The chips war is not over and the US is about to declare another one to China: that of the screens

In the holder of this article we do not exaggerate the least. The US Congress is pressing the Pentagon to officially include BOE, China’s biggest screens manufacturerin the list of Companies with narrow links with the Chinese army. However, this is not all. And as Chris Miller, the author of the very recommended essay book explains ‘The chips war’in Your new newsletterthe administration led by Donald Trump wants the screens used by American technology companies to be manufactured in the US.

This strategy is exactly the same as the government has already launched within the semiconductor industry. And with great success. After all, TSMC, Intel, Samsung and other companies that are dedicated to the production of integrated circuits They are building new plants in the US To dodge the Trump administration tariffs, among other reasons. This Howard Lutnick’s statementthe Secretary of Commerce, clearly expresses what the US government has: “We need to have chips and need to have screens. We need these objects to be manufactured in the United States.”

The screens are a critical component for China and the US armies

The decisions that the US government will take in all likelihood with the double purpose of minimizing its current dependence on Chinese manufacturers and reinforcing the local screens manufacturing industry will be held on several pillars. The most obvious is that LCD and Oled panels are indispensable in a huge amount of electronic products and other items, such as mobile phones, tablets, televisions, cars, monitors, smartwatchesetc. An interesting note: BOE is one of Apple OLED matric suppliers.

In the current geopolitical scenario it would not be surprising at all that the Trump administration penalize in the short or medium term with high tariffs the import to the US of LCD and OLED panels. However, before doing so, industrial fabric must reinforce within its own borders to offer electronic products manufacturers Alternatives of American origin to the screens from abroad. This probable measure It will not only affect BOE, TCL and other Chinese panel manufacturers; It will also have a direct impact on Japanese companies, and, above all, South Korean that produce these matrices, such as Samsung or LG.

So far I have mentioned BOE three times in this article, and I have done it because this Chinese company is being very closely observed by the US administration. In fact, and this is another pillar of the strategy in which the US government is working, According to Chris Miller This company is being intensely subsidized by the Chinese State. Boe’s biggest shareholder is a state entity, and, in addition, 47% of its new Chengdú factory It belongs to several organizations that are directly supported by the State.

The South Korean government You are also supporting subsidies To the Samsung and LG subsidiaries that manufacture screens, but so far it has never been done almost half of the property of a latest generation production plant. Miller holds that BOE has ties with the Chinese armyalthough it does not know if they are deeper than those with other Chinese technology companies. Who do seem clear that this link is intense They are some American congressmen. Otherwise they would not press the Pentagon to include BOE in his “blacklist.”

If this request Prospera Boe could be excluded from the US market in the same way that at the end of the last decade Huawei and Zte were sanctioned. Curiously, According to BOE itselfglobal sales of screens for military use amounted to 1,330 million dollars in 2024. It is a modest figure if we keep in mind that this sector globally invoiced more than 156,000 million dollars last year. Even so, for Chinese and American armies the screens are critical components, just like chips. In fact, the US Department of Defense buys avant -garde screens, and, in addition, has expressly funded The development of next -generation visualization technologies.

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More information | Chris Miller’s Newsletter

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