Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson

Latest Episodes:

(Preview) Xi Jinping and China's Tech Companies, The Long-Run Implications of the Chip Ban, and a Pessimistic Outlook for Taiwan Feb 19, 2025

Show notes

On today’s special crossover Sharp Tech/Sharp China episode, Ben Thompson and Bill Bishop discuss the private enterprise symposium and Xi Jinping's rapprochement with China's tech companies, and the connection between xAI and DeepSeek. Then, an extended debate on the chip ban, including its potential long-term consequences, and whether or not a course correction is possible. Finally, why the situation surround Taiwan is worrisome, and whether Trump is looking to make a deal.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube

Xi convenes private enterprise symposium; Wang Yi in Munich; Taiwan; Tesla FSD and US-China trade — Sinocism

DeepSeek FAQ — Stratechery

Grok-3, The Nvidia Shortcut, Competitive Implications — Stratechery Update

The ZTE Ban, Tech’s Trade War Risk, China’s Delayed Approval and Apple’s Pain — Stratechery Update

Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

(Preview) Experimenting With OpenAI’s Deep Research, Another ChatGPT Moment, Won’t Someone Think of the Entry-Level Employees? Feb 06, 2025

Show notes

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube

Apple Earnings, OpenAI Deep Research, The Unbundling of Substantiation — Stratechery Update

OpenAI Releases AI Agent Designed to Act Like a Research Analyst — Bloomberg

The AI Unbundling — Stratechery

Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

(Preview) Apple Abandons Its Smart Glasses, Google as the Yellow Pages, LLMs and the Overton Window Feb 03, 2025

Show notes

Answering mailbag questions on a report that Apple has abandoned its plans for smart glasses, Google, OpenAI and advertising, why LLMs struggle with sports statistics, whether generative AI will become more acceptable in media, and a few thoughts on manufacturing, tariffs, and the de minimis exception.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube

Apple Scraps Work on Mac-Connected Augmented Reality Glasses — Bloomberg

An Interview with Hugo Barra About Orion and Meta’s AR Strategy — Stratechery Interview

Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

The End of DeepSeek Week: Moneyball for AI, The Future of Compute Demand, Geopolitical Reality Checks, and More Jan 30, 2025

Show notes

Andrew and Ben reconvene to answer your emails on DeepSeek and its implications. Topics include: DeepSeek as the Oakland A’s and Big Tech as the Red Sox, questions about distillation, video game history and coding to the metal, waiting for Silicon Valley products in AI, the future of compute demand and power consumption, and a variety of follow-up thoughts to Monday’s export control discussion.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube

DeepSeek FAQ — Stratechery

DeepSeek-R1, DeepSeek Implications — Stratechery Update

China and Geopolitics — Stratechery

On DeepSeek and Export Controls — Dario Amodei

Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

(Preview) 72 Hours of DeepSeek Hysteria, What DeepSeek Means for Big Tech, Lessons on the Efficacy of Chip Controls Jan 27, 2025

Show notes

Unpacking several days of dizzying reactions to DeepSeek, including a closer look at the costs of model development, why the heightened scrutiny looks like a coping mechanism, DeepSeek’s efficiency breakthroughs, the implications for big tech, and the future of export controls on semiconductors.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube

DeepSeek FAQ — Stratechery

DeepSeek-R1, DeepSeek Implications — Stratechery Update

Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

(Preview) The End of OpenAI and Microsoft, Risks and Rationale of the Stargate Project, DeepSeek-R1 and Bitter Lessons for the Future Jan 23, 2025

Show notes

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube

Stargate, The End of Microsoft and OpenAI — Stratechery Update

Microsoft Earnings; Microsoft and OpenAI, Again; GitHub Copilot Adds Gemini and Claude — Stratechery Update

The Accidental Consumer Tech Company; ChatGPT, Meta, and Product-Market Fit; Aggregation and APIs — Stratechery Update

Stratechery Updates, DeepSeek-R1, DeepSeek Implications — Stratechery Update

AI’s Uneven Arrival — Stratechery

An Interview with Daniel Gross and Nat Friedman about ChatGPT and the Near-Term Future of AI — Stratechery Interview

Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

(Preview) A Long Weekend for TikTok, Preparing for Trump and an Era of Upheaval, LeBron James as an iPhone Jan 20, 2025

Show notes

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube

TikTok Ban Approaches, Generational Implications, Xiaohongshu — Stratechery Update

Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, Asianometry and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

AI’s Uneven Arrival, TikTok’s Potential Departure, Xiaohongshu and the Delights of Cultural Exchange Jan 16, 2025

Show notes

Looking to digital advertising history for clues about AI’s impact on the economy, proposed frameworks for AGI and ASI, and why AI benefits are likely to be unevenly distributed in the near term. Then: The logic and continued uncertainty surrounding a TikTok ban in the United States, the delights of Xiaohongshu mania, and a word about TikTok and conflicting principles.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube

AI’s Uneven Arrival — Stratechery

TikTok Ban Approaches, Generational Implications, Xiaohongshu — Stratechery Update

The TikTok War — Stratechery

'TikTok refugees': Great divide between the public and the government — CGTN

Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

(Preview) Meta’s Moderation Changes, Tech’s Evolving Political Calculus, The Importance and Difficulty of Maintaining Principles on the Internet Jan 14, 2025

Show notes

Meta’s new approach to moderation questions, the context for an apparent shift to the right among tech leadership, and lessons from the last several years of moderation challenges and mistakes. At the end: Mark Zuckerberg offers his assessment of Apple in the modern era.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube

Meta Changes Moderation Policies, Zuckerberg’s Journey — and Mine, The Audacity of Copying Well — Stratechery Update

Mark Zuckerberg on Moderation Changes — Instagram: @zuck

The Audacity of Copying Well — Stratechery

Mark Zuckerberg on Apple — X: @tsarnick

Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

(Preview) What AI Could Mean for Aggregation Theory, o3 and Moore’s Law, More Questions Than Answers as Tech Enters 2025 Jan 06, 2025

Show notes

Ben and Andrew return from the holidays to check in on the AI landscape. Topics include: Aggregation Theory and the return of marginal costs for hyperscalers, the architecture of OpenAI’s o3 model, the murky future for software engineers and SaaS companies, and whether Scarlett Johansson fumbled the bag. At the end: In praise of learning to ski as a middle-aged beginner.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube

2025 AI & Semiconductor Outlook — Fabricated Knowledge

Enterprise Philosophy and The First Wave of AI — Stratechery

ChatGPT Gets a Computer — Stratechery

The End of the Beginning — Stratechery

Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

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