The neXt Curve reThink Podcast

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Silicon Futures is a neXt Curve reThink Podcast series on AI and semiconductor tech and the industry topics that matter.

In this October Silicon Futures episode of the neXt Curve podcast, Leonard Lee joins Karl Freund (Cambrian AI Research) and Jim McGregor (Tirias Research) to review a packed month of AI, data center, silicon, and quantum headlines. 

They discuss major financing and M&A items including Anthropic’s IPO/S-1 and infrastructure commitments, Amazon’s acquisition of Duck Labs, SpaceX GPU lease commitments, SK Hynix pulling back an SSD subsidiary listing, Intel’s reported acquisition of Classiq for quantum software, and reports that Marvell is interested in acquiring Lumentum, weighing strategic optical networking benefits against difficult economics. 

The group highlights Qualcomm’s HBC stacked-memory milestone aimed at data center inference, broader shifts toward heterogeneous architectures and AI routing/orchestration for multi-model workloads, skepticism about “scale-across” networking, Nvidia’s DSX modular data center push to reduce build times amid labor constraints.

Applied Materials’ EPIC Center to accelerate process innovation, and market volatility tied to high expectations, monetization concerns, debt-funded AI buildouts, and neocloud dynamics.

In this episode, Leonard, Karl and Jim talk about.... 

➡️ (01:12) October headlines in silicon, AI, and quantum.
➡️ (04:08) Thoughts on Qualcomm’s HBC (High Bandwidth Compute) validation.
➡️ (07:03) The AI shift toward inference and memory stacking trend.
➡️ (10:03) Ramping topics of model routing for inference and agentic AI.
➡️ (11:58) DEBATE: Is heterogeneous computing for AI supercomputing new?
➡️ (15:22) Insights into Marvel’sl intent to acquire Lumentum.
➡️ (16:49) DEBATE: Is and will scale-across be a thing in the age of AI inference?
➡️ (19:14) Big news out of NVIDIA GTC Berlin and modular data centers.
➡️ (20:50) What does the DSX Pod mean for AI infrastructure deployments?
➡️ (23:55) Accelerating process technology with Applied Materials EPIC Center.
➡️ (26:47) AI bubble fears. Are they legit or overdone?
➡️ (28:26) Can neoclouds shed their CapEx offload brand?
➡️ (30:24) Microsoft’s changing philosophy on AI infra economics?
➡️ (34:24) A recap of Qualcomm Dragonwing IoT Day 2026.
➡️ (38:40) Quantum foundry launch by Anderon.
➡️ (40:16) Intel acquires Classiq out of Israel. 
➡️ (43:33) Intel Q3 earnings highlights, strategy update, and PC malaise.

Hit Leonard, Karl, and Jim up on LinkedIn and take part in their industry and tech insights.

Check out Jim and his research at Tirias Research at www.tiriasresearch.com.
Check out Karl and his research at Cambrian AI Research LLC at www.cambrian-ai.com. Check out Karl's Substack at: https://substack.com/@karlfreund429026

Please subscribe to our podcast which will be featured on the neXt Curve YouTube Channel. Check out the audio version on BuzzSprout or find us on your favorite Podcast platform.

Also, subscribe to the neXt Curve research portal at www.next-curve.com and our Substack (https://substack.com/@nextcurve) for the tech and industry insights that matter.

NOTE: The transcript is AI-generated and will contain errors.

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"From the Radio to the RIC" is a podcast series that is a collaboration between Earl Lum of EJL Wireless Research and Leonard Lee of neXt Curve covering mobile wireless technologies and the AI-evolution of the mobile infrastructure and computing.

Once again, we are at Mavenir’s Industry Analyst Event 2026, which is one of the densest and forward-thinking and viewing telco events of the year. Mavenir means (sort of) “future” in French. But the company has been a maverick of the industry that continues to push the frontier of telco and now beyond. 

