New to The Chip Letter? Start Here!
Welcome!
Hi 👋 !
Thank you for visiting The Chip Letter.
As you’re here now I should probably try to explain what The Chip Letter is all about, and maybe try to persuade you to subscribe. Here, then, is the 5 second pitch:
Chips are important. You should know more about them!
OK, maybe a bit too short. Here is the 30 second version:
Semiconductors are the most important technology of our time, but have been around for more than seven decades now. The Chip Letter aims to help readers understand them better, through stories of the technologies, companies and people that have shaped their development.
If that’s convinced you, then please click this button to subscribe.
Still too short? Here, then, is the extended version of the pitch. I’ve broken it up into three facets of the semiconductor business: technology, business and impact.
A Technology of Wonder
I first came across ‘chips’ whilst browsing books in my local library. There was a thick volume on something called a ‘microprocessor’ made by a company with a, for me, cool sounding name (it was Intel). I didn't understand much of the book but one thing was clear, these devices packed thousands of smaller components into something no bigger than a finger nail.
That book led to more research on the design, manufacture and use of these devices. With more knowledge one thing remained from that first encounter, a sense of wonder that this was possible and at the people who made it possible.
Today the latest iPhone has a chip with billions of components. If anything, my sense of wonder has increased. How is this even possible? Decades later, I still want to know more.
Business Strategy on the Leading Edge
Perhaps, like me, you enjoy reading business books. The stories of entrepreneurs battling against the odds to make their enterprises a success. Or if big corporations that were struggling to compete or to recover from missteps.
I soon discovered that the chip industry was full of these stories. Operating at the leading edge of technology means taking risks and that in turn leads to many stories of triumph or failure.
And those stories are both entertaining and useful. There are small teams who triumphed against the odds; big companies who made risky bets that failed completely; markets that suddenly exploded with innovation and competition. To misquote Anthony Burgess, all business life is here, and it’s fascinating!
High Impact - Personal, Professional and Global
All this would be a lot less interesting it it wasn’t important. Fortunately the chip industry is crucially important on three levels.
First, it’s helped to shape all our lives. I can’t think of a more significant product of the last five decades than the smartphone.
Second, for many of us it’s helped shape our professional lives. Over two million people work as software developers in the U.S. in 2024.
Finally, it’s helping to shape the world we live in. As Chris Miller’s excellent Chip War convincingly sets out, semiconductors are the most geopolitically important industry of the 21st century.
Given the importance of semiconductors, I think their history is important too. The question ‘How did we get here?’ takes on a particular significance if our lives are being shaped by this technology on multiple levels.
If you’ve got this far then I should be a bit explicit about what to expect if you subscribe:
A fairly long post every week (usually on a Sunday) covering an interesting semiconductor or computer technology or business.
A focus on the key technologies, companies and people that have shaped the development of the industry.
Occasional extra posts and posts that range a little more widely across related computer technologies.
Most content is free, but paid subscribers also get:
Additional and more detailed analysis of the technologies that I discuss.
Links to further reading.
Extra ‘paid only’ posts.
The ability to comment on all posts.
A warm glow from supporting an independent writer!
The Chip Letter has no advertising, no affiliate links and is not supported by or designed to support an affiliated business.
It is 100% supported by paid subscribers, so a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us by taking out a paying subscription. You’re awesome!
What has The Chip Letter delivered so far? Over 2022/3 subscribers received 116 posts with over two hundred thousand words. These posts have been read over six hundred thousand times. Some recent, personal and reader favourite posts include:
Moore on Moore : On the past, present and future of Moore’s Law:
Tiny Computers from Texas : On the early history of the microcontroller:
Happy 65th Birthday, Integrated Circuit : On the invention of the Integrated Circuit
RISC-V - Origins and Architecture : On the RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture
I should also point out what the Chip Letter is not focused on:
Investment Analysis : There may be lessons to be learned from the history that can be applied when analysing semiconductor companies today, and sometimes we make those lessons fairly explicit. However, I don’t claim to have insights that will give readers an investment edge.
Retro Computing : Where this is defined as having fun using old computers. We inevitably talk a lot about older technologies and computers but not because we like to use them or are nostalgic for them. I don’t have an Apple II in my garage which I fire up to play VisiCalc!
Gaming PCs : I don’t look to compare the performance of the latest CPUs and GPUs from Intel or AMD or Nvidia.
If one of these is your main interest then I hope that you will get something from reading The Chip Letter, but it’s not our main focus. There are also some great recommendations below of publications that are focused on these areas.
I also don’t try to ‘boil the ocean’ of technology history. I occasionally look at other areas, such as computer languages, but the focus is mainly on chips.
Hopefully I’ve convinced you to subscribe by now, so just press this button.
If you think that The Chip Letter might be of interest to a friend or colleague the you can share using this button.
And finally some further, highly recommended, reading and viewing:
Chip War : Chris Miller’s great book on the history and geopolitical present of the semiconductor industry.
SemiAnalysis : Fantastic semiconductor industry analysis from Dylan Patel.
Fabricated Knowledge : Likewise from Doug O'Laughlin
Asianometry : Fantastic videos about the semiconductor industry and much more from Jon Y.
Goto10 : If retro is your thing then you will enjoy Paul Lefebvre’s substack on all things Atari.
You can see a full list of my Substack recommendations here.
That’s it for now. Thanks again for visiting.
Image source for top of post:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/130561288@N04/52661389459/