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Semiconductors the heart of modern warfare

Mishti Angirash on September 24, 2025
Veteran Stories

Introduction

Semiconductors are small yet powerful materials. Their properties lie between conductors and insulators. The purpose of semiconductors is to form the basis of integrated circuits (ICs), or semiconductor chips. These chips are essential components of nearly all modern electronic devices. Among them, silicon is the most widely used semiconductor due to its beneficial characteristics. This makes silicon a centre of industry’s growth, innovation, and global importance. In today’s defence domain, semiconductors are considered as the hidden drivers of defence technology. They contribute to communication systems, encryption technologies, radar systems, missile control, and electronic warfare. They have become important to our military technology. Exceptional innovations have been made in the semiconductor industry in the past two decades. They have benefitted both the consumers and the industry. Now they play a very crucial roles in the modern warfare. Their journey has shown us evolution in modern warfare. From just basic transistor to nanometre chips, their evolution is incredible. They are like the “brain” and “hearts” of advanced military systems like drones, missiles, and communication networks. They enable precision, data processing, and secure operation. They are special materials that can act as both conductors and insulators. Hence, they control the flow of electricity. This unique property of semiconductors makes them perfect for creation of microprocessors, sensors, and integrated circuits. These are the small circuits that power the digital backbone of the warfare. With the increased digitalisation and automation, it is clear that these chips are the drivers of economic security and strategic independence. As the Covid-19 pandemic and Ukraine war showed when global shortages affected electronics manufacturing. But, at the same time depending on a few nations for these semiconductor-based devices is creating a challenge and weak situation. Countries like Taiwan and US are the major producers and the designers of these semiconductor-based products (Bhandari, 2023). Beyond machinery, semiconductors also effect the artificial intelligence algorithms that can analyse large amount of battlefield data in real time. In current scenario, the role of semiconductor industry will only develop with the rise in quantum computing, hypersonic weapons and advanced military systems. Current trends shows that semiconductors represent a strategic resource and not just an engineering achievement. Basically, they have become an important feature of modern warfare, controlling both battlefield outcomes and global security activities.

History of Semiconductors in Defence

During early to mid-20th century, the military only used a few semiconductors. But that took a major leap during World War II especially with the introduction of germanium diodes in the radar systems (Asher & Strom, 1977). This enhanced the radar’s ability and made it better to operate under challenging conditions. It also improved the detection accuracy of the radar system. Radio communication was also benefitted from semiconductor. It was a great technological advantage and gave benefits to air and navy operations. Semiconductors enabled faster, secure, and clearer message transmission across vast distances. These semiconductors were soon installed the ships and aircrafts and made this machinery more stable, secure, and efficient for military operations. This development laid the foundation of Future electronic warfare systems. The replacement of vacuum tubes in radars etc. by the invention of transistors in 1947 was a turning point (Ericsson, N.D.). They were adopted for its reliability and efficiency over vacuum tubes in radar and communications equipment during and after World War II. This opened a door for widespread digitalisation of defence technologies. Portable radios, guidance systems, and navigational aids all became more practical and advanced due to development of smaller and more reliable semiconductor components. Their small size and increased performance enabled devices to become smaller and more portable. By 1960s, integrated circuits became revolutionary because they designed the defence systems, embedding multiple functions into a single chip. During this period, semiconductors also facilitated the miniaturisation of computers used in military research labs and field operations. Their smaller size made them easy to be installed in submarines, and aircrafts and improved their functioning (Simon-Kucher, 2025). The cold war further amplified the role of semiconductors. Particularly, the United States, invested heavily in semiconductors giving a way to the missile guidance systems and early warning satellites. By the late 20th century, semiconductors had become more than enablers. They were essential to every domain of warfare, from nuclear command-and-control systems to surveillance networks. This evolution laid the groundwork for today’s military technologies and made them the heart of modern warfare which was the result of the brilliant engineering leading to a major shift in geopolitical priorities.

How Semiconductors Work – A Technical Overview 

Semiconductors are the building blocks of the today’s defence systems. Unlike conductors that freely allow current to flow or insulators that blocks it, semiconductors can be engineered to control the flow of current. Through addition of impurities (doping) and creation of p-n junctions, they form the basis of transistors which are the small switches that power integrated circuits. Billions of these transistors are then used to combine to make microprocessors and memory chips. The modern-day advanced chips are also designed to resist the high thermal conditions and other physicals factors like vibrations and electromagnetic interference. The most commonly used material in the military and defence systems is Gallium Arsenide. It offers a higher speed and radiation resistance making it suitable for radar and satellite systems. Similarly, new materials like Gallium Nitrie and silicon carbide are being used in high power and high -frequency applications for direct- energy weapons (DEWS) and electronic warfare (EW). More research is being done for semiconductors to improve their efficiency by taking advantage of their optical, thermal and electrical properties. 

