E143: Nvidia smashes earnings, Arm walks the plank, M&A market, Vivek dominates GOP debate & more

Google's custom-built ASIC for accelerating machine learning workloads, cited as an example of companies developing their own silicon.

SpaceX's satellite internet constellation, identified as the only company with the potential to 'catalyze' the IPO market and get people excited about new offerings.

NVIDIA's next-generation design, described as an entire system with chiplets and memory on a large board, indicating a shift from singular chips to system-level manufacturing.

Microsoft's gaming division, whose acquisition of Activision Blizzard was contingent on licensing deals for video game streaming.

Cited as a company that benefited massively from the fiber build-out in the dot-com era, by offering free video transport, enabling vast content consumption.

A software company whose proposed acquisition of Figma is being probed by the European Commission and the CMA due to competition concerns.

Mentioned as a large tech company whose market cap NVIDIA is closing in on, and also for its development of its own silicon.

Highlighted as a company that could not have existed without the 'dark fiber' infrastructure built during the dot-com boom, illustrating how expanding infrastructure enables new applications.

A global financial services firm, mentioned for its commentary that the IPO window is not expected to open until at least Q2/Q3 of the next year.

A bootstrapped tech company (Kayak for diamonds) that achieved profitability (half a million in revenue on sweat equity) before seeking external funding, highlighting the attractiveness of profitable startups to investors.

A female-niche tequila company invested in by one of the hosts, Nicole Cat, and Sarika. It focused on using fresh fruit flavors without artificial additives and was later acquired by Diageo.

A company founded by Gil Elbaz, acquired by Google in 2002-2003, whose technology for reading web pages and generating keywords became the basis for Google AdSense.

A Chinese multinational technology company, from which SoftBank has been selling its position to address liquidity needs.

A multinational alcoholic beverage company that acquired 21 Seeds Tequila, validating the quality-focused strategy of the brand.

An Italian company specializing in high-end cashmere and wool products, cited as an example of a brand focused on craftsmanship and care over flashy labels.

A collaborative web application for interface design, whose acquisition by Adobe is being probed by regulators, contributing to a 'dead' M&A market.

A French video game company that received a 15-year streaming license from Microsoft as part of the Activision Blizzard acquisition approval.

A technology company that 'smashed' its Q2 earnings with 101% year-over-year revenue growth and substantial net income, leading to a large share buyback. Its dominant position in AI chip provision is discussed in relation to market competition and future trends.

A company that provides cloud infrastructure for AI training, securing a $2.3 billion loan. It's described as an 'AWS for GPUs,' allowing users to rent compute instead of buying hardware, though its long-term viability is questioned.

Mentioned for its investment in FPGA technology as an accelerant in the trend to create AI-enabled silicon.

Mentioned for its new silicon, specifically the M2 chip, which allows users to run LLMs locally.

A major American video game company whose acquisition by Microsoft required a streaming license deal with Ubisoft to satisfy UK regulators.

A financial services and software company, whose IPO valuation is described as 'very complicated' and not a market catalyst.

A major utility provider in California, mentioned for issues with power lines causing fires and concerns about shutting off power due to wind, allegedly linked to dogmatic environmental beliefs.

A clothing company that was founded during the Gold Rush by selling picks, shovels, pans, and jeans, used as an analogy for NVIDIA's role as a platform enabler in the AI era.

A venture capital firm, mentioned for a YouTube video it published, featuring a talk by David Sacks on startup funding frameworks and eligibility.

A major American aerospace and defense conglomerate, mentioned in a zinger by Vivek Ramaswamy, congratulating Nikki Haley on her future board appointments, implying she panders to the military-industrial complex.

Mentioned as a large tech company whose market cap NVIDIA is closing in on, and also for its early development of its own silicon (TPU).

An AI research and deployment company, mentioned as the developer of ChatGPT and GPT-3.5 turbo, and for potentially developing an internal chatbot for enterprises.

An American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation, mentioned in a zinger by Vivek Ramaswamy, implying Nikki Haley aligns with the military-industrial complex.

An American conservative non-profit organization that advocates for right-wing principles on high school and college campuses. Its polling on Ukraine aid among attendees was cited.

Mentioned as a potential competitor to NVIDIA, with its 'Dojo' supercomputer and 'FSD' platform, which could be open-sourced or sold.

A platform for machine learning models, datasets, and applications, mentioned in the context of people running LLMs on new Apple silicon.

