Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson

Latest Episodes:

(Preview) AWS History and Trainium’s AI Future, OpenAI Makes a Deal With Microsoft, Meta and the Future of Wearable Devices May 01, 2026

Show notes

Ben and Andrew react to Amazon’s impressive earnings in AI with a cliffs notes history on AWS cloud computing strategy, how Amazon is returning to that playbook in AI, and why the Trainium bets look more reasonable than ever. From there: Understanding both sides of the OpenAI and Microsoft deal this week, including why OpenAI wants to be on AWS, and why Microsoft’s conflict of interest is now resolved. At the end: Extended thoughts on Meta Display glasses, the future of AR devices, the mother of all patent lawsuits, as well as a few Apple follow-ups, and an eye surgery epiphany.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

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AWS re:Invent, Nova and Model Choice, AI as Commodity — Stratechery Update

Paradigm Shifts and the Winner’s Curse — Stratechery

An Interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and AWS CEO Matt Garman About Bedrock Managed Agents — Stratechery Interview

AI Hardware, Meta Display, Redefining VR and AR — 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) Six Questions on Frontier AI Labs, Messaging AI to a Skeptical Public, Amazon (and Apple?) Ramps Up Competition with Elon Apr 17, 2026

Show notes

Ben and Andrew begin with six emails on AI, including a question about the future of AI consumer demand, Gemini’s quiet few months, whether compute constraints should lead to price hikes, and divergent approaches to AGI at Anthropic and OpenAI. From there: An extended answer to a question about AI messaging in the face of widespread skepticism, an Einstein AI thought experiment, and extended thoughts on Amazon’s acquisition of Globalstar, Apple’s role, and what Amazon wants from LEO satellites. At the end: Emails on Allbirds and pivots, the ZIRP/NBA cap spike analogy for displaced engineering talent, Evan Spiegel’s advice for Meta, and two notes on the news business.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

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An Interview with F1 Driver and Venture Capitalist Nico Rosberg About the Drive to Win — Stratechery Interview

Mythos, Muse, and the Opportunity Cost of Compute — Stratechery

TSMC Risk — Stratechery

Amazon Buys Globalstar, Delta to Add Leo, The Apple Angle — 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) Mythos and Project Glasswing, The Year of Anthropic Continues Apace, Q&A on the NYT, Altman, De-globalization Apr 10, 2026

Show notes

Ben and Andrew begin with reactions to Anthropic’s Mythos announcement and Project Glasswing, including thoughts on the security risks, the business benefits of keeping this model private, lessons on the “Boy Who Cried Wolf,” and renewed focus on Anthropic’s relationship with the U.S. government. From there: Anthropic’s new deal with Broadcom and Google, a year of stunning Anthropic success that began in 2024, the threats that Anthropic poses to Microsoft, and where AI can and can’t help with taxes. At the end: How the New York Times is adapting to the future, understanding Sam Altman’s history at OpenAI, and a question on the implications of de-globalization.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

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Anthropic’s New Model, The Mythos Wolf, Glasswing and Alignment — Stratechery Update

Anthropic’s New TPU Deal, Anthropic’s Computing Crunch, The Anthropic-Google Alliance — Stratechery Update

ChatGPT Gets a Computer — Stratechery

An Interview with New York Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien About Betting on Humans With Expertise — Stratechery Interview

In Defense of The New York Times — Stratechery

Hormuz, Rushmore, and a Sam Altman Story That Missed the Story — Sharp Text

Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted? — The New Yorker

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) Five Questions on Apple at 50 Years Old, The Axios Hack and AI Security, Q&A on Starlink, AI IPOs, AirPods Apr 03, 2026

Show notes

Ben and Andrew begin with Q&A on Apple after 50 years, including thoughts on Steve Jobs weaknesses, putting iTunes on Windows, the best Apple ads, Chinese manufacturing counterfactuals, and tech company Mount Rushmore. From there: Thoughts on Apple’s AI bet and the downside risk, the signs that Cupertino sees AI as a disruptive technology, and extended thoughts on the Axios hack and why why AI will make security issue worse in the short-term, but may be the solution in the long run. At the end: Delta chooses Amazon Leo over Starlink, two questions on Anthropic and OpenAI IPOs, why headhunters won’t be disrupted by AI, streaming sports abroad, and new fronts emerge in the AirPods battle.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

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Will AI Disrupt Apple? — Dithering

An Interview with Asymco’s Horace Dediu About Apple at 50 — Stratechery Interview

Apple’s 50 Years of Integration — Stratechery

Axios Supply Chain Attack, Claude Code Code Leaked, AI and Security — Stratechery Update

Original Apple iPhone 2G Commercials! 2007 Ads That Started It All! — YT: Latest Tech HD

Apple iPhone | Christmas Commercial 2013 — YT: Markedu

Fixed: The Sad iPad Ad — YT: Seth Godin

Apple - Think Different - Full Version — YT: Harry Piotr

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 Spring Break Mailbag: RIP Sora, Ads and Surplus, F1 Going in Reverse, Elon Inc., Smartphone Parenting, and More Mar 27, 2026

Show notes

Ben and Andrew interrupt Stratechery’s spring vacation with a mailbag. First, they discuss the end of Sora, the difference between Sora and Instagram, and where the OpenAI/Microsoft parallels break down. Then: A great take on advertising, ChatGPT engagement farming, Formula 1’s new era, the NFL’s world takeover, and how NBC solved tape delay at the Olympics. At the end: A question about Vision Pro and wives, whether elementary schoolers should have smart phones, Elon’s continued adventures with xAI, a Netflix dating show, LLM-aided dogfooding etymology, and Ben’s (admittedly boring) Taipei routine.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube

