The “Miracle” Rice

The “Miracle” Rice

Rice is Asia’s single most important food crop. And in the 1950s and 1960s, the fear was that Asians would not get enough of it. In the 1950s, Asia was adding 11 million new people each year. All those people needed calories. They needed rice. But those countries faced a brutal equation: The only way to produce more rice was to make more rice paddies. Then in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a new generation of high-yield rice hybrids forever changed the rice production equation. In today’s video, we return (yet again!) to my favorite carb and wolf down the Miracle Rices. ---------------------------------------- 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].

Sri Lanka’s Organic Fertilizer Debacle

In April 2021, the Sri Lankan government banned imports of all chemical fertilizers. They were the first country to do this. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa explained in a speech: If we are to preserve the health of our planet and ensure human sustainability, governments all over the world must not hesitate to adopt bold policies The import ban turned out to be a bit too bold. Amidst plunging farm yields and soaring food inflation, the ban did not last the year. I covered Sri Lanka’s economic crisis in a prior video three years ago, but did not mention the fertilizer ban. So let me do it this time. In today’s video, the disastrous Sri Lankan fertilizer import ban. ---------------------------------------- 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].

The EU Chips Act is a Failure

People have been so busy with AI data centers and surging memory prices that they forgot about the EU Chips Act. And to be honest, I did too until I traveled to Antwerp for ITF World 2026 and someone at the media session mentioned that a Chips Act 2 is coming. But second breakfast so soon? In December 2025, the EU Court of Auditors released its special report on the first Chips Act. A quick read of this and other recent events says that Europe’s current chip policy must change. It is not working. In today’s video, a brief check-in on the EU Chips Act. ---------------------------------------- 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].

Taiwan’s DRAM Failure

We often associate Taiwan with chips. Taiwanese chips. It’s their thing right? But Taiwan’s strength is actually only in logic chips. In the industry’s other big sector, memory and DRAM memory in particular, Taiwan is second-tier. Hardly a player. It’s not that the Taiwanese haven’t tried to break into DRAM before. In fact, they spent billions trying for two decades. They just keep losing at it over and over again. In this video, we look at Vanguard, TI-Acer, Taiwan Memory Corporation and Taiwan’s DRAM failure. ---------------------------------------- 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].

Japan’s Rare Earths Island

In 2010, the People’s Republic of China banned exports of rare earths to Japan due to a territorial dispute. After that, the Japanese government began developing alternate sources of rare earths - signing deals with Australia and Brazil. The most intriguing potential source however lies beneath the deep sea sediments surrounding a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. In February 2026, the Japanese government reported the first successful test extraction of this deep sea mud, thousands of meters under the surface. In today’s video, a brief look at Japan’s rare earths island. ---------------------------------------- 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].