Canaan Chairman Zhang Nangeng's New Year's Speech: Disclosing for the First Time the New Highlights of the Self-developed Second-Generation Chip to Support 5G

On January 1, 2020, Canaan Chairman and CEO Zhang Nangeng delivered a New Year's speech to all employees, mainly summarizing that Canaan's success in the past decade was not only due to the times, but also to the efforts and wisdom of all Canaan employees; for the first time, he formally introduced the company's vision of "improving social operation efficiency and improving human lifestyles."

When looking into the future, Zhang Nangeng also disclosed for the first time the progress of the company's second-generation AI chip K510. The second-generation AI chip K510 still uses the RISC-V dual-core processor architecture. The self-developed computing module GNNE will be added to the design. On the other hand, the second-generation chip will support 5G communication modules and be equipped with a 5-way depth camera interface, which will be used in smart retail, ADAS assisted driving and finance.

The following is the original speech:

New Decade, Chip Journey

——Chairman and CEO Zhang Nangeng’s New Year’s speech to all Canaan employees

Dear Jianan students:

When you see this letter, 2019 has passed and we have officially entered the new generation of 2020.

Over the past year, we have made progress in both blockchain and AI businesses. At the same time, we have also completed our listing on the Nasdaq in the United States.

Here, first of all, I would like to express my gratitude to all Canaan colleagues and their families. Innovation and entrepreneurship are not as easy and romantic as they seem afterwards. We have made tremendous efforts to achieve today's achievements. It is our joint efforts that have brought Canaan to where it is today.

The best times and the best of us

The past decade has seen blockchain and AI grow from their infancy to their heyday, and it has also been the past decade in which Canaan grew from nothing to something, and from small to large.

Over the past decade, we have relied on wafer after wafer to pave the way to becoming the world's number one blockchain and AI chip company. Over the past decade, we have relied on our belief and obsession with technological innovation to navigate through industry ups and downs. Over the past decade, we have always maintained a leading position in process technology and R&D applications.

We know that the successful listing is just a starting point. At this new starting point, we are facing completely different challenges and opportunities than before. While thanking this era, we should also thank ourselves. In the new era, we will still maintain a strong pace of development and meet greater opportunities and challenges.

Company mission and vision

Canaan's mission and vision is to make supercomputing accessible to everyone and to promote the widespread adoption of blockchain and AI technologies, thereby increasing social efficiency and improving human lifestyles.

Whether a technology or business model is successful depends on whether it can truly improve the efficiency of social operations. Canaan is the world's first high-tech company to apply ASIC technology to the blockchain field, and has successfully realized the commercialization of ASIC design in blockchain applications. We have been exploring the real implementation of intelligent computing through the "computing + scenario" approach, thereby promoting changes in people's lives.

I believe that this vision will be the ultimate goal that all Canaan people will persevere in pursuing.

The spirit of innovation is an eternal beacon

Since the birth of Canaan, I have written the spirit of adventure and innovation into the company's DNA. The protagonist of the movie "Interstellar" once said: "Many of the world's top sailors can't swim." Innovation means the possibility of failure, but being in danger also means staying ahead. Since its establishment, Canaan has been looking for breakthroughs in innovation.

We have been providing customers with better products, more complete services, and constantly exploring new business models.

ASIC chips require high R&D investment, are highly specialized, and carry high risks. Each iteration is a life-or-death test for us. We continue to push the limits of computing efficiency, and in this process, any slight mistake will lead to failure. But we have survived all of this, thanks to the sweat and wisdom of Canaan people. Today, Canaan has won the title of the first stock in blockchain and AI chips with independent intellectual property rights. This is a miracle in the eyes of others, but it is inevitable in our hearts.

Yes, we stand on the shoulders of giants, and we ourselves will become giants.

Xinchen Dahai: Five-point plan for the future

Our future journey is the sea of ​​cores. Next, we will take actions in the following five aspects to ensure the correct implementation of the company's strategy:

First, we will continue to strengthen our leadership in supercomputing. We will continue to upgrade our mining machine products and services, improve the performance of our AI chips, and provide our customers with holistic AI solutions. In the future, we plan to achieve a more balanced combination of our mining machine business and our AI chip business.

Second, we will continue to invest in high-performance IC design. We will be market-oriented and focus on projects that have relatively clear market acceptance paths and commercialization opportunities.

Third, we will continue to launch AI products. Our second-generation AI chip, K510, still uses the upgraded RISC-V multi-core heterogeneous processor architecture. In addition to significantly improving the original KPU, a new self-developed computing module GNNE has been added. On the other hand, the second-generation chip is optimized for the 5G communication environment and is equipped with multi-channel high-definition and depth camera interfaces. It will be used in smart retail, ADAS assisted driving and finance.

Fourth, we will create a platform business model based on hardware products. We plan to use core hardware including blockchain and AI chips to create MaaS and SaaS platforms.

Fifth, we will continue to expand our overseas business. We plan to further diversify our business geographically and explore new markets around the world.

Fellow Canaan people, let us rise to the challenge, keep working hard, and continuously expand the technical boundaries of blockchain and AI, accelerate the commercialization and popularization of blockchain and AI technologies, and provide intelligent computing and services to more enterprises and users.

Zhang Nangeng, Chairman and CEO of Canaan, January 1, 2020

Source: China Economic Net