Chapter 170 Intelligent Machinery Laboratory (Patreon)

Transformers Begin : Table of Content/Chapter List

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The 20T hard drive is exactly the trump card that Sun Cheng threw out.

He has investigated and found that in the real world, only a few hard drive giants such as Seagate have the capability to manufacture hard drives with a capacity of 20T or higher. However, if we consider the cost, Seagate's 10T hard drive, which is currently being produced on a large scale, can only be considered a passable product.

The manufacturing cost for the 10T hard drive exceeds $280, but the North American market price has been lowered to $460, which is an acceptable price for the general public.

On the other hand, the 128T SSD hard drive prototype exposed by SanDisk Labs reportedly cost over $170,000 just for production.

Although Seagate and other hard drive giants may have the technology to manufacture hard drives with a capacity larger than 10T in their laboratories, it is unlikely to be seen in the next three to five years. After all, the next few years will be the golden period for 10T hard drives.

By introducing a 20T hard drive at this time, Sun Cheng's intention is very clear.

"My new technology is mature, and even without the involvement of Nangong University, I have the ability to manufacture it."

On the desk, there are several hard drives, with the smaller ones not even half the size of a palm and only as thick as three one-yuan coins. The 20T hard drive is undoubtedly the largest, about the size of an adult's palm and even thicker than one and a half fingers.

However, compared to similar products on the market, the hard drives brought by Sun Cheng are much thinner and smaller.

Professor Hong Lei and other professors from the School of Electronic Engineering, who are experts in the field of semiconductors, integrated circuits, and chips, gathered around and carefully examined the hard drive casings for a while. Unfortunately, they couldn't find any traces of a brand. They quickly said to Shen Peiyuan, "Principal, can we borrow a computer?"

After saying that, their eyes were all focused on the laptop computer on the office desk.

The simplest way to verify the authenticity of these hard drives is to directly check their capacity.

Although there is no professional testing software or tools in the office, tampering with the memory data displayed on the hard drive would be a laughable trick that wouldn't work with experts present.

Shen Peiyuan looked at the hard drives in the professors' hands and couldn't help but feel intrigued.

In the past two days, he had also researched this field extensively, so he knew what it meant for a company to have mastery of new hard drive technology!

Market opportunities and huge profits!

This investment is different from Nangong University's support for entrepreneurial projects or university project support. To put it bluntly, those provide you with some initial funding, a bit of space, and equipment support. At best, it's just a few tens of thousands of dollars.

If the project succeeds, the rewards will undoubtedly be significant, including direct donations, indirect reputation enhancement, and the ability to attract graduates for employment.

However, failure wouldn't have a significant impact on the university.

Looking at Nangong University as a whole, since the start of the entrepreneurship project support, they have approved a total of only four to five hundred projects, at a cost of only around ten million.

To be honest, this amount of money is not even comparable to the monthly funding of a research institute directly under Nangong University. However, even with such a small investment, they have successfully incubated more than a dozen companies amidst the fierce competition.

Although none of them have a market valuation exceeding billions, they have

brought a good reputation to Nangong University and have helped address some employment issues.

However, if this young man in front of them has truly invented a new hard drive technology, the future possibilities are limitless. He could potentially become the next hard drive giant, like Seagate, Western Digital, or SanDisk. Even if he achieves only one-tenth of their scale, it would still be a billion-dollar company. If Nangong University can seize this opportunity, they could also benefit significantly.

In that moment, a thought crossed his mind. He nodded to several professors and pushed the laptop computer on his desk towards them, indicating they could use it.

At the same time, his eyes involuntarily turned to Sun Cheng, his face displaying a hint of seriousness.

"Student Sun Cheng, right... Regarding the hard disk matter, the professors will verify it later. Earlier, I heard from Xiao Xu that you wished to collaborate with the school on the technical issues of the hard disk. Could you elaborate?"

It must be said that this new president, who managed to secure the position of president of Nanjing Polytechnic University amidst a group of competitors, was indeed extraordinary. Despite stealing glances at the school professors beside him who were continuously examining the hard disk on their computers, his serious expression remained unchanged.

Sun Cheng narrowed his eyes slightly. The opponent swiftly redirected the conversation back to him. It was indeed a clever move—one that allowed him to not only assess his opponent's strategy but also regain control of the situation.

Unintentionally, his gaze met Sun Cheng's, and the plainness within those eyes made Shen Peiyuan suddenly feel as if he had been fully exposed.

