Chapter 428 - 329: First Product: AI Chip
Xucheng. Zhuxianzhuang Science and Technology Park. No. 9 Office Building.
Chen Yansen gave Wu Shengyu a tour, starting from the conference room and break room, through the main office area, and all the way to his office on the top floor. He then invited Wu Shengyu to sit and said softly,
"Mr. Wu, it’s Saturday, so everyone at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is off today. Otherwise, I would’ve introduced you to Daniel and Zhou Chuangxi. I’m hoping the Chip Design Department’s first product will be an AI chip for smart speakers."
The chip industry’s supply chain is incredibly complex. From upstream design, manufacturing, packaging, and testing to downstream applications, it involves tens of thousands of core patents across fields like chip IP, EDA software, manufacturing equipment, and raw materials.
Even with Chen Yansen’s abilities, he couldn’t possibly replicate every design, production, and raw material process all on his own.
He needed help and time. He wasn’t trying to accomplish everything overnight.
Of course, mobile phone CPUs, GPUs, and RF chips could all be developed in parallel, but he had to prioritize.
Starting with the AI chip for the smart speaker was the most logical first step. By simply improving the integration between the voice interaction engine and the chip, they could further optimize the performance and user experience of the Alexa smart speaker.
The current Moss (Alexa) smart speaker was equipped with a TI OMAP 3630 processor, which suffered from high response latency and excessive power consumption. It also couldn’t run the full-spec version of the acoustic model algorithm, causing it to underperform in noise reduction and echo cancellation.
Moreover, it had a fatal flaw: it was too expensive!
Both the LG P970 and the HTC Tianxi phones used this chip; the thing was never designed for a smart speaker. The purchase price for a single unit was as high as 19 US Dollars, which was the main reason the bill of materials for the Moss (Alexa) was so high.
That single chip accounted for one-third of the total cost.
"An AI chip? So, you mean integrating an NPU, an embedded neural processing unit, and a DSP, a digital signal processor, onto the same chip?"
With his extensive experience, Wu Shengyu quickly grasped the gist of Chen Yansen’s idea.
"The chip architecture will also need to be adjusted. We’ll focus its computing power on voice interaction tasks to improve the efficiency of speech recognition, natural language processing, and speech synthesis. We’ll also use a separate power management module to lower power consumption and extend the speaker’s battery life."
Chen Yansen added with a slight nod.
As a general-purpose chip, the TI OMAP 3630 processor was simply incapable of leveraging the full potential of the Moss (Alexa) voice interaction engine.
A dedicated AI chip, on the other hand, could integrate multiple modules—a CPU, NPU, DSP, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios, and audio codecs. This would replace the current multi-chip design and reduce the bill of materials by at least 50%.
Furthermore, Xiaomi was working intensely to develop its own smart voice interaction engine.
Once Orange Technology and Xiaomi worked together to generate hype around the smart speaker concept, a flood of competitors would jump into the market.
By then, Orange Technology could generate billions of US Dollars in annual revenue from its chip business alone.
"Alright, Mr. Chen. I understand," Wu Shengyu replied with a nod.
Although he had never worked on a product design quite like this, his experience told him it wouldn’t be too difficult.
"Have some tea."
Chen Yansen pushed a cup of hot tea across the coffee table toward Wu Shengyu, gesturing for him to drink.
"Thank you, Mr. Che—Boss." Wu Shengyu accepted the cup, thanking him respectfully. The immediate change in address signified his acceptance of Chen Yansen.
’In their brief conversation, it was already clear that this was a boss who actually understood the technology.’
’He might be young, but he wasn’t reckless or glory-seeking. He hadn’t immediately targeted the mobile processor market. Instead, he chose the Moss (Alexa) smart speaker—a product that already had a track record of success—as his entry point.’
’For one thing, it would allow them to turn a profit quickly. For another, it would help them avoid going head-to-head with Qualcomm and Broadcom too soon.’
"In that case, I’ll call you Lao Wu. Take the next couple of days to get settled in, then officially report for duty on Monday."
Chen Yansen said, taking a small sip from his teacup.
"Boss, my English name is Blake." Wu Shengyu found the nickname "Lao Wu" endearing, but he was still resistant to it.
"Alright, Lao Wu. First, let’s head down to the underground garage so you can pick out a car. We’ll grab the keys from the front desk on the way."
Chen Yansen said, getting to his feet.
He had already arranged for the administration department to rent apartments for chip engineers like Wu Shengyu in a high-end complex in the city center. Each of them was also provided with a company car worth around 500,000 yuan.
Their job title was equivalent to that of a department head, but their compensation package was on par with a director’s or even a general manager’s.
’Besides, with Wu Shengyu working to make money for him, that was one win. And with Wu Shengyu contributing a stream of Human Dao Fire to him every month, that was a second win.’
’As far as Chen Yansen was concerned, his employees might profit a little, but he would never lose.’
’The hundreds of thousands of employees at companies like Cloud Speed Express, the Orange Phone Factory, and Kuai Pao were like power banks, all sources of energy that allowed him to grow progressively stronger.’
’Alright, Lao Wu?’
The corner of Wu Shengyu’s mouth twitched. Realizing he couldn’t change Chen Yansen’s mind, he decided to let it go. He followed his new boss into the elevator and down to the underground garage.
As soon as he stepped inside, a row of cars of various colors, models, and brands came into view.
There were Audi A6Ls, BMW 520Lis, a Lexus CT200h, a BMW X1, and even seven or eight Chevrolet Camaros.
"They’re nothing special," Chen Yansen said matter-of-factly. "Once you’re promoted to Chief Scientist, the company will replace it with a company car worth two million yuan."
’A two-million-yuan company car?’
Wu Shengyu couldn’t help but give a wry smile. ’Even Qualcomm doesn’t offer benefits this extravagant,’ he thought. ’Besides, can a car that costs two million yuan on the road really be called a ’company car’?’