In military applications, semiconductors power microcontrollers unmanned systems, FPGAs for adaptable processing and specialized sensors for missile guidance. These chips are the bridge between hardware and software as they enable the AI algorithms interpret data in real time and precision missile targeting or secure communications. The specialised cryptographic processors installed in the machines gives more secured storage and protects the sensitive data from cyber-attacks. Without semiconductors are not just passive components but they are the very enablers of modern warfare. 

Military Applications of Semiconductors

Modern warfare increasingly depends on the invisible power of semiconductors, extending far beyond powering computers. Semiconductors are the key components in advanced communication systems, precision-guided munitions (PGMs), radar, and satellite navigation technologies. It ensures real-time coordination and accuracy on the battlefield. They are very important for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), missile defence systems, and electronic warfare platforms that disturb or protect against malicious signals. Semiconductors also support cybersecurity infrastructure by protecting sensitive defence networks from invasion. Their role in AI-driven defence systems, surveillance, and space-based resources shows how mastery of semiconductor technologies is attached to national security. Hence, shaping both strategic capabilities and global power dynamics (Zheng Yang et al., 2025). 

Weapons Systems: Microchips are the support of the weapons system. They enable precision, speed and self-sufficiency of the weapons system. Semiconductors are now embedded in smart missiles that make them capable of processing real-time data from GPS, infrared and radar sensors. It ensures high accuracy even in challenging situations. Similarly, drones depend on microcontrollers, FPGAs and high-performance onboard processors for navigation, target recognition and decision-making. Chip-powered drones were central in conflicts from Nagorno-Karabakh to Ukraine, demonstrating how the modern battlefield rests on advanced semiconductor devices. Semiconductors also allow the fusion of multi-sensor inputs — combining lidar, EO/IR and SIGINT feeds — enabling weapons to discriminate between targets and reduce collateral damage. Beyond sensing and guidance, microelectronics drive secure communications, cryptographic modules, and resilient fault-tolerant architectures that maintain operational continuity under electronic attack. Miniaturized signal conditioning, low-power design and radiation-hardened manufacturing increase system survivability and deployment flexibility. As production scales, supply-chain integrity and export controls become strategic concerns, since access to cutting-edge nodes directly shapes a state’s ability to field next-generation capabilities (Orbit & Skyline, 2025).

Communication and Surveillance: Semiconductors chips power satellite systems, ground-based radar systems and secure communication networks that link soldiers, commanders, and unmanned assets. In modern warfare, seamless information transmission is possible because of semiconductor devices. Ground-based radar systems are semiconductor-driven providing real-time monitoring of enemy aircraft and missiles. The encoded semiconductor-based communication devices allow troops to operate securely even under electronic jamming. These chips are also important in the shrinking of advanced surveillance payloads. This enables satellites to carry high-resolution electro-optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors for constant and detailed observation of battlefields. Semiconductors allow frequency hopping, dynamic spectrum management, and advanced error-correction coding. This ensures that communications remain unbroken even in heavily challenged electromagnetic environments. They support satellite constellations that create global positioning, surveillance, and secure data relays, turning space into a vital military domain. Furthermore, chip-based systems combine cyber and electronic warfare elements together, allowing militaries to disrupt adversary networks while protecting their own. This combination of resilient hardware and software-driven adaptability ensures command structures maintain situational awareness with negligible inactivity. As conflicts become increasingly network-centric, the ability to protect, encrypt, and process large amounts of sensor data depends directly on semiconductor capacity. This highlights that chips are the silent enablers of modern communication and surveillance superiority (Atkinson, 2025).

Cyber Warfare & Electronic Warfare: Advanced chips allow high-level of cryptographic algorithms to protect sensitive data and communication from being intercepted. The technology of electronic warfare (EW) systems depends on semiconductor-based high-frequency circuits that can disrupt enemy drones, radars, and navigation systems. The Israel–Hamas conflict shows how electronic warfare driven by semiconductors can blind enemy drones and disrupt command structures. Semiconductors act as a super-fast engine for cybersecurity tools for cryptanalysis and packet inspection. It allows real-time disturbance detection and counter-intrusion. Beyond encryption and disruption, semiconductors allow attacking cyber capabilities by increasing brute-force attacks, malware injection, and manipulation of weaknesses in opponent networks. Chips designed for parallel processing improve intrusion detection systems by filtering large amount of data with least delay, providing militaries with an advantage in both defensive and offensive cyber operations. 

