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Semiconductors & chip manufacturing: videos Hacker News recommends
Semiconductors: chip fabrication, lithography, ASML, TSMC, transistors, FPGAs, ASIC design, diodes and LEDs, solar cells, how chips are made. Below: every video in this topic that at least three HN users linked with real commentary, in at least three different months (14 talks, 11 explainers, 7 documentarys), best-scored first, with the comments on each video page.
- Andor Gafotas talk recommended in 18 different months by 19 HN users, 2016–2024HN repeatedly calls it the best in-depth introduction to IC manufacturing, a sense-of-awe talk by an independent engineer, while wishing for an updated version.
- Commenters repeatedly point to it whenever EUV, ASML or chip manufacturing comes up, as a clear and astonishing explanation of one of the hardest engineering problems in chipmaking.
- HN cites it whenever chip architecture, Moore's Law or CPU design comes up, as an unusually deep and accessible view from a top designer.
- UC Berkeley EECS talk recommended in 8 different months by 7 HN users, 2019–2025The go-to citation in Moore's Law threads, a convincing counterargument from a top CPU designer.
- HN recommends it as a gripping story of single-minded persistence against the herd, and as the back story behind modern LED lighting.
- HN users recommend it as an excellent, accessible overview of how modern chips are produced and why EUV matters.
- HN repeatedly recommends the series as a gripping account of scientific fraud, and cites it whenever research misconduct comes up.
- HN treats Hamilton's annual talks as the best window into how AWS regions and hardware are actually built.
- Commenters recommend it as a clear, well-animated explanation of memory, especially for visual learners.
- Sam Zeloof demo recommended in 4 different months by 4 HN users, 2021–2026HN uses it as the go-to proof that small-scale, hobbyist chip fabrication is real, and as an entry point to the topic.
- Seeker documentary recommended in 4 different months by 5 HN users, 2019–2023HN links it in semiconductor threads as an accessible overview of why EUV lithography is so hard.
- Robert Baruch tutorial recommended in 4 different months by 3 HN users, 2020–2021HN recommends the series as a practical introduction to nMigen and formal verification for CPU design.
- HN sends people here as the most straightforward and detailed starting point for understanding EUV lithography.
- HN commenters prefer it over other transistor explanations as an enlightening starting point that leads into building logic gates and a CPU.
- HN commenters point to it whenever the question is how far hardware can be trusted, including FPGAs, supply chain attacks and firmware TPMs.
- Regarded as a favorite practical walkthrough of chip decapping, linked in threads on die shots, hardware backdoors and key extraction.
- TechTechPotato interview recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2022–2023HN recommends it as an interview dense with insight from Keller, worth hearing in full even for non-engineers.
- HN commenters recommend it as the accessible deep-dive on EUV lithography and why chip manufacturing is so hard.
- HN recommends it as a great walkthrough of chip reverse engineering and the story of Visual 6502.
- Frequently recommended as a good, approachable overview of ASML and semiconductor equipment.
- Recommended as a rare, inspiring history of the foundry business and the relationship between Chang and Huang.
- HN recommends it as a highly informative look at micro-etching glass and the smallest Tesla valves.
- RC286 documentary recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2018–2022Recommended in documentary and semiconductor-history threads as a detailed look at Japan's chip industry.
- HN points to it as the classic example of home-made semiconductors and a fun way to go down to the transistor level.
- HN likes Ellsworth as a hardware tinkerer, and cites the video as proof that transistors can be made with low-tech, DIY fabrication.
- HN commenters cite it as an informative talk from a leading researcher in reversible computing, mainly in threads on reversible computers and energy efficiency.
- HN commenters point to it as a clear explanation of why fabs aren't being built for older process nodes.
- HN commenters cite it for the claim that process scaling beyond 28nm is uneconomic and for dark silicon.
- HACKADAY talk recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2018–2021Recommended as a clear account of the craft of reading chips from photographs.
- HN commenters share it in chip fab and industrial espionage threads as a well-researched account of East Germany's failed microelectronics effort.
- Recommended as a high-level, in-depth take on SMIC's 7nm progress and Asian chip manufacturing.
- Pointed to as a clear visual reference for chip manufacturing steps.
- HN uses it as the source on India's early fab attempts, in threads about India's semiconductor ambitions.
- ASML demo recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2024–2025HN links it to show the sheer complexity of EUV machines, especially when discussing whether competitors can challenge ASML.
- der8auer demo recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2020–2021HN cites it as visual evidence that nm node names are marketing labels and for its neat electron microscope comparison.
- FOSSi Foundation talk recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2020–2024HN commenters point to it for Google's reasons for backing open silicon and for background on the open-source chip design workflow.
- Cited as an accessible way to make lithographic masks at home, in threads about hobbyist chip fabrication.
- HN points to it as an excellent history of how Japan entered chips, including government-coordinated cooperation like the VLSI project.
- Used to support the argument that chip engineers see plenty of scaling headroom left.
- Tenstorrent talk recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2023HN commenters cite it as a thoughtful talk from a legendary chip architect, both for the s-curves view of progress and for concrete technical details on semiconductor scaling.
- Chisel talk recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2019–2025Pointed to as a rare first-hand account of a real, shipping ASIC built in an open-source HDL, useful in HDL and FPGA choice discussions.
- Cited as a neat demonstration that diodes work in both directions in semiconductor and LED discussions.
- SPIETV talk cited on HN 4 times, 2015–2020HN cites it when arguing Moore's Law is really about price per transistor and that this economic trend has stalled.
- Tenstorrent talk cited on HN 4 times, 2022–2022HN cites it as a source on Tenstorrent's wide-issue RISC-V Ascalon CPU in RISC-V threads.
- HN points to it as the example of someone making integrated circuits at home.
- Breaking Taps documentary cited on HN 3 times, 2024–2025HN points to it as an example of hobbyist, at-home integrated circuit fabrication.
Questions
What is the most recommended semiconductors & chip manufacturing video on Hacker News?
Indistinguishable From Magic: Manufacturing Modern Computer Chips by Andor Gafotas: HN repeatedly calls it the best in-depth introduction to IC manufacturing, a sense-of-awe talk by an independent engineer, while wishing for an updated version.
How is this semiconductors & chip manufacturing list ranked?
By HackerTube's score: the number of distinct months in which an HN comment recommended the video, plus half a point for every month with a strong recommendation. One viral thread counts less than steady recommendations over years.
Where do the videos come from?
From every Hacker News comment between 2007 and 2026 that linked a YouTube video, labeled by an AI model as a recommendation, a citation, a joke or a criticism. The list is published by HackerTube under ODC-By 1.0; this edition adds indexable pages and the comment context.