TBPN · 3 min instead of 2 h 52 m · Oct 13, 2026
Why micro machines are an unserved manufacturing space
Jeff Holden
Founder & CEO, Atomic Machines
An early Amazon engineer who helped create Amazon Prime, then Uber's first chief product officer.
John CooganHost · Co-host, TBPN
Co-founded Soylent and Lucy; OpenAI bought his show TBPN in April 2026.
Jordi HaysHost · Co-host, TBPN
Founded Branded Native; co-founded fintech Capital, which Rho bought.
About this segment
Jeff Holden argues that conventional manufacturing physics fails at a few microns, and that chip fabs were built to make only transistors. That leaves micro machines, such as steerable brain robots, without a way to be manufactured.
From “Muse Wonder, Anjney Sizes Up, Neal Stephenson Joins, Social Reckoning Review, Eli Manning Live”, Oct 13, 2026. Watch the full episode
“semiconductor manufacturing was invented to make one kind of machine, right? It's the semiconductor transistor and circuits built around that.”
Jeff Holdenat 2:20:27 · TBPN2:20:27Takeaways
- Macro-scale manufacturing breaks down at the low-digit micron scale
- Semiconductor fabs are optimized for a single kind of machine, the transistor
- Neurosurgeons want millimeter-scale robots that can be steered through the brain
In this episode
Full episode- 2:00:08One researcher plus AI agents found a Chrome full-chain exploit in 6 days5:04
- 54:13How pooled compute lets startups and public users share GPU capacity4:41
2:19:56Why micro machines are an unserved manufacturing space2:44