The Circuit · 15 Sept 2026 · 30m · Episode 185
Tom Boger, Kaiann Drance, and Sri Santhanam from Apple discuss the transition to 2-nanometer process technology across the A20 Pro and M-series chips, highlighting the shift to a dual neural engine and unified memory architecture. They explain how vertical integration allows Apple to optimize packaging, such as moving DRAM off the SoC to improve thermal management and sustained performance for AI workloads and gaming. The panel also details the implementation of the Secure Enclave and Secure Exclave to handle computationally expensive cybersecurity tasks and protect sensitive data at the silicon level.
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Host Daniel Bogdanoff previews Season 5 of Moore's Lobby, highlighting upcoming episodes with Steve Cozier of Skywater Technology, AMD's Sam Napstigger, and Intel's Wei Li. The trailer outlines discussions on the foundry business model, implementing power management ICs via microcontroller backdoors, and optimizing AI software performance on Intel platforms.
Mythic co-founder and CEO Mike Henry explains how the company's analog AI accelerator chips use onboard flash memory to achieve best-in-class performance-per-watt for inference tasks like security video analytics and drone depth estimation, avoiding the high power and cost of digital GPUs. Nvidia analyst Kevin Krewell discusses the $40 billion acquisition of Arm by Nvidia, analyzing Jensen Huang's strategic move to control the CPU/GPU ecosystem and the significant regulatory hurdles regarding Arm's monopoly in the smartphone market.
AMD CTO Mark Papermaster discusses the company's transition to 7nm Zen architecture, chiplet-based designs like the Threadripper 3990X, and the integration of specialized accelerators for AI workloads. Imagination Technologies CEO Ron Black explains the company's strategic pivot toward automotive graphics, ray tracing, and RISC-V cores, highlighting the resumption of its partnership with Apple. EE Times editors analyze 2020 investment trends, emphasizing that data generation from apps is driving semiconductor growth, with specific focus on memory, RF front-ends, and power infrastructure in developing economies.
Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, former Apple designers who worked on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, explain their decision to leave the tech giant to found Humane and build the screenless AI Pin. They discuss the engineering challenges of miniaturization, integrating multiple radios, and managing heat in a small form factor, while prioritizing privacy by avoiding always-listening wake words. The founders describe the device's functionality, including its camera, laser projector, and cloud-based 'second brain' features, and outline a business model focused on hardware sales and services rather than a traditional app store.
EE Times editor-in-chief Brian Santo interviews Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research, to dissect Arm's announcement of its Version 9 (V9) processor architecture. Krewell explains that while V9 shares many features with updated V8 versions, it introduces exclusive capabilities like Scalable Vector Extension 2 (SVE2), transactional memory, and Realm Management Platform (RMP) security extensions. These changes signal Arm's strategic push into enterprise-class computing and high-performance data centers, directly competing with Intel Xeon, AMD EPYC, and IBM Power architectures. The discussion highlights how V9 aligns with NVIDIA's acquisition interests by focusing on AI workloads, confidential computing, and performance-per-watt metrics suitable for servers and edge devices.
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