# EP 161: TSMC Earnings, Cerebras S1, Custom Semi Rumors, Apple CEO Change

- Show: [The Circuit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit)
- Published: 2026-04-21
- Length: 52m
- Episode: 164
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2026-04-21-ep-161-tsmc-earnings-cerebras-s1-custom-semi-rumors-apple-ceo-change
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/bb334df6

## Summary

Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg analyze TSMC's strong earnings and strategic ramp-up of N3 production to meet AI demand, while discussing the compute deficit impacting firms like Anthropic and Cerebras' S1 chip. They explore the fragmenting market for custom ASICs as Google considers design partners like Marvell and MediaTek, and weigh in on Tim Cook's departure from Apple, arguing his legacy was preserving the company's culture for John Ternus.

## Chapters

- [0:05](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2026-04-21-ep-161-tsmc-earnings-cerebras-s1-custom-semi-rumors-apple-ceo-change#t=5) TSMC Earnings and AI CapEx
- [9:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2026-04-21-ep-161-tsmc-earnings-cerebras-s1-custom-semi-rumors-apple-ceo-change#t=559) Advanced Packaging and Intel Competition
- [17:33](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2026-04-21-ep-161-tsmc-earnings-cerebras-s1-custom-semi-rumors-apple-ceo-change#t=1053) Cerebras S1 and Compute Constraints
- [31:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2026-04-21-ep-161-tsmc-earnings-cerebras-s1-custom-semi-rumors-apple-ceo-change#t=1861) Custom ASICs and Google's Design Partners
- [37:54](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2026-04-21-ep-161-tsmc-earnings-cerebras-s1-custom-semi-rumors-apple-ceo-change#t=2274) Tokenomics and Jensen Huang's Thesis
- [46:23](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-circuit/2026-04-21-ep-161-tsmc-earnings-cerebras-s1-custom-semi-rumors-apple-ceo-change#t=2783) Apple CEO Transition to John Ternus

## Topics

- [Chips, FPGAs & semiconductors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/chips-and-fpgas)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)

## Most relevant to

large enterprises

## Mentioned

- TSMC (company)
- Cerebras (company)
- S1 (product)
- Apple (company)
- Tim Cook (other)
- John Ternus (other)
- Google (company)
- Marvell (company)
- MediaTek (company)
- Broadcom (company)
- Intel (company)
- Anthropic (company)
- OpenAI (company)
- NVIDIA (company)
- Blackwell (product)
- H100 (product)
- Grok (company)
- Jensen Huang (other)
- Dwarkesh (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [ON Semi’s Acquisition | TSMC’s Finer Nodes | Tesla’s AI Chip | China’s Fabless Companies](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ee-times-current/2019-04-26-on-semis-acquisition-tsmcs-finer-nodes-teslas-ai-chip-chinas-fabless-companies) (EE Times Current)
- [AI Chip Revelations | A Corporate Soap Opera | The Sounds of a Pandemic](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ee-times-current/2020-04-17-ai-chip-revelations-a-corporate-soap-opera-the-sounds-of-a-pandemic) (EE Times Current)
- [Silicon 100: Startups Worth Watching in 2023](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ee-times-current/2023-08-01-silicon-100-startups-worth-watching-in-2023) (EE Times Current)
- [TSMC Scraps a Batch of Wafers | AI Limitations | ISSCC](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ee-times-current/2019-02-22-tsmc-scraps-a-batch-of-wafers-ai-limitations-isscc) (EE Times Current)
- [Bonkers Birthday Badinage](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2012-06-18-bonkers-birthday-badinage) (The Amp Hour)

## Citing this page

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