Welcome to this week’s Stratechery!
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On that note, here are some of this week’s favorites.
- Netflix question. Netflix reached an all-time high last summer, as the saturation narrative of several years ago was shattered by continued subscriber growth. Six years later, Wall Street is nervous. Are all of its subscribers actually watching enough Netflix so that it can show more ads and charge more? These concerns were further exacerbated by Warner Bros.’ planned acquisition. Is Netflix’s growth story nearing an end? We asked co-CEO Greg Peters all these questionshow and why Netflix is constantly trying to learn and change, and why professional storytelling will survive in the face of the stagnation of user-generated content and AI due to a lack of compelling storytellers. — ben thompson
- What TSMC means to AI. Despite all the ink poured into OpenAI, Google and Nvidia are the main players driving investment and attraction in the midst of the AI boom – This strategy articleIt’s easy to forget, for example, that they all rely on the same company to manufacture the chips that make this speed increase possible. Wednesday daily updates We explored that dynamic through the lens of TSMC’s capacity constraints, including questions about restrained capital spending over the past few years and the tension implied by news of the company’s upcoming investment plans. We delved deeper into the great story of SharptechWe discussed in detail TSMC’s past struggles to enforce pricing power and why future AI companies should counter TSMC’s spending restraints by working to cultivate competitors. — Andrew Sharp
- And now basketball. A useful heuristic in modern life is to keep in mind that whenever there seems to be unanimity on the internet, the truth is more complex than what is presented on Twitter. The same goes for the Luka Doncic trade that shocked the world almost exactly a year ago, and last year was greeted with near-universal certainty that it would be remembered for generations as an inexplicable disaster. In this week’s Sharp Text article, I wrote about why I disagreeAnd why a trade that was undoubtedly chaotic for Dallas in the short term may become even more explainable as the year goes on. on the other hand, Thursday’s nearly two-hour episode of Greatest of All TalkAfter a terrible time discussing Jimmy Butler’s serious injury, Ben Golliver and I had a great time deciding on All-Star picks, marveling at the Lakers’ ownership turmoil, and doing listener reports on what the NBA was like last weekend in London. — as
Strategy articles and updates
Sharp Text: Andrew Sharp
- Was Nico Harrison wrong? — A look back at the backlash to the Luka trade and a look at Doncic’s future in Los Angeles
Dithering with Ben Thompson and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber
Asianometry by John Yoo
Sharp China by Andrew Sharp and Sinism Bill Bishop
The best talk with Andrew Sharp and WaPo’s Ben Golliver
Sharp Tech by Andrew Sharp and Ben Thompson
This week’s strategy video is here Apple: You don’t understand Vision Pro (yet).