EconoFact Chats The Risks and Rewards from International Supply Chains
Mar 22, 2026
Chris Miller, professor at The Fletcher School and author of Chip War, studies geopolitics and the global semiconductor industry. He discusses choke points and why some chips are concentrated in a few places. He explores trade-offs between offshoring and vulnerability. He outlines a four C's framework and considers friend-sourcing, reshoring limits, and the civilian-military overlap.
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Cars Use Hundreds Of Specialized Chips
- A typical car can contain around a thousand different chip types from simple door sensors to advanced autonomous controllers.
- Miller uses cars to illustrate chip specialization and why replacements aren’t plug-and-play.
Taiwan Dominates Advanced Chip Fabrication
- Taiwan's concentration of advanced chipmaking is geopolitically unique and central to economic-security debates.
- Miller notes around 90% of the most advanced chips come from one Taiwanese company, creating strategic vulnerability.
Use The Four Cs To Prioritize Security Targets
- The four Cs framework helps prioritize economic-security focus: capacity, capability, competition, criticality.
- Miller warns against casting the net too broadly to avoid making half of GDP subject to 'security' rules.
