Next Geopolitical Battlefield Is Microscopic
A masked man walks by an image of a circuit board at Semicon China in Shanghai on June 27.
Photo credit: Feature China/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
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The most advanced ones have circuits measuring in the billionths of a meter. They may be exceptionally tiny, but their impact on the global economy and geopolitics is enormous.
As the fight between the U.S. and China for tech dominance heats up, focus is turning to the semiconductor industry. Chips are the basic component of modern digital life — in everything from smartphones to missiles — and the electronics industry that depends on them is worth more than $5 trillion a year, making it a market worth fighting for.