Starting From the Chip in 1991

Chapter 39 Live Show in Las Vegas

At first, the Japanese guy next door was amazed by Su Yuanshan's marketing tactics, but when he saw Su Yuanshan write "The Strongest EDA," his attitude changed a bit.

When Su Yuanshan later borrowed more ink, the Japanese guy barely held back and finally asked seriously, "Are you from Delhi?"

"Hmm? Why do you say that?"

"Only someone from Delhi would boast like that."

Hearing the faint curry accent in his English, Su Yuanshan couldn't help but burst out laughing—

he could guess with just a fingernail that this Japanese guy had probably lived among Indians for a while and had suffered enough from their over-the-top bragging.

But Su Yuanshan didn't explain.

After returning the ink, he went back to the booth and leaned back in his chair, casually surveying the surroundings.

By now, quite a few attendees had entered.

Not everyone was interested in the main event performances, and if they were looking for "cheap" software, the Sands Expo was the place to be.

However, Su Yuanshan felt most of these visitors were "gold prospectors"—

trying to exploit information asymmetry to scoop up cheap software or patents and resell them for profit was very common at that time.

Just then, a white man in his thirties stopped in front of Yuanxin's cardboard sign, studying it with interest.

"Can I help you?" Su Yuanshan asked in English.

The man was surprised at Su Yuanshan's fluent English and smiled. "Are you an employee here?"

"Yes. Are you interested in our product? I can demonstrate it for you," Su Yuanshan said, casually manipulating the mouse to start laying out a PCB.

The man watched for a while, his eyes flashing with calculation, and then feigned interest:

"Oh, that looks good. How much are you asking?"

"It depends on what you need," Su Yuanshan said lightly. He had already determined that this guy wasn't a real circuit designer—just another prospector. Since there were no real customers around, he chatted idly.

"I mean, how much for the whole software IP?" the man asked bluntly, chin lifted arrogantly. "I could invest in you."

Pfft...

Exactly what Su Yuanshan had expected.

He smiled warmly at the man.

"Depends. How much are you offering?"

"Half a million dollars. I'll buy it. How about it?"

"If you have fifty million dollars, I might consider it," Su Yuanshan said with a straight face.

The man froze, chuckled awkwardly, and moved on, as casually patient as a shady telemarketer.

Su Yuanshan simply smiled and opened Solitaire to pass the time.

...

Time ticked by, and more people filled the hall.

Whenever someone passed Yuanxin's booth, they couldn't help but smile at the bold "Looking for AMD" sign—although some openly showed disdain.

Su Yuanshan didn't mind.

Like an old fisherman, he patiently waited: if someone asked, he explained. If not, he just let it be.

After all, Yuanxin EDA was professional software—there was no point in handing out flyers to random passersby.

Around noon, the others returned from the main venue, bringing a boxed lunch for Su Yuanshan.

When asked about the morning's results, Su Yuanshan honestly said:

"I harvested about a hundred smiles and thirty dirty looks."

"Your problem is that you're selling industry software," Qin Si commented.

"The kind of people who'd need it either don't have time to visit or already have their own booths."

"Exactly. So we just wait for AMD. By the way, did you manage to 'whisper' to any journalists this morning?"

Yang Yiwen replied, "We tried, but all the journalists were swarming the big tech companies."

"No problem. News has legs," Su Yuanshan said, eating happily.

"Just look—everyone who passes by glances at our sign. That's already an effect."

Still, throughout the afternoon, nobody seriously inquired about Yuanxin EDA.

Instead, more shady guys came asking if they could buy the software "in bulk."

The situation finally improved the next day.

Maybe it was because the neighboring Japanese guy had spread the story—

the technical director from NEC Home Electronics came over, initially just to gawk.

But the moment he saw the demo, the result was inevitable:

He exchanged business cards with Xi Xiaoding and expressed serious interest in purchasing.

On the third day, just as Su Yuanshan and his team were counting how many people had passed by and how many had smiled at the refrigerator-cardboard signs,

a local TV crew finally came to film the venue.

When they saw Yuanxin's bold "Missing Person" sign searching for AMD, the sharp-eyed reporter immediately pointed the camera at Xi Xiaoding.

That evening, back at the hotel, Su Yuanshan eagerly turned on the TV.

After a long string of standard news reports, finally, the anchor, with a smile reserved for oddball stories, introduced the footage:

There was the shot of Xi Xiaoding, looking deadly serious, saying,

"We are looking for AMD—but we haven't found them yet."

As the news ended, the anchor joked,

"We sincerely hope our friends from China fulfill their wish soon—because there's only one day left in the expo!"

...

"A little embarrassing," Xi Xiaoding muttered, giving Su Yuanshan a rare glare.

"They made us look like circus clowns."

"If AMD doesn't show up, what then?" he asked.

"Relax, Senior Brother," Su Yuanshan said calmly.

"Does it even matter anymore if AMD comes?"

"What do you mean?"

"Because tomorrow," Su Yuanshan said slowly, "a lot of people will be waiting to watch us crash and burn.

But also, tomorrow, Texas Instruments (TI) is sending representatives to our booth."

"That means we'll at least complete the TI goal—

and in front of everyone, too.

That's the real point—getting exposure."

"Tomorrow, as soon as the expo opens, I'll start designing a chip live.

Unless no one in the IC design industry shows up—then I'll admit defeat."

"But if even a few industry folks come, tomorrow will be the day Yuanxin EDA becomes famous."

Among the group, Qin Si, the one who best understood marketing, frowned deeply, thinking it over.

Finally, she asked,

"How good are you at chip design?"

Su Yuanshan just smiled without answering.

But Xi Xiaoding, after a moment, gave a deep look at Su Yuanshan and said seriously,

"He's good enough to scare a lot of people tomorrow."

**

On the final morning, the entrance to the Sands Expo was noticeably more crowded than usual.

Some people even recognized Xi Xiaoding, whistling teasingly at him.

Su Yuanshan ignored it all.

Back at the booth, he opened Yuanxin EDA and started a new chip project.

This wasn't random doodling.

The chip design was based on the VCD controller project that Li Mingliu's team had been polishing—

and Su Yuanshan was about to put on a show.

As modules were placed, instructions were written, and tools were switched back and forth, time slipped by.

At first, only a handful of curious onlookers gathered.

Then a crowd.

Then IC design engineers began pushing their way to the front.

Soon, a thick wall of people stood silently behind Su Yuanshan.

Everyone watched in awe as his right hand flew over the mouse, his left hand danced across hotkeys, seamlessly switching tools, laying out traces, placing components, and writing hardware language code.

Even those who couldn't understand what they were seeing instinctively knew it was something amazing.

Those who understood were utterly shocked.

They had never seen anyone design an IC chip with such speed.

Nor had they seen an EDA tool so smooth, intuitive, and powerful.

Su Yuanshan's live performance shattered everything they thought they knew.

—He had turned designing a chip with tens of thousands of transistors into a live show.

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