Asianometry

For decades, modern agriculture depended on fertilizing nitrates mined out of a South American desert. These mines were the world's only such sources of nitrates. So valuable that three countries went to war over them. These nitrate riches, monopolized by foreigners, were wiped away thanks to one of the most famous chemical processes in history. But it took longer than you think. In this video, the glorious nitrates mining boom, the countries who bled for it, the men who monopolized it, and the technologies that ended it. ---------------------------------------- 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].

For nearly forty years, Chemically Amplified Resists or CARs (say it separately) dominated the semiconductor industry. But technological changes present opportunities for major industrial shifts. And the introduction of EUV is perhaps the biggest technological change in the past 10 years. EUV's rise has opened the door to a perhaps-revolutionary new photoresist, and two very interesting new players supporting them. In this video, we talk about the new metal oxide and dry resists, developed for the EUV era and beyond. ---------------------------------------- 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].

Per Bloomberg, in 2024 lithium-ion battery pack prices fell 20% to $115 per kilowatt-hour. It is the biggest price cut since 2017. At these prices, it is cheaper to buy Chinese even with tariffs of 25%, 35% and perhaps 120%. Central to this trend are the price and technology developments going on in a specific type of battery: Lithium Ion Iron Phosphate or LFP. LFP batteries were once seen as cheap and low-end, suffering fundamental chemistry weaknesses. Leave it to China to engineer their way around such limits. In this video, one of the most revolutionary cost curves in energy history. China and the LFP. ---------------------------------------- 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 femtosecond is one quadrillionth of a second. Or to put it another way. A femtosecond is one millionth of one billionth of a second. A femtosecond is to a second what a second is to 32 million years. There are more femtoseconds in a single second than there are hours passed since the Big Bang. Fact, eight times more. In a femtosecond, light travels just 300 nanometers. The femtosecond laser shoots pulses at femtosecond intervals. And that lets us observe fast-moving phenomena in physics, chemistry and more as they happen. And out in the real world, the femtosecond laser has been used in things as varied as nuclear fusion to semiconductors to LASIK. It sounds impossible. In today's video, the femtosecond laser breakthrough. ---------------------------------------- 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].

In March 1974, the French government unveiled the Messmer plan. It called for a massive nuclear energy construction spree to raise nuclear's share of electricity generation in France from 8% to over 70% by 1985. The relevant phrase was "all nuclear" (le tout-nucléaire). The results were undeniable. Amidst an oil crisis in 1973, France relied on imported oil for 67% of its total energy needs. And nuclear delivered. By 2000, nuclear supplied nearly 80% of France's electricity and nearly 40% of its total energy. In this video, one of the greatest runs of nuclear energy construction in world history. ---------------------------------------- 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].