The headline “World trade war looms over microchip accord” seems like it could come from any news source today, but it in fact appeared in Nature back in February 1987, when the US had signed bilateral agreements with Japan to promote its own semiconductor exports and limit imports from the latter. European governments, in turn, were angry at what they saw as the cartelization of the global market. The then-European Economic Community (EEC) threatened to take the US and Japan to the then-General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) for violating international trade procedures. Like today, concerns on all sides were linked to the crucial role of microchips in military and civilian industries.

According to an OECD report, in 1982 Western Europe lagged behind both the US and Japan in terms of integrated circuit production and consumption. The US, by far the frontrunner, made up 50 percent of world production and 49 percent of world consumption. But Japan had also overtaken Europe, particularly in production. It made 30 percent of semiconductors, compared with 17 percent in Europe; and consumed 26 percent, in contrast to Europe’s 20 percent. Moreover, Western Europe had become dependent on semiconductor imports. In 1981, European firms only had 30 percent of their local market, while the United States dominated with a 62 percent share. While Japan had increased its share by 5 percent between 1977–82, Europe had lost 3 percent.