Podcast
Asianometry
Hosted by Jon Y · EN
Newsletter for the Asianometry channel. Studies on Asia - Financials, semiconductors, history, demography, development and other stuff.
84episodes
Episodes
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Embedded Memories: The Next Generation
5d agoSummary readyAs chips speed up and get more capable, they must also fetch more data and get it faster. Most of the time, that means going off-chip to some external memory module. It slows things down and uses energy. One alternative is to “embed” some memory right alongside the logic circuits on the chip: Embedded memories. For years, two types of embedded memories dominated. But things are changing. In today’s video, we take a look at those, plus some of the next-generation memories coming down the pike. Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year. Listen to Stratechery. Listen to Dithering. Listen to Sharp China. Listen to Sharp Tech. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk.
SummaryThe “Miracle” Rice
1w agoSummary readyRice is Asia’s single most important food crop. And in the 1950s and 1960s, the fear was that Asians would not get enough of it. In the 1950s, Asia was adding 11 million new people each year. All those people needed calories. They needed rice. But those countries faced a brutal equation: The only way to produce more rice was to make more rice paddies. Then in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a new generation of high-yield rice hybrids forever changed the rice production equation. In today’s video, we return (yet again!) to my favorite carb and wolf down the Miracle Rices. Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year. Listen to Stratechery. Listen to Dithering. Listen to Sharp China. Listen to Sharp Tech. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk.
SummarySri Lanka’s Organic Fertilizer Debacle
2w agoSummary readyIn April 2021, the Sri Lankan government banned imports of all chemical fertilizers. They were the first country to do this. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa explained in a speech: If we are to preserve the health of our planet and ensure human sustainability, governments all over the world must not hesitate to adopt bold policies The import ban turned out to be a bit too bold. Amidst plunging farm yields and soaring food inflation, the ban did not last the year. I covered Sri Lanka’s economic crisis in a prior video three years ago, but did not mention the fertilizer ban. So let me do it this time. In today’s video, the disastrous Sri Lankan fertilizer import ban. Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year. Listen to Stratechery. Listen to Dithering. Listen to Sharp China. Listen to Sharp Tech. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk.
SummaryThe EU Chips Act is a Failure
3w agoSummary readyPeople have been so busy with AI data centers and surging memory prices that they forgot about the EU Chips Act. And to be honest, I did too until I traveled to Antwerp for ITF World 2026 and someone at the media session mentioned that a Chips Act 2 is coming. But second breakfast so soon? In December 2025, the EU Court of Auditors released its special report on the first Chips Act. A quick read of this and other recent events says that Europe’s current chip policy must change. It is not working. In today’s video, a brief check-in on the EU Chips Act. Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year. Listen to Stratechery. Listen to Dithering. Listen to Sharp China. Listen to Sharp Tech. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk.
SummaryTaiwan’s DRAM Failure
4w agoSummary readyWe often associate Taiwan with chips. Taiwanese chips. It’s their thing right? But Taiwan’s strength is actually only in logic chips. In the industry’s other big sector, memory and DRAM memory in particular, Taiwan is second-tier. Hardly a player. It’s not that the Taiwanese haven’t tried to break into DRAM before. In fact, they spent billions trying for two decades. They just keep losing at it over and over again. In this video, we look at Vanguard, TI-Acer, Taiwan Memory Corporation and Taiwan’s DRAM failure. Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year. Listen to Stratechery. Listen to Dithering. Listen to Sharp China. Listen to Sharp Tech. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk.
SummaryJapan’s Rare Earths Island
4w agoSummary readyIn 2010, the People’s Republic of China banned exports of rare earths to Japan due to a territorial dispute. After that, the Japanese government began developing alternate sources of rare earths - signing deals with Australia and Brazil. The most intriguing potential source however lies beneath the deep sea sediments surrounding a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. In February 2026, the Japanese government reported the first successful test extraction of this deep sea mud, thousands of meters under the surface. In today’s video, a brief look at Japan’s rare earths island. Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year. Listen to Stratechery. Listen to Dithering. Listen to Sharp China. Listen to Sharp Tech. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk.
SummaryHow Things Fell Apart for Germany’s Nixdorf Computer
May 24Summary readyIt is one of Europe’s greatest technology startup stories. A young student in 1950s West Germany motorcycling across the country - offering companies a computer. That young student built an empire from scratch. One of Europe’s biggest, most famous computer companies. Then it all came tumbling down. In today’s video, one of Europe’s most well-known computer companies: Nixdorf Computer. Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year. Listen to Stratechery. Listen to Dithering. Listen to Sharp China. Listen to Sharp Tech. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk.
SummaryIntel’s 30 Years in Costa Rica
May 21Summary readyIn July 2025, Intel announced that they will be gradually closing their assembly and test site in Costa Rica. End of an era. Intel has been in Costa Rica for almost 30 years. That A&T factory was their only Latin American manufacturing site. In 2000, nearly 40% of Costa Rica’s exports were Intel microprocessors. They were a chip export giant! (Kinda) In today’s video, let us look back at Intel’s tenure in Costa Rica. Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year. Listen to Stratechery. Listen to Dithering. Listen to Sharp China. Listen to Sharp Tech. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk.
SummaryThe Little Vertical Laser That Everyone Uses
May 17Summary readyFor the first few decades of its existence, all lasers were side-firing lasers - meaning the beam comes out of the wafer’s side. Horizontally. But in the late 1970s, a new type of semiconductor laser emerged. One that fired out of the wafer surface, vertically. Yes. It sounds a bit weird. At first, nobody had any idea what to do with it. But over time, the technology has been adopted into a wide variety of everyday applications. Today, it literally shines into people’s faces. In today’s video, the little vertical lasers that everyone uses. Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year. Listen to Stratechery. Listen to Dithering. Listen to Sharp China. Listen to Sharp Tech. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk.
SummaryGeneral Motors Dreamt of Robots
May 10Summary readyIn March 1982, General Motors announced a rapid and aggressive conversion to robotics. By 1990, GM wanted 14,000 robots in their factories doing everything from painting to welding to assembly. Nowadays, we dream of robots in the factories, doing everything end to end. In the dark. Lights out. Guess what, GM dreamed the same 40 years ago. And they spent an estimated $60 billion to try to make it reality. In today’s video, we look at General Motors and their dreams of the automated, all-robot factory. Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year. Listen to Stratechery. Listen to Dithering. Listen to Sharp China. Listen to Sharp Tech. Listen to Greatest Of All Talk.
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