Chapter 85
Ji Zhixing expects to recruit only 10 researchers, and in order to produce results as soon as possible, he has set a rather high threshold.
By the application deadline, the Zhixing Research Institute had received a total of 2,036 resumes. After deducting those submitted just for fun or to meddle, 1,563 resumes met Ji Zhixing's requirements. The acceptance rate was as high as 156:1. To put this in perspective, the overall acceptance rate for the national civil service examination is only 100:1.
Ji Zhixing knew that the generous salary would attract many applicants, but the sheer number was somewhat beyond his expectations. A large number of applicants was certainly a good thing, but the next question was how to arrange the written exam.
He planned to select the talent he needed through two stages: written test and interview. Currently, there are 1,563 people whose resumes meet the requirements for the written test. Even if only 1,000 people come, the research institute does not have a suitable place for the written test, mainly because there are not enough tables and chairs.
"What kind of question is this?" Zhu Ren didn't take it seriously at all. "Where are the most desks and chairs? It's the school, isn't it? I'll contact our old principal and ask him to lend us a few tiered classrooms, and we'll have everything we need."
Seeing Zhu Ren easily solve the problem that he found troublesome, Ji Zhixing sighed, "Indeed, everyone has their own expertise."
Zhu Ren gladly accepted Ji Zhixing's praise and said, "Although a phone call can solve the problem, you still need to show some respect when asking for help. I'll go to Guangling University now."
Guangling University now includes Ji Zhixing in its school history and admission materials, and posters featuring his achievements and deeds cover an entire row of bulletin boards outside the school gate. They are also plastered everywhere, in teaching buildings, experimental areas, and even dormitories.
Ji Zhixing is the most outstanding figure in the history of Guangling University, without exception. Guangling University is eager to keep him teaching to deeply bind him to the university, so it is impossible for them to refuse such a small request as lending out classrooms. They even took the initiative to take on the trivial tasks such as organizing, invigilating, and collecting and distributing exam papers.
The written test was scheduled for 9:00 AM on a Saturday, but most applicants arrived at the Guangling University test center as early as 8:00 AM.
Before the exam hall opened, people gathered in small groups to chat and exchange information.
"I don't know how difficult the written test is."
"Of course it's difficult! Out of more than a thousand applicants, only 10 will be accepted. The written test alone will eliminate at least half of them."
"Sigh, if I can't even pass the written test, I won't be able to meet my idol."
Upon hearing this, everyone waiting in the circle around shared the same sentiment.
In academia, Ji Zhixing is now a figure that many people look up to.
He solved the Navier-Stokes equation, one of the seven Millennium Prize problems, won China's first Fields Medal, and developed a world-leading photonic chip. Any one of these achievements would be an accomplishment that many people strive for their entire lives but cannot reach. The fact that Ji Zhixing has achieved all three of these remarkable accomplishments makes him shine brightly, attracting countless researchers to take him as their role model and lifelong idol.
The biggest reason why many people present actively applied for the job was that they wanted to follow in Ji Zhixing's footsteps on the path of scientific research.
Of course, many people also consider practical factors.
"The research institute I used to work at hasn't been able to pay salaries for six months. Sigh, I really can't bear to give up that project, but I have four senior staff above me and two junior staff below me, so I can't just keep wasting my time on it because of my passion."
“Our salaries are paid on time, but we only get five or six thousand a month. We have to be very careful with our money to choose a summer program for our kids.”
"I just don't know if the salary advertised in the Zhixing Research Institute's job posting will actually be paid."
"It should be fine, as long as the boss has enough funds."
Those present unanimously thought of the technology transfer fee for photonic chips. The various news reports about the transfer did not specify the amount, and the onlookers discussed it for a long time, all feeling that it must be an unimaginable huge sum, at least over 10 billion!
"Besides, doesn't Ji Zhixing also have the Zero Gravity Seat Company? That's a money-printing machine!"
"But he's only one of the shareholders, right?"
"But he's the major shareholder! I've seen their company's publicly available financial report before; their revenue exceeded 4 billion last year! Anyway, Ji Zhixing will definitely get a lot."
While some people were enthusiastically discussing the revenue of the zero-gravity seat company, Zhu Renzheng was passing by with several bags of pens and test papers. Hearing the discussion, he was filled with emotion. When he signed "agree" on the establishment application form of the zero-gravity seat research club, he never imagined that a small club would eventually develop into a leading industry with the highest tax contribution in the city.
Zero Gravity Chair Company is incredibly successful these days, with sales lines covering the entire country and selling 1 million chairs a year! If it weren't for production capacity being unable to keep up, the number would definitely be much higher.
While everyone was full of confidence in Ji Zhixing's capital, Ji Zhixing was looking at the construction report and sighing, "Money goes by so fast!"
This construction report was left to him by Zhu Ren before he left. Even though he was mentally prepared, he still couldn't help but gasp when he opened it—the cost of the laboratory was close to 100 million yuan.
Of course, this 100 million is worthwhile.
Building a sterile, temperature- and humidity-controlled laboratory is expensive to begin with, and because he wanted to use it as soon as possible, Zhu Ren consulted several manufacturers for design proposals. He ultimately decided to use BIM technology for prefabrication. The piping system was 100% prefabricated, the ventilation system 50%, and the fire protection system 80%, effectively shortening the construction period by 5 months! Of course, the price also increased accordingly.
However, the laboratory has already been delivered and has successfully passed national safety inspections and certifications. It is fully qualified and can be considered good value for money.
