The Endless Chip War
In a Cogs of War interview, Rakesh Kumar, author of Chip Age: How Semiconductors Became the World's Most Powerful Resource, argues that chip wars, shortages, tariffs and export controls are not new phenomena but are rooted in fundamental industry realities. He cites the United States' use of trade and geopolitical interventions in the mid-1980s against Japanese chip competition and its denial of chip technology to the Soviet Union. He also expects foundries such as TSMC and Samsung to exit legacy chip manufacturing within two to three years, with existing producers such as Singapore filling the vacuum and new entrants such as India struggling with scale and cost efficiency.
Why it matters: The interview treats export controls and supply-chain policy as recurring instruments of technology competition rather than novel departures, a framing relevant to the briefing's coverage of technology and trade.