The consumer chip market in China is the largest in the world, with approximately $200 billion USD in purchases in 2021, representing about 35 percent of the world's total consumption of chips, despite China being an electronics manufacturing powerhouse and net exporter of electronics.

The United States subsidizes the chip industry at rates far lower than most major competitors: less than 1 percent of revenues compared to 10 percent in Japan, 3-4 percent in Taiwan, and 20-40 percent in China, making the U.S. far less interventionist in chip industry subsidization than its major competitors.

The fundamental debate in the United States about semiconductor policy centers on a trade-off between economic efficiency and national security: whether the U.S. should use industrial policy and export controls to promote national security interests, or rely on pure market mechanisms for economic efficiency, with the CHIPS Act representing a shift toward the national security approach.