Updating 'About the Chip Letter'
And sharing more about future posts
One of the best pieces of advice I can share with anyone starting a Substack is to write a ‘hero’ post: an article that explains to new readers what your publication is (and importantly what it isn’t) about. In addition to being helpful for readers, this also helps the writer to crystallize and focus their work.
I first published a ‘hero’ post - New to The Chip Letter? Start Here - in February this year1. I’m pleased to say that it seems to have resonated with readers as it’s attracted the highest number of new subscribers per view of any post.
But it’s never been seen by most subscribers. So when it came time to review and update it made sense to share it with everyone. After all, if you’re getting regular emails from a Substack, knowing what the publication is trying to achieve is probably helpful.
This is also an opportunity to share more about my plans for The Chip Letter over the next few months.
What ‘The Chip Letter’ is all about - An Update
The full revised ‘hero’ post is at the end of this email. First, though, is my original ‘30-second’ summary of what ‘The Chip Letter’ is about.
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.
I was originally tempted (but resisted!) to put “help readers understand” in BOLD CAPITALS to emphasize that I see stories and history as a means to an end - a better understanding of technology - rather than an end itself.
In practice this has meant a mix of (roughly) three different types of posts - with some examples:
1. Histories of technologies or companies
Sometimes these technologies or companies are important today. How companies like Arm or ASML started and have evolved is useful in understanding them today. The evolution of Moore’s Law is important in understanding many aspects of today’s technology landscape.
In other cases, the topic provides an example of a phenomenon we see repeated or can learn from. ‘Cambrian explosions’ of new designs have been a feature of new architectural approaches such as RISC or products such as AI accelerators.
2. Analysis of a business or technology
These will typically analyze one technology and try to understand its impact drawing lessons from the history where appropriate. The Paradox of x86 looked at how the x86 architecture has turned from a moat to a trap for Intel.
3. Technology explainers
These aim to give a broad overview of a particular technology. We’ve looked at GPU architectures, GPU software, and NPUs. These posts have proven to be some of my most popular - and longest - posts.
Eagle-eyed readers will have noticed that there isn’t much history in this last post category! So to be clearer it’s made sense to add a small ‘tweak’ to the ‘30-second summary’:
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, often using stories of the technologies, companies and people that have shaped their development.
It’s a small change but useful to emphasize and clarify that The Chip Letter isn’t exclusively about history. Sometimes we’ll explore the state of a technology as it is today and might evolve in the future, without delving into its origins.
Future Posts
So what about future posts? First, we have a few series that we’re partway through (with links to the existing posts in each series):
Further posts in each series are coming in the next few weeks.
Then, to share a few of the topics that I plan to explore in the coming weeks:
The design and evolution of the RISC-V ISA and ecosystem;
A look at Intel’s recent Meteor Lake and Lunar Lake ‘system-on-chips’.
The ongoing legal dispute between Qualcomm and Arm over technology developed by Nuvia, which is now being used in a new generation of Windows laptops;
With more to be revealed in due course!
Chiplets
In February, I introduced a new series of shorter ‘opt-in’ posts called ‘Chiplets’.
After a reasonable start, the production of Chiplets has somewhat tailed off. Partly this is because some planned Chiplet posts (on the SOAR and SPUR RISC architectures and Jean Hoerni’s Patent Notebook) have expanded to full-length size. I’m determined, however, to fight the temptation to write about every topic at length so expect more Chiplets over the next few weeks. Instructions on how to ‘opt-in’ to receive Chiplets are given in the post above.
Finally, I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has become a paid subscriber. ‘The Chip Letter’ is entirely supported by these subscriptions.
To join this select group, follow this link.
New to The Chip Letter? Start Here!
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, often using 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 fingernail.
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 successful. Or of big corporations 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. This in turn leads to countless stories of triumph or disaster.
And those stories are both entertaining and useful. There are small teams that triumphed against the odds; big companies that made risky bets that failed; markets that 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 if it weren’t important. Fortunately, the chip industry is crucially important on three distinct 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, it’s helped shape their professional lives. For example, 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 Chip Letter isn’t just about history though. My objective is to help readers better understand technology. Sometimes it’s just best to explain what an important technology is all about today and we’ll sometimes do that too.
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 or Monday) covering an interesting technology or business. This might be a history or a post that explains or analyzes a particular technology.
A focus on the key technologies, companies, and people that have shaped the development of the chip industry.
Occasional extra posts and posts that range a little more widely across related computer technologies, for example, into important software.
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!
What has The Chip Letter delivered so far? So far subscribers have received 142 posts with over three hundred thousand words. These posts have been read over a million times. Some recent, personal and reader-favorite posts include:
Demystifying GPU Compute Architectures
Google's First Tensor Processing Unit : Architecture
I should also point out what the Chip Letter is not focused on:
Investment Analysis: There may be lessons to be learned from history that can be applied when analyzing 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: I inevitably talk a lot about older technologies and computers but not because I like to use them or am 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, AMD, or Nvidia.
If you are focused on these areas I hope you will still get something from reading The Chip Letter. I’ve listed some great recommendations for publications that focus on these areas later on.
Hopefully, I’ve convinced you to subscribe by now. If so then press this button.
If you think The Chip Letter might be of interest to a friend or colleague then you can share it using this button.
And finally some further, highly recommended, reading and viewing:
Chip War: Chris Miller’s great book on the history and geopolitical presence of the semiconductor industry.
SemiAnalysis: Fantastic semiconductor industry analysis from Dylan Patel.
Fabricated Knowledge: Likewise from Doug O'Laughlin.
ChipStrat: Likewise again from Austin Lyons.
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@N04/52480549565/
This is great advice thanks! I’m going to make one of these myself.
Although I want to write about wireless technology, writing down a hero post will clarify a lot of things for me. Much needed on my end :)