REVIEW: 'Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology' Ian Haworth • January 1, 2023 4:59 amSince the outbreak of COVID-19 in the early months of 2020, the phrase "supply chain" became a catalyst of terror for America's consumers, often demonstrated by panicked shoppers coming to blows over the last bottle of bleach, can of soup, or—worst of the worst—roll of toilet paper.Miller, an associate professor of international history at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, looks to examine the computer chip through a geopolitical lens, making the initial argument that "semiconductors have defined the world we live in, determining the shape of international politics, the structure of the world economy, and the balance of military power."The book is also filled with riveting nuggets of information—explaining the role of the U.S. federal government and military and the key decisions surrounding the technology of semiconductors that guaranteed physical American dominance in the aftermath of the Vietnam war; the sheer power wielded by corporations that grew across the world, some from mere ideas in a garage (AMD, Apple, Fairchild, Huawei, IBM, Intel, Nvidia, Samsung, and Sony are just a few examples); and finally the individuals responsible for the very technology we now take for granted (many of whom remain largely unknown)—with Miller's narrative bringing life to industry titan after industry titan.Chip War stands as a superb insight into the battle for technological supremacy on the back of microchips, from the inception of Silicon Valley to the explosive rise of modern China under the CCP.As Miller explains, "China is devoting its best minds and billions of dollars to developing its own semiconductor technology in a bid to free itself from America's chip choke.""