Can the US bring back—“reshore,” as they say—chip manufacturing? Beats me. Last I heard, only Asian engineers, in Asia, had the discipline and finesse. But in our new Big Interview, Lisa Su says we not only can. We must. And we will.
Or at least: She will. Su runs AMD, and if you haven’t heard of her or it, that’s because Jensen Huang’s Nvidia hogs the spotlight. Not for long. Su, under whose leadership AMD has literally 150-tupled in size, is out for Nvidia blood. I mean that in every sense, including sanguinously, because (though she hates talking about this) Su’s a distant cousin of Huang’s. Semiconductors are small, and so is their world.
Another case in point: Our interviewer here, WIRED stalwart Lauren Goode, also Big Interviewed Huang last year. In that conversation, Huang complimented Lauren on her command of the subject. Patronizing? Perhaps, but not wrong. Lauren does her homework, and with Su, she’s just as combat-ready. The two spar on chips, China, ChatGPT, and sparring itself—Su likes to box. Will AMD overtake Nvidia anytime soon? No. But here, Lauren does the near-impossible and makes an interview with a semiconductor CEO kinda, almost, thrilling. It’s, I mean to say, a bloody good show. |
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P.S. You seemed to like last week's book recs, so we're thinking of ways to incorporate more of that into this newsletter. Literacy lives! |
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Modern Day Pyramid Building |
Story originally published in November 2024 |
Interviews like Su’s cast the movements of the semiconductor industry as a high-stakes drama—action-packed and riveting, if not downright cinematic. Dire shortages! National security! Family drama! And like any good story with dynamic characters and trials and travails, you need a good foil. That would be Intel.
It’s been a rough several decades for the once-king of computer chips. (As recently as last week, Trump called for the removal of Intel’s CEO, Lip-Bu Tan.) But it was only last year that things were looking up. Last fall, award-winning journalist Kelly McEvers traveled to Ohio, ground zero of Intel’s attempt to remake itself—and reshore chip manufacturing. McEvers charts the gargantuan task of building a fabrication plant from the ground up, something she describes as akin to modern-day pyramid building. Her account details what will be required to make the US a true chip competitor, and, given the money and national security concerns on the line, it feels intensely do-or-die.
Almost one year after McEver’s feature, the Ohio fab faces snowballing delays, further jeopardizing Intel’s future. Do you think the firm can pull through? Comment below the article or send an email to samantha_spengler@wired.com.
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Members have espoused racist and antisemitic views and repeatedly praised Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. They’ve raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, and their movement is growing. |
The American automaker is spending billions on a radical reinvention of EV manufacturing, aimed squarely at taking on Chinese competition and Tesla. |
Seth Harp’s new book, The Fort Bragg Cartel, goes deep into the forming of the Joint Special Operations Command and its origins in the aftermath of 9/11. |
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Personally, I feel like Brat Summer was just weeks ago, but as WIRED’s culture writer Jason Parham noted last week, it’s been a whole year since we’ve had a “song of the summer.” Says Parham, some credit Donald Trump with the lack of a soundtrack for Summer 2025. In the comments, one reader expressed frustration with a source who pondered whether country music “predicted” Trump. A fellow reader disagreed: “[Devon] Powers is making a nuanced point about how politics, identity, and technology are all converging to reshape how we experience culture and music.” A third reader pointed out that, while there may not be a song of the summer, “there is a sound of the summer, and it is [Netflix’s] KPop Demon Hunters.”
Tell us about your favorite WIRED stories and magazine-related memories. Write to samantha_spengler@wired.com, and include “CLASSICS” in the subject line. |
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