A New Book Is Out!
Explaining semiconductor geopolitics from an Indian perspective
Abhiram Manchi and I have been working on a book over the last couple of years. That work has come to fruition now. The book titled When the Chips Are Down: A Deep Dive into a Global Crisis is now available in bookstores and on Amazon.
So what’s the book about?
As two IC design engineers interested in geopolitics, we felt a shortage of Indian perspectives in this domain, even though India is a crucial node of this supply chain. For instance, the otherwise excellent Chip War mentions India just twice, rather offhandedly.
I also cringed after attending conferences and discussions where Indians were asking foreigners questions such as “Should India build a chip fab?”.
Now, it’s terrific to keep yourself open to ideas from experts regardless of their nationalities. We should learn from the experiences and views of other countries. But surely, the question of whether India should or shouldn’t go down the path of semiconductor manufacturing can and must be answered only by Indians.
This book is one such attempt. We have focused on institutional and economic factors to analyse the semiconductor prowess of different nation-states.
Here’s the blurb with more details.
The contest for the world’s most critical industry
To the world at large, technology was synonymous with software. But in 2019, such conversations 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.
Truth be told, I am nervous about how the book will be received. I hope you will enjoy reading it and will recommend it to others. If you like it, consider dropping a review on Amazon. Or send brickbats if you prefer. Regardless, order it now.