's expression remained blank.

The testers looked toward Zhao Pei. Zhao Pei knew she had no other choice. So many people were waiting to resume work and support their families. She nodded. "Start drawing."

Seeing Zhao Pei agree, the drafters immediately began.

One of the drafters sat in front of the computer and only needed a brief look at Pangu's interface to understand how to operate it.

Following the drawings, she continuously dragged the components she needed onto the project interface, placed them in their respective positions, and then began routing.

An hour passed.

After all the lines had been drawn, the drafter hurriedly opened the power consumption and other testing tools and began the checks.

They had barely waited half a minute before the results came out!

"How can it be this fast?"

"Even Synopsys has never tested this fast!" The drafters gathered around the computer in amazement.

Behind them, Zhao Pei and Director Lin were already stunned.

The entire system ran as smoothly as if it had been installed on a brand-new computer. And the testing tools were so fast that it was hard to believe Pangu EDA had really checked the entire engineering design!

"Xiao Li, are the test results correct?" Zhao Pei hurried forward and asked.

"General Manager Zhao, they're all correct. This circuit diagram is actually for LP Generation 1. We used Synopsys to draw it back then, and Synopsys produced the same results. But something strange is..."

Zhao Pei asked tensely, "What's strange?"

"Pangu EDA found one more issue than Synopsys when calculating power consumption: the signal toggle rate."

"Synopsys failed to detect the signal toggle rate issue back then, causing LP Generation 1 to develop the HCI effect. The integrated circuit aged ten times faster than we estimated."

"That's why we had to recall the LP Generation 1 chips."

"Look, the system still has records of that incident." As Xiao Li spoke, she opened a computer beside her and brought up LP Generation 1's failure records.

Everyone crowded over and saw that the records indeed documented the HCI effect problem in LP Generation 1.

"In other words, Pangu EDA's power consumption testing tool is even more powerful than Synopsys's!"

After reaching that conclusion, Zhao Pei hurriedly grabbed Rao Huiling's hand. "President Rao, was Pangu EDA independently developed by you?"

Rao Huiling glanced at Luo Yao, who was standing beside the computer observing the situation, and said with some pride, "It was developed by our people. The architecture and algorithms were all independently developed. It has nothing to do with the EDA of the Big Three."

Unable to hide her excitement, Zhao Pei went over to the drafters and repeatedly confirmed the situation with them. Then she said, "President Rao, we'll first produce a small batch of chips and see how things go. How do you charge for your EDA software?"

"Is it a one-time purchase, or do we pay according to a monthly plan?"

Rao Huiling remembered that she had not discussed this with Luo Yao yet, so she used calling headquarters as an excuse and took Luo Yao out of Sanhua's building.

"Luo Yao, General Manager Zhao is very satisfied with Pangu right now. She should be Pangu's first official customer."

"How are you planning to set the price?"

"I don't really care about that." Luo Yao thought that Huaji had already rewarded him with 200 million, so the licensing fee for an official agency agreement definitely would not be lower than that.

"However, Pangu must be priced lower than the EDA Big Three."

"We need to let every chip company in Hua Nation use our own software!"