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

SSP Wednesday Seminar with speaker Chris Miller, Associate Professor of International History at Tufts University. The talk will be broadcast live on the MIT Security Studies Program Youtube channel. 

In terms of shaping the balance of power, 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 chips. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the predominant superpower. Now, America's edge is slipping, undermined by competitors in Taiwan, Korea, Europe, and, above all, China. Today 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, even as its growing military might makes it conceivable for Chinese leaders to dream of seizing Taiwan. At stake is America's military superiority, economic prosperity, and its technological future.