Gadget Lab: Weekly Tech News from WIRED
Technology
If you're reading this, you can thank a semiconductor. Phones, tablets, computers—really any device more digital than pen and paper—all depend on the tiny chips inside them to function. The semiconductor industry is massive, and at the center of it all is one massive firm that makes the bulk of the chips we all rely on: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. The company, known widely as just TSMC, is not only the most important enterprise in the chip industry, but it’s also a powerful and stabilizing force in the geopolitical standoff between Taiwan and China that, if ignited, would affect the whole world. TSMC’s untouchable status has earned it an amusing nickname: The Sacred Mountain of Protection.
This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED contributor Virginia Heffernan talks about her trip to the TSMC facility in Taiwan. She tells us how chips are made and explains how the semiconductor industry—TSMC in particular—drives innovation while remaining largely invisible.
Show Notes:
Read Virginia’s story about her trip to the TSMC factory in Taiwan.
Recommendations:
Virginia recommends the show Seven Seconds on Netflix. Mike recommends the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s podcast How to Fix the Internet, specifically the episode “So You Think You’re a Critical Thinker.” Lauren recommends the Apple TV show Bad Sisters.
Virginia Heffernan can be found on Twitter @page88. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@booneashworth). Our theme music is by Solar Keys.
Demystifying Mastodon
Tweelon
Plastic Rap
OK, Car Computer
Zuckerberg's Innovation Dilemma
Life in Pixels
The State of the Smart Kitchen
Row Row Row Yourself
Visualizing VR’s Future
Welcome to Dynamic Island
How YouTube's Tumultuous Past Will Shape Its Future
How to Get Your Climate Tax Credits
Tractor Hacks
The Weird Phone Future
NFT Frames
Reel Talk About Instagram
Zucka Kappa Meta
Too Cool for Juul
Seriously, What Is the Metaverse?
The Zoomification of Slack
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Insight Story: Tech Trends Unpacked
Zero-Shot
Fast Forward by Tomorrow Unlocked: Tech past, tech future
The Unbelivable Truth - Series 1 - 26 including specials and pilot
Lex Fridman Podcast