Asianometry Channel Archive

151121 Like and subscribe. This is an archive, check the link in the end if you are. Note: Yeah I know something’s up with the audio but it sounded fine to me at the time. Later videos will have this fixed. For nearly half a century, there were two Carl Zeisses. One based in the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany. The other in the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany. The Carl Zeiss of today is the Western German variant. Their work in lithography and EUV sits on the cutting edge of what is possible in nanoscale technology. But the Carl Zeiss of East Germany was fascinating too. It grew to be a massive industrial conglomerate, doing cutting edge research into optics, military tech, and semiconductors. In this video, I want to step away from Asia once more and look at a fascinating history. One of Germany's most iconic companies, split in two between East and West. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

151121 Like and subscribe. This is an archive, check the link in the end if you are. Note: Yeah I know something’s up with the audio but it sounded fine to me at the time. Later videos will have this fixed. China is the world's largest EV market with over 5.5 million sold as of March 2021. This is a good thing in many ways. China has the most cars in the world and these are replacing harmful greenhouse gases. But these things have their own sustainability concerns. There have been the concerns about environmental damage resulting from the extraction of elements like lithium and cobalt. But another concern has to do with the coming problem of waste. China is starting to experience the leading edge of this problem. In 2020, 200,000 tons of batteries were decommissioned, and the figure is anticipated to rise to 780,000 tons by 2025. In this video, I want to look at China’s looming EV battery waste problem. And what the world’s biggest EV market is doing about it. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

071121 Like and subscribe. This is an archive, check the link in the end if you are. In 2016, Hanjin Shipping, Korea's biggest container shipping line, abruptly filed for reorganization. The company had once been the country's pride and joy - a worthy sibling alongside flagship carrier Korean Air. The unexpected insolvency roiled the markets and caused global chaos in the shipping industry. Once they had been the fourth biggest container line in the world. In 2016, they had 97 ships and called on 90 different ports in over 35 countries around the world. But the company sailed into troubled waters after the Global Financial Crisis. Freight rates crashed through the floor, and the company vanished underneath the waves. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

051121 Like and subscribe. This is an archive, check the link in the end if you are. In the 1990s, western scientists were allowed to study a series of fossils from a dig site in west Liaoning, China. What they saw would blow their minds: One of the most famous fossil beds ever discovered in history. A finely preserved slice of life from 120 million years ago. And within this treasure trove, a unique creature. A dinosaur that would make headlines around the world. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry - Twitter: https://twitter.com/asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

311021 Like and subscribe. This is an archive, check the link in the end if you are. When we talk about semiconductor manufacturing, we might bring up images in our head of massive fabs, yellow clean rooms, and people walking around in bunny suits. That mental image might lead us to presume semiconductor manufacturing to be this squeaky clean endeavor. But when we say "clean", we really mean "clean" in the sense that we want to keep the product free of particles. We really have no idea what is going on in those fabs for the people working and living around there. These companies use immense amounts of toxic and carcinogenic materials to make the beautiful chips that power our machines. And, if we were to simply look at the historical record, then there is reason for concern. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

291021 Like and subscribe. This is an archive, check the link in the end if you are. In 2005, Thailand became the world's biggest manufacturer of hard disk drives or HDDs. Thailand's dominance in this particular industry tends only to be recognized when something happens to damage it. For instance, floods in 2011 that caused a number of worldwide HDD shortages. In this video, we will look at how Thailand came to be a leader in the hard drive industry. And the daunting challenges associated with growing beyond that early success. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

241021 Like and subscribe. This is an archive, check the link in the end if you are. In the mid 1990s, two companies dominated the lithography space. Both of them were Japanese: Nikon and Canon. Together, they held three quarters share of the market. Then a Dutch company called ASML rose to overtake these two, relegating them to bit players in the industry. Today, the two are no longer trying to compete at the cutting edge. While ASML is now Europe's most valuable technology company. In this video, I want to talk about how ASML took the market share and technological leadership crown. And why the Japanese incumbents failed to keep it. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

011121 Like and subscribe. This is an archive, check the link in the end if you are. China has been the world's single largest energy consumer since 2011. Their energy use demand has grown at an average of 4% a year since 1980 and that is not expected to change. Every country wants to have a lot of stable, reliable electricity. But China in particular needs a lot of it. And most of that electricity comes from coal. It has been coal for a while now, and it is going to still be coal for a long time thereafter. In this video, I want to look at the role of coal in China's energy ecosystem. Why the country remains so reliant on non-renewable energy sources, and what might be done about it in the future. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry - The Podcast: https://anchor.fm/asianometry - Twitter: https://twitter.com/asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

121021 Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. The Zaibatsu of Japan practically ran the nation's economy. Over the span of many decades going into the early 1900s, the families who owned these titanic businesses grew to possess plutocratic amounts of wealth. Unchecked expansionism allowed their industrial combines to become vast mini-economies within the Japanese nation. But then, over a very short period of time, this vast wealth and income inequality abruptly ended. These families lost their control and then their companies. In this video, we are going to look at how Japan's richest families got to be so rich. How the authorities came to attack and consume their fortunes. And what doing so meant for the Japanese economy post-War. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

