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When the Chips Are Down: A Deep Dive into a Global Crisis
To the world at large, technology was synonymous with software. Within months, the subject of such conversations has changed dramatically. Today, the hardware that runs all software - semiconductors or chips - has become a subject of WhatsApp groups and international politics.The chip shortage during COVID-19 made governments take notice of this complex supply chain. The US began denying advanced semiconductors to Chinese companies. Worsening China-Taiwan relations further intensified the debate. By 2022, China, the US, India, the EU, and Japan had released plans worth billions of dollars for setting up new semiconductor facilities.This book is a comprehensive overview of this “meta-critical” technology. How are semiconductors important from a geopolitical perspective? Why did the US and Taiwan become powerhouses in this domain while Russia and India fell behind? Is China's semiconductor sector a threat to the world? What are the future trends to watch out for? These are the questions that this book answers.
- GenresTechnology
208 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 18, 2023
11 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 8, 2024
Its a good introduction with a compiled history of the semiconductor supply chain. I was expecting a larger focus on the India efforts: historical and current, however, that is not the case.
The book promises an intersection of technical and geopolitical insight of the semiconductor industry. The history of each region's (US, EU, SEA, China) semiconductor journey is covered, current status and future expectations from the author. I wish there could be more detail on the history of India's semiconductor effort or the works done by SCL or BEL and the assembly and packaging industry in India.
I am a fan of the Asianometry podcast who covers these topics in their podcast episodes. It might be a better and more interesting supplement to the book if you want to learn more about semiconductors.
The book promises an intersection of technical and geopolitical insight of the semiconductor industry. The history of each region's (US, EU, SEA, China) semiconductor journey is covered, current status and future expectations from the author. I wish there could be more detail on the history of India's semiconductor effort or the works done by SCL or BEL and the assembly and packaging industry in India.
I am a fan of the Asianometry podcast who covers these topics in their podcast episodes. It might be a better and more interesting supplement to the book if you want to learn more about semiconductors.
November 24, 2023
Good content. You enjoy a subject more when you understand it better. I feel more excited about global semiconductor news after gaining some context from this book.
Needful criticism is for the editing and publishing team. Quite obvious grammatical errors, some sentences broke off in the middle. Perhaps a bit of criticism for the authors too here. It almost felt like no one bothered reading it sentence to sentence before publishing.
Needful criticism is for the editing and publishing team. Quite obvious grammatical errors, some sentences broke off in the middle. Perhaps a bit of criticism for the authors too here. It almost felt like no one bothered reading it sentence to sentence before publishing.
December 8, 2023
A quickread and a fitting starter that lays out the expanse of semiconductor domain till date. I believe each chapter should be expanded into volumes, if the authors have the interest and research capacity as a lot of statements are expressed as matter of fact.
The final chapter is brilliant, again for a beginner, to understand how politics and economy work their way in this industry.
I liked the oft-mentioned historical and informative bits of information. Overall, it's perfect for the Indian reader.
The final chapter is brilliant, again for a beginner, to understand how politics and economy work their way in this industry.
I liked the oft-mentioned historical and informative bits of information. Overall, it's perfect for the Indian reader.
June 6, 2024
Timely book and a very good overview of the semiconductor sector broken down by geographical evolution. I would have personally preferred to see more historical perspective on the Indian semiconductor ecosystem. The last chapter on peering into the future has what seems to be a well-rounded perspective on what the short and medium terms hold for this sector. My only grouse is that you find yourself nodding along a bit since nothing radical or even unusual is being highlighted here! Business as usual in this sector with minor blips in the short term might well be how things actually pan out but it would be interesting to pick apart in a lot more detail what might actually be different in this (interim) global rebalancing of the semiconductor sector.
March 14, 2024
This book discusses how the control and production of semiconductors have become a strategic asset for nations, influencing diplomatic relations and power dynamics on a global scale. Made me realize that I am in an industry that is as vital as food production and healthcare. Cheers to everyone who lives and breath silicon!
December 15, 2023
A good review of the global SemiConductor industry and the geopolitics surrounding it. Works well for readers who are new to this subject.
March 3, 2024
fav chapters were on indian history and political economy that Pranay did a great job expanding on in this podcast: https://www.chinatalk.media/p/indias-...
January 1, 2025
Full disclosure at the outset: I know one of the authors of the book and even got the copy of it from him. That said, my biases don't influence my rating and the following review.
I first studied Electronics in Grade 11 in Bombay as a replacement for Biology and Hindi in my Maharashtra state board college. While I appreciated the basics of semiconductor working and the discussions on "biasing" and "doping" I detested the presentation of content on Diodes and Transistors- was it a PNP transistor and NPN diode? Dang, that was a painful memory. Needless to say when I chose my engineering branch I preferred the economically less lucrative Electrical Engineering which had a smattering of Electronics courses which I struggled with while a number of my classmates in Electrical tried their best to push themselves into the prestigious Electronics jobs at the likes of Texas Instruments, Qualcomm et. al. which paid some of the best salaries back in the day to very electronics savy engineers. While the objective of this detour wasn't for me to just reminisce but also state how well this book has done to make 31 year old Dakshesh feel bad about missing this branch when he was 19. Therein lies the beauty of this book that although its supposed to serve as concise exposition to the history of semiconductor policy and end with some astrology of the sector, it serves as much more.