Mentioned for its historical role in open-sourcing server designs through the Open Compute Project, which destroyed a market but created a hyper-efficient one, drawing parallels to AI hardware.

A British semiconductor and software design company, which officially filed its F1 to go public. Its business is heavily reliant on smartphone architecture (99%), but faces headwinds from AI, RISC-V, and Apple's in-sourcing.

An American grocery delivery and pickup service, mentioned as a company unlikely to catalyze the IPO market.

A telecommunications company that famously collapsed in 2002, cited as an example of overcapacity leading to a massive industry downturn, drawing parallels to potential overspending in AI compute capacity.

A blogging company founded by one of the hosts (Jason Calacanis), which was one of the first AdSense publishers and reached significant daily revenue through it.

A blogging platform, mentioned as Gary Tan's previous company in a retro podcast episode.

A Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company, owner of ARM, which is taking ARM public due to its own massive debt and need to deleverage its balance sheet.

Google's program that allows website publishers to serve targeted ads related to their content, which originated from the acquisition of Applied Semantics.

OpenAI's most advanced language model, mentioned as the benchmark against which fine-tuned GPT-3.5 turbo can now compete on narrow tasks.

OpenAI's large language model, which launched in November 2022 and rapidly became popular, causing a surge in demand for GPUs. Also discussed for its new fine-tuning feature.

A version of OpenAI's GPT series for which fine-tuning was recently launched, allowing businesses to train the model on their own data for narrow tasks and achieve performance close to GPT-4.

Tesla's internally developed supercomputer for AI machine learning, primarily for video data processing, showcased at Tesla AI Day.

A channel-based messaging platform, mentioned as a potential source of corporate data for fine-tuning AI models for enterprise chatbots.

Tesla's autonomous driving platform, highlighted as a learning and inference system for the physical world with tremendous applications.

An open-source large language model developed by Meta, mentioned as an example of big companies making advanced models freely available, which is good for startups.

Google's cloud-based word processor, mentioned as a potential data repository that could be fine-tuned with AI for enterprise use.

Amazon's cloud computing arm, used as an analogy for CoreWeave's GPU cloud services. Its historical success in abstracting underlying hardware from compute costs is also cited.

Successful venture capitalist, mentioned in the context of an old podcast episode from 'This Week in Startups' when he was with Posterous.

American politician, lawyer, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey. He had a 'hardest hitting' comeback in the debate but was criticized for a 'low-key racist jab' at Vivek Ramaswamy and came across as 'dismissive' and 'resentful' towards younger candidates.

35th President of the United States. Referenced by RFK Jr. as an influence on the direction he believes the Democratic party should take.

American conservative activist and radio talk show host, founder of Turning Point USA. Mentioned for polling his conference attendees, which showed strong opposition to Ukraine aid among the Republican base.

President of Russia, who is heavily implied to be responsible for Prigozhin's death. He is called a 'murderous lunatic' but also a 'cold and calculating sociopath' and a 'master of Russia' for his method of defusing the mutiny.

Fictional character from 'The Godfather' series, used as an analogy for Putin's cold, calculated actions against Prigozhin, specifically referencing a scene with Mo Green in Vegas.

Astronaut and Cal alumni currently on the International Space Station, who listens to the podcast while working out. He previously received a PhD in computer science from Cal, did a thesis on convex optimization and applied aerospace engineering, and was a professor at MIT.

An investor and author of the 'State of AI' report, whose tweet about fine-tuning potentially killing startups was referenced.

Former professional basketball player and current sports analyst, mentioned for his endearing comments about being a grandfather and wanting his grandson to Google him.

American environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine advocate, currently a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. He is mentioned as having 'really different ideas' from Biden, but the Democratic party is preventing a debate.

Former President of the United States. He was referenced by Chris Christie in a critique of Vivek Ramaswamy, and later discussed as a charismatic 'outsider' who mastered direct communication, similar to Trump and Ramaswamy.

Former President of the United States. He was the 'elephant not in the room' in the GOP debate, effectively winning the night by not participating and instead conducting a high-profile interview with Tucker Carlson, sucking up media oxygen.

American politician and lawyer who served as the 64th United States Attorney General and as a U.S. Senator from New York. Referenced by RFK Jr. as an influence on the direction he believes the Democratic party should take.

Former American football quarterback, cited as an example of someone drafted late (seventh round) who succeeded not just through raw talent but a 'nuance of skills,' drawing parallels to presidential qualities.