In this episode of "From the Radio to the RIC", Earl and Leonard talk about the following topics and highlights:

➡️ (00:25) What Is Mavenir, and what does it stand for?
➡️ (01:48) Recap of last year's Mavenir Analyst Industry Day
➡️ (02:40) Key themes of Mavenir Industry Analyst Day 2026
➡️ (04:44) 6G Core options for AI-native. Are there any?
➡️ (14:32) The Open RAN Squid Game is officially done
➡️ (15:30) Will mobile sensing be another Squid Game?
➡️ (18:22) Mavenir's multi-access core vision for a heterogeneous connectivity world
➡️ (19:52) The new NeoCloud practice for a new frontier
➡️ (23:02) The massive vertical services fog and pitfalls for NeoClouds
➡️ (24:09) Enabling sovereign AI for government and defense
➡️ (24:42) Open RAN's silver lining moment with NTN
➡️ (25:27) Mavenir's frontier Forward Deployed Engineering differentiation 
➡️ (27:57) Network core-focused AI Voice - A key to AI innovation and modernization? 
➡️ (30:21) Mavenir's BSS for NeoCloud for agentic and AI FinOps and monetization
➡️ (33:26) The big frontier AI opportunity - Fraud and AI Security?
➡️ (39:41) The essential focus on knowledge management for safe telco AI

EPISODE SUMMARY (AI-generated)
"Leonard Lee and Earl Lum discuss attending Mavenir’s Industry Analyst Day in Allen, Texas, noting the company’s turnaround since last year’s recapitalization and debt restructuring and its renewed focus on high-margin software and profitability.

They highlight candid customer perspectives from O2 Germany and Turkcell, Mavenir’s core-centric strategy (“there’s a core for that”), and debate 6G core “options,” arguing AI implementation should be vendor- and operator-specific rather than standardized. 

They say Mavenir has exited the terrestrial Open RAN RAN business, emphasizing small cells, NTN-related work, AI voice capabilities, and expanding security/fraud prevention with faster vulnerability response. 

They also describe Mavenir’s forward-deployed engineering model that gets paid, internal AI for efficiency, and a broadened NeoCloud/AI Cloud push targeting sovereign, enterprise, and telco AI cloud segments, while warning the strategy risks spreading focus too thin."

If you would like to set up a meeting, connect with Earl Lum at www.ejlwireless.com and Leonard Lee at www.next-curve.com. 

Make a request through our respective request forms. 

Please subscribe to our podcast which will be featured on the neXt Curve YouTube Channel. Check out the audio version on BuzzSprout - https://nextcurvepodca... or find us on your favorite Podcast platform.  

Also, subscribe to the neXt Curve research portal at www.next-curve.com for the tech and industry insights that matter.

NOTE: The transcript is AI-generated and will contain errors.

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for informational purposes only.

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In this special episode of neXt Curve's reThink Podcast, Prakash Sangam, Principal Analyst at Tantra Analyst joins Leonard Lee to cover the top stories in tech.

Qualcomm and Arm were back in court last week. This time Qualcomm is the plaintiff bring a wide-ranging case to a jury in Wilmington, Delaware, which could shape the future of Arm core IP licensing going forward with not only Qualcomm, but the massive base of licensees who depend on Arm's core IP.

Prakash Sangam, Principal Analyst of Tantra Analyst was once again in person in Wilmington to witness the action in the courtroom. He joins Leonard Lee to discuss the highlights, the jury verdict, and the implications as the case awaits the bench ruling anticipated in the coming week.

Prakash and Leonard talk about the following topics and highlights:

➡️ Trial Setup and Background (1:01)
➡️ How Jury and Bench Trials Work (2:43)
➡️ Verdict Overview Three Key Questions (4:21)
➡️ Claim One: ALA Breach Explained (5:36)
➡️ Claim Two: TLA Offer Dispute (7:06)
➡️ Claim Three: Interference and UCL (9:29)
➡️ Meta Relationship and Sealed Testimony (14:00)
➡️ ALA vs TLA Licensing Basics (16:53)
➡️ Industry Shift Arm and Qualcomm Collide (18:34)
➡️ Why UCL Ruling Matters Next (23:56)
➡️ Meaning Of One Dollar (25:28)
➡️ Bench Trial Loose Ends - Liquidated Damages, V10 Licensing, and UCL (28:20)
➡️ Timeline And Appeals (32:44)
➡️ Industry Shifts And Stakes (34:50)
➡️ AI Brings CPUs Back (37:44)

If you would like to set up a meeting, connect with Prakash Sangam at www.tantraanalysis.com.

