The Chip Age (Hardback)

How Chips Shaped Our Past and Will Define Our Future

Rakesh Kumar

Chips are everywhere – they drive the world’s economy and are at the centre of the struggle for global supremacy. But how did we come to live in the Chip Age? What does it mean for the future?


Rakesh Kumar has been developing technologies used in chips and advising chip companies and governments for decades. In this fascinating book, he explores the world of microchips and explains how they are central to today’s world – if the nineteenth century was the age of the steam engine, the twenty-first century belongs to the chips.

Chips have changed the way we live, driving innovation, the economy and – increasingly – geopolitics and long-term global stability. They will be critical in determining the health of the planet. The Chip Age is a history of chips and explains how they work, what exactly they do, how and where they are made, who makes them, and the shape of the chip economy. It also looks to the future, examining what new technologies, geopolitical games, and players may lie ahead.

Rakesh Kumar is a Professor and John Bardeen Faculty Scholar in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is a renowned expert on chips who has received multiple awards in recognition of his influence on chip research and the chip industry. Some of the technologies he’s developed now power the chips in your phones, tablets, and computers. He has written extensively about chips for a general audience.