The Circuit

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.

Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg discuss the anticipated update to the entity list facing US and China semiconductor relations. They also discuss the relevance of the RISC-V being discussed as potentially being regulated as it relates to China as well.   

Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg welcome guest Steven Woo, a Fellow at Rambus, to discuss the wide world of memory.  The discussion covers how memory differs from logic, the many types of memory and their purpose and function, how to gauge innovation in memory advances, and the key applications driving the need to innovate more in memory.