In electronic warfare, gallium nitride (GaN) and other advanced semiconductor materials are important for generating powerful, compact jammers capable of devastating enemy communication frequencies or denying satellite links. Small semiconductor circuits also allow portable EW systems to be on top of drones, ground vehicles, and aircraft. It expands their reach across multiple theatres. Importantly, semiconductors support spectrum monitoring.  This enables forces to identify rival transmissions, track patterns, and respond energetically. This constant competition over the electromagnetic spectrum is increasingly significant in determining battlefield outcomes. As future warfare increases in cyberspace and electronic domains, the fight for greater chip technology directly explains into strategic advantage, making semiconductor domination a fundamental element of national security. Real time battlefield awareness depends on the processors capable of handling large inputs of data from satellites, drones and ground sensors. These chips allow the military to visualize the battlefield, predict enemy manoeuvres and suggests strategies and coordinate joint operations across several operations. With all this semiconductor-based technology, forces operate with speed and precision and execute operations across land, air, sea, space and cyber domains. In today’s warfare superiority belongs to not those with biggest armies but to those with the best chips.

Strategic & Geopolitical Importance 

Semiconductors are not just technological advancements they also have the geopolitical importance as well. They have emerged as the “oil of modern ear”. Modern defence systems from missile guidance to cyber defence depends on the semiconductor chips. Thus, nations depend on the uninterrupted semiconductor chain. Yet its most of the production is done in the East Asia particularly, Taiwan and South Korea. This means that any disruption in the supply chain due to natural disaster or cyberattack can cause a dent to the global defence systems. Many governments treat the matter of semiconductors as national security and promotes diversification of supplier networks and on shore fabrication. The United States leads in semiconductor design, while Taiwan leads the fabrication and South Korea is leading in advanced manufacturing of memory chips. China is heavily dependent on imports but has invested billions into these chips production to reduce reliance on western suppliers. This rivalry has transformed semiconductors into strategic assets comparable to oil in 20th century. Risks such as chip scarcity trade embeamed and export restrictions have already surfaced. During global chip shortage even, advanced military faced delays in weapons production. The American ban on advanced chips sales to China illustrates how semiconductor can be used as instruments of strategic leverage. Similarly, the European union and Japan have tightened export controls to safe guard their technologies. ASML, the maker of ultraviolet lithography are now strategic levers in diplomatic negotiations. Apart from economic, semiconductors define the future of technological warfare. Control over chips and their production directly impacts the development of artificial intelligence and military systems. Thus, the nation that secures control over the semiconductor industry will not just lead the industry but will lay the very foundation of the future warfare.  In this sense the struggle over microchips is not just about trade and commerce. It is about who will command the digital battlefield of the 21st century (Maynor & Bermudez, 2025).

Challenges & Future Outlook

Semiconductors face mounting challenges as their role in defence deepens. The major challenged faced is the fragile supply chain. Major production of semiconductors is done in the East Asia, because of which it is vulnerable to natural disasters, political instability and trade restriction. This is huge risk for the military. A single stop in the supply chain can paralyse weapons production across the globe. Another major concern is the production of bogus and tampered chips. This threatens the not only the performance but also compromises with the security. A compromised microchip in a missile guidance system or a radar system could invoke tragedy in the battlefield. Moreover, as the size of the chips decreases, it becomes a threat as it hinders the performance because of the cost and uncertainty. Governments and militaries are responding with industrial policies to reduce dependency: incentives for regional fabrication, strategic chip stockpiles, and public–private partnerships to speed capacity building. Despite the hurdles, the future of the semiconductor in defence and military is still active. AI powered chips enables real time decision making and more enhanced surveillance and navigation making drones and munitions more effective. Quantum semiconductors enable secure communication and code breaking in future. Materials like Gallium Nitride and Silicon Carbide further enhances the power efficiency and radiation resistance. Emerging platforms like hypersonic missile sand unmanned swarms will depend on chips which are faster, portable and more resilient. This sets the stage for global arms race in semiconductors where technological superiority equates to military supremacy.  The future battlefield will not just be contested with soldiers and weapons but either nanometre scale chips powering intelligence and precision.

References

Mishti Angirash on September 24, 2025 Veteran Stories

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