Chip War

The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology

By: Chris Miller

Narrated by: Stephen Graybill

Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

***Winner of the 2022 Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award***
***Selected as one of Barack Obama's Favourite Books of 2023***

An epic account of the decades-long battle to control the world's most critical resource—microchip technology

Power in the modern world - military, economic, geopolitical - is built on a foundation of computer chips. America has maintained its lead as a superpower because it has dominated advances in computer chips and all the technology that chips have enabled. (Virtually everything runs on chips: cars, phones, the stock market, even the electric grid.) Now that edge is in danger of slipping, undermined by the naïve assumption that globalising the chip industry and letting players in Taiwan, Korea and Europe take over manufacturing serves America's interests. Currently, as Chip War reveals, China, which spends more on chips than any other product, is pouring billions into a chip-building Manhattan Project to catch up to the US.

In Chip War economic historian Chris Miller recounts the fascinating sequence of events that led to the United States perfecting chip design, and how faster chips helped defeat the Soviet Union (by rendering the Russians’ arsenal of precision-guided weapons obsolete). The battle to control this industry will shape our future. China spends more money importing chips than buying oil, and they are China's greatest external vulnerability as they are fundamentally reliant on foreign chips. But with 37 per cent of the global supply of chips being made in Taiwan, within easy range of Chinese missiles, the West's fear is that a solution may be close at hand.

©2022 Christopher Miller. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Critic reviews

"An indispensable book'" (Niall Ferguson)

"Pulse quickening. A nonfiction thriller - equal parts The China Syndrome and Mission Impossible." (New York Times)

"Fascinating… A historian by training, Miller walks the reader through decades of semiconductor history – a subject that comes to life thanks to [his] use of colorful anecdotes." (Forbes)

Semiconductor history

Wealth of information regarding the history of semiconductor. Essential for understanding one of the most critical part of the technological revolution humanity is still going through.

Must read

A book that must be read. Topical, excellently researched and written. Brought into very sharp focus the impact that this critical technology has on contemporary developments in global military, political, economic, technological trends

Required reading

A book that everyone must read. A great way to understand the history of Silicon Valley and the role it has played in the world. The role of geo politics and how different leaders made history forming decisions. China and the US. And very much about the role of Taiwan as a center of the global semiconductor world. Excellent book!

Reads like a novel

Very good historical overview of the semiconductor industry and sets the stage for the future.

Must read for anyone

Great explanation of the history and current status of the chip industry. Gets into detail but also explains the basics

Incredible.

A must read for anyone who wants to know more about, not only technological advances, but the shape of contemporary geopolitics.

Interesting

The book focuses on the history of development of semiconductor-based chips. It is very detailed and provides new insights regarding the interconnections between various players from different countries in reltion with the chip industry. What I found lacking is a focus on rare metals, their role in the numerous devices that use chips, where they are located, in what quantities, etc to get a clearer picture. The discussion is not quite impartial in the sense that a subtitle of the book could be "How to maintain USA technological lead in face of Asian competition".

Excellent overview & analysis of the development and importance of semiconductors

Excellent overview & analysis of the development and importance of semiconductors. Very much worth a listen!

Disappointing

A few episodes of the Acquired podcast contain more information about the companies mentioned in this book. More importantly the "go USA" tone of this book seems, judging on the content of the book, completely uncalled for and is at times simply gag-inducing.

Good in the history of chips but pure arrogance of USA perspectives

The beginning history of chips industry was a good summary by the author but the author did not inform the readers how USA destroyed Japan in the 80s from taking the lead .

Now the aggressor USA trying to do the same for China.

Who has more than 400 military bases in the world ? USA

China ? Only in its territories

The author needs to be objective