The Eve of IDDC 2001

The next day, IDDC 2001 would finally begin.

It felt like only yesterday that they had unveiled Android ME, the Xbox, and ID Office from this very stage in the year before last. Yet here they were, already holding the 2001 edition. As everyone had predicted, the undisputed star of IDDC 2001 was the Android Phone.

True to ID Group's tradition, the phone would launch simultaneously worldwide right after its presentation. The staff had worked themselves to the bone to make it happen. Korea and the United States were straightforward enough, but securing certification in the notoriously strict European market had required employees to scramble at breakneck speed. On top of that, they had to localize the device for countless languages, throwing the entire ID Group into six months of pure chaos.

In return, however, the Android Phone's level of completion had risen to an entirely different dimension compared to the T-Touch Phone. Yoo Jae-won was confident that no matter how the iPhone S turned out, it would never catch up in either software or hardware.

“Hmm… DIT must be on summer break by now, right?”

Thanks to such thorough preparation, with only one day left until D-Day, a stray thought crossed Yoo Jae-won’s mind as he sat in his study. Presenting the main stage at IDDC 2001 carried almost no pressure for him anymore.

“Meow~!”

On the desk, the cat Didi, who had been sunbathing like a slice of toast, let out a sound as if agreeing with his words.

DIT was another name for Deokjin Institute of Technology. The school had begun accepting freshmen this past March. The project his father—who loved professional baseball more than anything—had cared for even more than his baseball team or the handball association was none other than Deokjin Institute of Technology.

Vice Chairman Choi Kang-wook had provided plenty of help on the side, and Yoo Jae-won himself had scouted several professors from Stanford University to join the faculty. With enormous research grants, state-of-the-art facilities, and the highest salaries on offer, they had barely managed to bring them over.

Because of that, expectations for the first batch of freshmen had been sky-high. Fortunately, the school had exceeded those expectations from the very first year. In electronic engineering, it had already surpassed Seoul National University, while its other engineering departments ranked between Seoul National, Yonsei, and Korea University. It had even managed to leapfrog specialized science-focused institutions like KAIST and POSTECH in a single bound.

This was possible because of Deokjin Institute of Technology’s unique characteristic: it had been founded by ID Group. Naturally, its graduates received preferential treatment when applying to ID Group. Simply possessing the diploma granted extra points during hiring, and receiving a scholarship increased those points even further. Anyone who received a full four-year scholarship was guaranteed a job.

Korea had half-forced an early end to the IMF crisis through rapid graduation measures. But there was no going back to the Korea of before.

Among the changes brought by the IMF, the most tangible was employment. Getting into a good company had become harder than getting into a good university. ID Group was the most coveted company among university students. It was the only company in Korea where new graduates could take home more than four million won a month. If they joined as developers or researchers—positions considered special within the group—their starting annual salary began at one hundred million won.

No other Korean conglomerate could match those conditions, so every year a massive number of prospective job seekers knocked on ID Group’s door. However, unlike other major corporations, ID Group did not run regular public recruitment drives. Applicants had to keep their eyes wide open, watching for when hiring notices would appear.

Even so, notices usually came out around graduation season when large numbers of new talent entered the market. Still, the number of openings was far smaller than the regular recruitment drives of other conglomerates. The entrance exams themselves were unique, and the interviews were practical tests with considerable difficulty. On top of that, the quality of applicants rose every year, creating an upward leveling effect. In such an environment, even a small bonus point could make a huge difference in passing.

It was into this situation that Deokjin Institute of Technology had opened its doors.

The presence of outstanding faculty through the ID Foundation charity and a solid curriculum uncharacteristic of a new university helped raise admission standards. But the decisive factor was the hiring bonus points for ID Group. Being able to easily secure outstanding talent was beneficial for Yoo Jae-won as well.

The only concern was that Korea’s entrance exam system might destabilize the school. Under President Kim Dae-jung’s “Government of the People,” education was a top priority—especially university admissions. The plan was to drastically expand regular admissions based on school records while reducing reliance on the CSAT, essentially importing the American system wholesale.

Since Yoo Jae-won did not particularly believe the American education system was superior, his worries were only natural.

“That’s a problem for later.”

It wasn’t an issue that would yield an immediate answer no matter how much he pondered it, so Yoo Jae-won set aside all thoughts regarding Deokjin Institute of Technology for now.

“Next…”

The next item that appeared on Yoo Jae-won’s computer was ID Electronics.

