A US firm called Micron, which produces memory chips and had a facility in Taiwan, actually began stealing internal documents with the aim of quitting. This is a type of chip that Chinese firms have never produced at the cutting edge before. There's very clear evidence, for example, of some of the employees in question typing into their computers, delete Google search records to try to cover their tracks. So there wasn't much ambiguity as to what was going on. And I think in prior instances, this would have produced the legal dispute or diplomatic discussions. But the legal mechanism simply didn't work.
Today we’re bringing you an episode on chips. No, not potato chips. Kevin has been pitching an episode on the truly fascinating world of chips and semiconductors for quite a while, but our friends at the The Ezra Klein Show got to it first. This week on Hard Fork: Ezra Klein’s engrossing conversation with historian Chris Miller. It’s a must listen. Thank you to Ezra for beating us in our quest for a great chips episode.
We'll be back with our regularly scheduled tech coverage, with Kevin and Casey next week.