But this is only the first laboratory. To shield some experiments from the effects of cosmic rays, he also requested the construction of a high-purity germanium detector 100 meters underground, encased in six layers of "armor" including polyethylene, lead, and copper. The construction is extremely difficult and technically demanding. The construction team is currently studying meteorological, hydrological, and geological data. Once construction officially begins, it's obvious that the cost will be enormous.
In addition to the cost of building a laboratory, purchasing equipment is also a significant expense.
He didn't bother calculating the costs below ten million, but for those above ten million, such as the Brookhuis particle radiation imaging detector at 16 million, the KJD-3000R radon-radium measuring instrument at 20 million, and the high-energy alpha particle detector at 32 million... in short, it would cost at least two or three hundred million. He would also need to purchase additional instruments and materials as needed, and he didn't know how long his patent fees would last.
Everyone talks about increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, but he spends every penny very carefully and can't cut back on anything, so he can only think about "increasing revenue" instead.
The zero-gravity seat company's revenue exceeded 4 billion last year, but based on a gross profit margin of 18.42%, the profit was only over 700 million. After deducting taxes and other miscellaneous expenses, the profit that he actually received was only about 100 million.
Of course, this small goal would be more than enough for most people to live on for a lifetime, but it would be a drop in the ocean when it comes to energy research.
It's true what they say, you don't know the cost of living until you're in charge. My research on zero-gravity seats went smoothly before, and I didn't really feel the pressure of funding. Later, when I was working with Professor Yan on protective gels and with Professor Gao Xiao on photonic chips, funding wasn't something he had to worry about. Now that I'm on my own, I'm finally truly experiencing how expensive scientific research is.
Ji Zhixing rested his head on his hand and thought for a while, deciding to spend some time considering upgrades to the zero-gravity seat, hoping that this money-printing machine could print money faster.
After returning to Guangling, he met with Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang several times and gained some understanding of the company's current situation. Thanks to the efforts of Yan Ru, Yi Deng, and others, the zero-gravity chair has been upgraded twice in terms of materials and structure, making it much lighter than the first-generation product.
However, Ji Zhixing thought of photonic chips. The core of the zero-gravity seat is a pressure-relief structure that includes three parts: sensing, control, and service. They had a lot of trouble optimizing the pressure-relief structure. One reason was that the project's theory was too complex, and another reason was that the speed of sensing and computing limited the connection and coupling of the three parts.
But now with photonic chips, the computing speed of photonic chips is vastly different from that of traditional chips.
For example, in 2019, Google used the 53-bit qubit computer Sycamore to run random circuit sampling and completed the result in just 20 seconds, while it would have taken about 10,000 years if a traditional computer had been used.
The performance of "Huaxin No. 1" is even better than Sycamore. A problem that would take traditional computers 150,000 years to solve can be solved in just 1 second by a computer equipped with photonic chips, completely outperforming it in speed.
Without further ado, Ji Zhixing called Lin Lang to discuss upgrading the sensor speed.
Lin Lang was having a meeting with the R&D department to discuss the upgrade of the fourth-generation zero-gravity seat. The goal of the upgrade was to further reduce the size of the seat and reduce its weight from 30kg in the third generation to 15kg, in order to reduce the huge logistics and transportation costs and increase the gross profit margin.
Lin Lang was pleasantly surprised to receive Ji Zhixing's call. He had originally intended to invite Ji Zhixing to a meeting to discuss the matter, but he was afraid of interfering with his own business. He didn't expect Ji Zhixing to bring it up on his own initiative.
After learning about the upgrade goals for the fourth-generation seat, Ji Zhixing asked Lin Lang about the computational logic of the third-generation seat. After hanging up the phone, he turned on his computer and began designing chips to upgrade the computational speed of the Transition Edge Sensor (TES) and the Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detector (SNSPD).
The first step is to describe the circuit. Actually, Lin Lang is better at using Hardware Description Language (HDL), but he is more familiar with photonic chips, so he can do RTL design faster.
Static timing analysis...
Coverage...
ASIC logic synthesis...
After completing the planning, Ji Zhixing put the HDL code into an Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tool, allowing the computer to convert the HDL code into a logic circuit. He then verified and modified the logic gate design, and finally put the synthesized control unit code into another EDA tool for circuit layout and routing. At this point, the colorful circuit diagram, displaying red, yellow, blue, and green hues, was complete.
As for the back-end design such as clock tree synthesis (CTS), parasitic parameter extraction, and layout physical verification, let Lin Lang and his team handle it. Once they output the GDSII file, it can be handed over to the chip factory for production.
When Ji Zhixing sent the circuit diagram to Lin Lang, the R&D department was still debating, because two-thirds of them believed that compressing the weight to 15kg would inevitably sacrifice some of the zero-gravity effect. To reduce transportation costs and affect the user experience was not worth it.
"The front end is all designed!" Lin Lang could hardly believe his ears.
"Hurry up! I'm counting on you guys to make money!" Ji Zhixing said, half jokingly and half seriously.
Lin Lang stared in disbelief at the circuit diagram and design description. If the actual performance could reach the level described, then with a little more effort in the coupling structure, they might be able to reduce the volume of the zero-gravity seat to the size of a cushion, while perfectly maintaining the zero-gravity effect!
He didn't doubt Ji Zhixing's abilities, but generally speaking, custom-designed chips take about six to nine months to complete. And how long did Ji Zhixing take? Three hours? His brain's processing speed is terrifying!
"Boss, you're actually the reincarnation of a photon chip, aren't you?"
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