You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil—the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everything—from missiles to microwaves—runs on chips, including cars, smartphones, the stock market, even the electric grid. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower, but America’s edge is in danger of slipping, undermined by players in Taiwan, Korea, and Europe taking over manufacturing. Now, as Chip War reveals, China, which spends more on chips than any other product, is pouring billions into a chip-building initiative to catch up to the US. At stake is America’s military superiority and economic prosperity.
Published in 2022, the Financial Times Business Book of the Year, this epic account of the decades-long battle to control one of the world’s most critical resources—microchip technology—with the United States and China increasingly in fierce competition is “pulse quickening…a nonfiction thriller” (The New York Times). Illuminating, timely, and fascinating, Chip War is “an essential and engrossing landmark study" (London Times).
1. Introduction and Cold War Chips: Chapters 1-6
2. The Circuitry of the American World: Chapters 7-10
3. The Circuitry of the American World: Chapters 11-14
4. Leadership Lost?: Chapters 15-17
5. Leadership Lost?: Chapters 18-20
6. American Resurgent: Chapters 21-24
7. American Resurgent: Chapters 25-28
8. Integrated Circuits, Integrated World: Chapters 29-34
9. Offshoring Innovation: Chapters 35-38
10. Offshoring Innovation: Chapters 39-41
11: China’s Challenge: Chapters 42-44
12: China’s Challenge: Chapters 45-48
13. The Chip Choke: Chapters 49-51
14. The Chip Choke: Chapters 52-54 and Conclusion
Chip War: The Fight for the World’s most Critical Technology, Chris Miller, 2022.