Inside our smartphones and cars and missiles are chips the size of a fingernail. Each contains billions of tiny components called transistors—microscopic gates that open and close, the communication channels that act as a computer’s brain. They are the smallest things ever built by man.
Once made and perfected, they are plugged into the devices and data centers that power every facet of modern life. Our AI labs, defense systems, and hospitals all depend on them, as do our tractors, dishwashers, coffee makers, air conditioners, and factory equipment. They are the brain of all electronic devices, and in 2024, the U.S. imported $156 billion worth of them. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the fate and resilience of the entire global economy—not to mention America’s ability to remain a dominant geopolitical superpower—hinges on access to these chips.
And yet, only one company is able to make advanced chips at scale. And it’s in Taiwan.
The U.S. is where many of the world’s most sophisticated chips are designed, by engineers at Nvidia and Apple and Qualcomm. But we are almost totally dependent on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to make them. None of the world’s most advanced chips are made in the U.S., despite the fact that our infrastructure, computing power, and AI dominance all rely on them. China, meanwhile, is investing more in its chip industry than any other country in the world—positioning itself for an age where technological supremacy will determine the global order.
The seriousness of the challenge is a rare point of consensus in Washington. In 2022, President Joe Biden passed the CHIPS and Science Act, which called for a $53 billion investment in semiconductor manufacturing, research, and development. In June, President Donald Trump secured a $200 billion investment from private companies to build manufacturing facilities across the country. Although one such facility went live in 2024 in Arizona, it likely won’t be able to produce the most advanced chips until 2028—and even then, at extraordinary expense and not at a volume sufficient to reduce America’s dependence on Taiwan. Taiwanese law also forbids TSMC from building its most advanced technology outside of the country—so chips made stateside will consistently be at least one generation behind. In short, the picture is bleak.
Enter Substrate, a Silicon Valley start-up that has been operating secretly since 2022 but is coming out from the shadows today. The company is making a bold claim: It says it has developed innovations that will allow it to manufacture the most sophisticated chips in the world on U.S. soil. This morning, Substrate announced that it has invented a manufacturing process that it says will bring large-scale, advanced chip production to the United States by 2028—and also bring down the immense cost involved.
