The chips that run AI, explained from inside the industry.
Documentaries on AI accelerators, memory, chip manufacturing and the geopolitics that decide who gets to build the future. Researched and written by a semiconductor engineer.
Recent documentaries
What we investigate
Eight beats that together explain where AI's limits really come from.
The Next NVIDIA
The startups and giants trying to break NVIDIA's grip on AI compute.
02 / MEMORYMemory & HBM
HBM, HBF and the memory wall that decides how fast AI can run.
03 / PHOTONICSPhotonics
Chips and interconnects that move data, and now compute, with light.
04 / CHINAChina & the Chip War
Export controls, EUV workarounds and the race for self-sufficiency.
05 / FOUNDRIESFabs & Foundries
Who can manufacture leading-edge chips, and what it costs.
06 / DATACENTERSAI Data Centers
Power, cooling and the physical limits of AI infrastructure.
07 / BIGTECHBig Tech Silicon
Apple, Google, OpenAI and Tesla's push to own the chip.
08 / INVESTINGChip Investing
IPOs, tariffs and the business behind the hardware.
Follow a story from start to finish
The Next NVIDIA
Cerebras, Extropic, photonic processors, custom silicon from OpenAI and Google. Every serious challenger to the world's most valuable chip company, judged on engineering, not press releases.
Start the series Coming soonSand to Hand
From quartz sand to the phone in your hand. Each episode maps one chokepoint in the chip supply chain, who controls it, and why they can't be dislodged.
See the map
The engineer behind AI Chip Insider
I spent nearly a decade in the semiconductor industry, from the world’s most advanced chip maker to the labs of a leading AI chip company.
The AI chip industry, in five minutes a week.
- 01The week's documentary, with the sources behind it
- 02Three chip stories that mattered, and why
- 03One chart that explains the market