The Substrate1 is a newsletter about AI hardware, security, and geopolitics run, and mainly written, by members of the compute policy team at the Institute for AI Policy and Strategy (IAPS).
We tend to think that AI is the most important technology, and compute one of the most important resources, of this age. These claims, if true, raise a lot of very important and very interesting policy and strategy questions, and these are the questions we want to explore with this newsletter. Historically, we have been especially interested in topics like:
US export controls on AI chips and related tooling
Hardware and data center security
Hardware-enabled mechanisms and other verification technologies
Chinese efforts to indigenize semiconductor manufacturing
To get a sense of what we want to achieve with The Substrate, read our introductory post.
This newsletter is for members of the IAPS compute policy team to share quick takes and commentary on evolving issues in AI policy. The posts reflect individual perspectives, not institutional positions, and our team members sometimes disagree with each other. Think of this as a space for timely reactions and ongoing thinking, not polished final products. For our organization’s formal research and official positions, check out our published reports.
If you see us publishing anything wrong or dumb, you may complain to Erich Grunewald (email) who acts as editor.
Defined by the Oxford Dictionary of English as “an underlying substance or layer” and also “a material which provides the surface on which something is deposited or inscribed, for example the silicon wafer used to manufacture integrated circuits”.
We have no relation to the semiconductor start-up Substrate. You will know us by the definite article as well as the fact that we are a not-for-profit newsletter and not a for-profit start-up.
