The Atomic Architect: Rick Gottscho on Plasma’s Role in Semiconductor Fabrication & Physical AI Infrastructure

The AI buildout has a bottleneck, and it isn't chips. It's power. Interconnection queues stretch for years, deals get signed under NDAs, and roughly 70% of Americans now oppose data centers in their own communities, with opposition crossing party lines. The energy transition everyone was promised keeps getting deferred by the race to feed the models.Yet new Princeton research points to an escape hatch. A 500-megawatt data center able to flex its grid demand for less than 1% of the year can reach full operation three to five years sooner than one that can’t. Jesse Jenkins floated exactly that idea on Season One of Deep Tech LIVE, 18 months ago, when almost nobody was building that way. So is the real bottleneck electrons, or is it contracts and consent?Dr. Jesse Jenkins leads Princeton's ZERO Lab and the REPEAT Project, and was profiled by the Wall Street Journal as ‘The Professor Helping Guide Billions in Climate Spending.’ He has since added another hat, co-founding Firma Power, where he serves as CTO, working on the challenge of supplying clean firm power to hyperscale data centers.Jesse and moderator Duncan Turner (General Partner & Managing Director at SOSV HAX) will dig into what the analyst sees now that he is the one selling the power:Why flexibility, not new generation, may be the fastest path to powering AIWhich new energy technologies are actually helping - from grid hardware and storage to geothermal and nuclearThe exploding opposition to data centers crossing party lines sending midterm candidates scrambling (is it NIMBYism, or something else?)How “clean firm power” can be delivered to the right places at the right prices and, potentially, make hyperscalers and communities happy📍 Broadcast live from our SOSV NY event space, this is the next installment of SOSV Deep Tech LIVE, our video podcast series exploring the frontiers of deep tech with leading founders, researchers, and technologists.

What makes the brain so fast? And could the answer help us build more energy-efficient AI?Nobel laureate Dr. Jim Rothman joins SOSV’s Sean O’Sullivan to explore the molecular machinery behind neurotransmitter release, a surprising role for pressure inside synaptic vesicles, and what it takes to turn fundamental discoveries into technologies.Rothman’s foundational research revealed how SNARE proteins help cells transport and release substances. But it left a puzzle: How can the same basic machinery work thousands of times faster at a nerve ending than elsewhere in the body?After a decade spent building an artificial synapse, his team found something striking: twelve SNARE complexes assembling in two groups of six. In the mechanism he proposes, the first six drive membrane fusion, while the second six increase pressure inside the vesicle, accelerating release.Could the resulting fluid flow also carry information - adding a mechanical signal alongside chemical neurotransmission? Rothman discusses this provocative possibility while distinguishing experimental findings from hypotheses still being tested. The pressure research he describes was unpublished at the time of this conversation.In this episode:• Why synaptic release can happen in just 100 microseconds• Building an artificial synapse and counting individual molecules• The “six plus six” SNARE mechanism and the experiment that tested it• Possible connections to memory and focused ultrasound• What brain mapping and biological computing could teach AI• How Genentech’s leftover material helped advance Rothman’s early research• Lessons from co-founding ARIAD Pharmaceuticals and leading science at GE Healthcare• AI-assisted antibody discovery at Prellis Biologics• Funding basic science—and why venture capital cannot simply replace it“Science and discovery will always win out. It’s only a question of which culture embraces it.” — Dr. Jim RothmanSOSV Deep Tech LIVE brings founders, researchers, investors, and technologists together to explore the frontiers of deep tech and their impact on our world.Subscribe for more conversations on breakthrough science and the companies it could make possible.#DeepTech #Neuroscience #Biotech #AI #SOSV--SOSV is the most active deep tech venture capital firm globally. We support visionary founders intent on making a profound impact on human and planetary health.We have three deeply resourced locations for founders in New York, Newark, and San Francisco. Each year, SOSV makes roughly 60 pre-seed investments of up to $550K each, as well as another 150 follow-on investments in deep tech companies. The pre-seed founders spend 4–6 months working side-by-side with SOSV General Partners and the broader team of experts in science and engineering, design and product development, supply chain and product-market fit. Additionally, founders gain access to each location’s office space and equipped lab space. More info on our locations and to apply: https://sosv.com/locations/More more info on SOSV:https://www.sosv.comMore info on our portfolio companies:https://sosv.com/deep-tech-100/

