Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson

By Andrew Sharp and Ben ThompsonTechnology

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Typical duration
33 min
per episode

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Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson episodes

November 13 Nvidia After Jensen Huang, What Huang Meant to the AI Ecosystem, Washington Gets Its Revenge
Ben and Andrew begin with a look back at what Jensen Huang meant to Nvidia, why AI changed the company, what Jensen’s efforts meant to the AI buildout, and what his absence could mean for both the AI ecosystem and the Nvidia F1 car. From there: The corporate red lines Huang crossed at Nvidia, the enemies he made in Washington that may have led to his demise, Alice Huang spy intrigue, a funeral for opposition to chip bans (and more), the hawkish chip policies that loom in the wake of this week’s news, and Jensen’s fearless gambles that were inseparable from his ultimate downfall. At the end: Celebrating 300 episodes of Sharp Tech with a nerdy chronicle of Ben’s journey into 3D printing, related AI show-and-tell adventures, and a Fable 5.2 triumph in Ben’s war with Mac mini permission dialogs.
This episode is presented by Stripe, the economic infrastructure for AI, and for Stratechery itself.

Agentic commerce purchases with Link, Stripe’s digital wallet that works surprisingly well for agents, grew 38x in September. You can use Link on Muse, as well as many other of the agents you might use already.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Jensen Huang’s Affair, The Culper Report, Huang’s Righteousness — Stratechery Update
The Jensen Huang Story Gets Worse, Washington vs. New York, Silicon Valley — Stratechery Update
AI Promise and Chip Precariousness — Stratechery
An Interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about Manufacturing Intelligence — Stratechery Interview
An Interview With Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang About Building the Omniverse Cloud — Stratechery Interview
An Interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang About AI’s iPhone Moment — Stratechery Interview
An Interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang About Chip Controls, AI Factories, and Enterprise Pragmatism — Stratechery Interview
An Interview with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang About Accelerated Computing — Stratechery Interview
Jensen Huang Was Always Going to Lose — Sharp Text
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.
1 hr 48 min
November 06 America Votes Against Data Centers, Implications for Big Tech and Beyond, Were Google Bears Right All Along?
Ben and Andrew begin with reactions to this week’s elections and their implications across tech. First: The resounding rejection of AI data centers in localities across the country, why a pause in Texas is particularly problematic for U.S. AI infrastructure, widespread resentment of big tech, and the big tech blind spots that led to this point. From there: A digression SpaceX and data centers in space, why hyperscalers figure to be the beneficiaries of a buildout bottleneck, and a word about China. At the end: A Google state of the union after last week’s earnings, Reddit scrambles to adapt to a new environment, and AI Show & Tell spawns a discussion about the group chat era of software.
Sharp Tech is Presented by Stripe.