American politician and businessman serving as the junior United States senator from South Carolina. Mentioned as part of the Republican field and a potential candidate for future debates.

American conservative television host and political commentator, who conducted an interview with Donald Trump that aired simultaneously with the GOP debate.

American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States. He 'underwhelmed' in the debate and was criticized for being 'dismissive' and 'resentful' towards Vivek Ramaswamy, particularly for the 'rookie' remark.

Current President of the United States. He is described as being 'protected' from a Democratic debate by the party, and his Ukraine policy is a central point of contention for Republican challengers.

American politician who served as the 52nd Governor of New York, famously quoted for saying, 'You campaign in poetry and govern in prose,' which is updated to 'campaign in tweets' in the modern era.

Russian oligarch and warlord, head of the Wagner Group, whose alleged assassination 60 days after his mutiny against Putin is discussed. His return to Moscow/St. Petersburg from Belarus/Africa and his last meeting with Putin are speculated upon.

An American comedian and actor, whose reactions during a poker game while watching the GOP debate were noted as 'funny.'

Founder of Applied Semantics, which Google acquired, and a significant Google shareholder. He initiated and largely funded the non-profit Common Crawl project to make web crawling data available for various projects.

American businessman and politician serving as the 33rd and current governor of North Dakota. His performance in the GOP debate was considered ineffective in moving the needle.

43rd President of the United States, mentioned briefly in the context of presidents in the 21st century.

English computer scientist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and essayist, whose quote 'default alive' versus 'default investable' is referenced in the context of startup profitability.

American entrepreneur, author, and politician. He was identified as the clear 'winner on dynamic' in the GOP debate, with hard-hitting comebacks, but faced criticism regarding his content and personality (appearing too eager/junior). He is seen as a 'Trump change agent' and a backup plan to Trump by tailoring his message to the MAGA wing.

American author and journalist, mentioned for his work exposing that radical climate agendas might have contributed to the Maui fires by hindering utility investment in protective measures.

American politician who served as the 116th and first female governor of South Carolina. She is a Republican presidential candidate who 'did a tremendous job' in the debate, gaining interest with her personality and content. She was praised for her stance on the abortion issue and for criticizing spending.

American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 46th governor of Arkansas. His performance in the GOP debate was considered ineffective in moving the needle.

American politician who currently serves as the 46th governor of Florida. He 'didn't show up' or deliver zingers in the GOP debate, but his strategy was to be broadly acceptable to all GOP factions, making him a potential 'broker convention' candidate.

NASA's program to return humans to the Moon, mentioned in a hypothetical question about Woody Hoburg's involvement.

A renowned luxury hotel on Lake Como, described as the 'Harvard of hospitality' for its exceptional service and quality, and potentially the future site for an 'All-In Summit' in 2025.

The principal competition regulator in the United Kingdom, also probing the Adobe-Figma merger.

A conservative news channel, praised for its 'good moderation' of the GOP debate, specifically for enforcing time limits and pressing candidates on key issues.

The US agency responsible for the civilian space program, mentioned as the source of a DM for an astronaut interview.

The executive arm of the European Union, which is probing the Adobe-Figma merger for potential anti-competitive effects.

A cable news channel, mentioned for its polling indicating a majority of Americans have turned against the idea of giving more aid to Ukraine.

A major American newspaper, cited for its reporting on Prigozhin's plane crash, suggesting an explosive device rather than a shot down.

A Russian paramilitary organization, whose leaders reportedly met with Putin after Prigozhin's failed mutiny, agreeing to report to the Russian military.

An open architecture instruction set (ISA) mentioned as an open-source competitor to ARM, influencing the development of AI-enabled silicon.

An open-source project that provides web crawl data to researchers and developers, used by many to train data models, including GPT-3. It was founded and largely funded by Gil Elbaz.

A collaborative community focused on redesigning hardware technology to be more efficient, scalable, and sustainable, enabling cost reduction in data centers through open source.

A habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit, where astronaut Woody Hoburg is currently located. He is the pilot of the Crew-6 mission to the ISS.

A resort in Mexico where Comos Tequila was tasted, indicating a high-end experience.

An AI program developed by DeepMind that predicts protein structures, discussed as a tool that, when combined with AI models, could revolutionize computational biology and drug discovery.

An American political drama television series, mentioned for its exploration of the balance between principled leadership and public expectation in a democracy.