# AI Disruption: DeepSeek and Cerebras

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2025-02-06
- Length: 1h 31m
- Episode: 4
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2025-02-06-ai-disruption-deepseek-and-cerebras
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/061ac489

## Summary

Andy Hock and James Wang of Cerebras discuss how their wafer-scale silicon executes open-weight models like DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B faster than any number of GPUs, achieving 57x speedup by keeping all 44GB of model weights in on-chip SRAM. They explain that the release of efficient, open models like DeepSeek and Llama transformed Cerebras from an exotic supercomputer vendor into a provider of commodity inference APIs, standardizing the unit of sale as tokens. The guests highlight that hardware-software codesign and the shift toward reasoning models allow smaller teams to compete with well-funded incumbents by optimizing algorithms for specific architectures rather than relying on brute-force scaling.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2025-02-06-ai-disruption-deepseek-and-cerebras#t=0) Introduction: Andy Hock and James Wang from Cerebras
- [4:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2025-02-06-ai-disruption-deepseek-and-cerebras#t=246) The DeepSeek Disruption and Historical Parallels
- [8:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2025-02-06-ai-disruption-deepseek-and-cerebras#t=495) Cerebras Performance on DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
- [13:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2025-02-06-ai-disruption-deepseek-and-cerebras#t=781) Wafer Scale Engine Architecture and SRAM vs HBM
- [24:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2025-02-06-ai-disruption-deepseek-and-cerebras#t=1442) Software Stack: PyTorch, CUDA, and Abstraction Layers
- [36:10](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2025-02-06-ai-disruption-deepseek-and-cerebras#t=2170) The DeepSeek Surprise and Financial Impact
- [42:34](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2025-02-06-ai-disruption-deepseek-and-cerebras#t=2554) Reasoning Models and Test-Time Compute
- [53:40](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2025-02-06-ai-disruption-deepseek-and-cerebras#t=3220) Open Weights vs. Closed Source and Data Privacy
- [1:04:28](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2025-02-06-ai-disruption-deepseek-and-cerebras#t=3868) Chain of Thought Visibility and Model Limitations
- [1:20:26](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2025-02-06-ai-disruption-deepseek-and-cerebras#t=4826) Hardware-Software Codesign and Future Innovation

## Topics

- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Chips, FPGAs & semiconductors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/chips-and-fpgas)
- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Cerebras (company)
- DeepSeek (product)
- Llama (product)
- NVIDIA (company)
- PyTorch (tool)
- CUDA (tool)
- OpenAI (company)
- Meta (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Episode 109: Unpacking the Nuances of Deep Seek with Austin Lyons](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2025-03-16-episode-109-unpacking-the-nuances-of-deep-seek-with-austin-lyons) (The Circuit)
- [Episode 85: OpenAI leaves AI Silicon in the Dust](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2024-09-16-episode-85-openai-leaves-ai-silicon-in-the-dust) (The Circuit)
- [Episode 8: AI Infrastructure and Silicon Demands](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2023-02-27-episode-8-ai-infrastructure-and-silicon-demands) (The Circuit)
- [EP 181: Cerebras Earnings, QCOM Investor Day, Micron Earnings and the Memory Mafia](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2026-06-29-ep-181-cerebras-earnings-qcom-investor-day-micron-earnings-and-the-memory-mafia) (The Circuit)
- [EP 161: TSMC Earnings, Cerebras S1, Custom Semi Rumors, Apple CEO Change](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2026-04-21-ep-161-tsmc-earnings-cerebras-s1-custom-semi-rumors-apple-ceo-change) (The Circuit)

## Citing this page

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