Chip WarChip War

"Many would be surpirsed to learn that microchips are the new oil -- the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, ecoomic and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everything -- from missiles to microwaves, smarthphones to the stock market -- runs on semiconductors. Until recently, the United States designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the number one superpower. Today, America's edge is lipping. What's more China, which spends more money importing chips than importing oil, is pouring tens of billions of dollars into a plan to catch America;s lead -- a no-hold-barred effort to acquire the world's most important technology. At stake is not only the United States' economic prosperity but also military superiority. 'Chip War' recounts the gripping history of how tiny silicon chips came to define our world, from the scientific geniuses who invented them, to the tech titans who built Silicon Valley with the profits they generated, to the Pentagon officials who used them to revolutionize military power. And it reveals the modern semiconductor landscape, one in which advanced chips are constructed from the smallest electronic components ever manufactured, all to support an industry that is gargantuan in scale and involves massively complex, globalized supply chains serving some of the world's most valuable companies. As 'Chip War' provocatively shows, a reckoning is coming as China bids for semiconductor supremacy and the United States moves to block it from gaining the upper hand."--From publisher.