While preparing for mass production of the Android Phone, he had spent the most time at ID Electronics. During his stay in Korea until February, the place where he had spent the most hours was the ID Electronics business site. Although he had overseen Android Phone production there, as the person ultimately responsible, he naturally came to understand the overall situation of ID Electronics.

The mobile division centered on the Android Phone and T-Touch Phone, as well as the semiconductor division focused on DRAM and MAP production, had both returned to normal operations. No—calling it normal would be an understatement. It was fair to say they had risen to the very top of the world.

After all, the Android Phone was a cutting-edge device that only ID Group could produce, made possible by the semiconductor division’s 120-nanometer process. Applying the same 120nm process to DRAM allowed them to catch two rabbits at once. One was maintaining the same die area while quadrupling capacity. The other was keeping capacity the same while shrinking chip size to create economical products.

The former targeted the enterprise market aimed at corporations and governments, while the latter completely overwhelmed the general consumer market. Most crucially, the 120nm process dramatically improved operating speed, which in turn greatly boosted overall computer performance. Simply put, performance had increased fourfold compared to the previous generation’s highest-quality memory chips.

This dramatic effect came from doubling bandwidth with DDR technology and doubling operating speed. The improvement was so significant that existing CPUs and motherboards couldn’t even properly support the faster memory speeds. It was a similar situation to the HPC era.

Back then, the performance gap between chips with and without copper interconnects had been night and day. This time, an insurmountable wall had formed between 120nm chips and everything that came before.

The aftermath was exactly the same as during HPC. High-ranking officials from Intel and AMD had flown into Korea one after another. Their purpose was to inspect the memory chips and mobile application processors produced using the 120nm process.

The amount of R&D money both companies poured into process improvement was staggering. Yet their performance gains had not been particularly dramatic. Meanwhile, ID Group had already hit its second jackpot.

Just like during HPC, Intel and AMD had arrived in Korea carrying blank checks, desperate to acquire the technology. Yoo Jae-won gladly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠opened the technology to them once again. Since they were in a cooperative relationship, sharing the technology brought far greater benefits.

After all, when listing ID Group’s flagship products, the New Egg series and iWorks occupied quite high positions. However, sales had been gradually declining since the end of last year. Computer performance improvements had stagnated, causing the incentive to buy new products to disappear.

If Intel and AMD released new CPUs, potential buyers would turn into actual buyers. Until now, the only new product that had truly captured consumer interest was AMD’s dual-core offering. AMD’s preemptive dual-core processor had instantly won over creators and professionals. For those who couldn’t afford expensive workstations, a general-purpose CPU offering comparable performance delivered overwhelming value for money.

Gamers, however, weren’t particularly impressed. Very few games properly supported dual-core, and there was almost no difference in most regular titles. AMD was still better off in that regard. Intel had introduced Hyper-Threading, which allowed one core to handle two threads, but it actually hindered performance in games.

It showed good results in productivity applications, but in the majority of games, enabling Hyper-Threading actually reduced performance. Intel naturally planned to create a true dual-core processor, but the problem was the enormous heat output. Solving that required a finer process node, which couldn’t be developed overnight.

AMD also struggled with massive CPU heat. To control it, they had to lower operating speeds, resulting in clocks roughly 20% lower than Intel’s. The reduced clock speed caused significant losses in gaming performance. Unlike Intel, AMD’s mid-to-high-end packages came with large tower coolers by default—a forced choice because they couldn’t tame the heat. If AMD could have controlled thermals with a simple “choco-pie” style cooler like Intel, they certainly would have provided a more modest solution.

It was then that news broke that ID Electronics had succeeded in developing the 120nm process. Naturally, both ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠companies had no choice but to come running with blank checks in hand. It was exactly like during HPC.

But not everything was the same.

Price.

The price was different.

During HPC, licenses had been granted at an incredibly low cost. Moreover, they hadn’t discriminated between semiconductor companies. They had even granted a license to the Ilsung Group, which had been in fierce conflict with them at the time.

In contrast, the 3D transistor process and the ultra-precision etching method using high-concentration hydrofluoric acid gas were different. The royalty was ten dollars per product. If Intel produced one million 120nm units, they would have to pay ten million dollars in licensing fees. The same applied to AMD.

It wasn’t limited to the 120nm process. Any future silicon chip using either of the two technologies would carry a ten-dollar royalty. Since both technologies were expected to remain in use all the way to the 7nm node, projected future revenue easily exceeded ten billion dollars.

