Latticework by MOI Global
Industry Primers
Primer on Semiconductors: Types of Chips, Leading Chip Makers, and the Use of Chips in AI
0:00
-46:30

Primer on Semiconductors: Types of Chips, Leading Chip Makers, and the Use of Chips in AI

Industry Deep Dive for Non-Technical Investors (Part Four)

This post is part of our “Industry Insights and Primers” series.


If you’re not an engineer or otherwise technically inclined, you may have found it challenging to understand what really goes on in the semiconductor sector. The latter has emerged as hugely important to the future of artificial intelligence, and its weighting in key market indices has grown. As a result, even if we consider semiconductors outside our “circle of competence”, it may be worthwhile to dig into the sector and the key players.

In this multi-part series, we attempt to make semiconductors understandable to non-technical investors. The goal is to educate ourselves on the industry value chain in order to gain appreciation for the market positioning, business models, and sustainability of competitive advantage of the key players, ranging from well-known giants such as TSMC and Nvidia to lessor-known but deeply entrenched players such as Cadence and Synopsys. Other companies we seek to understand as part of this series include AMD, Applied Materials, ASML, Micron, and Texas Instruments, to name a few.

We have the privilege of learning from a former semiconductor industry insider: Adarsh Shyamsundar has two decades of experience in the industry. From 2002-2008, Adi was at Intel, including as product engineer and test team leader. From 2008-2022, he served at Micron in various roles, including as senior product engineer, engineering manager, and senior manager. Adi caught the investing bug in 2006 and founded Polaris Capital Management, based in El Dorado Hills, California, in 2022. He holds a MS in Electrical Engineering degree from Arizona State University and an MBA from the University of California at Davis.

In this fourth installment, recorded in April 2025, we cover:

  • Processor types — CPUs, GPUs, TPUs, and NPUs — and the major chip designers and manufacturers, including Nvidia, TSMC, and Intel. We also touch on chips by Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta.

  • Networking and other chips, by Broadcom, Qualcomm, and Marvell.

  • Usage of these chips in the AI space.

  • John’s questions for Adi

In the third installment, recorded in February 2025, we covered:

  • Semiconductor test equipment, and its role

  • Test equipment providers: Advantest, Teradyne, Agilent, FormFactor

  • Chip design and types of chips (CPUs, GPUs, etc.)

  • John’s questions for Adi

In the second installment, recorded in January 2025, we covered:

  • Electronic design automation (EDA) software, and its role

  • EDA software leaders: Cadence Design, Synopsys, Mentor (Siemens)

  • Semiconductor equipment manufacturers, and role in the value chain

  • Players: ASML, AMAT, Lam Research, KLA Corp., Tokyo Electron

  • John’s questions for Adi

In the first installment, recorded in December 2024, we covered:

  • What is a semiconductor?

  • Brief industry history

  • The process of going from silicon to chip

  • Industry value chain

  • Some of the key players and how they fit in

  • John’s questions for Adi

If you would like to learn more about the semiconductor sector, we highly recommend Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology.


Share Latticework by MOI Global


Enjoying Latticework? Help us make it even more special.

  • Share Latticework (simply click the above button!)

  • Introduce us to a thoughtful speaker or podcast guest

  • Be considered for an interview or idea presentation

  • Volunteer to host a small group dinner in your city

  • Become a sponsor of Latticework / MOI Global

Volunteer by reaching out directly to John (john@moiglobal.com).

Discussion about this episode