Will America lose its grip on the microchip?

One particularly interesting element of the book that may go unnoticed relates to the ongoing battle for control of microchips, with the United States grappling with a vast array of potential (and actual) competitors and enemies for their continued dominance over the world’s “new oil.”

Not only does Miller expertly usher readers through the story of the microchip—a story which is often as complex as the chips themselves, and as drama-filled as any binge-worthy Netflix series—his account also stands as a warning.

Throughout modern history, the world has relied on American dominance of just the right resource or technology at just the right time. After all, how unrecognizable (or, indeed, nonexistent) would the world be in an alternative reality where communist regimes had been driven by the technology that cemented the United States’ position as the world leader in the second half of the 20th century?

And what was true then remains true now: The battle for dominance relies upon the next discovery, whether that be cutting-edge fuel sources (such as cold fusion) or computational supremacy (such as quantum computing).