About the Book
The Financial Times Business Book of the Year, this epic account of the decades-long battle to control one of the world's most critical resources--microchip technology--with the United States and China increasingly in fierce competition is "pulse quickening...a nonfiction thriller" (The New York Times). You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil--the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everything--from missiles to microwaves--runs on chips, including cars, smartphones, the stock market, even the electric grid. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower, but America's edge is in danger of slipping, undermined by players in Taiwan, Korea, and Europe taking over manufacturing. Now, as Chip War reveals, China, which spends more on chips than any other product, is pouring billions into a chip-building initiative to catch up to the US. At stake is America's military superiority and economic prosperity.
Economic historian Chris Miller explains how the semiconductor came to play a critical role in modern life and how the US became dominant in chip design and manufacturing and applied this technology to military systems. America's victory in the Cold War and its global military dominance stems from its ability to harness computing power more effectively than any other power. Until recently, China had been catching up, aligning its chip-building ambitions with military modernization. Here, in this paperback edition of the book, the author has added intriguing new material focused on "America's Chip Comeback," which overviews the global consequences of the just passed CHIPS Act, the new export controls on China, and the effort to rally allies to better guard chip technology.
Illuminating, timely, and fascinating, Chip War is "an essential and engrossing landmark study" (The Times, London).
About the Author :
Chris Miller is Professor of International History at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. He also serves as non-resident Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and as a Director at Greenmantle, a New York and London-based macroeconomic and geopolitical consultancy. He is the author of three previous books--Putinomics, The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy, and We Shall Be Masters--and he frequently writes for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The American Interest, and other outlets. He received a PhD in history from Yale University and a BA in history from Harvard University. Visit his website at ChristopherMiller.net and follow him on X @CRMiller1.
Review :
Financial Times Business Book of the Year
An Economist Best Book of the Year
A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year
New York Times Bestseller
#1 on Fortune's Spring CEO Survey of the Best Book They've Read in the Past Year
Winner 2023 PROSE Award for Outstanding Work by a Trade Publisher
Winner of the Arthur Ross Book Award
Winner of the IEEE 2024 Middleton History Award
Shortlisted for the Lionel Gelber Prize "Pulse quickening...Chip War makes a whale of a case: that the chip industry now determines both the structure of the global economy and the balance of geopolitical power. But the book is not a polemic. Rather, it's a nonfiction thriller -- equal parts 'The China Syndrome' and 'Mission Impossible'....If any book can make general audiences grok the silicon age -- and finally recognize how it rivals the atomic age for drama and import -- Chip War is it."
--New York Times
"A riveting history of the semiconductor by Chris Miller, a historian at Tufts University...His volume could not be better timed...[features] vivid accounts [and] colorful characters."
--Financial Times
"An important wake-up call with solid historical context...America's tech lead is shrinking, so the time has come to develop policies to ensure that the secret machinery of the digital era continues to operate smoothly...Miller's implicit message to U.S. policymakers is to recognize the danger and act accordingly."
--Kirkus Reviews
"An insightful history... Well-researched and incisive, this is a noteworthy look at the intersection of technology, economics, and politics."
--Publisher's Weekly
"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...Chip War makes clear that the battle for the multi-billion-dollar struggle for semiconductor supremacy in an increasingly-digitized world will only intensify in the years to come."
--Forbes
"In Chip War, his elegant new book, Chris Miller of Tufts University shows how economic, geopolitical and technological forces shaped this essential industry... For those seeking to understand it better, Chip War is a fine place to start."
--The Economist
"Miller mounts a convincing argument that shifting control of the industry could dramatically reshape the world's economic and political orders."
--The New Yorker
"Miller uncovers the complex history of the microchip...Touching on U.S.-China relations, globalization, and the microchip industry, this insightful book is key to understanding the chip's power in shaping all aspects of society in the U.S. and the world at large."
--Booklist
"Remarkable...An eye-popping work, a unique combination of economic and technological--and strategic--analysis."
--Paul Kennedy, bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers "Miller's brain works like the computer chip he writes about. It is packed with dizzying, complex circuitry that results in sparkling clarity. He has written not only an amazing story, but also one of overwhelming importance that is both taut in style and epic in scope."
--Robert D. Kaplan, New York Times bestselling author of The Revenge of Geography and Asia's Cauldron
"Terrific...With extraordinary breadth and absorbing storytelling, Chris Miller traces the global history of the chips that rule the world. A timely tale of how we got to now and the high-stakes politics that will determine what's next."
--Margaret O'Mara, author of The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America
"Essential for understanding our modern world. With a sweeping narrative...Chris Miller tells how our chip-powered world has been shaped by constant battles--among innovators and technologies, among companies, among countries, and now, of critical importance, in the great power competition between the United States and China."
--Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer-prize winning author of The Prize, The Quest, and The New Map
"The future of humanity hinges on the 'chip war' between two ecosystems vying to design and make the most advanced micro-processors. Chip War provides just the historical perspective we need as the Sino-American rivalry intensifies. An indispensable book."
--Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford, and author of Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe
"Captures the essence of the most critical and strategic element of the 21st century geostrategic competition. Brilliantly and entertainingly written, deeply convincing, and grounded in both history and technology. A tour de force!"
--Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret); Vice Chair, Global Affairs, The Carlyle Group; 16th Supreme Allied Commander of NATO; and author of 2034: A Novel of the Next World War
"One of the most important books I've read in years --engrossing, beautifully written. Miller shows that, for all its manifest flaws and failures, the American capitalist system has repeatedly outperformed other systems and in the process has done much to bolster the security of democracy."
--Robert Kagan, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, Columnist for The Washington Post, and author of The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World
"If you care about technology, or America's future prosperity, or its continuing security, this is a book you have to read."
--Lawrence H. Summers, 71st U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University
"Outstanding. Miller's history of the chip covers all angles: technological, financial, and especially political....The go-to reference on one of the most important industries today."
--Dan Wang, Technology Analyst at Gavekal Dragonomics
"The battle for supremacy in semiconductors is one of the most important stories in geopolitics, national security, and economic prosperity. But it's also been one of the least well understood. Thankfully, we now have Chip War to give us a clear view and sharp read on this essential subject."
--Andrew McAfee, coauthor of The Second Machine Age and author of The Geek Way and More from Less
"The most interesting book [I have] read all year."
--Ryan Heath, writing in Politico's "Global Insider"
