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Birth of The Transistor: A video history of Japan's electronic industry. (Part 1)

RC2863 HN recommenders · 2018–2022
1.2M views · documentary · evergreen · Uploaded 2013-11-15

First part of a four-part video history of Japan's electronics industry, covering the birth of the transistor and the rise of Japanese semiconductors. It appears to draw on NHK documentary material.

Recommended in documentary and semiconductor-history threads as a detailed look at Japan's chip industry.

History of computingSemiconductors & chip manufacturing

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3 comments from Hacker News

@newman8r2018 · in “Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?”

I wouldn't call it the best documentary, but I think people here will like it, it's a 4 part documentary: "A Video History of Japan's Electronic Industry" I. Birth of the transformer: [VIDEO] II. Circuits in stone: [LINK] III. Calculator wars: [LINK] IV. Tech Giant: [LINK]

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@rmrfstar2020 · in “Officer of China’s People’s Liberation Army Arrested at LAX”

This is bad read on the history of innovation. I offer two counter-examples, though there are many more: (1) Japanese semiconductor industry, for which there is an excellent NHK documentary [1]. (2) After WW2, the British invited Soviet engineers to tour jet engine factories as a token of good faith. The engineers documented the factory layout, and wore adhesive on their shoes to gather metal filings for later analysis. A few years later, Mig-15's were shooting American planes out of the sky over Korea. A similar example: the British transferred huge bodies of knowledge to US aircraft engine manufacturers during WW2. This laid the foundation for the industry's future success. [1] [VIDEO]

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@JKCalhoun2022 · in “The Rise and Peak of Japanese Semiconductors”

There is a four-part documentary I saw on YouTube that went into much more (fascinating) detail. Part 1: [VIDEO] Part 2: [LINK] Part 3: [LINK] Part 4: [LINK]

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