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 $𝟒𝟎𝟎𝐁 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫?📈According to Dr. Rick Gottscho, it wasn’t a breakthrough technology. It was a set of core values that everyone lived by.After Lam Research’s leadership reset, the company built its culture around principles like:• Achievement• Honesty & integrity• Open communication• Continuous improvement & innovation• Teamwork, mutual trust & respectBut one idea stood above the rest:𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲. 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥.When making tough decisions, Gottscho says the question was always asked in that order:What’s best for the customer?What’s best for the company?What’s best for the individual?Even more importantly, those values weren’t framed and forgotten. They were reinforced for years until they became part of how the company operated every day - including empowering employees to challenge leadership when they believed a decision was wrong.In this clip from his recent episode of 𝐒𝐎𝐒𝐕 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄, Dr. Rick Gottscho, retired Head of Products & CTO of Lam Research, broke down how embedding unvarnished truth and deep organizational alignment transformed their entire operational trajectory.As deep tech and plasma physics scale to meet the demands of physical AI and next-gen hardware, building the right culture from day one is just as critical as the physics.🚀 SOSV HAX is helping build this future with HAX Plasma Forge — a 10,000 sq. ft. lab and office facility in Princeton, NJ, designed to help founders turn plasma physics into commercial companies.

In this episode of SOSV Deep Tech Live, we sit down with tech visionary and investor Eric Ries, bestselling author of The Lean Startup, to tackle a problem that is quietly ticking beneath the surface of the entire innovation ecosystem.  Fifteen years ago, Eric rewired how the world builds startups. Today, he’s back with a new book, Incorruptible, targeting an entirely different kind of broken system: modern capitalism itself. The central dilemma? While leading frontier AI labs like Anthropic have raced to establish alternative governance guardrails, the vast majority of early-stage deep tech and AI startups are still launching on the exact same boilerplate legal infrastructure that has driven corporate dysfunction for decades.  According to Eric, if you aren't thinking about protecting your mission on Day 0, you are setting up a time bomb. "The most important idea in the book is that it's always too early until it's too late. If you wanna do this, do it while you actually still can."   🔬 WHAT WE COVER:00:00 - 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘅: “It’s Always Too Early Until It’s Too Late.” Introducing the central challenge of preserving a company’s mission before outside pressures make it impossible.09:46 - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗺𝘆: 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗰𝘆: Why the rigid legal interpretation that a corporation’s sole purpose is to maximize immediate returns destroys long-term value, and how American stock holding periods shriveled to an average of just six months.13:47 - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿: Alternative governance isn’t a modern gimmick—it’s armor. Discover how structures used by Zeiss, IKEA, Vanguard, Patagonia, and Novo Nordisk give companies five times the longevity of conventional corporations.14:20 - 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰’𝘀 𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱: Breaking down the mechanics of the uncompensated, two-tier Long-Term Benefit Trust structure that protects front-line AI safety missions.21:11 - 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘃𝘀. 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱: Why most “mission-driven” startups are legally obligated to maximize shareholder value—and what founders can do to change that.23:37 - 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗔𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗧𝗼𝗼 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗨𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗧𝗼𝗼 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲: Eric explains why founders postpone mission protection through every funding round until the IPO, when they “fold like a cheap table.” The solution: implement mission lock while you still can.31:11 - 𝗔𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗲𝘁: In deep tech, talent is scarcer than capital. Why leading scientific minds refuse to join startups unless their research is structurally guaranteed against short-term weaponization.54:11 - 𝗙𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆: How founders can build stronger companies that resist the extractive pressures of the financial system—and eventually transmit their own mission-driven gravity.56:10 - 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁: Why Eric argues that mission protection is not anti-profit; it’s a better way to create durable value and expand human flourishing.58:03 - 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴: How founders can use leverage in hot, cold, and one-investor fundraising scenarios to preserve mission protections before it’s too late.📖 GET THE BOOK:https://www.incorruptible.co - Check out Incorruptible, to discover the step-by-step blueprint for building a purpose-driven organization that lasts. Available now.📍 ABOUT SOSV DEEP TECH LIVE:Broadcast live from our SF and NY event spaces, SOSV Deep Tech LIVE is our video podcast series exploring the frontiers of deep tech with leading founders, researchers, and technologists.More about SOSV:https://sosv.com#EricRies #DeepTech #AlternativeGovernance #AIStartups #TheLeanStartup #Incorruptible #CorporateGovernance #BusinessStrategy

