How Semiconductors Were Made in America

I gave this talk to a group at the American Corner in Almaty in April, 2026, in Almaty Kazakhstan. I was invited to come talk about America, it’s the 250th birthday of America. I’m an American living in Almaty Kazakhstan.

We are rare.

So I took the opportunity to talk about two of my favorit things: America, and semiconductors. It’s an interesting subject, and semiconductor history ties into American culture. I like history, I’m an engineer, and I like stories . . . it’s rare I get to tie those three things together.

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An American in Almaty

Being an American here feels like being a celebrity. The people, who are by far the kindest and most polite people (rivaling Omani’s who are also incredibly generous and polite), they’re genuinely curious about you and what you think of Kazakhstan. It’s not hard to find nice things to say about the place.

The lingua-franca of this region is Russian (Kazakhstan was colonized by Russia, once by the Tsars and once by the Soviets), and living here requires you to know just a bit of it. When I stepped off the plane two years ago, I did not understand a word of Russian or Kazakh, and even worse, I couldn’t read the alphabet (street signs and names can still be challenging). Kazakhs always forgive you if you don’t speak Kazakh or Russian; if they speak English, even a few phrases, they’re game to try and talk to you.

One of the most endearing things here is when you meet someone realizes you’re an American, they don’t speak English, and they grab their eldest child, and proudly tell them to speak English to you. Brave little kids come up to me all the time, at the airport, on the street, at a restaurant . . . they come right up and speak English to you. I meet so many Kazakhs that have lived and worked in the US, they always have kind things to say about my people.

The author. They have some pretty awesome national dress you can wear in front of some pretty awesome nature.

So this recording was my talk, at the American Spaces, about the history of semiconductors and why they were invented in America.

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