Asianometry

By Jon YTechnology

Asianometry episodes

May 28 Japan’s Rare Earths Island
In 2010, the People’s Republic of China banned exports of rare earths to Japan due to a territorial dispute. After that, the Japanese government began developing alternate sources of rare earths - signing deals with Australia and Brazil. The most intriguing potential source however lies beneath the deep sea sediments surrounding a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. In February 2026, the Japanese government reported the first successful test extraction of this deep sea mud, thousands of meters under the surface. In today’s video, a brief look at Japan’s rare earths island.
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20 min
May 24 How Things Fell Apart for Germany’s Nixdorf Computer
It is one of Europe’s greatest technology startup stories. A young student in 1950s West Germany motorcycling across the country - offering companies a computer. That young student built an empire from scratch. One of Europe’s biggest, most famous computer companies. Then it all came tumbling down. In today’s video, one of Europe’s most well-known computer companies: Nixdorf Computer.
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33 min
May 21 Intel’s 30 Years in Costa Rica
In July 2025, Intel announced that they will be gradually closing their assembly and test site in Costa Rica. End of an era. Intel has been in Costa Rica for almost 30 years. That A&T factory was their only Latin American manufacturing site.
In 2000, nearly 40% of Costa Rica’s exports were Intel microprocessors. They were a chip export giant! (Kinda) In today’s video, let us look back at Intel’s tenure in Costa Rica.
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23 min
May 17 The Little Vertical Laser That Everyone Uses
For the first few decades of its existence, all lasers were side-firing lasers - meaning the beam comes out of the wafer’s side. Horizontally. But in the late 1970s, a new type of semiconductor laser emerged. One that fired out of the wafer surface, vertically. Yes. It sounds a bit weird.
At first, nobody had any idea what to do with it. But over time, the technology has been adopted into a wide variety of everyday applications. Today, it literally shines into people’s faces. In today’s video, the little vertical lasers that everyone uses.
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19 min
May 10 General Motors Dreamt of Robots
In March 1982, General Motors announced a rapid and aggressive conversion to robotics. By 1990, GM wanted 14,000 robots in their factories doing everything from painting to welding to assembly. Nowadays, we dream of robots in the factories, doing everything end to end. In the dark. Lights out. Guess what, GM dreamed the same 40 years ago. And they spent an estimated $60 billion to try to make it reality. In today’s video, we look at General Motors and their dreams of the automated, all-robot factory.
Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
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47 min
May 03 Sweden Made DC Great Again
The first electricity systems were Direct Current. It worked, but there was a problem. DC didn’t transmit easy. Thus arose a new technology built around Alternating Current. AC. The two sides clashed briefly, but the winner was clear. AC won.
Sixty years later, a subsea power link to an island in Sweden transmitted a new message: DC was back. In today’s video, the rise, fall, and re-rise of DC power transmission.
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27 min
April 30 An Interview with Josh Fisher: Inventing VLIW, Multiflow, Itanium, VLIW’s Massive Success
⁠ I don’t do that many interviews, but when Josh Fisher emailed me after the first VLIW video came out, I figured I had to take a shot and ask. And to my great pleasure, he agreed. Fisher is winner of the Eckert–Mauchly Award and a pioneer of VLIW architecture. I consider him a legend.
Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
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0 min
April 26 Fanuc and the Numerical Control Revolution
The machinist occupies a special place in industry. Using a set of mechanized tools, and drawing on years of experience and vibes, they take something from raw metal to finished form. Machining was part science, part magic. A respected craft that brought pride and a good living to its many practitioners.
Then in the 1950s, a revolutionary new technology sought to replace the machinist’s capabilities with a string of numbers. One Japanese company arose to take the fullest advantage of this trend. In today’s video, the rise of Numerical Control, CNC, and Fanuc.
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29 min
April 23 South Korea Defied the Gods to Build its Steel Colossus
South Korean President Park Chung-hee believed that steel is national power. He wanted a huge integrated steel mill in South Korea. But the Western powers were skeptical. South Korea was extremely poor, without substantial iron reserves. Their workers, uneducated. For South Korea to go straight to what was then the most capital-intensive heavy industry was to defy economic orthodoxy. Too soon. Too inefficient.
But Park Chung-hee believed Korea needed steel. So he pushed his country to build one of the world’s most advanced steel companies. In today’s video, we go back to the world of steel and recount one of South Korea’s most iconic companies: POSCO.
Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
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23 min
April 19 Itanium: Intel’s Great Successor
In June 1994, Intel and Hewlett-Packard - two of Silicon Valley’s largest and most powerful companies - announced an alliance. From the union of these two giants, will spring forth the next generation of CPUs. The Great Successor. Chosen to unify two architectures under one umbrella.
It was named Itanium and by 2002 Intel had spent $5 billion on it. In today’s video, we trace one of Intel’s most ambitious products.
Get all episodes of Asianometry, Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk, and Dithering as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.
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48 min

About Asianometry

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Newsletter for the Asianometry channel. Studies on Asia - Financials, semiconductors, history, demography, development and other stuff.

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