Advanced semiconductors play an important role in the defense industry, and Taiwan supplies the lion’s share of those chips. This is increasingly so as the U.S. military posture relies on relatively few high-quality systems that are underwritten by advanced microelectronics. While supply chain visibility is low, especially in the defense sector, it’s clear that semiconductors increasingly provide significant value to complex weapons systems – and that Taiwan provides the steel in the spine for the U.S. defense industrial complex. Semiconductors for commercial and military applications are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Electronic components in sophisticated military systems use many of the same logic and memory chips that appear in consumer electronics. For example, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are frequently used in military systems due to their low-cost and high modularity. However, there are military-specific requirements that call for semiconductors with certain features. While commercial chip production is heavily driven by cost and timely, large-scale production, the defense sector’s demand for chips emphasizes performance. Namely, military-specific chips must be more durable and reliable, have a higher heat tolerance, and in some cases, be radiation tolerant.
The semiconductor war has been declared between Washington and Beijing. For the United States, it’s out of the question to supply or invest in cutting-edge Chinese electronic chips. For their part, the Europeans claim to be doubling their semiconductor production, but what of it? The United States and China are waging a bitter war in the key field of high technology. In particular, semiconductors, at the heart of the new industrial revolution. The outcome of this tug-of-war remains uncertain. It does, however, highlight America’s determination to put the brakes on China’s ascent, which until recently seemed irresistible.
Read more on May 1st, 2024.