A worker at a chip factory in Jiashan, China, May 26, 2021. Credit: TopPhoto via AP Images
It’s been a frenetic month of news in the semiconductor industry, following a flurry of regulatory activity in Washington aimed at boosting American chipmaking capacity and stemming the flow of advanced chips to China.
As technology competition heats up, policymakers and observers even beyond the chip sector must familiarize themselves with an expanding vocabulary of chip-related concepts. Electronic design automation software, chips for AI, 12 nanometer vs 7 nanometer: what does it all mean, and how does it affect U.S.-China relations?
This week, The Wire explains key concepts in the semiconductor supply chain and what recent events mean in the competition over its control.
Data: White House 100 day supply chain review report, market reports
ON NODES AND NANOMETERS
An integrated circuit — also known as a chip — is a device composed of billions of transistors: computational devices that can be switched on (1) and off (0), which together are ab
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Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative under Donald Trump, reflects on his decision to launch the trade war with China and begin the process of "strategic decoupling" — a process he says the U.S. must see through to the end.
