The first chips were invented in the late 1950s. Today, if you go to an Apple store, for example, and buy a new iPhone, just the primary chip in an iPhone will have around 15 billion transistors on it. Each one of these tiny switches is smaller than the size of a virus. And we produce more of them than we produced any other device in human history.
Today we’re bringing you an episode on chips. No, not potato chips. Kevin has been pitching an episode on the truly fascinating world of chips and semiconductors for quite a while, but our friends at the The Ezra Klein Show got to it first. This week on Hard Fork: Ezra Klein’s engrossing conversation with historian Chris Miller. It’s a must listen. Thank you to Ezra for beating us in our quest for a great chips episode.
We'll be back with our regularly scheduled tech coverage, with Kevin and Casey next week.