Dan Wang on China's Mission to Be a World Leader in Semiconductors
We've been talking a lot on the podcast about semiconductors. The stumble of Intel. The general troubles with US manufacturing, and, of course, the rise of TSMC. But, for a long time, the Chinese gove...
28 Jan 202158min
The Story of How TSMC Came to Dominate the World
In every conversation about computer chips, it always comes back to the dominant player: TSMC. Founded in the 1980s, it's far and away the biggest and most advanced manufacturer. And, as our guest poi...
25 Jan 202150min
The Important Lesson a Quant Manager Learned in 2020
It goes without saying that 2020 was a year like no other when it comes to the markets. A historic crash, and then a raging recovery, all set against the backdrop of a pandemic and deeply depressed ec...
21 Jan 202151min
Why the Cost of Shipping Goods From China Is Suddenly Soaring
The coronavirus crisis snarled global shipping in early 2020 as borders were closed, but lots of people expected it to improve as vessels returned to position. Instead, more than a year later, the shi...
18 Jan 202145min
How the U.S. Lost Chip Dominance and How It Can Be Regained
The U.S. was once a manufacturing leader in semiconductors. That's no longer the case, given the rise of contract manufacturing and outsourcing, the dominance of Taiwan Semiconductor, and Intel's own ...
14 Jan 202156min
Cowen's Co-President on Why SPACs Are Having Such a Moment
One of the surprising developments in the last year was the boom in SPACs. The so-called blank check companies raised more money in 2020 than they had in the several years prior combined. But why? Why...
11 Jan 202149min
Chess Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura on Twitch Streaming and “The Queen's Gambit”
We're in a rare moment where chess is popular in the United States. There are two big factors driving it. One is the smash hit Netflix show "The Queen's Gambit." The other is the rise of Twitch stream...
7 Jan 202147min
What Happened to Europe's Economy After the Black Death
It's been pointed out that, after the Black Death in Europe, real wages surged because there was such a shortage of labor in the aftermath. But what was the structure of the economy that allowed this ...
4 Jan 202145min
