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Frame from Birth of The Transistor: A video history of Japan's electronic industry. (Part 1) Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

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

RC286
Documentaries
YouTube
3 HN users recommended this documentary3 months2018–2022 score 3
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

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

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.

“There is a four-part documentary I saw on YouTube that went into much more (fascinating) detail.” (HN, 2022)

3 recommendations · Documentaries

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@newman8r Sep 2018 Recommends
on HN thread 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: [this video] II. Circuits in stone: [link] III. Calculator wars: [link] IV. Tech Giant: [link]
Four-part documentary on the history of Japan's electronics industry.
@rmrfstar Jun 2020 Recommends
on HN thread Officer of China’s People’s Liberation Army Arrested at LAX
Read more
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] [this video]
Excellent NHK documentary on the Japanese semiconductor industry.
@JKCalhoun Jul 2022 Recommends
on HN thread 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: [this video] Part 2: [link] Part 3: [link] Part 4: [link]
Four-part documentary with much more fascinating detail.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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