Suppressing his unease, Shen Peiyuan pondered whether or not to speak again. However, to his surprise, Sun Cheng suddenly replied, "Our request is simple. We need the school to grant us the qualification to establish a laboratory and speak on our behalf at the Nandu National Supercomputing Center. In exchange, within six months, I will provide the school with the complete manufacturing technology for a 10T hard disk. Within one year, I can also provide the school with a 20T hard disk and new storage technology..."

After speaking, he looked at Shen Peiyuan once more.

One could argue that the conditions Sun Cheng proposed were not as favorable as imagined.

Although the currently available hard disks on the market have a maximum capacity of 10T, the three hard disk giants—Seagate, Western Digital, and SanDisk—all have the capability to immediately produce hard disks with a capacity of no less than 100T. For example, after Seagate released the 10T hard disk, Western Digital initiated a large-scale production plan for 16T hard disks. However, the only setback was the inability to reduce costs.

Even so, considering the decline of HDD mechanical hard disks and the development trajectory of SSD solid-state drives, it is highly probable that hard disks below 10T will be largely phased out by 2020, with 20-40T becoming the new market mainstream.

Therefore, what Sun Cheng presented was merely a technology that would become commonplace in a few years.

In comparison, he possessed Cybertron's advanced hard disk technology, which could be produced at an extremely low cost. Sun Cheng once had Atlas design a 100T hard disk in the world of "Transformers." If it were manufactured on an assembly line, the cost could be kept below one hundred dollars.

Something truly valuable would never be offered in such a trade.

As expected, Shen Peiyuan's heart stirred upon hearing Sun Cheng's words. He looked at the young student before him and couldn't help but think, "Youth is really something."

Relative to ordinary companies, obtaining the qualification to establish a laboratory was indeed not an easy task. However, for a top-tier engineering institution like Nanjing Polytechnic University, it was not particularly challenging. With all the necessary materials and procedures in place, if he personally intervened, it could even be approved within half a month.

The Nandu National Supercomputing Center was the largest supercomputer research center in China. As one of the founding members, Nanjing Polytechnic University held

significant influence as a primary technology provider for the center. Naturally, it held considerable sway.

Furthermore, the major components procured by the supercomputing center were CPUs, GPUs, motherboards, and memory. If a better option were available, who would continue to purchase expensive foreign products that were far inferior in performance?

Moreover, while Nanjing Polytechnic University was undoubtedly a prestigious national institution of higher learning, there were no legal restrictions preventing the school from owning its own industries. In fact, not only in China but also in many foreign countries, most universities possessed their own industries. The more influential and comprehensive the university, the greater the number of enterprises and companies it held. Nanjing Polytechnic University was no exception.

So, Sun Cheng's promised technology transfer left him excited.

Shen Peiyuan is not greedy for money or lustful, but he has a particular fondness for power.

He is well aware that if another world-class hard drive company is established under his leadership at Nangong University, not only will his re-election as the university's president in four years be more secure, but he might even be able to advance further.

Now he started to calculate in his mind!

He quickly looked at Hong Lei and the other three professors who were still busy with their notebooks. Sensing his gaze, one of the professors, who was working on the computer, raised his head with an excited and flushed face, "Principal, we have tested the hard drive's capacity using software, and there are no issues. If possible, we would like to take it back to the college's laboratory for further testing."

Sun Cheng nodded knowingly. Even if Nangong University were to dismantle these hard drives, they wouldn't worry about technology leakage because the crucial core technology used in these hard drives, designed by Atlas, originates from Cybertron Planet. It employs a completely different process from Earth, and without the detailed procedure he provided, it would take significant expertise to crack their robust technology in just a few years.

Upon hearing this, Shen Peiyuan couldn't help but feel reassured.

Confirming that the hard drives brought by Sun Cheng had no issues implied that he might indeed possess some new technology.

At that moment, his voice couldn't help but grow more eager, and he took the initiative to say, "Nanjing University of Technology supports student entrepreneurship, particularly for those who possess genuine technological expertise. Since Sun Cheng has invented a new reading technology, it is beneficial for our country's hard drive industry, and we should provide strong support. Here's my proposition: once your company begins large-scale production, I will personally help you secure orders by contacting the National Supercomputing Center. As for the laboratory, you can prepare a comprehensive document for me later. However, I am curious about the laboratory's main focus."

Sun Cheng's eyes flickered, "Intelligent machinery!"

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Next Chapter >>Chapter 171 Seeing the Base