The Everything Blueprint

The Microchip Design That Changed the World

By: James Ashton

Narrated by: James Ashton

Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

A gripping look at the rise of the microchip and the British tech company caught in the middle of the global battle for dominance.

A big source of tension between the US and China at the moment is technology. And one very small component is now at the centre of this battle for global dominance: the microchip. Controlling chip manufacturing in the 21st century may well prove to be like controlling the oil supply in the 20th. The country that controls this manufacturing can throttle the military and economic power of others.

At the heart of this battle is ARM Holdings.

Founded in Cambridge in 1990, Arm specialises in microprocessors, and dominates the global smartphone market (their designs feature in 95% of all mobile phones globally). It's a real British tech success story. But it's currently caught in the middle of a war for total control on microchips because whoever controls ARM, controls microchips.

The Everything Blueprint describes the titanic power struggle for control of the microchip - told through the story of a British start up that has found itself in the middle. The novel alternates between telling the rise of the Arm and the battle for the microchip to reveal just how important this company is.

©2023 James Ashton (P)2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critic reviews

'This is a gripping and inspiring read. The Everything Blueprint reveals how a British technology company fought to become a global one - and achieved this thanks to a powerful combination of homegrown talent, international collaboration between brilliant people, and dogged ambition. Arm's success is proof that in today's connected world it is vital to go abroad to achieve scale. The key to this story is a fierce determination to be No. 1 - and never giving into complacency.' Sir James Dyson, British inventor, industrial designer and entrepreneur

'The Everything Blueprint provides the hidden history of the most important company most people have never heard of. We all rely on Arm's chip technology but James Ashton provides a dramatic account of where Arm came from-and how this company will shape the future of computing and artificial intelligence. A revealing and insightful biography of the company whose blueprints define the digital world.' Chris Miller, author of CHIP WAR: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology

'This is an engrossing history of the most important company to emerge in the UK in the last 40 years and how it fits in to the world's most vital industry. It's also a sobering reminder that if we are careless about Arm's future we can give up on our aspirations to be a leading tech nation.' Rory Cellan-Jones, former BBC technology correspondent and author of Always On: Hope and Fear in the Social Smartphone Era

A history (few know) that has affected everyone

A great history of computer technology, told through the eyes of the most successful microprocessor in history, the ARM processor. Takes us from the transistor, to the microchip, to the CPU, and talks about all the important people and companies along the way.

Very dense in information, I could see myself listening to this many times. The narrator speaks fast, and several times I've had to slow the reading speed (easy to do with Alexa and Audible).

The importance of ARM is seen in most every smart device we use (cell phones, automobiles, kitchen appliances, defense industry, medical devices, and on and on). The fact that the ARM chip is made on the small island of Taiwan, the same small island that is right next to China, who wants to take over that island, makes this story relevant to national security, and the world economy.

ARM and the Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company is as important to the world as oil.

Very interesting

The book gives an account of the semiconductor industry as a whole with focus on ARM up to 2022. Very well written and read!