IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rif/wpaper/82.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Supranationalism, Sino-American Technology Separation, and Semiconductors: First Observations

Author

Listed:
  • Holmström, Harald
  • Seppälä, Timo

Abstract

Global forces have shaped the world since the industrial and digital ages. A recent perspective on globalization acknowledges the growth of three supranational economic, social, and manufacturing blocs, namely the USA, the EU, and most recently, China. In this larger picture China contends with the US to become the largest economy in the world. Recent developments in the US–China trade conflict have centered on digital technology and have set the two countries on a path towards a technology separation. This technology separation will disrupt the unique and strategically important global value chains of digital technologies. We define digital technologies as the stack of integrated hardware and software systems that enable various end applications to emerge from computation. The technology separation will happen in the lower hardware levels of the technology stack, that is, in knowledge- and capital-intensive semiconductor technology, design and manufacturing. A separation within semiconductor technology could have serious implications for Europe, but especially for smaller open economies such as that of Finland. The key to designing Europe’s semiconductor technology strategy is understanding the history, technologies, and dynamics of the semiconductor industry as well as understanding industrial policies regarding semiconductors in the USA and China. What are the different options for Europe if the technological separation continues?

Suggested Citation

  • Holmström, Harald & Seppälä, Timo, 2020. "Supranationalism, Sino-American Technology Separation, and Semiconductors: First Observations," ETLA Working Papers 82, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
  • Handle: RePEc:rif:wpaper:82
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.etla.fi/wp-content/uploads/ETLA-Working-Papers-82.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ari Van Assche & Byron Gangnes, 2010. "Electronics production upgrading: is China exceptional?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(5), pages 477-482.
    2. Kenney, Martin & Breznitz, Dan & Murphree, Michael, 2013. "Coming back home after the sun rises: Returnee entrepreneurs and growth of high tech industries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 391-407.
    3. Peter Nolan, 2001. "China and the Global Economy," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-59928-4, December.
    4. Sturgeon, Timothy J. & Kawakami, Momoko, 2010. "Global value chains in the electronics industry : was the crisis a window of opportunity for developing countries ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5417, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Seppälä, Timo & Mucha, Tomasz & Mattila, Juri (ed.), . "The Fifth Wave – BRIE-ETLA Collection of Articles," ETLA B, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy, number 281, June.
    2. Lectard, Pauline & Rougier, Eric, 2018. "Can Developing Countries Gain from Defying Comparative Advantage? Distance to Comparative Advantage, Export Diversification and Sophistication, and the Dynamics of Specialization," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 90-110.
    3. Jarreau, Joachim & Poncet, Sandra, 2012. "Export sophistication and economic growth: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 281-292.
    4. Kellee S. Tsai, 2017. "Elite Returnees in Beijing and Bangalore: Information Technology and Beyond," HKUST IEMS Working Paper Series 2017-47, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies, revised Dec 2017.
    5. repec:lic:licosd:20508 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Byron Gangnes & Ari Van Assche, 2010. "Global Production Networks in Electronics and Intra-Asian Trade," Working Papers 201004, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    7. Emanuela Todeva & Ruslan Rakhmatullin, 2016. "Industry Global Value Chains, Connectivity and Regional Smart Specialisation in Europe. An Overview of Theoretical Approaches and Mapping Methodologies," JRC Research Reports JRC102801, Joint Research Centre.
    8. Machacek, Erika & Fold, Niels, 2014. "Alternative value chains for rare earths: The Anglo-deposit developers," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 53-64.
    9. De Backer, Koen & Miroudot, Sébastien, 2014. "Mapping global value chains," Libros de la CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 37176, September.
    10. Françoise Hay & Christian Milelli, 2013. "The endless quest to strategic assets by Chinese firms through FDI: From Inward to Outward Flows," Working Papers hal-04141202, HAL.
    11. Chengguang Li & Rodrigo Isidor & Luis Alfonso Dau & Rudy Kabst, 2018. "The More the Merrier? Immigrant Share and Entrepreneurial Activities," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 42(5), pages 698-733, September.
    12. Andrea Goldstein, 2006. "The Political Economy of Industrial Policy in China: The Case of Aircraft Manufacturing," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 259-273.
    13. Gáspár, Tamás & Antalóczy, Katalin & Sass, Magdolna, 2021. "A gyógyszeripari értéklánc sajátosságai Magyarországon [The characteristics of the pharmaceutical value chain in Hungary]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(6), pages 645-673.
    14. Wang, Chengqi & Hong, Junjie & Kafouros, Mario & Boateng, Agyenim, 2012. "What drives outward FDI of Chinese firms? Testing the explanatory power of three theoretical frameworks," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 425-438.
    15. Nolan, Peter & Zhang, Jin, 2002. "The Challenge of Globalization for Large Chinese Firms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 2089-2107, December.
    16. Liwei Shan & Albert Tsang & Xiaoxue Zhang, 2024. "Transporting Audit Quality Across Countries: Returnee CEOs and Audit Fees," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 192(4), pages 845-874, July.
    17. Günseli Berik & Yana Van Der Meulen Rodgers, 2010. "Options for enforcing labour standards: Lessons from Bangladesh And Cambodia," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 56-85.
    18. Christos N. Pitelis, 2011. "Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Integration," Chapters, in: Miroslav N. Jovanović (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Integration, Volume III, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Ravi Ramamurti & Jenny Hillemann, 2018. "What is “Chinese” about Chinese multinationals?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(1), pages 34-48, January.
    20. Yuefang Si & Yi Zhang & Tangwei Teng, 2021. "R&D internationalization and innovation performance of Chinese enterprises: The mediating role of returnees and foreign professionals," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 2194-2212, December.
    21. Li, Haiyan, 2020. "Role of overseas ethnic and non-ethnic ties and firm activity in the home country in the internationalization of returnee entrepreneurial firms," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(1).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Semiconductors; Semiconductor industry; Digital technology; Technology stack; Sino-American technology separation; Industrial policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure
    • L52 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Industrial Policy; Sectoral Planning Methods
    • L63 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Microelectronics; Computers; Communications Equipment
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rif:wpaper:82. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kaija Hyvönen-Rajecki (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/etlaafi.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.