Semiconductors allow for massive, accessible, and ubiquitous computing and they are such stuff as dreams are made on. They’re pivotal components of the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry, and they now power everything from cars and appliances to missile defense systems and nuclear weaponry. Chips are so central to the consumer world, the shape of economies, and national security that they also inform geopolitical maneuvering – and the head-butting between China and the US for global dominance. Chris Miller is the author of “Chip Wars: The Fight for the World’s Most Crucial Technology,” and a historian at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.