Long-form conversations with the people building Physical AI.
Core Matter is an interview show, writing, and community covering the founders, researchers, and operators building the intelligence layer for the physical world. Between San Francisco and Shenzhen, we talk to the people who are shaping how this generation of robots, factories, and machines will actually work.
Launching Summer 2026
What we cover
The intelligence layer for the physical world.
The builders, not the pundits.
Founders building robotics and manufacturing companies. Researchers at the labs defining the field. Operators running the supply chains, factories, and deployments where Physical AI actually meets the world.
San Francisco ↔ 深圳.
Most coverage of Physical AI is written from one coast of one country. Core Matter records from both sides of the Pacific — the capital and research center of the West, and the manufacturing and hardware capital of the East — because the most interesting work is happening across both.
Long-form. Slow. Specific.
In-depth conversations on the business of Physical AI. Each episode goes deep on how a builder actually thinks — their assumptions, their bets, and the questions they haven't answered yet. Published as video, audio, and transcript.
Hosted by
Michelle Sun
San Francisco ↔ 深圳
Michelle Sun is a founder, investor, and writer working at the intersection of Physical AI and cross-Pacific tech. She founded First Code Academy in 2013 and grew it into the largest K–12 coding education platform in Asia, with operations across five markets before its acquisition.
She later led developer ecosystem work at the Solana Foundation, has been a strategic advisor to MIT CSAIL since 2017, and previously analyzed technology, media, and telecom companies at Goldman Sachs.
Her work now centers on the people and companies building Physical AI — angel investing and advising early-stage teams in robotics, manufacturing, and frontier AI infrastructure across San Francisco and Shenzhen. She is trilingual in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese, with a Forbes 30 Under 30 recognition for her work in education.
Core Matter is the editorial home for her thinking on where durable value will accrue across the Physical AI stack — and why the West systematically underestimates how fast China is moving on the intelligence layer.
Elsewhere → LinkedIn · X / Twitter
“The factory floor is the last great unsolved interface.”
— From the forthcoming first essay
“Every other Friday, what we’re reading and watching in Physical AI.”
The newsletter goes out before the first episode and continues alongside the show. Essays, interview excerpts, and reading lists from across the Physical AI ecosystem.
No spam. Run by 核芯 Studio.