Chapter 75

In the president's office, Yanda President Xiao Zhang sighed as he looked at the initial draft of the admissions publicity materials submitted by the office.

As one of China's premier institutions of higher learning, Yanshan University naturally doesn't need to worry about insufficient student enrollment like other universities. However, producing a recruitment promotional video remains a very important task. This is not only to compete with Tsinghua University for the best students from all over the country, but also to comprehensively showcase Yanshan University's strong capabilities and further enhance its overall image and social standing.

This work has been done for so many years, so there shouldn't be any major problems in the office, but...

Xiao Zhang moved the mouse and looked at several frames of the initial draft of the recruitment advertisement over and over again, feeling extremely uncomfortable—the "telekinesis" sign in the experimental area was just too glaring!

This plaque has always been a source of anxiety for Xiao Zhang. In a century-old institution of higher learning in China, Yenching University, there are four large characters that are not only unscientific but also brimming with the air of charlatanism.

As the university president, he tried various indirect methods, roundabout approaches, and even using his power to intimidate others. However, circumstances were beyond his control. Gao Xiao possessed the strength, connections, and resources to completely disregard him, the president of Yanda University. After months of open and covert struggles, he had no choice but to back down and reluctantly allow Gao Xiao to display the words "telekinesis" on the laboratory building and include them in various documents.

"Sigh..." Xiao Zhang sighed for the 108th time at the eye-catching words "telekinesis" in the video.

When filming a recruitment promotional video, it is natural to strongly highlight the school's scientific research strength. Whether it is technical capabilities or experimental hardware facilities, Gao Xiao and his laboratory building are highly advantageous and indispensable promotional points.

But why insist on using a "telekinesis" label? Wouldn't "optical tweezers" be closer to the essence? Or wouldn't "quantum manipulation" sound more sophisticated?

Xiao Zhang's brows were furrowed so deeply they could trap a fly; he looked at those few frames again and again, unable to decide which to choose.

Hmm... maybe we could just use a drone's overhead view, then we wouldn't be able to see the sign. But an overhead view just doesn't have the same grandeur or imposing presence as a direct shot. Tsk!

Just as I was feeling troubled, Director Zhu, the office director, knocked on the door and entered.

"Principal, the recruitment video needs to be taken back and revised. Gao Xiao has changed the sign for his laboratory building," Director Zhu said with a complicated expression.

Seeing Director Zhu's less-than-pleasant expression, Xiao Zhang's hand holding the mouse trembled involuntarily: "What did you change it to?" He hoped it wasn't something even more outrageous!

"Photonic chip!"

"This! This..." Xiao Zhang was speechless for a moment, then his anger flared up. "What is he trying to do! Is he going to challenge Lao Fan to a duel?!"

Fan Ji'an has been focusing on quantum chip projects for several years. His quantum information research and development center is a key laboratory strongly supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology and has long received various national-level resources and funding. In China's chip industry, Fan Ji'an has always been a leading figure.

Gao Xiao and Fan Ji'an have never gotten along, but they have managed to coexist peacefully for years, keeping to themselves. Why are they suddenly starting to compete in scientific research now?

In the field of scientific research, competition is certainly a normal phenomenon. Scientists constantly challenge themselves with difficult research questions through competition, thereby driving the development of human civilization.

However, this kind of competition usually exists between different institutions and countries. Within the same institution, everyone will tacitly avoid getting involved in the same research field in order to avoid competition for funding, resources, talent and other aspects within a limited scope.

They're all respectable people, do they really look good pulling each other's hair like this?

"I asked him, and he said he just wanted to make chips..." Director Zhu was also helpless against Gao Xiao's recklessness.

"No... he... he doesn't even have a research plan! He just starts working on chips like that!" Xiao Zhang was so angry he was almost incoherent. "And what about his 'telekinesis' thing? He just said he wouldn't do it! I think he's deliberately trying to scam research funding!"

Most importantly, if two of Yenching University's most influential academicians were to compete against each other, where would he, as the university president, put his face? Outsiders wouldn't question the research capabilities of the two physics giants, but they would ridicule his coordination and management abilities as president!

Xiao Zhang was so angry that he was furious. He slammed his fist on the table and told Director Zhu to go and find Gao Xiao again to get to the bottom of things.

Director Zhu thought to himself, "If you're so angry, why don't you bring the person here and confront them directly? Why make him stand in the middle relaying messages and suffer indignation?"

Although Xiao Zhang was furious, he hadn't lost his temper. If he really called Gao Xiao over, there was a 100% chance he'd be turned down in front of everyone, and that would make him, the principal, look even worse!

Director Zhu resignedly ran to the laboratory building to deliver the message.

"Damn it!" Gao Xiao cursed, "Who exactly is it that swindled research funding? It's Fan..."

Before he could finish speaking, Director Zhu covered his mouth: "Can't you watch your mouth?!" He glanced at Ji Zhixing, who was sitting behind the computer and seemed to be ignoring everything. There were outsiders here. No matter what the truth was, if he shouted this out, and someone spread rumors, Yan Sheng's reputation would be ruined!

