China’s war chest: how the fight for semiconductors reveals the outlines of a future conflict

US efforts to stifle China's chip industry are thought to be part of a wider plan to hinder Beijing's preparations for war

Signs of the burgeoning conflict between the US and China can be spotted in many different places, from balloons in the sky to videos on TikTok. But nowhere is it more apparent than on the microscopic wafers of silicon, otherwise known as semiconductors.

Semiconductors, or microchips, are tiny pieces of technology that power everything from microwaves to military weapons. The industry is worth more than $580bn (466bn), but even that figure belies their importance to the global economy. Their existence powers several trillion dollars' worth of goods and processes; without them the global economy would shudder to a halt.