Stratechery by Ben Thompson
On the business, strategy, and impact of technology.
An interview with Asana founder and Chariman Dustin Moskovitz about Asana, AI's impact on SaaS, and the debate about AI Safety
Announcing a new Stratechery site: Sharp Text, by Andrew Sharp. Then, the best Stratechery content from the week of October 13, 2025, including rare earths, the state of the trade war, and why Netflix wants Bill Simmons.
Walmart joins ChatGPT Instant Checkout; will Amazon be next? Then, Spotify and Netflix form the anti-YouTube alliance.
An interview with Dr. Gracelin Baskaran about rare earths: how did the U.S. become dependent on China, and how do we fix the problem going forward?
OpenAI's deal with Broadcom makes perfect sense, because OpenAI already knows exactly what workloads it needs to optimize.
China is instituting controls on rare earths, which are essential for technology, that look like chip controls; we can fix the problem by building, but we might not be able to.
The best Stratechery content from the week of October 6, 2025, including OpenAI's Windows strategy, Sam Altman and boundless ambition, and the future of creation.
OpenAI's DevDay evolution mirrors the hype cycle; Microsoft's Game Pass price raise is an admission of failure; and Verizon decides it doesn't want to be under the thumb of SpaceX.
An interview with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about the infrastructure buildout, expanding ChatGPT, and the vision that unites it all.
OpenAI is making a play to be the Windows of AI: the all-encompassing platform that controls both hardware supplier and software developers.
Sora is going viral, suggesting there is a big opportunity in unlocking creativity. If that's true, that's good for humanity — and bad for Meta.
The best Stratechery content from the week of October 6, 2025, including the arrival of the AI Slop Era, what "China Hawk" really means, and Steve Ballmer and the Clippers catastrophe.
An Interview with Ben Bajarin about AI infrastructure, Nvidia, and Intel.
OpenAI has its own AI video app with Sora, powered by Sora 2; I'm not sure how compelling it will be in the long run. Then, Cognition's experience with a new Anthropic model suggests that incorporating new models requires a lot more work than a new processor.
OpenAI's Instant Checkout highlights why AI commerce fills a unique role, to the benefit of Shopify and Etsy; will it work better than Meta's native Checkout?
The Internet hates Vibes, MetaAI's new AI video feed, but I find it compelling and a fascinating look at a VR future.
The best Stratechery content from the week of September 22, 2025, including the YouTube juggernaut, the Nvidia-Intel partnership, and sushi robots.
An interview with Booking CEO Glenn Fogel about being an aggregator, the power — or not — of network effects, and how AI can finally create the perfect travel agent.
YouTube is reinstating accounts that were banned for alleged misinformation, and Google admits they made mistakes; the company — and big tech broadly — should go further, and lead the way in re-establishing the cultural importance of free expression.
I've come to appreciate Google's amorphous nature; what makes me bullish is the clarity of YouTube's AI opportunity.
Intel and Nvidia have made a historic deal; it's good for Intel (and Nvidia), but doesn't solve their — and the U.S.'s — fundamental problems.
The best Stratechery content from the week of September 15, 2025, including Meta, YouTube and press attention, why Oracle is winning in AI, and the bubble inflection point.
Meta announced Ray-Ban Displays, their first glasses product with a display. I think it's very compelling in part because it is limited.
An interview with YouTube CEO Neil Mohan about empowering creators while leaning into AI.
Oracle's AI commitment requires debt, which marks an inflection point in a potential AI bubble; then, Apple finally increases iPhone prices
Oracle's stock sky-rocketed after reporting massive future performance obligations, mostly from OpenAI. It's a big risk, but Oracle is uniquely prepared to capitalize.
The best Stratechery content from the week of September 8, 2025, including Apple and the new iPhones, why SpaceX is buying spectrum, and five questions after China's Victory Day Parade.
An interview with Dan Kim about the CHIPS program, why the U.S. took a stake in Intel, and the fraught dispute about Nvidia and China.
Apple's iPhone announcement was impressive, but no one was impressed, because Apple is increasingly peripheral to what is changing the world.
SpaceX just made a huge deal for spectrum, but they will still need partners; the real goal is knocking competition out of the game.
Atlassian bought The Browser Company, seeking to deliver an AI-enabled browser for work. It's a reasonable bet, but I'm skeptical that browsers are the future.
The best Stratechery content from the week of September 1, 2025, including the Google Patronage Network, Google and competition, and Cloudflare and the future of the Internet.
An interview with Cloudflare founder and CEO Matthew Prince about founding Cloudflare from the bottoms up, and why now is the time to leverage the power that followed to enact pay-per-crawl.
Google lost some battles but won the war in its search distribution case: the Google patronage network was deemed too important to undo.
Google's latest Pixel event re-imagined launch events; it was appropriate given that Google is truly re-imagining the smartphone.
The best Stratechery content from the week of August 25, 2025, including the U.S. getting into the chip business, KPop Demon Hunters and the Netflix machine, and China's plan for AI chips.
Nvidia's earning continue to be governed by supply — and reasoning models make that even more the case. Plus, why Nvidia is so desperate to get back into China.
KPop Demon Hunters is the hit of the year. Sony missed out, but they didn't make a mistake; Netflix won the reward by being an Aggregator.
The U.S. taking an equity stake in Intel is a terrible idea; it also happens to be the least bad idea to make Intel Foundry viable.
A Personal Update and Vacation Break
The best Stratechery content from the week of August 11, 2025, including Facebook is Dead; Long Live Meta, GPT-5's Arrival, and the Top 5 Airports.
Meta delivered blowout earnings the same quarter that Mark Zuckerberg doubled down on AI; I don't think it was a coincidence.
GPT-5 seems fine; the more interesting questions are about the ChatGPT product and OpenAI’s tradeoffs.
President's Trump plan for the U.S. to get paid by Nvidia and AMD for China exports is dubious, but overall policy is headed in the right direction.
The best Stratechery content from the week of August 4, 2025 including what Nokia can teach us about the AI era, what the NFL wants from ESPN, and how Visa conquered debit cards.
The NFL is taking equity in ESPN. It's a great deal for Disney, driven by the NFL's long-term concern about tech dominance.
When paradigms change, previous winners have the hardest time adjusting; that is why AI might be a challenge for Apple and Amazon
Apple appears committed to its original Apple Intelligence strategy.
The best Stratechery content from the week of July 28, 2025, including how to think about Figma, the future of the U.S. semiconductor supply chain, and whether Trump is softening on China.
Figma is well-placed to succeed in an AI world, because they are an operating system. However, they need to move quickly to capitalize, and that explains why they are going public.