The 3D transistor technique didn’t require major changes to existing lines, but the hydrofluoric acid gas method required overhauling the entire process. Therefore, it would be at least the end of next year, or possibly the year after, before Intel and AMD could release proper new products using the 120nm process.

ID Group would have to be satisfied with only the down payment until next year.

To Yoo Jae-won, it was somewhat regrettable, but to Korea’s sensationalist media, it was anything but. The moment the contracts with Intel and AMD were disclosed, the press unanimously shouted “jackpot.” The person who received the most spotlight was Professor Lee Jong-hyo.

Professor Lee Jong-hyo, who had contributed greatly to the 3D transistor technique, received a substantial bonus for the successful development of the 120nm process. Moreover, when ID Group signed the licensing contracts with Intel and AMD, Professor Lee received a 0.5 percent share. If the royalty revenue reached ten billion dollars, his portion would amount to fifty million dollars.

The Korean media had no hesitation in praising this as a shining example of successful industry-academia cooperation. For Professor Lee Jong-hyo himself, however, it had become a headache. Countless people approached him after smelling money, and most critically, Seoul National University tried to claim a share of his portion.

Their logic was that since Professor Lee had been able to contribute to ID Electronics’ 120nm process thanks to Seoul National University’s full support, the university deserved a cut as well.

ID Group’s response was indifference. The contract had been signed with Professor Lee Jong-hyo as an individual from the beginning. By giving him his proper share, ID Group had already done everything it could. Instead, having anticipated such troubles, Yoo Jae-won had simply told the professor that he could return anytime.

The aftermath of the 120nm process didn’t end there.

In modern computer systems, the GPU was just as important as the CPU. In the past, accurate color reproduction and smooth video playback had been the highest standard. Now, the era had arrived where proper 3D acceleration at HD resolution was required.

As 3D graphics acceleration shifted to shaders, processing speed per clock became critical. Hardware video codec processing was also necessary. The number of transistors integrated into GPUs had increased dramatically, and chip area had grown accordingly. Dedicated video RAM had expanded significantly as well.

In this transformed GPU market, the two companies standing out the most were ATI and NVIDIA. Voodoo, which had first made its mark in the 3D accelerator market, had failed to adapt after the rapid shift to shader-based 3D acceleration. It had ultimately been acquired by NVIDIA after the Voodoo 5 series.

The remaining ATI and NVIDIA naturally visited ID Electronics upon hearing about the 120nm process. They wanted to obtain the license.

However, Yoo Jae-won did not grant technology licenses to either company.

There was a massive difference between CPU manufacturers and GPU ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠manufacturers: whether or not they possessed their own semiconductor fabrication plants. Intel and AMD operated large-scale fabs, but GPU companies were fabless. They only designed chips and outsourced production to foundries like TSMC.

Therefore, granting them a license would effectively mean transferring the technology to TSMC. Instead of licensing, Yoo Jae-won proposed consignment production. This was also effectively ID Electronics’ declaration of entry into the foundry business.

Producing only memory semiconductors was too volatile. Demand surged during major system replacement cycles, but once those replacements slowed, memory semiconductor prices plummeted. Although ID Electronics had slightly reduced ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that risk through MAP production, consignment production of GPUs was added as a more reliable insurance policy.

There had still been no contact from either GPU company. It seemed they were still busy weighing the pros and cons.

While the mobile and semiconductor divisions of ID Electronics were soaring high, there was one problematic area.

“The home appliances division, huh.”

It had the largest number of employees and boasted the biggest production facilities. It also had more partner companies than the semiconductor and mobile divisions combined, yet it remained disorganized and chaotic.

Thanks to the successful mass production of panels at ID Display, LCD TVs were spreading rapidly. Yet when looking at sales volume by product, ID Electronics was nowhere to be seen.

If the managers of ID Electronics’ home appliance division heard that, they would probably grumble. After all, they were number one in Korea. But Yoo Jae-won’s standard had always been the world. In the global market, ID Electronics’ LCD televisions were merely cost-effective models.

“The home appliances division needs to become number one as well.”

With the firm resolution that he would soon have to seriously overhaul the home appliances division, Yoo Jae-won rose from his seat. To ensure the successful launch of IDDC 2001 and the Android Phone, he needed to be in peak condition—and nothing was better for that than a good night’s sleep.