Please subscribe to our podcast which will be featured on the neXt Curve YouTube Channel. Check out the audio version on BuzzSprout - https://nextcurvepodcast.buzzsprout.com or find us on your favorite Podcast platform.  

Also, subscribe to the neXt Curve research portal at www.next-curve.com for the tech and industry insights that matter.

NOTE: The transcript is AI-generated and will contain errors.

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for informational purposes only.

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"From the Radio to the RIC" is a podcast series covering mobile wireless technologies and the AI-evolution of the mobile infrastructure and computing.

In this special  episode of "From the Radio to the RIC", Leonard meets up with Patrick Lopez of {Core Analysis} have an impromptu conversation on the final day of TM Forum's Innovate Americas 2026 event, which took place in Plano, Texas.

Patrick and Leonard talk about the following topics and highlights:

➡️ Don't call me an influencer! (0:31)
➡️ TM Forum Innovate Americas 2026 intro. (2:12)
➡️ Patrick's key impressions and takes from Innovate Americas 2026 (3:08)
➡️ Trust is a big theme. (5:19)
➡️ The state of network automation with agentic AI. (5:57)
➡️ The great data and storage problem. (7:12)
➡️ The ubiquity of the trust priority. (8:43)
➡️ A sobering throwback to practical AI & automation. (9:51)
➡️ What is trust? What does it mean? (12:40)
➡️ The trust gradient. (13:52)
➡️ TM Forum's first trust hackathon. (16:41)

If you would like to set up a meeting, connect with Patrick Lopez at www.coreanalysis.ca.

Please subscribe to our podcast which will be featured on the neXt Curve YouTube Channel. Check out the audio version on BuzzSprout - https://nextcurvepodcast.buzzsprout.com or find us on your favorite Podcast platform.  

Also, subscribe to the neXt Curve research portal at www.next-curve.com for the tech and industry insights that matter.

NOTE: The transcript is AI-generated and will contain errors.

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for informational purposes only.

Send us Fan Mail

"From the Radio to the RIC" is a podcast series that is a collaboration between Earl Lum of EJL Wireless Research and Leonard Lee of neXt Curve covering mobile wireless technologies and the AI-evolution of the mobile infrastructure and computing.

In this episode of "From the Radio to the RIC", Earl and Leonard talk about the following topics and highlights:

➡️ The state of the RAN market in H2 26 and beyond. (2:40)
➡️ The perennial 5G monetization mystery. (7:52)
➡️ Closing the book on the Open RAN Squid Game. (14:26)
➡️ Ericsson Industry Analyst Day 2026 recap reflections. (17:20)
➡️ An industry trying to figure out physical AI. (22:59)
➡️ Critical communications, ISAC and the future of 6G. (28:18)
➡️ Will 6G networks be shared infrastructure? Why? (33:37)
➡️ Are global network APIs in a better place? (39:08)
➡️ The state of AI-RAN. (42:45)
➡️ The state of telco in space and NTN. (50:13)
➡️ The myth that SpaceX will destroy telco operators. (53:04)
➡️ Nokia partners with ICEYE for sovereign space. (57:26)

If you would like to set up a meeting, connect with Earl Lum at www.ejlwireless.com and Leonard Lee at www.next-curve.com. 

Make a request through our respective request forms. 

Please subscribe to our podcast which will be featured on the neXt Curve YouTube Channel. Check out the audio version on BuzzSprout - https://nextcurvepodcast.buzzsprout.com or find us on your favorite Podcast platform.  

Also, subscribe to the neXt Curve research portal at www.next-curve.com for the tech and industry insights that matter.

Send us Fan Mail

Silicon Futures is a neXt Curve reThink Podcast series on AI and semiconductor tech and the industry topics that matter.

This month, Leonard, Karl, and Jim unpack the hottest takes from Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit 2026, AI Infrastructure Summit, the Bank of NVIDIA, the Open Agent Safety Platform, the emergence of EUV High-NA, and more!

