Hardware Podcasts

The Circuit Ep:1 - Introductions

The Circuit · 21 Dec 2022 · 14m · Episode 1

What this episode covers

Ben Bajarin, CEO of Creative Strategies, and Jay Goldberg, an investor in early-stage electronics and semiconductor companies, introduce their new podcast, The Circuit. They discuss the resurgence of interest in semiconductors, the economic implications of Moore's Law, and the shift toward chiplet architectures and advanced packaging to manage rising costs. The hosts outline future episodes covering geopolitics, supply chain resilience, and the strategic challenges facing major players like Intel and Apple.

Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Creative Strategies, Cypress Semiconductor, Intel, Apple, Lindley Group, Arm

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 09m

    Bonkers Birthday Badinage

    Hosts Dave Jones and Chris Gammell celebrate the 100th episode of The Amp Hour, discussing the show's growth to 5,000 listeners and the launch of a new discussion server based on the Hacker News engine. They analyze the semiconductor industry, noting TSMC's $8-10 billion investment in a 450mm wafer fab and Intel's dismissal of ARM as a competitor. The episode also covers practical engineering topics, including the use of gallium nitride (GaN) FETs, the TI LM5113 driver, and the feasibility of sourcing cheap Chinese electronics components for product design.

    Chips, FPGAs & semiconductorsPCB design & layout
    8 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 03m

    Loopback

    Chris Gammell and Dave Jones, founders of Contextual Electronics and EEVblog respectively, discuss the origins of The Amp Hour podcast, tracing its roots to a Reddit interaction and their early days at Keithley and Altium. They analyze the semiconductor industry's consolidation, highlighting the financial struggles of companies like Freescale and the aggressive marketing strategies of Texas Instruments with the $4.30 Launchpad. The conversation explores the economics of open-source hardware, detailing how designers like Jones optimize BOMs to compete with giants like SparkFun and Adafruit, while warning against gray market counterfeit components and invention brokers.

    Sourcing & supply chainPricing, margins & unit economics
    7 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 27m

    No More Naming

    Hosts Chris Gammell and Dave Jones discuss the pitfalls of crowdfunding, citing Andreas Spiess's article on why he won't run another Kickstarter campaign, and Dave's own experience of shipping on day one. They analyze how low cost drives innovation in the semiconductor industry, contrasting the targeted, high-margin market for seismic front-end chips from Cirrus Logic and Analog Devices with the broad, volume-driven strategy of Espressif's ESP8266. The conversation also covers the technical challenges of live streaming, the necessity of dedicated production test rigs, and the commoditization of technology.

    Crowdfunding & preordersPricing, margins & unit economics
    8 chapters

  • EE Times Current · 34m

    Whither Semiconductors? The Wheels on the Bus Go ‘Round and ‘Round

    Jim McGregor, co-founder of Tirias Research, discusses the evolving competitive landscape of the semiconductor industry, identifying Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA (following its potential acquisition of Arm) as the new dominant trio. He explains how the convergence of computing, connectivity, and intelligence is blurring traditional boundaries, with companies like Qualcomm, Samsung, and MediaTek competing across smartphones, servers, and automotive sectors. McGregor highlights the shift toward heterogeneous computing, specialized accelerators like DPUs, and the move away from monolithic dies toward multi-chip modules and advanced packaging to overcome Moore's Law limitations.

    Chips, FPGAs & semiconductorsMechanical engineering
    8 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 08m

    World Trade Futurity (WTF)

    Hosts Chris Gammell and Dave Jones discuss the potential impact of the 2016 US election on the electronics industry, focusing on proposed tariffs and supply chain complexities. They review recent industry news, including Qualcomm's acquisition of NXP and Lattice Semiconductor's sale, while also covering technical topics like EMI reduction, MicroPython for prototyping, and the Siligo programmable chip. The episode concludes with reflections on the SuperCon conference and the failed Schiaparelli Mars landing.

    Policy, trade & tariffsEmbedded firmware
    8 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Circuit. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.