The “chip war” remains a critical domain in U.S.-China competition. This was clearly the case during the Biden administration, which made semiconductor investment the focus of its marquee legislation. And the emphasis on semiconductors — and competition with China therein — remains under the Trump administration; the field is front and center for the Commerce Department’s newly announced United States Investment Accelerator.
Still, despite this consistent prioritization, Washington risks heading in the wrong direction in the chip war. Washington’s framing of the semiconductor competition misinterprets China’s positioning. In particular, the United States risks ignoring the upstream foundations on which all integrated circuits are built and China’s growing stranglehold over that foundation.
Billy Beane used to say that the Oakland Athletics couldn’t ‘do the
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