The New Oil 💾

Microchips (Semiconductors) are the oil of the 21st century. They power everything from iPhones to fighter jets to washing machines. Unlike oil, which is found in many places, advanced chip manufacturing is dangerously concentrated. Taiwan's TSMC produces over 90% of the world's most advanced chips.

This bottleneck has created intense geopolitical tension. The US and China are locked in a 'Chip War'. The US has imposed sweeping export controls to deny China access to advanced chip tech, citing national security concerns. Simultaneously, nations are subsidizing domestic factories (The CHIPS Act in the US) to 'de-risk' supply chains and bring manufacturing home.

Building a 'Foundry' (chip factory) is arguably the hardest engineering feat on Earth, requiring extreme precision at the scale of nanometers (atoms wide). The outcome of this tech sovereignty race will likely determine the economic and military balance of power for decades.