num_pages: 464
description: An epic account of the decades-long battle to control what has emerged as the world's most critical resourcemicrochip technologywith the United States and China increasingly in conflict.You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oilthe 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 smartphones to the stock market  runs on chips. Until recently America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower. Now America's edge is slipping undermined by competitors in Taiwan Korea Europe and above all China. Today as Chip War reveals China which spends more money each year importing chips than it spends importing oil is pouring billions into a chip-building initiative to catch up to the US. At stake is America's military superiority and economic prosperity.Economic historian Chris Miller explains how the semiconductor came to play a critical role in modern life and how the U.S. become dominant in chip design and manufacturing and applied this technology to military systems. America's victory in the Cold War and its global military dominance stems from its ability to harness computing power more effectively than any other power. But here too China is catching up with its chip-building ambitions and military modernization going hand in hand. America has let key components of the chip-building process slip out of its grasp contributing not only to a worldwide chip shortage but also a new Cold War with a superpower adversary that is desperate to bridge the gap.Illuminating timely and fascinating Chip War shows that to make sense of the current state of politics economics and technology we must first understand the vital role played by chips.
language: English
title: Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology
publisher: Scribner