Tech Cold War: China at the Gate
Articles > Article · 2025
Authors: Burcu TÜRKCAN, Mustafa MUTLUER
Uluslararası Sosyal Siyasal ve Mali Araştırmalar Dergisi, Refereed Journals of Other Institutions, International, Index Copernicus, 2025, vol 5, pp 223-235
Summary
Power balances across nation-states have changed because of the semiconductor production since 1970s. Manufacture of microchips have shifted through China, by providing higher growth, trade and competitiveness rates. Hence, the United States has begun to apply compulsory policies on trading with and investing in China. However, the rise of Chinese production in the semiconductor industry is still tremendous. Emerging discussions suggest that the current rivalry can be called as the Second Cold War. However, this definition is not completely true, since China’s socio-economic structure is not similar to USSR. Hence, this study adopts the Tech Cold War phrase, which is defined as a geopolitical rivalry between superpowers trying to achieve supremacy over critical technologies. Moreover, all these discussions show that there is an urgent need to analyse the current situation to understand the inclinations in global power balances. Therefore, the main aims of this study are twofold. The first is analyzing the current situation of both countries from the view of microchip production and trade. And, the second is foresighting power balances of new global era. Since there is a shortage about the economic-policy analyses about this issue, it’s expected to make a contribution to the related literature.