We break down the AI and chip trends that matter! Tune in!

In this episode, Leonard, Karl and Jim talk about.... 

➡️ Jim sets the agenda for our September 2026 talk. (1:58)
➡️ The Bank of NVIDIA throws its money around. (4:13)
➡️ Qualcomm's AI DC confidence at Snapdragon Summit. (4:35)
➡️ How HBC (High Bandwidth Compute) scales to mobile. (7:17)
➡️ Snapdragon 8 Elite and 8 Elite Extreme mobile SoC review. (9:28)
➡️ Qualcomm refreshes personal AI with agentic AI. (10:36)
➡️ Qualcomm expands ecosystem with healthcare. (11:19)
➡️ Qualcomm's privacy and trust for personal agentic AI. (11:57)
➡️ Qualcomm's blueprint for personal physical AI. (13:25)
➡️ DEBATE: Is Apple really behind on AI and agentic AI? (14:36)
➡️ To Meta Muse or not to Muse, that is the question. (17:15)
➡️ The growing concern about agentic AI safety. (18:54)
➡️ Are we coming to an AI reckoning? (21:05)
➡️ The asymmetrical fight against AI bad stuff. (23:01)
➡️ TSMC and Samsung pull EUV High-NA trigger. (26:46)
➡️ AI Infrastructure Summit 2026 recap. (28:35)
➡️ NVIDIA partners with D-Matrix for inference AI. (31:59)
➡️ Reclassifying GPU useful life with modernization. (34:12)
➡️ Anderon quantum foundry funded by U.S. and IBM. (35:39)
➡️ IonQ buys Skwater for vertical integration. 36:15)
➡️ The Things Conference & Edge AI. (37:37)
➡️ Ericsson & Nokia on physical AI and Space AI. (38:12)
➡️ Perception AI is the practical frontier of physical AI. (39:25)
➡️ The sobering reality & state of AI-RAN and edge AI. (40:17)
➡️ The funny math and expectations of physical AI. (41:35)

Hit Leonard, Karl, and Jim up on LinkedIn and take part in their industry and tech insights.

Check out Jim and his research at Tirias Research at www.tiriasresearch.com.
Check out Karl and his research at Cambrian AI Research LLC at www.cambrian-ai.com. Check out Karl's Substack at: https://substack.com/@karlfreund429026

Please subscribe to our podcast which will be featured on the neXt Curve YouTube Channel. Check out the audio version on BuzzSprout or find us on your favorite Podcast platform.

Also, subscribe to the neXt Curve research portal at www.next-curve.com and our Substack (https://substack.com/@nextcurve) for the tech and industry insights that matter.

NOTE: The transcript is AI-generated and will contain errors.

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for informational purposes only.

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In this episode of the neXt Curve reThink podcast, Leonard Lee is joined by special guest, Prakash Sangam, Principal Analyst at Tantra Analyst, to recap Qualcomm's biggest event of the year, Snapdragon Tech Summit 2026, which took place in Maui, Hawaii.

Prakash and Leonard cover the following topics in their recap of Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit 2026:

👉 Overview of the Snapdragon Summit program, key themes & impressions. (2:12)
👉 The smartphone takes center stage with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen6. (4:25)
👉 Personal AI theme expands with agentic AI. (7:15)
👉 Agentic trust in the coming era of agentic commerce. (10:39)
👉 A showcase in heterogeneous AI & agentic computing. (14:50)
👉 Memory architecture changes of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen6. (19:54)
👉 Could agentic AI make the NPU matter? (21:28)
👉 Is there a gaming versus AI trade-off? (22:50)
👉 What happened to 5G and modem leadership? (23:50)
👉 HBC (High Bandwidth Compute) scales from data center to smartphone. (24:55)
👉 Qualcomm's personal agentic AI push with Liquid AI.(25:08)
👉 Smart glasses and AI companions. (31:12)
👉 Qualcomm scales healthcare for the Snapdragon wearable ecosystem. (32:10)
👉 Modular makes a case for Qualcomm's heterogeneous AI strategy. (34:26)
👉 Qualcomm introduces dev programs to catalyze smart glasses ecosystem. (37:42)
👉 Snapdragon X2 Plus powers latest Surface and Lenovo IdeaPad Vibe. (39:20)
👉 Is Googlebook Qualcomm's AI PC moment? (41:02)
👉 The operating system is the on-device agentic AI platform. (46:39)
👉 Manchester United Surface and back-of-shirt partnership with Microsoft. (51:22)

Check out Prakash Sangam and his research at Tantra Analyst at www.tantraanalyst.com. Also check out the Tantra's Mantra Podcast. 