🎥 Moore’s Law isn't dying—it’s changing.In this episode of SOSV Deep Tech Live, we sit down with semiconductor legend Dr. Rick Gottscho, Retired Head of Products and CTO of Lam Research, to unpack the past, present, and highly disruptive future of chip manufacturing.Without plasma, Moore's Law would have stalled decades sooner. It remains the foundational technology enabling the etching, deposition, and cleaning of transistors at the atomic scale. Now, as silicon hits its physical limits and AI pushes compute demand to historic highs, plasma is becoming more critical than ever.Rick spent 40+ years at the center of how chips actually get made. If you're building in semiconductors, advanced hardware, or physical AI, this conversation changes how you think about the stack beneath the stack.What we cover:The $400B Corporate Turnaround: How Lam Research went from one quarter away from bankruptcy in 1998 to a global powerhouse by embedding core values like radical open communication throughout the entire organization.Skating to the Inflections: The new playbook for predicting massive industry shifts—including how Lam anticipated 3D NAND and dry resist lithography to capture dominant market share.Why Pure AI Fails in Hardware: Why a Tesla-style "big data" approach doesn't work when a single physical data point takes a day and costs thousands of dollars—and how Lam pioneered a "Hybrid Physical AI" model.America’s True Bottleneck: Why the US doesn't have an innovation problem, but a manufacturing problem—and why regaining system-level ecosystem control matters more than just owning the most advanced chip.The HAX Plasma Forge: A look at SOSV’s newest collaboration with the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab (PPPL) to help deep tech startups bridge the gap between PowerPoint theories and physical, scaled hardware.Are you a founder building in semiconductors, advanced materials, or industrial processing?Learn more and apply to the HAX Plasma Forge today: https://hax.co/📍 Broadcast live from the SOSV NY event space in Manhattan, SOSV Deep Tech LIVE is our monthly video podcast series exploring the frontiers of deep tech with leading founders, researchers, and technologists.

At our latest SOSV Deep Tech Live, we sat down with a panel of world leaders in plasma to explore ​how plasma is quickly becoming one of the most important…and misunderstood..forces shaping the future of semiconductors, clean manufacturing, advanced materials, and of course, clean energy.While much of today’s AI conversation centers on LLMs that help us write and design, the truly transformative frontier is Physical AI. To bring intelligence into the physical world, we require a new generation of semiconductors – the “picks and shovels” that provide the necessary compute power and advanced sensing without draining the world’s energy reserves. This is where plasma technology becomes indispensable. As a primary tool for semiconductor fabrication, plasma allows us to manipulate materials at an atomic level, creating the high-performance chips that Physical AI demands.However, this relationship has created a challenging cycle: we need better chips to run AI, but we now need AI to design better plasma processes. Because the “experimental space” for plasma chemistry is nearly infinite and incredibly complex, traditional trial-and-error methods are no longer sufficient. By leveraging ML and AI-driven modeling, we can now navigate this complexity with high precision, discovering “impossible” materials and optimizing multi-phase plasma environments in ways that were previously unimaginable. This synergy is precisely what will define the future of high-performance compute.How Can Deep Tech Startups Win in an Industry Defined by Massive Capital Costs & High Risk? Enter The HAX Plasma Forge.There is a notorious Valley of Death where breakthrough research often stalls before reaching the market. To overcome this – and to bring a secure supply chain back to the U.S. – we cannot simply copy existing manufacturing models. We must leapfrog the competition through a radical merger of fundamental research, applied science, and early-stage funding.This is why we are launching HAX Plasma Forge, a 10,000-square-foot lab and co-working space in Princeton, NJ, designed to help founders commercialize plasma-based breakthroughs. The HAX Plasma Forge combines: SOSV’s proven model for startup commercialization, world-class plasma physics expertise and resources from PPPL, and $51 million in dedicated funding from SOSV, the New Jersey Economic Development (NJEDA), and PPPL to make it all possible. Apply to the HAX Plasma Forge today.Find the live recording on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever else you get your podcasts.📍Broadcast live from our SOSV NY event space in Manhattan, SOSV Deep Tech LIVE is our monthly video podcast series exploring the frontiers of deep tech with leading founders, researchers, and technologists.

