novelraw Chapter 489 - 289: Sensation at Peking University
Chapter 489 - 289: Sensation at Peking University
As Li Xiang and his group walked and chatted, a large group of academicians followed behind, making quite an impressive procession.
Beside them were some people holding cameras, taking pictures of them, likely staff from the research center documenting their work.
Soon, they arrived at the supercomputing research center. The center’s computer room was enormous, covering an area as large as a basketball court, filled with rows of densely packed servers. At this moment, various machine humming sounds intertwined, forming a piercing symphony.
"This project’s name is Galaxy II. Actually, the project was initiated in our country two years ago, but the R&D progress has been stuck at the most critical step, partly due to system reasons and partly because some hardware power consumption still doesn’t meet the standards."
For the next one or two hours in the morning, Academician Ma took Li Xiang through the entire project introduction, explaining without reservation where the key points and difficulties lay.
He did not regard Li Xiang as a junior but truly treated him as an equal, or even as a senior, openly discussing problems.
He also wanted to see how, apart from artificial intelligence, Li Xiang would perform in the area of supercomputing.
From start to finish, Li Xiang carefully examined the supercomputing research center and had a clear idea of the issues they faced.
The current E-level supercomputer, named Galaxy II, uses chips manufactured by SMIC on a 14nm process. Each CPU block has nearly 600 cores, and its actual operation reaches a peak performance of 1.05E, already breaking the E-level, but it’s not very stable. There are system reasons, and power consumption that remains high causing frequency reduction due to excessive temperature.
In fact, developing an E-level supercomputer is both simple and complex.
E-level supercomputing is about piling up materials, continuously adding computing cores until the design goal is reached.
But the difficulty lies in how to ensure compatibility, manage resources, and reduce power consumption among so many computing cores.
These are indeed global challenges.
Now, Galaxy II also faces this problem.
"I understand your issues, and I will be here for the next few days to solve these problems with you."
For those who find it hard, it’s difficult; for those who know, it’s not.
For Li Xiang, the problems facing Galaxy II are not an issue.
He is at a Grandmaster Level in computing; given funds and equipment, in principle, he could develop an E-level supercomputer alone, and performance stacking—even 2E, 3E—wouldn’t be an issue.
"No rush, it’s lunchtime; let’s eat first, this way, please."
Li Xiang had come downstairs and taken a car at nine and arrived here by nine thirty. After spending an hour and a half, he had toured half of the research center, and now it was just lunchtime.
The supercomputing research center had its own cafeteria, providing a buffet-style lunch to cater to these national talents with an array of very rich, colorful, and flavorful dishes.
Such a buffet can only be provided by star-rated hotels.
"The food here is so good!"
Li Xiang couldn’t help but express his admiration.
"As long as you are willing, you can eat such meals every day in the future."
Academician Ma couldn’t help but crack a half-joking joke at this moment.
In fact, he wanted to recruit Li Xiang directly, which would undoubtedly elevate their scientific research level to another level.
"Haha, then I’m in for a treat."
Li Xiang laughed it off and then started picking dishes with his plate.
Academician Ma could see from Li Xiang’s expression that he had politely declined again.
He couldn’t help but sigh: Why are some of the talents all on the public security front? Isn’t this like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?
After a hearty lunch, they also offered a resting place for a nap.
Work resumed at two o’clock; this kind of work atmosphere was indeed amazing.
At two o’clock, Li Xiang arrived punctually at the research center, and based on the morning’s survey, an afternoon discussion meeting was held to discuss the current problems faced.
Academician Ma chaired the meeting, first affirming the previous work, then outlining the current challenges faced, and finally giving a grand introduction to Li Xiang, inviting him to speak.
Li Xiang, having seen various big scenes, was not intimidated by a meeting full of academicians.
With a belly full of ideas, he naturally could hold his ground among the academicians.
"Hello everyone, it’s an honor to be invited to participate in the subsequent R&D work of Galaxy II. Under Academician Ma’s leadership, I toured our Galaxy II computer room, which was very impressive. I had been wondering what stage our country was at in the E-level supercomputing field. After seeing it now, it far exceeded my expectations."
Li Xiang first praised the achievements of the academicians; he was not arrogant enough to belittle everyone present.
After all, these people are national pillars, top scientific research talents in the country, making indelible contributions to the development and construction, and scientific research of the motherland.
Only then did Li Xiang say, "Regarding the development of the Galaxy II operating system, I already have a draft plan in mind. As everyone thinks, the current Xiaomu is not in its complete form. When I first developed it, I only intended it to be an operating system on my workstation, so I didn’t develop many functions since I didn’t need them. After all, one person’s manpower is limited; such a vast project is indeed beyond the capacity of one person."
"Next, I will come up with a plan for the specific module composition and function design. The specific software programming and code writing will be left to the programmers, and finally, I will conduct the review and testing."