Pranay and Abhiram manage to leverage historical anecdotes, scientific concepts and development economic analysis in different parts to spin a book whose highlight for me is the style in which they have presented the material contrasting Western policy writers who tend to "fluff" up their books. The sharp precision and almost matter-of-factly writing at times is indicative of a book only two engineers could have written. It almost felt like the days when you had to choose an Indian writer like Ramakant Gayakwad's Linear Integrated Circuits book over Sedra Smith or Boylestead's tomes on Microelectronics and Analog. You knew Gayakwad was crisp and accessible and the latter could only be used by an average Electronics student to imaginarily slam it on the instructors head in frustration.
Second, the other key highlight of this book is the extensive geographical coverage in comparison to what think tanks and writers in the EU, UK and US cover. Case in point is Chris Miller's Chip War which only has a passing mention of India or similarly the previous book I read by Tim Marshall which only adequately reviews the space programs of the major "Powers". Pranay and Abhiram have clearly conducted extensive historical research from varied sources to construct the development of the semiconductor industry in East Asia, China, a bunch of European countries and of course India. While the patriot in me was most keen to read the chapter on India, it was the chapter on East Asia and the extensive coverage of Japan, Taiwan and South Korea which was particularly appealing since they trace the economic trajectories of these countries and showcase the core role of the semiconductor industry in it. Their well indexed references give extensive fodder for further reading to those keen on further nerding.
Despite the appealing style, extensive research and varied geographical coverage, I felt the book felt short on the last chapter. While the writers have summarized the potential objectives and policy pathways to achieve them, I was further keen to read the analysis of the writers and also in the various country chapters. For example, if we know the semiconductor industry can't grow driven by government expenditure and we are likely to see a period of low demand, what do the writers think can be the potential solutions? Moreover, given the geopolitical dynamics it would have been an interesting thought exercise to consider a few scenarios of some of the countries achieving their objective and the reactionary policy moves by other countries. Another big question was what is the interest of the offtakers of the semiconductor industry? Like what do the consumer electronics manufacturers, automakers and others do to lobby for their goals and steps to manage their business interests.
If some of these do tickle your brain then this is definitely a book you should be reading soon. I maybe stretching it but perhaps every electronics engineer should read this book to see the bigger picture of their work. While my mind struggles with these thoughts, this book has made me overcome my childhood aversion to electronics and find a copy of a Sedra Smith to read again. Perhaps its too late to get into analog or digital design but semiconductor policy is only going to grow as nations indulge in this multi-player chess match.
I first studied Electronics in Grade 11 in Bombay as a replacement for Biology and Hindi in my Maharashtra state board college. While I appreciated the basics of semiconductor working and the discussions on "biasing" and "doping" I detested the presentation of content on Diodes and Transistors- was it a PNP transistor and NPN diode? Dang, that was a painful memory. Needless to say when I chose my engineering branch I preferred the economically less lucrative Electrical Engineering which had a smattering of Electronics courses which I struggled with while a number of my classmates in Electrical tried their best to push themselves into the prestigious Electronics jobs at the likes of Texas Instruments, Qualcomm et. al. which paid some of the best salaries back in the day to very electronics savy engineers. While the objective of this detour wasn't for me to just reminisce but also state how well this book has done to make 31 year old Dakshesh feel bad about missing this branch when he was 19. Therein lies the beauty of this book that although its supposed to serve as concise exposition to the history of semiconductor policy and end with some astrology of the sector, it serves as much more.
Pranay and Abhiram manage to leverage historical anecdotes, scientific concepts and development economic analysis in different parts to spin a book whose highlight for me is the style in which they have presented the material contrasting Western policy writers who tend to "fluff" up their books. The sharp precision and almost matter-of-factly writing at times is indicative of a book only two engineers could have written. It almost felt like the days when you had to choose an Indian writer like Ramakant Gayakwad's Linear Integrated Circuits book over Sedra Smith or Boylestead's tomes on Microelectronics and Analog. You knew Gayakwad was crisp and accessible and the latter could only be used by an average Electronics student to imaginarily slam it on the instructors head in frustration.
Second, the other key highlight of this book is the extensive geographical coverage in comparison to what think tanks and writers in the EU, UK and US cover. Case in point is Chris Miller's Chip War which only has a passing mention of India or similarly the previous book I read by Tim Marshall which only adequately reviews the space programs of the major "Powers". Pranay and Abhiram have clearly conducted extensive historical research from varied sources to construct the development of the semiconductor industry in East Asia, China, a bunch of European countries and of course India. While the patriot in me was most keen to read the chapter on India, it was the chapter on East Asia and the extensive coverage of Japan, Taiwan and South Korea which was particularly appealing since they trace the economic trajectories of these countries and showcase the core role of the semiconductor industry in it. Their well indexed references give extensive fodder for further reading to those keen on further nerding.
Despite the appealing style, extensive research and varied geographical coverage, I felt the book felt short on the last chapter. While the writers have summarized the potential objectives and policy pathways to achieve them, I was further keen to read the analysis of the writers and also in the various country chapters. For example, if we know the semiconductor industry can't grow driven by government expenditure and we are likely to see a period of low demand, what do the writers think can be the potential solutions? Moreover, given the geopolitical dynamics it would have been an interesting thought exercise to consider a few scenarios of some of the countries achieving their objective and the reactionary policy moves by other countries. Another big question was what is the interest of the offtakers of the semiconductor industry? Like what do the consumer electronics manufacturers, automakers and others do to lobby for their goals and steps to manage their business interests.
If some of these do tickle your brain then this is definitely a book you should be reading soon. I maybe stretching it but perhaps every electronics engineer should read this book to see the bigger picture of their work. While my mind struggles with these thoughts, this book has made me overcome my childhood aversion to electronics and find a copy of a Sedra Smith to read again. Perhaps its too late to get into analog or digital design but semiconductor policy is only going to grow as nations indulge in this multi-player chess match.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews