TECHNO-STRATEGIC COMPETITION IN THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY: THE ROLE OF EMERGING PLAYERS IN THE US-CHINA RIVALRY

Abstract

Semiconductors have become a core arena of techno strategic competition in which the US and China compete and often clash. This thesis will investigate how other emerging players in the semiconductor arena like Malaysia, Turkey, South Korea, and Japan are not just reacting to this rivalry, but are in fact creating and transforming the global semiconductor market. This dissertation addresses the central problem of strategic ambiguity in which these states must act within severely constrained geopolitical space, difficult technological autonomy, and strongly complex supply chains led by the two superpowers. This research adopts qualitative research design by using both primary as well as secondary sources of data which includes research papers, reports, and expert commentaries. The theoretic base of the study is techno-realism that treats technology as basic source of national power, giving rise to identity, international positioning and strategic behavior. Viewing semiconductors through this lens, they are no longer economic products, but are tools of influence and life in a world digitalized order. Faced with the US and China defending semiconductor innovation and supply through techno nationalistic means, emerging nations rely on targeted investments in techno nationalistic strategies; establish strategic alliances with each other to reduce techno nationalistic threats; and specialize in individual functions in the value chain to create adaptive organization ecosystems. It is these players, who are not only economic, but geopolitical actors through their ability to use semiconductor capabilities to balance alliances, increase resilience, and give itself strategic visibility. The study concludes that techno strategic competition is more and more multipolar, and that the roles of these emerging states are key to what the future will be of global semiconductor governance. The spectacle and the reality of their growing influence and increased importance are signs that the world is beyond the binary US–China rivalry, and we need to look at techno strategic relationships in a web that involves numerous stakeholders.