• By Aravind Yelery and Sadia Rahman

The conquest of critical technologies intensifies in the 21st century as scientific and technological research efforts double in quantity and quality.

Microchips and related technological capabilities enable today’s high-tech companies to thrive.

The engine of economic activity has been the fundamental denominator of growth and power struggles. Enabling advanced computing, the latest microchips are having a major impact on technology-driven competition between nations that control resources, technology and supply and determine the world’s semiconductor security his architecture.

Unlike oil and gas, there is no substitute for microchips. Many developed countries, such as Taiwan, the United States, South Korea, and China, are actively developing sophisticated semiconductor industries, while emerging countries continue to rely on cheap and old technology. There is room to survive and catch up.

The semiconductor industry believes China has the technological edge and is proving its strength.

Many countries feel threatened by China’s technological rise.

But Japan is not the first to use cutting-edge technology and state-sponsored industrial espionage to expand its value chain. A timeline of globalization reveals how Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea have harnessed their innovation capabilities to create technological revolutions across East Asia and beyond.

This was possible because the traditional heterogeneous view of technology in these countries was simultaneously catching up with the global spread of new technologies. Technological innovation not only plays a key role in the economy and development of these states, but also plays a central role in critical next-generation networks and digital technologies, standards being adopted around the world.

The heterogeneous perspectives of science and technology characterize the rise of spillover technology and the proliferation of technologies that underpin human development. These factors are also crucial in the semiconductor industry, which contains complex products that have fostered highly complex supply chains involving thousands of specialized companies around the world. There are also asymmetrical market requirements and disproportionate scale needs around the world.

In retrospect, the combination of economic strength and technological superiority was the driving force behind the nation’s rise. Based on empiricism, these indicators and historical precedent highlight that China’s rise is a significant disruption because of China’s linear approach to scientific and technological progress. This turmoil is rooted in the context of China’s compelling rise and hedging to redesign the global supply of sophisticated products. This directly expresses the intentions of Chinese revisionists to change the norms of the international community to suit their national interests.

China understands technology as a power source. Technological leadership in critical industrial processes fuels national economic power, which in turn translates into global political power.

While the mega-revolution in tech diplomacy is nothing new, the possibility that China’s military-civil-industrial complex could serve as a source of advanced technology for the Chinese military is undeniable. Given that most of the key technologies used by China are imported, China’s leaders are rushing to overcome these dependencies by deepening the country’s electronic capabilities.

The semiconductor industry is redrawing its front lines and is in fierce competition. The proliferation of chips has resulted in the growth of a huge global industry. In contrast to these technological changes, the Japanese government in the mid-20th century was prepared to relinquish its technological prowess in order to appease protectionist sentiments by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union. was made.

Japan’s technological innovation and penetration into the US microchip market has increased the US dependence on Japan. This action contrasts with the contemporary situation, where economic dependence and technological superiority give the nation an edge. This can also be viewed through the lens of changing dynamics of political power.

New players such as China are accelerating this race.

Western chip technology has its roots in 19th century experimental science. Early development of semiconductor devices arose from the thermionic valve industry. These state partnerships were cohesive and did not hinder or disrupt his global supply chain.

China’s “geopolitical rise” is driven by subsidies, cheap loans, streamlining and providing incentives for R&D, and education to increase the number of technically qualified people available to the Chinese. System changes reflect China’s intention to curate high-tech on a large scale. industry.

By the standards of a large market to serve, a semiconductor infrastructure to support it, a healthy downstream industry, and a large and stable supply of capital to cover rising development costs, Chinese companies are lagging behind. China strives to fill this gap as it rapidly spreads high-tech know-how through partnerships with multinationals and Tier 1 foundries. China is an example of domestic technology becoming a political resource for national governments.

As a result, China’s technological rise is seen as a threat given the fact that it derives its “safety” from power asymmetries. China’s military beliefs are traditional in nature and repeatedly demonstrate all sorts of power imbalances: economic, technological and political.

Today’s debates about technology and its control are not only about intellectual property and commercial contours, but also about their geopolitical characteristics. China’s use of technology can be classified as more than “rigorously scientific”.

Many political strategists argue that government-led scientific activity can provide a potential generative field to derive much-needed control over power and its manifestations. This seems real. The nature of the contest has changed from just guns and steel to clever inventions.

The Wheel of Invention has intermittently driven the modernization of nation-states, military power, war potential, and intent to gain power.

Meanwhile, China’s industrial and technological prowess in dominating the semiconductor world underscores another view of whether the waging of war has been a fundamental concern of nation-states for centuries.

The technical and material demands of war influenced China’s strategy and diplomacy. Fear of controlling the microchip supply chain is giving rise to a new kind of tech nationalism in China, fueling superpower ambitions. US Chip Manufacturing Assistance Incentives (CHIPS) and Science Act could slow China’s ability to take the lead, but it’s hard to predict whether they can stop China entirely.

Aravind Yelery is a part-time researcher at the China Research Institute, New Delhi. Sadia Rahman is a Non-Executive Fellow of the Center for Advanced Policy Research Initiative in Mumbai, India.