To review Stripe’s latest SaaS data, click here.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
AI on the Ballot — Stratechery
Data Center Discontent, Understanding the Opposition, Fixing the Problem — Stratechery Update
Halt and Catch Ire — Sharp Text
The SpaceX IPO and Data Centers in Space — Stratechery
Google Earnings, Facebook Déjà Vu, The Agent Play — Stratechery Update
The Google Capital Company — 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.
1 hr 42 min
October 30 Anthropic Opens the Kimono, Bubble Questions and Frontier Costs, Q&A on Meta, Starlink, Brewers
Ben and Andrew begin with a salute to the world champion Milwaukee Brewers before turning to Anthropic’s S-1 as the company prepares for its public offering in November. Topics: Anthropic’s impressive margins, questions about the second half of 2026, how the company “lost” $80 billion in 2026, how compute will be paid for going forward, and an SEC disclosure that finally shows us the breakdown of training vs. inference costs. From there: Anthropic’s obsession with OpenAI, reactions to Craig Moffet’s questions about the AI bubble, understanding Meta’s AI spending as an echo of Anthropic’s S-1, a brief 1Password history, and Muse as the ultimate founder bet. At the end: An emailer wonders about Elon’s role in the Ukraine War, Ben sees You Can See Everything, and a few emotional thoughts on the Brewers World Series win.
Sharp Tech is Presented by Stripe.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Anthropic S-1, The Cost of Compute, Who Is Paying? — Stratechery Update
An Interview with Craig Moffett About SpaceX and Bubbles — Stratechery Interview
An Interview with Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar About the AI Religious War — Stratechery Interview
Meta Earnings, Muse and the Frontier, Musebook — 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.
1 hr 39 min
October 23 Netflix Angst, The End of the Internet, Q&A on Meta’s VR Glasses, Anthropic Alignment, You Can See Everything
Ben and Andrew begin with notes on the future of the podcast before turning to a raft of ominous Netflix shows and a question: what can Netflix fix, and what growth problems are more intractable? From there: A note on Elon’s investment in Skydance, Anthropic solves an NSA mystery, and reactions to a variety of ominous cybersecurity developments from the past several days. At the end: Meeting the Meta VR glasses in person, Anthropic’s branding spawns thoughts on alignment, why Apple has retained the “Siri” branding (so far), reading as an AI bottleneck, olive oil recs, podcast-listening speeds, and Andrew reverses his stance on the new Nathan Fielder movie.
You can watch this episode of Sharp Tech on YouTube.
Sharp Tech is Presented by Stripe.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Netflix Earnings, Business or Franchise, Disney’s Deal — Stratechery
Is Netflix Washed Now? — Sharp Text
You Can See Everything (And It’s a Great Time) — Sharp Text
Presented by Stripe — Stratechery
Claude reveals ECDSA curve origins — Anthropic
NSA Advisory: Critical Patches Recommended for PHP Vulnerabilities — NSA
Indian firm eMudhra exits global digital certificates business after vulnerability disclosure — Reuters
Scoop: Unvetted AI agents are accessing U.S. bank accounts — Axios
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.
1 hr 39 min
October 15 (Preview) Apple Enters the Uncanny Valley, The SpaceX Play for Cellular, Q&A on The Ringer, Smartphones, AI Parenting
Ben and Andrew begin with reactions to Apple’s HomeView, including backlash to one of the company’s worst commercials ever, why the product category should exist, and whether Apple is the right company to execute in this space. From there: SpaceX moves full speed ahead with its plans for cellular coverage, why some airlines and carriers balked at partnering with SpaceX, and challenges the company will face going toe to toe with cellular incumbents. At the end: The Ringer’s new, Substack-forward model, the future of sports TV rights as AI spending continues, more on Amazon prices and the company’s logistic moat, building AI apps for iOS, the maddening centrality of smartphones in daily life, solidarity with Ben in his cupboard strategy and smart home instincts, the AI pitch that more companies should be emphasizing, and AI show & tell on a parenting use case that has paid dividends.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Apple HomeView, The New Apple TV, The App Story — Stratechery Update
SpaceX Buys More Spectrum, Musk and Market Structure, Distributed Cellular — Stratechery Update
Palantir CTO says some AI researchers are taking up smoking because they expect AI to cure cancer — Business Insider
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.
24 min
October 09 (Preview) Two Paths for Apple and Its Users, More on Amazon and Advertising, OpenAI and 722 Mathematical Manuscripts
Andrew and Ben begin with reflections on Ben’s changing relationship with the Mac and two markets that may ultimately be impossible to serve with one product and operating system. Then: Why Apple’s plans for your living room make sense, reactions to the Duo, and the near-term outlook for humanoid robots in the home. From there: More specifics on why agents put certain types of advertising at risk, thoughts on Amazon adopting a YouTube Premium model, and a question about product pricing that spawns a lesson in advertising, generally. Then: Reactions to OpenAI’s math progress, anxiety among mathematicians, inter-disciplinary skills, joining forces on Machine Intelligence Island, and a reminder that equating raw IQ with value is a bad idea. At the end: Grading Ben Affleck’s AI knowledge, Mike Tomlin’s Minecraft habit, and a digression on IBM, Compaq, and the decompilation of video games (and why fair use is not a viable defense for hackers).
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Apple and a Hacker’s Future — Stratechery
Apple and LG, The House For Everyone Else, Agent Standards and Amazon — Stratechery Update
Email Addresses and Razor Blades — Stratechery
AI Solved One Math Problem and Everyone Freaked Out. It Just Cracked Hundreds More. — The Wall Street Journal
ChatGPT Gets a Computer — Stratechery
Super Intelligence Is Not Right, Either — Sharp Text
Ben Affleck on Programming in Python and Using AI in Filmmaking — @firesidealpha on X
