CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Maksakova, Anastasiia |
|---|---|
| Title | Semiconductors are a New Weapon of Geopolitics: The U.S. - China Rivalry, AI, and The Future of Global Security |
| Summary | This thesis analyzes the U.S. - China technological rivalry, the impact it has on other stakeholders, geopolitics, global and national security and the emergence of the semiconductor - AI nexus. At first solely driven by market forces, these small chips became new weapons of geopolitics. Using qualitative analysis, comparative analysis and a case study approach, this research contributes to the conversation by providing a comprehensive and up-to-date research of the semiconductor-AI nexus, a sector that remains under investigated in existing literature. By analyzing semiconductor state policies and industry responses of Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the EU, and the Netherlands this research offers a comprehensive understanding of a complex web of semiconductor industry and its implications on global dynamics. This thesis finds that semiconductors and artificial intelligence are a singular nexus of geopolitical competition, where states, pushed by national security imperatives turn to weaponized interdependence through the means of economic statecraft (sanctions, alliances, tariffs and interdependencies) to gain technological sovereignty, strategic superiority and geopolitical dominance. Overall, there is visible trend toward "techno-nationalism," with states prioritizing onshoring of production and supply-chain resilience, breaking from the globalization trend of previous decades. |
| Supervisor | Csernatoni, Raluca-Oana |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/maksakova_anastasia.pdf |
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