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Analysis

Plain-language explainers on the forces shaping the world.

Technology & Standards

The semiconductor stack — what Chris Miller's *Chip War* taught policy makers

Chris Miller's 2022 history argued that semiconductor supply chains are not commodities but a layered industrial system — design, EDA tools, fabs, lithography, materials. Each layer has chokepoints, and the policy response since 2022 has been shaped by that map.

The chip industry is not one supply chain. It is six, each with its own monopolist, and the US controls or co-controls every one.

ASML EUV machines shipped to date: ~250 units worldwide; none to mainland China since 2019 (SEMI / ASML annual reports).

May 12, 2026 Read analysis →
Technology & Standards

Export controls — Gregory Allen on the new architecture

Gregory Allen at CSIS has written the most detailed open-source analysis of the October 2022 and October 2023 US semiconductor export controls. The shift from product-based to capability-based controls is the most consequential US trade-policy change in two decades.

The old export-control regime was about specific products. The new one is about a class of capability. That distinction is doing the policy work.

US BIS Entity List additions related to advanced semiconductors, October 2022 to December 2024: 187 entities (BIS Federal Register notices).

April 12, 2026 Read analysis →