In the first ever live recorded episode, Zerzar and Sachin breakdown the value chain in the exciting world of chips. Key nations, their respective points of leverage, and how it shapes geopolitics. The episode closes off with a recap of current events and predictions for the future.

0:00 Intro 

1:00 How do we get from germanium to iPhone?

4:48 Choke points in the value chain

13:50 Recap of events - Chip 4 alliance, Chips act, war in Ukraine, India, China

34:45 Future predictions - What can China do given its relatively unpredictable position?

"Whoever controls the chips controls the world"

Given the rising importance of semiconductors in geopolitics, it's pertinent for us to cover this topic in depth. Join us for the first of a multipart series on the chip wars between USA and China, and the key part Taiwan plays. We start with a brief history of the semiconductor industry across the US, Soviet Union, and Asia. Then we go into a little depth into Taiwan, TSMC, and its founder.

0:00 intro

1:47 Brief history of semiconductors

4:40 Semiconductors in the Soviet Union and Japan

9:45 Taiwan and its geopolitical importance

15:33 TSMC’s key figure - Morris Chang 

21:08 Present day - Russia, Japan, China, Europe, and India

25:48 Teaser for the next episode

Today, Zerzar and Sachin do a deep dive on the Digital Silk Road -- a term used to describe digital infrastructure projects that China is focusing on as part of their broader Belt & Road Initiative.

What is the Belt & Road Initiative? (0:51)

China's intentions behind the BRI (1:47)

Scale of the BRI (4:22)

What is the Digital Silk Road? (5:28)

Goals of the DSR (8:00)

The bifurcation of the internet (11:16)

PEACE undersea internet cable (18:43)

Will the DSR work? (22:12)

Banking standard mentioned:

https://twitter.com/geopolitechpod

Today, Sachin and Zerzar discuss tech sovereignty -- what it is, why is it strategically important for countries, a brief overview of tech history, what countries can do to be sovereign, and who is best set up for success. We discuss: Introduction to the podcast (0:06) Brief history of computational technology and components of the tech stack (2:48) Who are the main players? (4:47) How independent are countries today and where will they focus their efforts for the future? (12:41) Why is achieving tech sovereignty hard? (24:20) Who is most likely to be successful? (26:30) What are the implications for the private sector? (39:33)