Lex Fridman Podcast
#459 – DeepSeek, China, OpenAI, NVIDIA, xAI, TSMC, Stargate, and AI Megaclusters
Conversations that explore technology, history, philosophy, physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry, engineering, AI, robotics, programming, music, film, art, sports, psychology, neuroscience, geopolitics, business, economics, religion, astronomy, and the human condition with people from all walks of life.
Show Notes
Tap timecodes to jump
Dylan Patel is the founder of SemiAnalysis, a research & analysis company specializing in semiconductors, GPUs, CPUs, and AI hardware. Nathan Lambert is a research scientist at the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) and the author of a blog on AI called Interconnects.
Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep459-sc
See below for timestamps, transcript, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc.
Transcript:
CONTACT LEX:
Feedback – give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey
AMA – submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama
Hiring – join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring
Other – other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact
EPISODE LINKS:
Dylan’s X: https://x.com/dylan522p
SemiAnalysis: https://semianalysis.com/
Nathan’s X: https://x.com/natolambert
Nathan’s Blog: https://www.interconnects.ai/
Nathan’s Podcast: https://www.interconnects.ai/podcast
Nathan’s Website: https://www.natolambert.com/
Nathan’s YouTube: https://youtube.com/@natolambert
Nathan’s Book: https://rlhfbook.com/
SPONSORS:
To support this podcast, check out our sponsors & get discounts:
Invideo AI: AI video generator.
GitHub: Developer platform and AI code editor.
Go to https://gh.io/copilot
Shopify: Sell stuff online.
Go to https://shopify.com/lex
NetSuite: Business management software.
Go to http://netsuite.com/lex
AG1: All-in-one daily nutrition drinks.
Go to https://drinkag1.com/lex
OUTLINE:
() – Introduction
() – DeepSeek-R1 and DeepSeek-V3
() – Low cost of training
() – DeepSeek compute cluster
() – Export controls on GPUs to China
() – AGI timeline
() – China’s manufacturing capacity
() – Cold war with China
() – TSMC and Taiwan
() – Best GPUs for AI
() – Why DeepSeek is so cheap
() – Espionage
() – Censorship
() – Andrej Karpathy and magic of RL
() – OpenAI o3-mini vs DeepSeek r1
() – NVIDIA
() – GPU smuggling
() – DeepSeek training on OpenAI data
() – AI megaclusters
() – Who wins the race to AGI?
() – AI agents
() – Programming and AI
() – Open source
() – Stargate
() – Future of AI
This episode is not processed yet. Sign in to queue the transcript and make it useful for search and Q&A.
Sign in to queue transcript (1 credit)
Free to start
Skim the episode first,
Skim the episode first,
then decide if it is worth listening.
Sign up with Google in one click. 10 transcript credits included. No card needed.
Google sign-in · No credit card · 10 free transcript credits