"Semiconductors have defined the world we live in,” says historian Chris Miller. A key question now is where they will be made.
Xi Jinping and Joe Biden meet in Bali, Indonesia, on Nov. 14, 2022. (via New York Times)
What’s at stake:
Will a military crisis in Taiwan “decouple” global semiconductor supply chains?
Perhaps no other facet of the global economy is as dependent on a handful of companies as is the strategic semiconductor industry, historian Chris Miller notes in his new book, Chip War. The prime examples include foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and the Netherlands’ ASML, which builds all of the market’s extreme-ultraviolet manufacturing equipment.