Gao Xiao struggled to pull it open: "Are you trying to smother me to death?!"

"I might as well smother you," Director Zhu thought to himself, but dared not provoke Gao Xiao any further: "What are you really thinking? Are you really going to get into chip manufacturing? Is there any chance?"

"Hmph!" Gao Xiao snorted through his nostrils. "He's reliable!"

These past few days he has been discussing the feasibility of photonic chips with Ji Zhixing, and has also led his students to make a rough observation of the behavior of light waves on silicon-based materials. Photonic chips do indeed have great potential!

Director Zhu knew very well that once Gao Xiao made up his mind, no one could dissuade him. In fact, he wasn't entirely against Gao Xiao's lab launching a chip project.

Although Gao Xiao may have a reputation for being unreliable, he's consistently reliable when it comes to scientific research. As Chinese people, who wouldn't hope for a greater chance of success in chip development?

But as the office director, he still had to ask one more question: "What about the 'remote object retrieval' project?"

"Hold on for now!" Gao Xiao answered without hesitation. With the chip right in front of him, the idea of ​​"telekinesis" suddenly lost its appeal. He had already decided to invest all the resources in the lab, including funding, manpower, and equipment, into the photonic chip project.

Changing course midway through a project is no easy task. The "remote object retrieval" project wasn't a solo endeavor; the National Natural Science Foundation of China invested 200 million yuan, and he had signed an agreement to secure 150 million yuan in sponsorship from companies. Now, suspending the project requires a reasonable explanation to all parties. However, given his research capabilities and past achievements, this shouldn't be too difficult.

"As for the meager amount the school allocated earlier, you can call Old Cai over here, and I'll return it all to him!"

To be honest, Gao Xiao didn't really care about the millions of yuan allocated by the school; he figured he might as well take it. Now that he was focused on photonic chips, he naturally didn't want to be held back by the school for a few yuan.

Director Zhu didn't say anything more, patted Gao Xiao on the shoulder, and left.

“Professor Gao…” Ji Zhixing was a little worried that Professor Gao Xiao was in a difficult situation.

In fact, running the "remote object retrieval" and "photonic chip" projects in parallel would have been the most suitable choice for Professor Gao Xiao. However, Professor Gao Xiao said he couldn't stand it.

In the chip industry, the international authorities are tightening their grip on technology, threatening to strangle the industry. The possibility of breaking through this encirclement is within reach; he only wants to concentrate resources on a massive offensive to quickly achieve a breakthrough in new photonic chips!

"It's alright!" Gao Xiao waved his hand and pointed to the quantum information research and development center in the southeast direction. "From now on, we'll be competitors. Fan Ji'an won't dare to ask me anything. If he tries to contact you privately, just ignore him!"

"What exactly is his quantum chip...?" Ji Zhixing asked hesitantly. Just now, from Professor Gao Xiao's words, it seemed that Fan Ji'an was suspected of defrauding research funds.

It's important to understand that the research funding the Quantum Information Research and Development Center receives is far greater than the few million yuan Fan Chuanshuo received initially. Almost every year, it receives hundreds of millions of yuan in funding and various resource allocations.

If his quantum chip project is genuine, then investing hundreds of millions is worthwhile; the fear is that it will be another "Hanxin" (a Chinese chip manufacturing company known for its poor performance).

At the beginning of the 20th century, core chip technologies were entirely controlled by developed Western countries. China was virtually nonexistent in the chip field, and its research on integrated circuits was just beginning, resulting in a significant gap with developed Western countries. To break free from this situation of being held back, China resolved to independently develop chips.

In 2003, Chen Jin, a PhD graduate who had returned from the United States, collaborated with a domestic university to research chips. In just 16 months, he developed the "Hanxin No. 1" chip.

Chen Jin claimed that "Hanxin No. 1" adopted the internationally advanced 0.18-micron process. The small 32-bit DSP digital processing chip integrated 2.5 million components and had a 32-bit computing core with a computing power of up to 200 million operations per second - which completely surpassed Intel in performance.

The news was met with great excitement throughout the country, and the nation provided full support, allocating huge amounts of research funding in the hope of complementing the efforts of this top talent and enabling domestically produced chips to catch up and surpass international advanced levels.

Chen Jin lived up to expectations, launching "Hanxin No. 2" and "Hanxin No. 3" in less than a year.

However, it was all a scam. The so-called "Hanxin No. 1" was nothing more than a Motorola chip that had been replaced with another one. The so-called "Hanxin No. 2" and "Hanxin No. 3" were also foreign chips that had been substituted for foreign ones.

Until the scam was exposed, Chen Jin embezzled a total of 1.1 billion yuan in research funds.

The more severe consequence was that negative public opinion affected the entire chip industry, severely damaging market confidence, cutting government funding, and causing investors to withdraw their funds. Other promising chip projects, such as "Loongson," also suffered and were shelved. China's chip research and development stagnated for a full 13 years!

“Sigh…” Gao Xiao sighed deeply, “It’s different. Fan Ji’an does have real skills, and his quantum chip project has real substance. But he’s too self-serving…”

A note from the author: