The Circuit

EP 164: ARM, ARM Earning, Agentic CPU Inflections, A World of Constraints

In this episode, Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg dive deep into the rapidly shifting landscape of semiconductor supply chains and the unexpected "CPU renaissance" driven by agentic AI. The duo explores the "ultimate constraint" currently bottlenecking the industry, breaks down the latest earnings from ARM and AMD, and analyzes why the "Neo Cloud" players might be facing a massive strategic deficit. Key Discussion Points: The Anhydrous Hydrogen Bromine Crisis: Jay reveals the "ultimate shortage" involving a rare gas essential for EUV lithography and memory production, involving a geopolitical tangle of Japanese refining and Israeli raw materials. +4 The Death of the CPU-to-GPU Ratio: Why the industry is moving away from simple hardware ratios and toward rack-level topology and workload-specific modeling. +4 ARM & AMD’s "Agentic" Surge: Insights into how the need to execute AI-generated code is driving massive demand for high-core-count CPUs, far exceeding previous estimates. +4 Optical Networking Timing: A reality check on the "hockey stick" growth for optical interconnects, which is projected to truly inflect around 2028. +1 The Neo Cloud Challenge: A critical look at CoreWeave, Nebius, and Iron, focusing on their massive CPU-install-base deficit compared to hyperscalers. +2 Breaking News: Late-session discussion on the rumored foundry deal between Intel and Apple. +1

EP 163: Breaking the Memory Wall: Micron’s Strategy for the AI Era

This episode of The Circuit features Jeremy Werner, SVP and GM of Micron’s Core Data Center Business Unit, discussing the transformative impact of AI on the memory and storage industry. Werner explains that the industry has shifted from a traditional cyclical model to a period of sustainable growth, driven by the unique demands of AI training and inference. He highlights the emergence of a "memory wall" in inference, where massive amounts of high-speed memory and storage are required to manage expanding context windows and avoid redundant recomputation. The conversation also covers Micron's efforts to innovate across the memory hierarchy—including HBM4 and ultra-high-capacity SSDs—to solve the data center's critical bottlenecks of power and physical space.

• Transcript
• Chapters

EP 162: TPUs Via Cloud Next, Intel Earnings, Foundry Scarcity

In this episode of The Circuit, Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg dive deep into an action-packed week for the semiconductor industry. Ben shares his firsthand insights from Google Next, detailing the launch of the new TPU v5p and v5i(referenced as 8T and 8I) and Google’s strategic shift toward disaggregated training and inference silicon. The duo then pivots to Intel’s surprisingly strong earnings, discussing whether the "CPU resurgence" and foundry improvements signal an end to the company’s existential crisis. Finally, they analyze the "drama" from the TSMC Symposium regarding High-NA EUV adoption and debate the long-term durability of the current semiconductor bull cycle.

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

In this episode of The Circuit, Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg analyze a pivotal week in tech, beginning with TSMC’s strong earnings and their strategic decision to ramp up CapEx and N3 production specifically to meet massive AI demand. The duo explores the industry-wide compute deficit impacting firms like Anthropic and the potential IPO of Cerebras, while discussing the fragmenting market for custom ASICs as Google explores design partners like Marvell and MediaTek. Finally, they weigh in on the end of an era at Apple with Tim Cook stepping down; they argue his greatest legacy was preserving the company’s unique culture while handing the reins to John Ternus to lead a new hardware and AI growth cycle.

Ep 160: More good News for Intel, AI Model Trends, Future of Datacenter

Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg analyze recent developments in the semiconductor industry, AI advancements, and data center innovations, providing insights into market dynamics, strategic moves by Intel, and the future of AI hardware and software.

EP 159: MediaTek and the Evolving Custom ASIC Business, More Memory Pain, and More

Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg discuss the latest developments in the semiconductor industry, focusing on MediaTek's strategic shift into ASICs, memory shortages, supply chain constraints, and Intel's recent acquisitions. They analyze market dynamics, technological advancements, and future trends shaping the industry.

EP 158: Arm 2.0, Memory Freak Out, and AI Models

This episode explores ARM's strategic shift into product manufacturing, the implications for the CPU market, and the evolving landscape of AI and memory technology. Hosts Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg analyze ARM's new CPU launches, market positioning, and the future of AI models like Mythos, providing insights into the industry's next phase.