Please subscribe to our podcast which will be featured on the neXt Curve YouTube Channel. Check out the audio version on BuzzSprout or find us on your favorite Podcast platform.  Also, subscribe to the neXt Curve research portal at www.next-curve.com for the tech and industry insights that matter.

Send us Fan Mail

Silicon Futures is a neXt Curve reThink Podcast series on AI and semiconductor tech and the industry topics that matter.

This month, Leonard, Karl, and Jim unpack the hottest takes from Hot Chips 2026 and the incessant drama that is AI & AI infrastructure!

Are we on the verge of a major shift in AI HPC computing as the AI focus shifts from training toward inference and agentic AI?

What is the impact of the broadening memory crisis and innovations in sparse MOE models on the future of AI computing architectures?

What does the introduction of OpenAI's Jalapeño mean for the future of AI HPC architectures and chips?

We break down the AI and chip trends that matter! Tune in!

In this episode, Leonard, Karl and Jim talk about....

➡️ IBM's dual-ISA core with native Arm + zArchitecture (4:54)
➡️ How will HRL Labs impact IBM's quantum leadership? (8:11)
➡️ What were the key themes of Hot Chips 2026? (10:13)
➡️ Should Optane be resurrected for AI HPC? (12:50)
➡️ 3D-memory stacking & PIM (Processing in Memory) (13:24)
➡️ HBF: What is it good for? Fad or frontier? (13:45)
➡️ The economics & margins of the memory industry! (15:17)
➡️ Our takes on NVIDIA's Q2 2027 earnings results! (20:20)
➡️ Bill Gates AI essay and physical AI in context... (29:49)
➡️ For AI data centers, can coding be enough? (32:02)
➡️ NVIDIA partners with D-Matrix on inference & agentic! (33:31)
➡️ Why do we compare AI scaling with Moore's Law? (37:38)
➡️ Is tokenomics the only thing that matters? (39:44)
➡️ Is the AI ROI debate over or early days? (40:52)
➡️ Beyond disaggregation & distributed AI inference! (43:20)
➡️ OpenAI tapes out Jalapeño from RTL in 9 months! (45:50)
➡️ Did DeepSeek change everything or nothing? (54:30)

Hit Leonard, Karl, and Jim up on LinkedIn and take part in their industry and tech insights.

Check out Jim and his research at Tirias Research at www.tiriasresearch.com.
Check out Karl and his research at Cambrian AI Research LLC at www.cambrian-ai.com. Check out Karl's Substack at: https://substack.com/@karlfreund429026

Please subscribe to our podcast which will be featured on the neXt Curve YouTube Channel. Check out the audio version on BuzzSprout or find us on your favorite Podcast platform.

Also, subscribe to the neXt Curve research portal at www.next-curve.com and our Substack (https://substack.com/@nextcurve) for the tech and industry insights that matter.

NOTE: The transcript is AI-generated and will contain errors.

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for informational purposes only.

Send us Fan Mail

Silicon Futures is a neXt Curve reThink Podcast series on AI and semiconductor tech and the industry topics that matter.

This month, the world of AI and semiconductors has gone truly mad. Drama and volatility are the only ways to describe what we witnessed in July with AI agent swarms going rogue, a frantic effort to save open-weight models from being banned by the U.S. government, and AMD coming to market with their first rack-scale AI supercomputing system to take on NVIDIA's dominance. 

In this episode, Leonard, Karl and Jim talk about some of the top headlines from July of 2026. 

