Friday 5.0: Futures for Compute, the Robotics Race, Semiconductors, Project Europe, and Material World
A Friday scan of tech topics I'm diving into in the world of Compute/AI/Robotics, cool tools I'm using, and books for your reading- / playlist
Table of Contents:
Topics I’m Studying: Futures Markets for Compute, and The Geopolitics of the new “Robotics Race”
Videos to Watch: “How the Semiconductor Industry Really Works”
Things I’m Excited About: “Project Europe”
Books to Read: “Material World”
Topics I’m Studying
Futures Markets for Compute:
The AI compute market is locked in a pretty interesting debate right now between "GPUs can never be commodities" (because they're obsolete the moment you blink) and "holy cow, there's literally a GPU auction happening next Monday". While skeptics point to NVIDIA and AMD's iron grip on the supply chain, new companies like Compute Exchange are building the financial infrastructure that could turn compute into the next oil market, just infinitely nerdier. And the coolest part? After 35 years of failed attempts to make computer parts tradable, we might finally be watching the birth of the world's next massive financial market... all because everyone and their grandmother wants to train AI.
I spent about 10 years of my career working in different commodity markets, and although several players have failed in the past, I can’t help but be optimistic that “compute” soon becomes more decentralized and democratized than it is today
The Geopolitics of the new “Robotics Race”:
Global Power comes in many forms. It can be Military, it can be Financial, it can be Cultural, it can be in Manufacturing Capacity. If history is any guide, the ability to produce output at scale can be the foundation of empires. The Mongolian Empire, not really, but the British Empire - most definitely!
From autonomous "lights-out" factories that build one smartphone per minute with zero humans to humanoids selling for less than the price of a jet ski, the fight is on for technological manufacturing dominance. And if the numbers are any guide, the West is not in pole position. Great and worrying article from Semianalysis out this week
I spend a lot of my time in Industrial Robotics, and it’s pretty clear that there is that the “Robotics Race” may have even larger geopolitical implications than the “Space Race”
Things I’m Excited About
They say there’s a “vibe shift” in Europe
I’d argue that the vibes have been there all along, we just haven’t been paying enough attention. Technology is the foundation for modern society, and Europe is the birthplace of a whole herd of amazing global tech companies
Lack of attention, however, hampers progress. And it s therefore super exciting to see the launch of PROJECT EUROPE, an accelerator for European founders mentored by some of the best founders on the Continent / in the World.
Super excited to see where this thing goes: Project Europe
Videos I’m Watching
Worth either watching or listening to the podcast, but putting Dylan Patel of Semianalysis and Jon Y of Asianometry in the same room brings you pretty much everything you need to know about how the Semiconductor Industry Actually Works.
Even if this episode dropped a few months ago (decades in the AI/semiconductor-world), I recently found myself re-listening to it for just due to the sheer amount of knowledge and insights compressed into this 2-hour episode
Book to Read
Material World - A Substantial Story of Our Past and Future by Ed Conway.
It might seem that Modern Civilization is underpinned by advanced materials and fancy chemicals.
But just as society has been for centuries, it is really underpinned by some a lot more fundamental materials like Salt, Sand, and Steel.
Even if you’re not a commodities junkie; if you want to understand how the complex supply chains like semiconductors and complex chemicals really functions - you should start with this book as a primer on “Material Fundamentals 101”
About Me
Working at the interface between frontier technology and rapidly evolving business models, I work to develop the frameworks, tools, and mental models to keep up and get ahead in our Technological World.
Having trained as a robotics engineer but also worked on the business / finance side for over a decade, I seek to understand those few asymmetric developments that truly shape our world
You can also find me on X, LinkedIn or www.andreasproesch.com