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Chapter 225 Technological Overwhelming
On the opening day of the Geneva International Conference on Technical Standards, Zuo Cheng brought four people with him. Shen Yiming was in charge of quantum computing, Chen Hao was in charge of brain-computer interfaces, and Fang Ze was in charge of satellite communications. Han Lu stayed in Hangzhou to oversee the market, sending him a four-word message before leaving.
Leave no room for maneuver.
The organizing committee arranged the testing for all three tracks in the same venue. Three giant screens simultaneously displayed real-time data. More than a thousand people from over eighty countries and regions around the world sat in the audience.
Zuo Cheng sat down in the first row. Someone behind him whispered, "That Chinese guy who rejected Microsoft."
The first round is quantum computing. The task is to crack a randomly generated RSA encryption key. It starts with 1024 bits; the first to produce a result wins.
Microsoft's quantum team brought in a custom-made processor the size of a refrigerator. The blue LED backlight of Google's Sycamore 3 flashed on the side of their booth. IBM's quantum computer occupied three rows of racks. Room 402 only had a laptop. Shen Yiming opened his terminal, and the remote connection interface for Tianyan Quantum Computing popped up on the screen.
Someone in the audience lowered their voice. No live equipment?
The test begins. A 1024-bit RSA key. The progress bar on Microsoft's screen starts moving, and Google starts almost simultaneously.
Less than four minutes later, the first set of data appeared. 402 days of progress, completion time 103 seconds. Google was still running. Microsoft's progress bar was only 37 percent. IBM's progress bar had barely moved 10 percent. The entire room fell silent.
Google finished eight minutes later, in 512 seconds. Microsoft finished thirty-one minutes later, in 1890 seconds. IBM withdrew after 47 minutes.
The host's voice trembled slightly when announcing the results. The key length was increased to 2048 bits.
Shen Yiming pressed Enter. Tianyan returned the result in 197 seconds. Google took two hours. Microsoft took nearly eight hours. By the time Microsoft finished, it was already dark. The conclusions of the quantum computing track were written into the evaluation report that evening.
Five years ahead.
The second day was for brain-computer interface testing. The brain signals of the same volunteer were decoded to control a robotic arm to complete three sets of operations: grasping a cup and drawing a circle with a pen.
Neuralink sent their entire core team. Their N1 chip has 128 channels. Google brought a custom-made EEG acquisition device. In room 402, Chen Hao opened a silver briefcase and took out an NX-40 chip the size of a fingernail. It has 2048 channels.
The first test was picking up a cup. Neuralink's robotic arm moved the fastest, but with three corrections, completing the task in 4.2 seconds with an accuracy of 89.7%. Google's took 5.1 seconds with an accuracy of 86.3%. 402's robotic arm only moved on the first attempt, in 112 milliseconds, completing the task in one go with an accuracy of 96.8%.
A professor from ETH Zurich in the audience exclaimed in surprise, which echoed throughout the entire hall.
The second task was to draw a circle. Neuralink's robotic arm picked up the pen, wobbled it twice, and drew a crooked circle. Google's pen fell halfway up. 402's robotic arm lifted it steadily, with a radius error of less than one millimeter.
The third feature is dynamic tracking. The target point on the screen moves randomly, and the 402 robotic arm follows almost synchronously, with a delay of twenty milliseconds. Neuralink only realizes the target has moved after a delay of over fifty milliseconds.
In the brain-computer interface field, it is also a generation ahead.
The third day was dedicated to satellite communication testing. Twelve monitoring points across six continents were used to compare global real-time communication latency and coverage. SpaceX's Starlink VP of Technology was present, and Amazon's Project Kuiper also joined the effort.
Fang Ze connected the data from the sky to the screen. The data flowed smoothly, like water.
All twelve measurement points have been completed. The lowest latency for Sky Dome was 22 milliseconds, the highest was 34 milliseconds, and the average was 28 milliseconds. Coverage was 99.7%. For Starlink, the lowest latency was 40 milliseconds, the highest was 58 milliseconds, and the average was 45 milliseconds. Coverage was 92%.
The largest discrepancy was observed over the South Pacific. Eight satellites in the Sky Dome provided staggered coverage, with a stable latency of 25 milliseconds. Three Starlink satellites passed overhead, with latency fluctuating between 45 and 65 milliseconds. Project Kuiper, with only one experimental satellite, experienced a packet loss rate exceeding 11% throughout its mission.
The three tests have concluded. The organizing committee released a summary report that day. In quantum computing, 402 Technology is at least five years ahead of the industry. In brain-computer interfaces, 402's neural network decoding technology is absolutely world-leading. In satellite communications, 402's Tianqiong constellation has achieved true global coverage. The report included a comparison table across eight dimensions, ranking first in all categories.
That evening, Zuo Cheng ran into someone outside the venue. It was Microsoft's Director of Quantum Computing Technology, an American engineer with graying hair. He stood in the corridor looking at the comparison chart for a long time.
Zuo Cheng turned his head as he walked past. "I've spent twenty years doing quantum computing. One hundred seconds. How did you do that?"
Zuo Cheng thought for a moment. "You've been searching for the perfect qubit. We've given up on that and instead use algorithms to compensate for imperfections."
The director stood there stunned for a long time before extending his hand. "Next time, we'll meet on a higher standard."
Zuo Cheng shook hands.
Three days later, back in Hangzhou, Han Lu picked him up at the airport. The whole world was reporting on it. She handed him her phone: three wins out of three in Geneva. Bloomberg's headline was "402 Leads the World by Five Years." The New York Times said that Microsoft, Google, and IBM only saw China's back in the quantum race. The Commercial Times' front page had only four characters: "The Light of China."
On the way back, Han Lu told him more. Deutsche Telekom wanted to replace some of its submarine fiber optic cables with Sky Dome, EDF (Électricité de France) wanted space-based solar power, and Toyota and Nagoya University Hospital wanted brain-computer interfaces. Formal letters of intent from more than ten countries in Europe and Asia were already on their way.
Zuo Cheng said to make them line up.
Han Lu was stunned for a moment. Queuing?
"Queuing up," he said. The results in Geneva convinced them of one thing: these technologies weren't lab samples; they were real, usable, marketable, and competitive products. There would be many who wanted them, but they couldn't sell to everyone. They would review the applications first and only sign contracts with partners who had long-term industrial value.
The car crossed the bridge over the Qiantang River. The afternoon sun of autumn shone on the river, shimmering the surface with golden light. Outside the window, the antenna arrays of the quantum computing center and satellite tracking station atop the 402 headquarters building gleamed white in the light.
On the system panel's civilization perception interface, all the light pillars pointed in the same direction. Europe lit up, Asia lit up, and South America lit up too.
Zuo Cheng closed the panel and added to Han Lu, "The standard isn't the Geneva test results. The standard is the rules we set. From today onwards, anyone wanting to enter the fields of quantum computing, brain-computer interfaces, or satellite communications will first have to consider 402's attitude, not research and development."