The Circuit

SummaryIn this episode, Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg discuss recent semiconductor events, including Marvell's analyst day, AMD's Advancing AI event, and Intel's AI Everywhere event. They analyze the key takeaways from each event, including Marvell's focus on data infrastructure, AMD's new chiplet SOC and AI capabilities, and Intel's architectural advancements in client and data center products. The hosts also discuss the challenges and opportunities in the AI PC market and share their holiday wishes.TakeawaysMarvell is a data infrastructure company with strong product roadmaps and a focus on the data center.AMD's new chiplet SOC, Meteor Lake, represents a significant architectural advancement and could be a game-changer for the company.Intel's AI Everywhere event showcased their advancements in client and data center products, including chiplet-based SOCs and AI integration.The AI PC market presents challenges in terms of consumer adoption and pricing, but has potential for growth in enterprise and cloud applications.

SummaryIn this conversation Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg have a discussion with Rene Haas, President of ARM, provides an overview of the company and its role as the brain that powers electronic devices. He explains ARM's business model of designing CPUs and licensing them to chip manufacturers. Haas discusses the value capture and increasing ARM's share of the value in the market. He highlights the growth drivers for ARM in various industries, including PCs, cloud data centers, networking, automotive, and IoT. Haas also addresses the impact of US sanctions on China and ARM's success in the Chinese market. He concludes by discussing ARM's partnership with Intel Foundry Services and the potential for chiplets.TakeawaysARM is the brain that powers electronic devices and is present in a wide range of products, including cell phones, laptops, automobiles, data centers, and IoT devices.ARM's business model involves designing CPUs and licensing them to chip manufacturers, allowing them to build chips with ARM's designs.To increase its share of the value in the market, ARM is focusing on delivering full solutions, accelerating chip design, and developing new products for growing markets.ARM sees opportunities for growth in industries such as PCs, cloud data centers, networking, automotive, and IoT, driven by trends like AI and the need for more compute power.ARM is navigating US sanctions on China by complying with export control restrictions and focusing on areas where its software ecosystem and partnerships are strong.

The conversation explores the current state of the Japanese semiconductor industry and its history of decline in the 1990s. It discusses the structure of the industry, key players, and recent developments such as the establishment of Rapidus, a consortium aimed at advancing semiconductor fabrication in Japan. The conversation also touches on the visit of Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry to UC Berkeley and the potential for collaboration between the US and Japan in the semiconductor industry. Overall, the discussion highlights the renewed interest and efforts in revitalizing the Japanese semiconductor industry.The Japanese semiconductor industry experienced a decline in the 1990s but is now showing signs of revitalization.Key players in the Japanese semiconductor industry include Tokyo Electron, Renesas, Sony, and Morata.The establishment of Rapidus, a consortium for semiconductor fabrication, demonstrates Japan's commitment to advancing its semiconductor capabilities.Collaboration between the US and Japan in the semiconductor industry is becoming increasingly important.

In this week's episode, Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg chatted about companies pushing the limits of what is possible with technology and breaking new ground with new products and experiences.  They discuss the impacts this has on the semiconductor landscape and why its a necessary, even if awkward, step to progress.

Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg dive into the recent announcements from Microsoft around their new custom silicon chips. They also discuss MediaTek's ambitions, shared from the MediaTek executive summit last week, where they are doubling down on helping people build custom silicon for the data center.  

Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg analyze Arm's most recent quarterly earnings in this episode.  These also happen to be Arm's first earnings report and investor call as a public company. Ben and Jay discuss the read from the earnings and the investor call and insights learned.  

The podcast discusses the distinct characteristics of Qualcomm as a company, its founding and the importance of personal connections among its employees. It explores Qualcomm's transition from the truck tracking market to selling cell phones, challenges faced by Qualcomm in the handset business, and their strategy of diversifying revenue through acquisitions and exploring various product offerings.

Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg discuss key news bits from Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit, Apple's Scary Fast event where new M3 Apple Silicon was announced, and what it means for the market as a whole and for architecture competition. 

Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg share what they thought were the most interesting and telling takeaways from TSMC's earnings.  Why TSMC can give us insight into semiconductor segment recovery,  and the coming battle brewing with process technology competition. 

In this engaging discussion, Huiming Bu, who manages the global semiconductor R&D agenda at IBM Research, shares insights into the future of transistor design. He highlights the exciting shift from FinFET to nanosheet architectures and explores advanced techniques like vertical transport FET and stacked transistors. The conversation also addresses the need for new innovations in 3D chiplet design and the role of major foundries like TSMC and Intel. Finally, Huiming emphasizes the collaborative efforts required to tackle the challenges in meeting the growing demand for computational power.