Asianometry

From Wheat to Cherries in Chile

Chile’s central valley is one of the world’s most bountiful - blessed with rich soils and plentiful sunshine. Early in its history, Chile’s agriculture sector was transformed by a wheat boom in the 1800s. Then those wheat markets dried up - sending the country into a prolonged period of economic and social turmoil. Over time, Chile recovered to become one of the world’s top exporters of apples, blueberries, kiwifruits, plums and of course, cherries. In today’s video, Chile’s agricultural journey from wheat to cherries. ---------------------------------------- Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus [https://stratechery.passport.online/member/plan/4ycW4SE71Cy6ryrijywbTG] for $15/month or $150/year. ---------------------------------------- Listen to Stratechery [https://open.spotify.com/show/1jRACH7L8EQCYKc5uW7aPk]. Listen to Dithering [https://open.spotify.com/show/2qrjQTO7wFlkAs6juz1w1W]. Listen to Sharp China [https://open.spotify.com/show/4PGk72vZmL2uHwUB8Yqssk]. Listen to Sharp Tech [https://open.spotify.com/show/4vk2MfVMEAuOnTWUOz6lnE]. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk [https://open.spotify.com/show/29hrPvq9yABUvxAgSojUJE].

Legends of the RISC Wars

It began in the 1970s, with rumors rumbling from the outskirts of the American technology giant, IBM. A new chip architecture capable of revolutionary processing speeds. It was called RISC. The RISC Wars were fought over nearly 20 years, with the most intensive battles in the late 1980s and early 1990s. At its peak, it involved a mix of young chip upstarts and old giants across the world throwing around benchmark results. Sun Microsystems. MIPS Computer. PA-RISC. IBM. PowerPC. DEC Alpha. Fujitsu and NEC in Japan. Siemens and Philips in Europe. And of course, looming over them all: Intel and the burgeoning Wintel Death Machine. It was a time of shifting alliances, leaps of inspiration, wild technical claims, and the Iron Fist of Intel. Today, we delve into legends of the RISC Wars. ---------------------------------------- Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus [https://stratechery.passport.online/member/plan/4ycW4SE71Cy6ryrijywbTG] for $15/month or $150/year. ---------------------------------------- Listen to Stratechery [https://open.spotify.com/show/1jRACH7L8EQCYKc5uW7aPk]. Listen to Dithering [https://open.spotify.com/show/2qrjQTO7wFlkAs6juz1w1W]. Listen to Sharp China [https://open.spotify.com/show/4PGk72vZmL2uHwUB8Yqssk]. Listen to Sharp Tech [https://open.spotify.com/show/4vk2MfVMEAuOnTWUOz6lnE]. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk [https://open.spotify.com/show/29hrPvq9yABUvxAgSojUJE].

A Quiet Chinese Mobile Giant in Africa

Transsion (傳音控股) is a Shenzhen company that has quietly grown a mobile phone empire in Africa. They are so low key that in January 2016, a Shenzhen government official remarked that he hadn’t known that a Chinese company was doing so well in Africa. After 15+ years, Transsion has sold hundreds of millions of phones in the continent thanks to smart products and good distribution. But changes are afoot. Competition is intensifying. And it is pushing them out of their comfort zone. In today’s video, let us talk about a unique Chinese mobile phone giant in Africa: Transsion. ---------------------------------------- Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus [https://stratechery.passport.online/member/plan/4ycW4SE71Cy6ryrijywbTG] for $15/month or $150/year. ---------------------------------------- Listen to Stratechery [https://open.spotify.com/show/1jRACH7L8EQCYKc5uW7aPk]. Listen to Dithering [https://open.spotify.com/show/2qrjQTO7wFlkAs6juz1w1W]. Listen to Sharp China [https://open.spotify.com/show/4PGk72vZmL2uHwUB8Yqssk]. Listen to Sharp Tech [https://open.spotify.com/show/4vk2MfVMEAuOnTWUOz6lnE]. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk [https://open.spotify.com/show/29hrPvq9yABUvxAgSojUJE].

Let’s Break Down the 45nm Process Node

My back aches as I write this, but can you believe that 2007 was almost twenty years ago? That year the 45-nanometer process node first entered high volume production. It was a long time ago. But still, I thought it might be worth examining. In today’s video, let us together lavishly break down the 45-nanometer process node. Gird your loins, folks. This is a big one. ---------------------------------------- Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus [https://stratechery.passport.online/member/plan/4ycW4SE71Cy6ryrijywbTG] for $15/month or $150/year. ---------------------------------------- Listen to Stratechery [https://open.spotify.com/show/1jRACH7L8EQCYKc5uW7aPk]. Listen to Dithering [https://open.spotify.com/show/2qrjQTO7wFlkAs6juz1w1W]. Listen to Sharp China [https://open.spotify.com/show/4PGk72vZmL2uHwUB8Yqssk]. Listen to Sharp Tech [https://open.spotify.com/show/4vk2MfVMEAuOnTWUOz6lnE]. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk [https://open.spotify.com/show/29hrPvq9yABUvxAgSojUJE].

Can Superconductors Put an AI Data Center into a Shoebox?

There has been a lot of talk recently about building AI data centers. Massive data centers. Recall that famous one posted by Zuck superimposed over Manhattan. The thought of these monstrosities sucking up water and power for the sake of ChatGPT tokens gets some people very worried. What if we can put all of that in a shoebox? That’s the pitch from a young deeptech startup called Snowcap Compute, which I met with during my recent visit to the US. They’ve been working on something that promises miniscule heat dissipation and speeds in the hundreds of gigahertz. And it depends on superconductors. It sounds like sci-fi but the technology has a heritage stretching back to IBM in the 1960s. I must admit that this one is rather heavy. But I can’t stop thinking about it. In this video, RSFQ, RQL and Snowcap's superconducting computer. ---------------------------------------- Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus [https://stratechery.passport.online/member/plan/4ycW4SE71Cy6ryrijywbTG] for $15/month or $150/year. ---------------------------------------- Listen to Stratechery [https://open.spotify.com/show/1jRACH7L8EQCYKc5uW7aPk]. Listen to Dithering [https://open.spotify.com/show/2qrjQTO7wFlkAs6juz1w1W]. Listen to Sharp China [https://open.spotify.com/show/4PGk72vZmL2uHwUB8Yqssk]. Listen to Sharp Tech [https://open.spotify.com/show/4vk2MfVMEAuOnTWUOz6lnE]. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk [https://open.spotify.com/show/29hrPvq9yABUvxAgSojUJE].