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

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Chip War is an epic account of the decades-long battle to control what has emerged as the world’s most critical resource—microchip technology—with the United States and China increasingly in conflict.

Many would 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, smartphones to the stock market, runs on
semiconductors. Now, as Chip War reveals, China, which spends more money importing chips than any other product, is pouring billions into a chip-building initiative to catch the US’s lead. At stake is not only America’s economic prosperity but also its military superiority.

“Chip War, by Chris Miller (Scribner). Silicon chips undergird all of modern digital technology, yet only a handful of companies are capable of producing them or the nanometre-scale precision instruments required for their manufacture—making the industry “a triumph of efficiency,” Miller writes, but also creating “a staggering vulnerability.” This history traces the chips’ development, from their invention, in America, in the nineteen-fifties, to the establishment of a global supply chain concentrated in East Asia. Today, nearly all advanced processor chips are produced in Taiwan, and Miller mounts a convincing argument that shifting control of the industry could dramatically reshape the world’s economic and political orders.”

– The New Yorker

“An essential, engrossing landmark study combining technology, economic analysis, geopolitics and good old-fashioned storytelling.”

– The Times

“In ‘Chip War’, his elegant new book, Chris Miller of Tufts University shows how economic, geopolitical and technological forces shaped this essential industry… For those seeking to understand it better, ‘Chip War’ is a fine place to start.”

–The Economist

“a nonfiction thriller — equal parts “The China Syndrome” and “Mission Impossible….The galloping momentum of Moore’s Law is a perfect engine for Miller’s thriller. If any book can make general audiences grok the silicon age — and finally recognize how it rivals the atomic age for drama and import — “Chip War” is it.”

– The New York Times

“a riveting history”

-The Financial Times

More Praise for CHIP WAR

“One of the most important books I’vve read in years…engrossing, beautifully written.”

–Robert Kagan, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, Columnist for The Washington Post

“An eye-popping work, a unique combination of economic and technological —and strategic—analysis.”

–Paul Kennedy, New York Times bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers

“Essential for understanding our modern world. A sweeping narrative that captures the people who risked a lot and made it all happen.”

–Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer-prize winning author of The Prize

“Semi-conductors may be to the twenty-first century what oil was to the twentieth. If so, the history of semi-conductors will be the history of the twenty-first century. This is the best chronicle of that history so far that we have had or are likely to have for a very long time. If you care about technology, or America’s future prosperity, or its continuing security, this is a book you have to read.”

–—Lawrence H. Summers, 71st U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University“Miller [argues that] the future of humanity hinges on the ‘chip war’ between two ecosystems vying to design and make the most advanced micro-processors—that of the United States and its friends (including Taiwan), and that of the People’s Republic of China….An indispensable book.”

—Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford, and author of Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe“In Chip War, Chris Miller has captured the essence of the most critical and strategic element of the 21st century geostrategic competition. This book is brilliantly and entertainingly written, deeply convincing, and grounded in both history and technology.  A tour de force!”

–Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret); Vice Chair, Global Affairs, The Carlyle Group; 16th Supreme Allied Commander of NATO; and author of 2034: A Novel of the Next World War

 “Chris Miller’s brain works like the computer chip he writes about. It is packed with dizzying, complex circuitry that results in sparkling clarity. He has written not only an amazing story, but also one of overwhelming importance that is both taut in style and epic in scope.”

— Robert D. Kaplan, New York Times bestselling author of The Revenge of Geography and Asia’s Cauldron