Trend Macrotrend 5: semiconductors become a strategic asset and nations build end-to-end ecosystems

Summary

NTT DATA's fifth macrotrend, sovereign silicon ecosystems, holds that semiconductors have become a defining strategic asset. Geopolitical tension, fragile supply chains, AI-driven computing demand and growing national security concerns have combined to produce this shift. The report argues that controlling silicon now amounts to controlling computing capacity, data flows, intelligence and geopolitical influence. As a result, countries and industries are speeding up efforts to build complete chip ecosystems, from design and photonics through fabrication, packaging and recycling. Advances in AI and high-performance computing also require specialised, heterogeneous hardware that older supply chains cannot provide alone. The report presents sovereign silicon as the hardware foundation for autonomous, data-rich and globally distributed systems.