Fusion energy has long been called the “holy grail” of clean power because in theory it’s cheap, abundant, clean, and safe. Yet despite 100+ years of scientific research and billions in investment, the profound engineering challenges associated with fusion-based power are far from settled.𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐢𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐲, 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔.𝐒. 𝐃𝐎𝐄’𝐬 Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).Sir Steven is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on nuclear fusion, having spent decades at the forefront of fusion energy. Since 2018, he has been the Director of PPPL, one of the U.S.’s flagship fusion energy research centers, after having been CEO of the UK Atomic Energy Authority and head of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, where he led the UK’s national fusion research program. Sir Steven has shaped not only the science of plasma, but also the engineering strategies and global policy discussions around fusion power. For his services to fusion research, he was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen.In this conversation, moderator Duncan Turner (General Partner, SOSV & Managing Director, SOSV HAX) and Sir Steven will explore:🔹 Fusion’s hardest problem: why controlling plasma is so difficult & what’s finally changing🔹 The role of AI: how AI is accelerating reactor design & plasma stability🔹 From lab to grid: what stands between experiments & commercialization🔹 Plasma beyond fusion: how plasma physics is transforming semiconductors, advanced manufacturing & quantum devices🔹 The role of national labs: how institutions like PPPL & the HAX Plasma Forge are partnering with startups, investors, and industry to bring this tech to market📡 Broadcast live from our SOSV NY event space in Manhattan, this is the next installment of SOSV Deep Tech LIVE, our video podcast series exploring the frontiers of deep tech with leading founders, researchers, and technologists.--SOSV is the most active deep tech venture capital firm globally. We support visionary founders intent on making a profound impact on human and planetary health.We have three deeply resourced locations for founders in New York, Newark, and San Francisco. Each year, SOSV makes roughly 60 pre-seed investments of up to $550K each, as well as another 150 follow-on investments in deep tech companies. The pre-seed founders spend 4–6 months working side-by-side with SOSV General Partners and the broader team of experts in science and engineering, design and product development, supply chain and product-market fit. Additionally, founders gain access to each location’s office space and equipped lab space. More info on our locations and to apply: https://sosv.com/locations/More more info on SOSV:https://www.sosv.comMore info on our portfolio companies:https://sosv.com/deep-tech-100/

Geothermal energy is one of the most promising solutions to the surging energy. ☄️ But drilling to the super hot rock many miles down is a vexing technical challenge and is one reason why geothermal provides <1% of global electricity.📽️ Our next 𝐒𝐎𝐒𝐕 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄  features Carlos Araque (CEO, Quaise Energy) and Duncan Turner (General Partner, SOSV & Managing Director, SOSV HAX), exploring:➡️ Why conventional geothermal stalled➡️ The cost & resource realities of drilling into superhot rock➡️ Lessons learned partnering with oil & gas incumbents ➡️ An inside look at the 1st superhot geothermal power plant in the U.S.Quaise Energy is spinout from the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT, that is pioneering a radically new drilling technology. An MIT-trained engineer, Carlos spent 15 years on complex energy systems at SLB (Schlumberger), before joining MIT’s The Engine to commercialize tech.More info on our locations and to apply: https://sosv.com/locations/More more info on SOSV:https://www.sosv.comMore info on our portfolio companies:https://sosv.com/deep-tech-100/#geothermal #deeptech #deeptechlive

Tune in April 9th for a fascinating live conversation between Quaise Energy's CEO Carlos Araque and SOSV GP Duncan Turner - livestreaming on YouTube and LinkedIn (details below)Geothermal energy is one of the most promising solutions to the surging energy. ☄️ But drilling to the super hot rock many miles down is a vexing technical challenge and is one reason why geothermal provides less than 1% of global electricity.📽️ Our next 𝐒𝐎𝐒𝐕 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 will feature Carlos Araque (CEO, Quaise Energy) and Duncan Turner (General Partner, SOSV & Managing Director, SOSV HAX), exploring:➡️ Why conventional geothermal stalled➡️ The cost & resource realities of drilling into superhot rock➡️ Lessons learned partnering with oil & gas incumbents ➡️ An inside look at the 1st superhot geothermal power plant in the U.S.Quaise Energy is spinout from the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT, that is pioneering a radically new drilling technology. An MIT-trained engineer, Carlos spent 15 years on complex energy systems at SLB (Schlumberger), before joining MIT’s The Engine to commercialize tech.The livestream starts at 6 PM, conversation starts at 6:15 PM on SOSV's LinkedIn and Youtube channels. Post-produced video and audio podcast will be released on all the services soon thereafter.

If your only customer is "humanity," you don't have a business. And if you’re working with a global energy incumbent, you need more than great tech. On this episode of SOSV Deep Tech LIVE, we’re talking about how industrial systems actually work. This is the practical, behind-the-scenes path from promising science to full-scale deployment.Tune in for this fireside chat with Dr. Susan Schofer (SOSV / HAX Partner) and Dr. Barbara Burger (the “Godmother of Energy Investing,” Caltech PhD, Berkeley MBA, and former Chevron executive).Dr. Burger has spent decades serving as an “industrial sherpa” - guiding breakthrough tech through the messy realities of industrial scale, now advising companies like Bloom Energy, Energy Impact Partners, and Syzygy Plasmonics.Together, she and Susan will dig into what it takes to go from lab bench to commercial deployment:How to test tech and prove reliability inside complex, global systemsWhat real industrial operational constraints look likeHow to navigate regulatory nuance and the true costs of renewablesWhat to do when valuations race ahead of deploymentThe common pitfalls that quietly kill scale-up attemptsIf you're building for the energy sector or trying to sell into it, this conversation will save you years of guesswork. Don’t miss it!