Techno-statecraft and industrial strategy: semiconductor development in Arizona

Abstract

The resurgence of U.S. industrial strategy discourse is not a centralised return of the state but a territorially fragmented form of techno-statecraft. This article analyzes Arizona's semiconductor expansion as a case in which subnational actors – agencies, utilities, universities, and developers – mobilise infrastructure, land-use policy, and regulatory coordination to attract global capital. Rather than a coherent national plan, Arizona's strategy reflects speculative governance oriented toward risk absorption and territorial readiness. The article situates this conjuncture within longer histories of militarised growth and infrastructural overbuild, contributing to debates on state capitalism, industrial strategy, and the spatial politics of techno-industrial transformation.