Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy · Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Etched's founders explain their philosophy of designing AI chips for specific use cases, contrasting it with the general-purpose approach of the broader semiconductor industry. They leverage the understanding that AI data centers do not operate in freezing temperatures to optimize chip performance.
“And the reality is that the entire semiconductor and data center industry is built on buffer. And what I mean by that is every part of the stack, from the EDA tools to the power modules, to the circuit boards, to the chip design and standard cells, everything is built to be general purpose for everything.”
“Now, I don't know about you, but I've never seen an AI data center with ice in it. So, you know, we can feel pretty confident that our chips don't need to run at full speed at 0 degrees Celsius.”
“And just by knowing that that's a constraint that doesn't matter, we can make a ton of changes throughout the entire system.”