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) OpenAI’s Enterprise Pivot, The Rise of Agents and Bubble Counterpoints, Nvidia Changes Its Inference Story Mar 19, 2026

Show notes

Ben and Andrew begin with the news that OpenAI is shifting away from “side quests” and allocating resources to the enterprise space, including Dropbox history to explain OpenAI’s present, lessons in the enterprise space generally (and what you learn in business school), and OpenAI taking cues from 1980s Microsoft. From there: Talking through Ben’s article on Monday, including the implications of agents and questions about integration as durable differentiation for Anthropic and OpenAI. At the end: Nvidia’s new messaging on inference chips and Groq integration, and a word about winters (and whiners) in Wisconsin.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

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Jensen Huang and Andy Grove, Groq LPUs and Vera CPUs, Hotel California — Stratechery Update

Agents Over Bubbles — Stratechery

An Interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang About Accelerated Computing — Stratechery Interview

OpenAI to Cut Back on Side Projects in Push to ‘Nail’ Core Business — Wall Street Journal

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) Nerding Out with the Neo, Claude and the Integration Question, The End of Coding Language History Mar 13, 2026

Show notes

Ben and Andrew begin with the MacBook Neo, including Ben’s memory needs, Apple’s clever move to repurpose old iPhone chips, and the market for a $599 laptop. From there: A question about VisionOS, Andrew’s notes after six weeks of Vision Pro joy, and an extended discussion of Claude’s differentiation, harnessing, Microsoft’s AI strategy, and the future of integration and AI. At the end: A question on the end of coding language, what went wrong at the Washington Post, and being right points on AI group chats.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube

MacBook Neo, The (Not-So) Thin MacBook, Apple and Memory — Stratechery Update

Copilot Cowork, Anthropic’s Integration, Microsoft’s New Bundle — 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 Anthropic Mess Continues, Frontier AI and the Uncertain Future of Law, Q&A on Netflix, Dating Apps, F1 Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

Ben and Andrew react to a week of Anthropic discussion, including Dario Amodei’s leaked memo to employees, why a compromise is still possible, and answering a variety of questions in response to Ben’s article this week. At the end: A terrible AI law for young parents, surveying the implications for Netflix after Paramount wins the Warner Brothers bidding, a dispatch from dating app hell, a question about feeds on chatbots, should Google be the model for ChatGPT ads?, and thoughts on the business of F1 and the new season.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

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Read Anthropic CEO’s Memo Attacking OpenAI’s ‘Mendacious’ Pentagon Announcement — The Information

Anthropic and Alignment — Stratechery

Technological Scale and Government Control, Paramount Outbids Netflix for Warner Bros. — Stratechery Update

The End of the World As We Know It — Sharp Text

An Interview with Gregory Allen About Anthropic and the U.S. Government — Stratechery Interview

AI Homework — Stratechery

Pro-Neutrality, Anti-Title II — Stratechery

The Definitive Ranking of Tech Company Takeability — Sharp Text

F1 on Apple TV, Distribution as Differentiation, A Worthwhile Gamble — 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 Roots of a Global Memory Shortage, Thick, Thin and Apple, Shopify is Fine, Actually Feb 20, 2026

Show notes

Ben and Andrew discuss the global memory shortage and answer a listener’s question: how did this happen? Topics include: What memory chips have in common with logic chips, why Intel left the memory market in the 1980s, how the international shipping market explains today’s shortage, how major players will address the problem going forward, possibly with some help from the Chinese. From there: A look at the “thin” future of AI computing as memory and performance takes precedent, AI computing that will still be done on device, and Apple’s AI strategy. At the end: Responses to Shopify concerns in the AI era, a question about the future of brands as AI finishes what digital advertising started, Shopify preferencing its own AI tools, and a looming test of Apple’s commitment to the Vision Pro.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

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Rampant AI Demand for Memory Is Fueling a Growing Chip Crisis — Bloomberg

Thin Is In — Stratechery

Shopify Earnings, Shopify’s AI Advantages — Stratechery Update

Dreamer – why we built it! — David Singleton

Apple and the Ghosts of Companies Past — 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) Spotify Spreads Its Wings, CapEx Explosions and Distinctions, Q&A on Viral AI Tweets, Anthropic, Giannis Feb 13, 2026

Show notes

Ben and Andrew react to a killer round of earnings for Spotify and Daniel Ek’s final earnings call, including thoughts on Spotify’s transformation of the music industry, how a record company oligopoly helped create the definitive tech bundle, and why Spotify’s personalization requires an addendum to aggregation theory. From there: The difference between AI spending at Google and Amazon, why the AI buildout should be funded by debt, un-optimized tech companies, and the logic and risks of Amazon’s AI future. At the end: Reactions to a viral essay on AI job loss, a note about the Princeton Law Review, an ad man strikes back after Ben’s Anthropic criticism, and thoughts on Giannis’ investment in Kalshi.

To email the show: email@sharptech.fm

@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

@Stratechery Channel — YouTube

Spotify Earnings, Individualized Networks, AI and Aggregation — Stratechery Update

Amazon Earnings, CapEx Concerns, Commodity AI — Stratechery Update

An Interview with Ben Thompson by John Collison on the Cheeky Pint Podcast — Stratechery Interview

Something Big Is Happening — X: @mattshumer_

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.

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