Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology

“Chris Miller tells us the history of how microchips were developed, emphasizing the critical role of the government, and especially defense procurement. He gives us a description of how microchips became the single most complex global good, with different pieces and aspects of the technology located in the Netherlands, the United States, Japan, Korea, and especially and most importantly, Taiwan. And he gives us a discussion of the risks that a literal war in Taiwan or an economic war of the type that we are seeing the beginning of could pose for this incredibly important complex and globalized technology.” Read more...

The Best Economics Books of 2022

Jason Furman, Economist

“It’s a vast work of research and history that’s also highly topical. Even today, just before we were talking, I was looking at the latest skirmishes in the chip wars, with Chinese chip makers being deprived of access to the tool manufacturers that they need in order to make their semiconductors. Shortages of semiconductors have been a big issue in the news over the past couple of years. Another is concerns in the EU, US and the UK about having a native supply of semiconductors and not being over reliant on Taiwan, where Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of the biggest chip makers in the world, is mainly based. That’s where 92% of the world’s semiconductors are sourced. So there’s a great topicality to this book, but it’s also about how this happened, the genesis of TSMC. It was built by a Chinese émigré who was called back to Taiwan to help build their chip business and did so, just at the moment when the rest of the world was sitting on its hands and not doing enough.” Read more...

The Best Business Books of 2022: the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award

Andrew Hill, Journalist