➡️ AMD Advancing AI 2026 highlights (3:47)
➡️ AMD + Cerebras partnership for inference AI (4:18)
➡️ AMD's strategy for heterogeneous AI inference compute (7:04)
➡️ AMD touts CPU portfolio and diversity for AI (10:34)
➡️ Is agentic AI compute the same as AI training compute? (13:57)
➡️ Is AMD's ecosystem 18-month behind NVIDIA's? (17:29)
➡️ Could ROCm.ai be a CUDA equalizer for AMD? (19:46)
➡️ Are we in the infancy of AI still? (24:54)
➡️ Will closed AI models and labs continue to lead? (26:34)
➡️ AI for security vs. AI for threat actors. Who wins? (33.39)
➡️ Is the gigawatt a good metric for "AI capacity"? (37:57)
➡️ QUANTUM NEWS! IBM acquires HRL Laboratories (43:58)
➡️ What to make of Intel's public commitment to 14A? (43:58)

Hit Leonard, Karl, and Jim up on LinkedIn and take part in their industry and tech insights.

Check out Jim and his research at Tirias Research at www.tiriasresearch.com.
Check out Karl and his research at Cambrian AI Research LLC at www.cambrian-ai.com. Check out Karl's Substack at: https://substack.com/@karlfreund429026

Please subscribe to our podcast which will be featured on the neXt Curve YouTube Channel. Check out the audio version on BuzzSprout or find us on your favorite Podcast platform.

Also, subscribe to the neXt Curve research portal at www.next-curve.com and our Substack (https://substack.com/@nextcurve) for the tech and industry insights that matter.

NOTE: The transcript is AI-generated and will contain errors.

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for informational purposes only.

Send us Fan Mail

Silicon Futures is a neXt Curve reThink Podcast series on AI and semiconductor tech and the industry topics that matter.

Leonard Lee (neXt Curve), Karl Freund (Cambrian AI Research), and Jim McGregor (Tirias Research), unpack a dense and drama-filled month in AI and chips.

U.S. AI labs start a whining campaign as Chinese open-weight models threaten the AI world order, NVIDIA resuscitates the AI PC, neoclouds lay out their vision for reinvention, Apple flexes its agentic AI muscle, Qualcomm brings heterogeneous computing to the AI data center game, and much more.

In this episode, Leonard, Karl and Jim talk about some of the top headlines from June of 2026.

➡️ Jim's takes from COMPUTEX 2026 (2:41)
➡️ The agentic workstation and revival of the AI PC with NVIDIA RTX Spark (3:22)
➡️ WWDC 2026: Strike 3 for Apple Intelligence? - (10:25)
➡️ Revisiting Apple's AI strategy (11:20)
➡️ Neocloud takes from Nebius Inflection 2026 (16:03)
➡️ Neocloud and their enterprise pivot play beyond GPUaaS (18:40)
➡️ Leonard's take on Cisco Live! 2026 (21:43)
➡️ The race to reduced the procurement-to-first-token for AI clusters (23:55)
➡️ The great closed AI model drama (26:49)
➡️ The great U.S. AI lab whining campaign (32:00)
➡️ Inflective reflections on Qualcomm's Investor Day 2026 (34:10)
➡️ Qualcomm's Reverse Ricky Bobby move (37:57)
➡️ Qualcomm's hybrid approach to the AI data center opportunity (43:44)
➡️ Apple's dramatic move to raise prices thanks to memory crunch (49:05)

Hit Leonard, Karl, and Jim up on LinkedIn and take part in their industry and tech insights.

Check out Jim and his research at Tirias Research at www.tiriasresearch.com.
Check out Karl and his research at Cambrian AI Research LLC at www.cambrian-ai.com. Check out Karl's Substack at: https://substack.com/@karlfreund429026

Please subscribe to our podcast which will be featured on the neXt Curve YouTube Channel. Check out the audio version on BuzzSprout or find us on your favorite Podcast platform.

Also, subscribe to the neXt Curve research portal at www.next-curve.com and our Substack (https://substack.com/@nextcurve) for the tech and industry insights that matter.

NOTE: The transcript is AI-generated and will contain errors.

DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for informational purposes only.