What is this?
Technology’s center of gravity has shifted…
Santa Clara in California, Shenzhen in China, Leuven in Belgium, Hsinchu in Taiwan. As recently as the early 2010s, these cities were the center of action for the semiconductor industry and the tech industry more broadly. Supply chain ruptures, geopolitical tensions, and a global pandemic, however, have raised the clout of political capitals in guiding technological development. And no sector tells this story better than the semiconductor industry.
Washington, D.C., Beijing, Brussels, Taipei. Capitol buildings in these cities now craft laws whose influence on the chip industry rivals that of decisions made in many company boardrooms.
Semiconductor policy is undoubtably interesting in its own right, but this newsletter is not about comprehensively analyzing every line of every chip bill introduced in every national parliament. (Your author already did his service combing through iterations of the CHIPS Act in a previous job.)
Rather, each article on Chip Capitols is a fun dive into niche policy questions arising from semiconductor policy around the world:
I have an on-going series of global chip subsidy comparison articles, comparing US incentives to those in China🇨🇳, Europe🇪🇺, South Korea🇰🇷, Taiwan🇹🇼, & Japan🇯🇵
My deep-dive articles examine foreign chip research consortia for lessons on facility geography, intellectual property, and funding structure.
I also do one-off pieces examining chip policy from the perspective of the green transition🍃 and national security🪖
In the off-weeks between each article, I also translate semiconductor-related articles from the People’s Daily (人民日报) to deepen our understanding of the Chinese government’s rhetoric on chip politics.
Ultimately, I hope readers will adopt my view that semiconductor policy is a dynamic lens for analyzing U.S.-China relations, industrial policy, intellectual property, and other fields more broadly.
Thanks for being here! Please reach out anytime with feedback and share any posts you find interesting.
Who am I?
I’m Arrian Ebrahimi. Currently studying as a Yenching Scholar at Peking University in Beijing. I grew up in Silicon Valley, went to college at St. Edward’s University in Austin, and will be pursuing a J.D. at Georgetown Law after my current stint in China.
I previously worked in government affairs at the Semiconductor Industry Association in Washington, D.C. All opinions shared here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my former employers or the groups they represent. More detailed citations for all articles are available upon request.
Lastly, I’m a cross-country kid, turned triathlete —shoutout to Capital Area Runners! Also a lover of J. R. R. Tolkien, epic poetry, and languages~
💼 When time permits, I am also happy to do consulting projects and expert calls. Reach me at arrian.chipcapitols@gmail.com
