Semiconductor and ICT Industrial Policy in the US and EU: Geopolitical Threat Responses

Abstract

This article analyses chips and critical ICT infrastructure policy in the US and the EU. It examines the increasing impor-tance of Waltian geopolitical security threats on both sides of the Atlantic as a driver of industrial policy, export controls, self‐sufficiency, and friendshoring as a replacement for dependence on global supply chains. It shows that threat percep-tions are strong and bipartisan in the US, allowing comprehensive, strategic and well‐funded industrial policy. Threat per-ceptions driving chip and 5G industrial policy are also present in the EU’s Economic Security Strategy and related policies. However, differing national preferences dilute a Waltian turn with continued attachment to liberal (global supply chain) approaches to chips and 5G infrastructure and a Waltzian realist stance (capacity‐building to build, protect, and promote regardless of security threat) that occupies the middle ground.