Rebirth in 1994: from Repairing VCD to Making Chips

In 1994, Huaqiangbei had just opened, and the VCD market was about to explode. When Lin Zhendong opened his eyes, he changed from a fifty-year-old chip architect in his previous life to a twenty-year-old apprentice in a repair shop in Bao'an, Shenzhen. There are posters of Beyond on the wall, an analog multimeter is on the table, and the air outside the window is filled with the smell of solder and electronic components. In his previous life, he had been engaged in technology all his life, and he died of exhaustion at the workstation before tape-out. He did not know whether the self-architected chip project was successful until he died. In this life, he has in his mind the complete technical route for the next thirty years - from MPEG-1 decoding to RISC-V architecture, from ESS chips to TSMC's 12nm process. But in 1994, MediaTek had not yet been established, ARM was still a small company, and TSMC had just turned seven. He could only start by repairing a Panasonic VCD. From a repair shop apprentice to the owner of Zhendong Electronics Factory, from the Huaqiangbei counter to a chip design company, from being rejected by chip agents to competing head-on with global giants - this is the story of a technician who lives a new life, using screwdrivers and circuit diagrams to carve a way through the cracks of the times. Repairing VCDs, assembling VCDs, making DVDs, producing MP3s, researching mobile phone chips, and working hard on independent architecture. Every step is based on the rise of China's electronics industry, and every step is more ruthless than the previous one. "No matter how good your technology is, if you don't have a say, you're just making wedding clothes for others." This time, he won't make the same mistake again.