Industrial Policy and Weaponized Chip Supply Chains
Since the Japanese export curbs on semiconductor fabrication materials against South Korea in July 2019, I have been researching on the geoeconomics of chip supply chains. I have closely followed the unfolding of weaponization of semiconductor supply chains during the pandemic and post-pandemic under Trump and Biden administrations. The culmination of my work, “Industrial Policy and Weaponized Chip Supply Chains: The Role of the U.S.-China Race for Supremacy in AI in the Japan-South Korea Chip War” is currently under review at a major peer-reviewed academic journal.
Chips for Jabs
Alongside the LAC project, I am working with Dr. Chien-kai Chen of Rhodes College on a different article, “The Geopolitics of COVID-19 Vaccine Procurement by South Korea and Taiwan from the United States amid the growing U.S.-China Tech War.” The heading, ‘Chips for Jabs’, implies that chip production capacity during the global chip shortage became a bargaining tool for vaccine procurement for countries with chip fabrication capability, such as Taiwan and South Korea.
The research project investigates the ways in which semiconductor fabrication capability was pledged to the U.S. in order to procure vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Op-Eds on Chips in the East Asia Forum (EAF)
For my standalone op-eds in the East-Asia Forum regarding chips, please read the below:
- June Park. ‘U.S. Deals with Japan and the Netherlands signal to Heightened Competition in Semiconductor Equipment,’ East Asia Forum. April 26, 2023.
This piece is the fourth of my EAF Semiconductors series.
- June Park. ‘The United States doubles down on its tech war with export and IP controls that target China but also hit Taiwan and South Korea,’ East Asia Forum. November 30, 2022.
This piece is the third of my EAF Semiconductors series.
- June Park. ‘The United States is determined to dominate the semiconductor tech war,’ East Asia Forum. August 6, 2021.
This piece is the second of my EAF Semiconductors series.
- June Park. ‘Semiconductor tech war underlies the Japan–South Korea trade dispute,’ East Asia Forum. September 24, 2019.
This piece is the first of my EAF Semiconductors series.