EP 1: ROOFTOPS, PENTHOUSES, AND URBAN LIVING — Mike Tomlin: YouTube
Game Decompilation, Is This Legal?, A Well-Trodden Path — 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.
31 min
October 02 (Preview) All About Agents: Dots Arrive, Google and Apple Questions, Muse Follow-Ups, Super Intelligence, and the Mandate of Heaven
Ben and Andrew begin with a note on VIM and reactions to a confusing product launch from OpenAI at Dev Day earlier this week. Then: Will personal agents be a winner-take-all market? What can Apple and Google do in the consumer agent space? Will normal people take longer than expected to adopt these products? And did Meta’s push into the enterprise break the company’s hot streak? From there: Emails on the future of payments, “super intelligence” branding for AI, America.gov, and firing Dario Amodei. At the end: AI Show & Tell with notes on generational adoption shifts (and Tamagotchis), movie games, a personalized sports page, App Store hell, and going full KGB on messaging.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Dot.com — Grok Bot
Apps, Agents, and Aggregation — Stratechery
OpenAI Dev Day, Dot and OpenAI’s Product Transition, Sign In With ChatGPT — Stratechery Update
The Problem with Payments — Stratechery
Google Grapples With Employee Skepticism About New Gemini 4 — Bloomberg
One More Note on Agents, Meta Connect, Meta Enterprise Platform — Stratechery Update
Super Intelligence Is Not Right, Either — Sharp Text
Enterprise Philosophy and the First Wave of AI — Stratechery
Tentpole Game — Tentpole
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.
23 min
September 25 (Preview) Three Weeks of Meta Momentum, The Ultimate Muse Upside, A King Kong vs. Godzilla Aggregator War
Ben and Andrew begin with the Meta Connect keynote and a simple question: is this the first time since 2021 that Meta has been cool? From there, new VR glasses, the Muse Charm, a basketball analogy for Meta Connect in 2026, and the infrastructure and talent investments that have helped Muse resonate over the past few weeks. Then: An emailer shares his Muse epiphany, a potential secondary effect of agents saving users money, why Muse is not sharing user data with Meta, and the ultimate “aggregator of aggregators” upside. Then: Extended thoughts on the Muse vs. Amazon tensions, why Meta’s Walmart deal was potentially crucial, and Amazon’s moat in logistics (and returns) that may prove durable in the agents era. At the end: A CarPlay victory lap, and a round of AI Show and Tell with a wedding planner, a SunOS coder, and a fantasy football league.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Meta Debuts Dedicated ‘Charm’ Device for Using Muse AI — Bloomberg
Meta Launches Lightweight $1,299 VR Headset That Looks Like Glasses — Bloomberg
Amazon Blocks Muse, Amazon’s Moat, Aggregator v Aggregator — Stratechery Update
More on Muse, Amazon, and Walmart; Muse and Expedia; Whither Google? — Stratechery Update
Amazon and Shopify, Shopify and Its Merchants, The Payments Question — Stratechery Update
An Interview with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg About AI and the Evolution of Social Media — Stratechery Interview
Ben on AI’s Problem Marketing Consumer AI — X: @TBPN
Ben’s Full Interview on TBPN — X: @TBPN
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.
27 min
September 18 (Preview) Doom Debates Go Mainstream, AI Religion and the Economic Future, Several Vectors of the China Question
On today’s Ben and Andrew begin with Andrew’s article on AI alarmism, the primacy of the effective altruists in AI risk conversations, and why these discussions are exhausting without more evidence, even as AI risk becomes the biggest story in American politics. From there: A distinction between regulation malaise five years ago and where we are today, the grind of modern software, and questions responding to Ben’s Update on Monday, including thoughts on why OpenAI and Anthropic won’t unilaterally slow down, why Sam Altman and Elon Musk were incentivized to agree with Dario Amodei, and an emailer who asks whether doomerism hysteria is crowding out more urgent economic questions. Then: Questions on China’s incentives in AI, the strategic benefits of chip sales and distillation, military implications of American lead in AI, and China’s messy cybersecurity situation. At the end: An ode to ApplePay, Walmart, and Walton Goggins (but not Matt LaFleur).
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Some of All Fears — Sharp Text
Pacing the Frontier, AI’s Digital Limits, AI Commissars — Stratechery Update
Anthropic’s Safety Superpower — Stratechery
Ralph Waldo Emerson Quote — Goodreads
AI Promise and Chip Precariousness — Stratechery
OpenAI Ads, Amazon Ads in ChatGPT, Walmart to Accept Apple Pay — Stratechery Update
Sharp Text on EZ-Pass History — Sharp Text
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.
34 min
September 10 (Preview) Astra (and AGI?) Arrives, Meta’s Muse and the Agent Opportunity, Anthropic and the Revival of (P)Doom Angst
Andrew and Ben begin with Ben’s article on Tuesday on the transformative value of LLMs writing things down. Topics include: How assistants have helped Ben solve his blindspots, the omnicompetent assistants that are now available to everyone, a brief detour into markdown file history, the arrival of OpenAI’s Astra models, a future of models that use computers, the astounding value of a pro subscription to Anthropic and OpenAI, and the pace of AI progress in the fall of 2026. From there: More on the Hugging Face incident, a listener asks for advice on getting started with agents, and Meta’s Muse arrives to help normal unlock the potential of agents. At the end: Reactions to a pair of viral p(doom) tweets from Anthropic employees, why one writer’s pandemic callback offers an unintentionally instructive parallel, and an emotional announcement about the iPhone Air.
To email the show: [email protected]
@SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube
@Stratechery Channel — YouTube
Write Things Down — Stratechery
An Interview with OpenAI President Greg Brockman About Astra and Alignment — Stratechery Interview
OpenAI Does Math, Reward-Hacking, Meta Launches Personal Agent — Stratechery Update
Anthropic Researcher Jacob Coxon Quits Over ‘Out-of-Control’ AI Fears — The 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.
25 min