For most Americans, semiconductors remain invisible—embedded in smartphones, appliances, cars, and computers without a second thought. But for those in national security and defense policy, the global semiconductor industry is now front and center, tied to questions of military readiness, economic resilience, and geopolitical competition.

The space domain has transformed in scale, scope, and strategic consequence. What once was a benign operational backdrop is now a contested warfighting domain. China and Russia continue to develop and demonstrate counterspace weapons—from direct-ascent ASATs and co-orbital platforms to jammers and directed energy systems—explicitly designed to undermine U.S. freedom of action in space.