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Today’s computers and smartphones run on chips containing billions of microscopic transistors, the tiny electric switches that flip on and off to represent information. As such, they are unfathomably more
capable than the U.S. Army’s ENIAC computer, which was state of the art for 1945. That device contained a mere 18,000 “switches.” (Getty Images)
Bob Noyce ( center) cofounded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 with the goal of building silicon transistors. Also pictured is Noyce’s longtime partner Gordon Moore (far left) as well as Eugene Kleiner (third
from left), who later founded Klei ner Perkins, America’s most powerful venture capital firm. (Wayne Miller/Magnum Photos)
In 1958, Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments built multiple electronic components on a single block of semiconductor material—the first “integrated circuit,” or “chip.” (Dallas Morning News)
Bob Noyce realized it was the civilian computer market, not the military, that would drive chip demand. He aggressively cut prices so that chips could be plugged into civilian computers, fueling the industry’s
growth. (Ted Streshinsky/Getty Images)
The most advanced lithography machines, which are used to pattern millions of microscopic transistors, each far smaller than a human cell, are made by ASML in the Netherlands. Each machine costs well over
$100milliondollarsandisbuiltfromhundredsofthousandsofcomponents.(ASML)
KGB spies Alfred Sarant and Joel Barr, both of whom grew up in New York, defected to the USSR to help build the Soviet computer in dustry. Despite the Soviets’ pilfering, they failed to find the cutting edge.
(BarrPapers/StevenUsdin)
At Texas Instruments, Weldon Word used microelectronics to build the first laser-guided bomb, which was first used to strike a bridge in Vietnam that had previously been missed by hundreds of “dumb” bombs.
(MarkPerlstein/GettyImages)
In the 1980s Japan challenged the U.S. for semiconductor dominance. Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka, cofounders of Sony, pioneered transformative products like the Sony Walkman, which proved that Asian
firmscouldnotonlymanufactureeffectivelybutalsowinlucrativeconsumermarkets.(Sony)
The first major order for Texas Instruments’ chips was for the guidance computer on the Minuteman II missile, pictured here. (Dave Fields)
Facing competition from Asia, American chipmakers competed on innovation. Intel’s Andy Grove, who took over as CEO after Gordon Moore, forged an alliance with Bill Gates. Forty years later, Microsoft’s
WindowssoftwareandIntel’sx86chipscontinuetodominatethePCbusiness.(APPhoto/PaulSakuma)
In what proved to be a colossally bad decision, Intel turned down Steve Jobs’s proposal to build chips for Apple’s mobile phones. “I couldn’t see it,” Intel CEO Paul Otellini would later say. (Karl Mondon/Abaca
Press)
When Morris Chang was passed over for the CEO job at Texas Instruments, he moved to Taiwan where he founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and built the country’s chip industry. TSMC is
one of Asia’s most valuable companies. (Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Today, advanced chips possess tiny, three-dimensional transistors, each smaller than a coronavirus, measuring a handful of nanometers (billionths of a meter) wide. (IBM)
Acknowledgments
Fabricating a cutting-edge chip involves hundreds of process steps and a supply chain that stretches across multiple countries. Writing this book was only slightly less
complex than making a chip. I’m grateful to the many people, in many countries, who have helped along the way.
For making archival material available, especially amid the restrictions of the pandemic, I thank the librarians and archivists at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.;
Southern Methodist University; Stanford University; the Hoover Institution; the Archive of the R ussian Academy of Sciences; and Academica Sinica in Taiwan.
I am equally grateful for the opportunity to have conducted well over one hundred interviews with semiconductor experts from industry, academia, and government.
Several dozen interview subjects asked not to be named in the book so that they could speak freely about their work. I would, however, like to publicly thank the following
individuals for sharing insights or helping to arrange interviews: Bob Adams, Richard Anderson, Susie Armstrong, Jeff Arnold, David Attwood, Vivek Bakshi, Jon Bathgate,
Peter Bealo, Doug Bettinger, Michael Bruck, Ralph Calvin, Gordon Campbell, Walter Cardwell, John Carruthers, Rick Cassidy, Anand Chandrasekher, Morris Chang,
Shang-yi Chiang, Bryan Clark, Lynn Conway, Barry Couture, Andrea Cuomo, Aart de Geus, Seth Davis, Anirudh Devgan, Steve Director, Greg Dunn, Mark Durcan, John
East, Kenneth Flamm, Igor Fomenkov, Gene Frantz, Adi Fuchs, Mike Geselowitz, Lance Glasser, Jay Goldberg, Peter Gordon, John Gowdy, Doug Grouse, Chuck Gwyn, Rene
Haas, Wesley Hallman, David Hanke, Bill Heye, Chris Hill, David Hodges, Sander Hofman, Tristan Holtam, Eric Hosler, Gene Irisari, Nina Kao, John Kibarian, Valery
Kotkin, Michael Kramer, Lev Lapkis, Steve Leibiger, Chris Mack, Chris Malachowsky, Dave Markle, Christopher McGuire, Marshall McMurran, Carver Me ad, Bruno
Murari, Bob Nease, Daniel Nenni, Jim Neroda, Ron Norris, Ted Odell, Sergei Osokin, Ward Parkison, Jim Partridge, Malcolm Penn, William Perry, Pasquale Pistorio, Mary
Anne Potter, Stacy Rasgon, Griff Resor, Wally Rhines, Dave Robertson, Steve Roemerman, Aldo Romano, Jeanne Roussel, Rob Rutenbar, Zain Saidin, Alberto Sangiovanni-
Vincentelli, Robin Saxby, Brian Shirley, Peter Simone, Marko Slusarczuk, Randy Steck, Sergey Sudjin, Will Swope, John Taylor, Bill Tobey, Roger Van Art, Dick Van Atta,
Gil Varnell, Michael von Borstel, Stephen Welby, Lloyd Whitman, Pat Windham, Alan Wolff, Stefan Wurm, Tony Yen, Ross Young, Victor Zhirnov, and Annie Zhou. None of
them, of course, are responsible for any conclusions I’ve drawn.
Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI, provided a very helpful set of introductions. John Neuffer, Jimmy Goodrich, and Meghan Biery of the Semiconductor Industry
Association helped me understand their perspective on the industry. Terry Daly, an industry veteran, was extraordinarily generous with his time, and I’m grateful for his
guidance. Bob Loynd and Craig Keast at MIT’s Lincoln Labs were kind enough to give me a tour of their microelectronics facility. I also benefitted from guidance through
FinFETs, high-k materials, and many other details of the science underlying semiconductors by a technical reviewer in the industry who wishes to remain anonymous.
My thinking about the intersection of chips and politics was shaped by a fascinating series of conversations with Danny Crichton and Jordan Schneider. Jordan and Dong
Yan read the manuscript and helped me sharpen its arguments. Kevin Xu and his indispensable newsletter provided some crucial anecdotes about Morris Chang that I
otherwise would have missed. A set of conversations with Sahil Mahtani, Philip Saunders, and their team crystalized my thinking about China’s chip challenges.
Portions of this research were presented at International Security Studies at Yale University. I’m grateful to Paul Kennedy and Arne Westad for the opportunity. I also
benefitted greatly from the opportunity to present early stage research at the Naval War College and thank Rebecca Lissner for the invitation. In addition, the Hoover
Institution’s history workshop and the American Enterprise Institute provided forums for tough questions that honed my argument.
This book drew heavily on existing research and journalism about the origins of Silicon Valley and on the history of computing. I’ve learned much from the scholars and
journalists who have previously examined different angles of this topic and whose work is cited in the notes. I am especially thankful to Leslie Berlin, Geoffrey Cain, Doug
Fuller, Slava Gerovitch, Paul Gillespie, Philip Hanson, James Larson, David Laws, Wen-Yee Lee, Willy Shih, Denis Fred Simon, Paul Snell, David Stumpf, David Talbot,
Zachary Wasserman, and Debby Wu for sharing their research and expertise with me. George Leopold has been a helpful guide to the contemporary chip and electronics
industry. Jose Moura was generous with introductions to his colleagues at an early stage of this project. Murray Scott was a frequent source of ideas and encouragement.
I thank Danny Gottfried, Jacob Clemente, Gertie Robinson, Ben Cooper, Claus Soong, Wei-Ting Chen, Mindy Tu, Freddy Lin, Will Baumgartner, Soyoung Oh, Miina
Matsuyama, Matyas Kisiday, Zoe Huang, Chihiro Aita, and Sara Ashbaugh for help collecting and translating sources. Ashley Theis has been enormously helpful across the
board. Support from the Smith Richardson Foundation and the Sloan Foundation made this research possible.
My colleagues and students at the Fletcher School have provided a sounding board for many of the ideas in this book, in particular Dan Drezner’s 2019 workshop on
“weaponized independence.” At FPRI, Rollie Flynn, Maia Otarashvili, and Aaron Stein supported this research from its earliest stages. Kori Schake, Dany Pletka, and Hal
Brands helped make the American Enterprise Institute an intellectual home as I put the finishing touches on the manuscript. My colleagues at Greenmantle have provided
a stimulating environment for thinking about the intersection of technology, finance, macroeconomics, and politics. I’m grateful to Niall Ferguson for his early enthusiasm
about this project; Pierpaolo Barbieri for a valuable set of introductions; Alice Han for helping me understand Chinese tech policy; and Stephanie Petrella for her incisive
criticism in the project’s initial stages.
Working with Rick Horgan and the entire Scribner team has been a pleasure. Without Toby Mundy’s early confidence in this book, it wouldn’t have gotten off the ground.
Jon Hillman made an early introduction that set this project rolling.
Finally, and most important, my family has been invariably supportive throughout this project. My parents have been tough critics of each chapter. Lucy and Vlad have
been the best babysitters anyone could ask for. Liya, Anton, and Evie have tolerated this book interrupting mornings, evenings, weekends, vacations, and parental leaves
alike. I dedicate this book to them.
About the Author
© PHOTOGRAPH BY GEORGE MARSHALL
CHRIS MILLER teaches international history at Tufts University’s Fletcher School. He also serves as Jeane Kirkpatrick visiting fellow at the American Enterprise
Institute, Eurasia director at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and as a director at Greenmantle, a New York– and London-based macroeconomic and geopolitical
consultancy. Visit his website at ChristopherMiller.net and follow him on Twitter @crmiller1.
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