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Chip War
Book

Chip War

The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology

Chris Miller
Scribner, 2022

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Eye Opening
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

The chip industry’s importance extends beyond consumer electronics. Historian Chris Miller argues that integrated circuits or silicon chips – semiconductors – are critical to strong national economies and modern militaries. As of the 1960s, many US firms began making chips in East Asia, notably Taiwan. Miller says the island’s future and the possibility of conflict with China may hinge on how China pursues its goal of reducing its reliance on imported chips and other tech. Though he does not shy away from technical details, even nontechies will appreciate and understand his cogent analysis.

Take-Aways

  • The miniaturization and fabrication of silicon chips – semiconductors – eclipses every engineering feat in modern history.
  • A series of discoveries and inventions built the semiconductor industry.
  • Starting in 1963, US chip companies opened production facilities in Asian nations offering lower labor costs than domestic manufacturers.

About the Author

Chris Miller teaches international history at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is also the Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and Eurasia Director at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He has written several other books including: We Shall Be Masters: Russian Pivots to East Asia from Peter the Great to Putin and Putinomics: Power and Money in Resurgent Russia.

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