04102022 Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. Northern Australia is Australia's last frontier and also its most vexing economic development puzzle. People have long dreamed of turning its vastness into a bountiful bread basket. It might be possible. But there remain formidable challenges in the way. For over thirty years starting in the 1960s, the Australian government built a series of dams to divert the waters of the 650 kilometer or 405 mile long Ord River for irrigation. Over a billion dollars went into the project since 1950. And the water eventually did flow. But a (maybe) surprising thing happened: The farms would not make money. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. Applied Materials is America's biggest semiconductor equipment manufacturer. They are a R&D leader and without the work they do, we would not have the sophisticated chips we have today. Just as the number of foundries capable of fabbing at the leading edge is shrinking, the set of potential manufacturers capable of making leading edge chip making tools is shrinking too. The two or three who are left are some of the very best in the business. In this video, we will continue our exploration of the chip making supply chain and do a deep dive into this unheralded but vital company. Errata: 17:08 - It says Samsung on both pie charts, but the one on the right should say "Intel", not "Samsung". Fail whale. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. As electric vehicles gain popularity around the world, people are starting to pay closer attention to the batteries going into those EVs. A recent report by the Biden administration singles out large capacity EV batteries as one of four critical industries worth further scrutiny. Asian-based companies are driving substantial technical progress here. In a prior video, I profiled CATL Group, the world's largest EV battery company by shipments. While they are indeed growing very quickly, CATL's leading position is almost entirely defined by its dominance in the China market. Outside of China, the situation is very different. In this video, I want to look at another battery market leader, one with considerable strength outside of China. What had once been LG Chem, but is now called LG Energy Solution. Errata: 7:00 - The electrolyte facilitates the flow of lithium ions between the electrodes - not electrons 8:10 - Tesla does not use the 4680 yet, but it's in development. Wanted to make that clear. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. Malaysia's semiconductor industry has seen impressive growth. Following in the footsteps of its Asian neighbors, the country successfully built itself up as an attractive location for foreign direct investment. It leveraged that to make a place of its own in the semiconductor industry. But that industry has found itself sort of caught in the middle. Unable to invest in the future, the country’s small local cluster of semiconductor firms find themselves stuck in a tenuous place low in the value chain. With seemingly few good prospects out. In this video, we are going to look at Malaysia's place in the global semiconductor industry. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. Let's do something different this time. For this video, I am going to shift focus from Asia to talk about the United Kingdom. Northeast England was once a heavy industry powerhouse. But when those industries declined, the region struggled to come up with its next growth industry. So when Siemens Semiconductor pledged in 1995 to invest over a billion pounds for a semiconductor fab, the area was overjoyed. The Queen showed up and everything. But the plant never had a chance. Siemens closed it after just 15 months of operation. An aborted attempt to revive the plant fell through. What happened here? In this video, we are going to look at semiconductor manufacturing's failure in North Tyneside. Errata: - Another currency mishap - GBP and USD are inverted in the early video parts. I will from now on just say the USD to keep myself sorted - Bundespost, rather than Bundesbank. Bundes-Brain fart. - DRAM chip is measured in bits and not bytes, so it's not megabytes, but megabits. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. India is a semiconductor design powerhouse. Nearly every major semiconductor company has a presence in India, designing some of the most advanced chips in the world. But once those designs are completed, they are sent to the United States, China, South Korea or Taiwan to fabricate. It begs the question. Why can't India fabricate any of the chips they lay out? In the 1980s, the Indian government attempted to follow China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Korea, and Singapore in creating their own semiconductor manufacturing national champion. Things got off to a promising start, but then disaster struck. And the company - along with India's entire semiconductor manufacturing industry - hasn't recovered since. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. You might have heard something about Evergrande Group (恒大集團) recently. This is a sprawling company with billions of dollars in debt, a little bit of a cash crunch, and is looking for a way out. Who knows what is going to happen. Everything is all up in the air and we are hearing new things each day. But the whole saga has gotten me interested in how a real estate company has managed to grow so far, and so fast. That is what we will talk about today. In this video, we look at the rise and fall of what had once been China's biggest real estate conglomerate. A company now with $300 billion in liabilities. Errata: 26:20 - 22% discount, not 78% discount. Google Translate error. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry - The Podcast: https://anchor.fm/asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. Just a few jumbled thoughts on the Chinese government’s recent regulatory actions on its technology sector. Check out a few other really thoughtful articles on this here: - https://www.theemergingmarketsinvestor.com/chinas-growth-stocks-run-into-the-ire-of-the-government/ - https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/why-is-china-smashing-its-tech-industry - Howard Lindzon Podcast 164 - https://open.spotify.com/episode/3BP0zdiXT3MYb28X5CJhSY?si=d9fadc5790de450a Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry - The Podcast: https://anchor.fm/asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography is the next step on the semiconductor fabrication roadmap. It is a disruptive technology using a new ultraviolet wavelength. Dutch company ASML is currently the only company shipping these million dollar machines. But ASML in turn relies on Carl Zeiss in Germany for the all-important optics system. The two are intimate strategic partners. The key issue that ASML and Carl Zeiss engineers had to overcome is that high-energy UV light gets absorbed by virtually all materials, which means that lenses are not feasible. The lens material will literally just eat up those rays. Thus, Zeiss crafted an optics system entirely out of multi-layer mirrors. It is super cool. In my last video I gave a brief overview of Carl Zeiss the company and a few of their products. In this follow up, we are going to go deeper and look at how Zeiss made a EUV optics system. Errata: (You can tell I was getting tired.) 5:30 - I suck at math. 17,622 meters high, not 780 meters 11:00 - The mirror is coated last. Multi-layer deposition goes first 11:30 - 0.5mm Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. In this video, I want to talk about Apple's latest technology plaything: the mini-LED panel in the 2021 model of the 12.9 inch iPad Pro. The reviews on the iPad have invariably noted how nice the display looks. And it appears that the technology is mooted to show up in some of Apple's other products as is their tendency. Tech publications like Linus Tech Tips and the Verge have talked about what makes mini-LEDs special. Definitely check those out too. But in this video, I want to take a look at the company supplying this interesting technology. One of the world's biggest LED vendors, Hsinchu-based Ennostar Group. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. Rio Tinto went back on its word in a tense situation and ended up paying the price. In the early 2000s, China began a magnificent economic growth trend at a scale unlike anything before seen in this world. That growth, however, found itself dependent on a single valuable commodity. China, the world's biggest maker of things as varied as cabbages to door knobs, does not have enough good iron ore. But Australia did, and so was born a very rich relationship. But as iron ore prices exploded upwards, tensions erupted between China and the big mining companies. And that led to a monumentally bad situation for everyone involved. In this video, we are going to explore the tensions that would eventually lead to the Sino-Australian kerfuffle known as the Stern Hu affair. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. As I am writing this, Taiwan is suffering through one of its worst droughts in many years. The northern-western part - Taipei, New Taipei City - is generally fine. There are enough reservoirs. But other areas like Tainan, Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Hsinchu are having some issues. Their water infrastructure is not as resilient or their water demand is greater. There are reports in the media of TSMC budgeting for millions of dollars to truck water down to its fabs in Tainan. Ah, and TSMC along with Intel and a bunch of other chip companies are building fabs in Arizona. A land inundated with clean, fresh drinking water. The company - and the industry as a whole - has long had to deal with water usage issues at their facilities. And the problem is only going to get worse as we progress forward. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. Germany-based Carl Zeiss AG is a fascinating company. Fascinating, even if you do not take into account that they make lenses and optics for some of the coolest systems in the world. When you are etching patterns as wide as a small virus, you have graduated beyond simple lens. Now we refer to them as "optics systems". These massive multi-component systems are at the very heart of the multi-million dollar photolithography machines that ASML makes. Without them, ASML has no machine to deliver to TSMC, Samsung or Intel. In this video, we are going to continue with our deep dive into the semiconductor industry’s critical suppliers with a look at one of ASML’s closest partners. The makers of the optics systems that let high-energy UV light etch wafers. And a company with an utterly fascinating history. Carl Zeiss. Error: The video shows that Zeiss died in 1866. He died in 1888. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. Colin Huang founded a company in 2015. Three years later it IPO'ed. His shares in that company? Worth $14 billion. Then the value of those shares doubled. Colin Huang began selling his shares in 2020. He stepped down from being CEO and took up the chairman position. Then in March 2021, he stepped down from that too, retiring completely. As of this writing, Bloomberg says he is worth $45 billion, the world's 30th richest person. In this video, I want to talk about a guy who got very rich, very fast. And then he got out just as fast. I have never seen anything like it. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. In 2010, one of India's most dominant companies returned to the telecommunications space. In ten years, they flipped the table on all of India's telecom incumbents and came out on top. Reliance Jio (renamed to Jio Platforms later on, but I will stick to Reliance Jio) leveraged a $30 billion network to remake the Indian telecom industry and bring cheap data to the whole country. Jio's entry has literally remade the Indian digital economy. In this video, I want to look back at how Reliance Jio entered one of India's most competitive industries, won leading share in that market against established incumbents, and won of the love of America's tech titans. Edit: I misspoke at 3:57, it's BSNL not BNSL. My bad. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/

Like and subscribe. This is an archive channel, i'm not the owner of the content, check the link in the end. My father was a chip designer. I remember barging into his office as a kid and seeing the tables and walls covered in intricate diagrams and drawings. I watched him work in fascination as he painstakingly drew lines I did not understand. These days, nobody draws circuits anymore by hand. In this video, we are going to dive into a critical software tool for chip designers - Electronic Design Automation or EDA. Without this unheralded software, many of today's most advanced chips cannot be made. Links: - The Asianometry Newsletter: https://asianometry.substack.com - Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Asianometry https://rumblevideoarchive.wordpress.com/