Capítulo 748: Chapter 243: What I Want Is Respect!

Qiao Yu, of course, also saw this news. He even knew about it earlier than those professors. After all, any information that might relate to him would be communicated to him.

There was no need for him to make a deliberate effort to follow up.

Qiao Yu happened to research the timing of Microsoft’s announcement. It was exactly twenty minutes after he had spoken with the Microsoft representative.

The person responsible for negotiating with Qiao Yu from Microsoft was Lan Wei’er, the director of industry research at the Microsoft Research Institute.

Just by the name, you would know he was an Indian Microsoft executive.

Qiao Yu carefully recalled the negotiation process with Lan Wei’er at the time.

This Indian executive objected to some of the conditions he proposed. Subsequently, he strongly ended the conversation by mentioning how Google, the leading company in quantum supercomputing, had agreed to his terms, so why was there so much fuss with little old Microsoft?

Of course, this wasn’t exactly word-for-word what Qiao Yu said. But that was roughly the meaning.

Now it seems Microsoft still has some dissatisfaction with his evaluation. Perhaps they think their technology is no worse than Google’s?

To be honest, Qiao Yu found this somewhat amusing.

After all, his attention to the progress of research in quantum hardware was not very high.

Considering Qiao Yu’s exposure to the field of scientific research has not been long, and most of the time, he focuses on pure mathematics research.

Even if interested in cracking large prime numbers through brute force, the focus is on solving problems through algorithms and software.

After all, the research cycle for hardware is too long. It is also limited by the industrial strength on the little broken ball, with the time consumed being calculated in decades.

Qiao Yu feels it would be feasible to provide some help, but he certainly does not have the patience to research such things.

It’s like the lunar landing project, which often involves decade-long plans requiring relay efforts across generations. The first generation of aerospace personnel has already retired, and only then have unmanned vehicles been sent to the Moon.

By the time manned lunar landings actually begin, a large wave of people will likely have retired again. Unlike the stage from scratch in previous years, it is hard for large projects now to reflect individual contributions within them.

But software and algorithms are different. They require less investment, take effect quickly, and do not need the involvement of engineer teams numbering in the thousands or tens of thousands to overcome thousands of engineering challenges.

Of course, this is not to say hardware is not important. But Qiao Yu believes that these tasks can be fully entrusted to those professional people. What he does is more meaningful—squeezing every ounce of potential out of the existing hardware and providing an optimal solution.

This is what an elegant mathematician should be doing.

One couldn’t let him foolishly engage in frantic trial and error, could they? If one delves into the history of human engineering development, it becomes clear that it is a history of frantic trial and error.

And the development of any engineering follows this pattern, without exception. Aviation, aerospace, chips, electricity, and even infrastructure…

With good summarizing skills, along with a bit of luck, after enough trial and error, solutions can always be found. The thought of it hardly seems beautiful.

This is also one of the reasons why Huaxia’s industrial system could develop to such a scale.

The population is large, education was popularized over decades, and combined with an intensive culture, a project handled by dozens or hundreds of laboratories for trial and error can’t help but be efficient.

Although this process undoubtedly caused significant resource waste, the overall results are still pretty good.

At least 50% of the manufacturing productivity on the little broken ball is rooted in this land. It even earned the notorious title of “Industrial Cthulhu.”

With Microsoft choosing to suddenly release a chip now, without even giving itself a bit of preparation time, Qiao Yu could definitely conclude this was a result of Lan Wei’er urgently communicating with the higher-ups after negotiating with him.

However, considering that his negotiation with Lan Wei’er ended close to five in the morning, the fact that they still had the energy to hold a high-level meeting and quickly make decisions forced Qiao Yu to admire the dedication of these high-tech company executives.

Honestly, if anyone ever told Qiao Yu again that tech companies in Europe and America don’t hustle, he would certainly spit in their face.

Still negotiating on the front line at around four in the morning, and then going on to report, have meetings, and make decisions…

Perhaps Microsoft’s executives don’t know what the streets of New York look like at four in the morning, but they surely know the beautiful sight of Redmond at four in the morning.

This is far more dedicated than ordinary workers.

However, Qiao Yu still couldn’t figure out what motivated Microsoft to make this decision.

Was it because he said Microsoft’s quantum technology development lagged behind Google’s, directly irritating them, prompting a wish to prove something? Or was it an attempt to gain leverage in negotiation conditions?

If it were the former, Qiao Yu wouldn’t mind at all.

After all, that belongs to the internal competition between the two major super tech companies of the Empire, and it has nothing to do with him; he could just watch the show.

As far as he knows, when Google announced it had achieved quantum dominance, IBM’s CEO had thrown cold water on the idea too.

But if it were the latter, Qiao Yu wouldn’t be too happy.

He has been having a smooth ride recently without encountering any setbacks, so there is no reason for Microsoft to challenge him here.

Especially since he had been negotiating well with other companies from a position of strength. If Microsoft suddenly jumps in like this and he doesn’t respond, it’s going to be difficult to negotiate with others.

This made Qiao Yu more vigilant, realizing he should hold more trump cards in his hand. He shouldn’t throw out all the trump cards at once.