Presentation short abstract

State and corporate interest in AI has precipitated a resource rush to manufacture advanced semiconductors. I argue that the scramble to access and control semiconductor manufacturing is profoundly reshaping socio-material ecologies and forging new geopolitical alignments.

Presentation long abstract

The rapid rise of state and corporate interest in artificial intelligence (AI) has precipitated a global resource rush to manufacture advanced semiconductors, constituting a 'new frontier' for extraction that is reshaping geopolitical dynamics and socio-material ecologies. This rush is driven by states pursuing technological sovereignty, scrambling supply chains, and encouraging "onshoring" to control the entire semiconductor value chain, from raw materials to finished AI systems. Using a geopolitical ecology of technology lens, I argue that the scramble to access and control semiconductor manufacturing is profoundly reshaping socio-material ecologies and forging new geopolitical alignments. The socio-material dimensions of this industry extend from the mining of raw materials and the massive energy/water demands of data centers to the under-explored site of the fabrication plants ("fabs"). Fabs demand immense energy, ultra-pure water, and highly specialized labor, making them crucial, yet contested, sites of extraction for the political ecologies of data. Existing geopolitical ecology work often focuses on militarization. This paper expands the framing to include the AI-driven semiconductor rush, which is propelled by securitization and sovereignty discourses, echoing 20th-century arms races. The geopolitical tensions are stark, as the US and China call for embargoes, forcing hosting states—particularly in Southeast Asia—to balance competing interests. By tracing socio-material flows of global semiconductor manufacturing, this analysis sharpens our understanding of the power dynamics among state and non-state actors in this era of expanding AI, contributing to the dialogue on the intertwined stories of finance, land, and money at the heart of digital extraction.