This book focuses on the design and manufacture of integrated circuits. A field which spans both ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), memory (RAM, ROM) and microprocessors. Methe interviewed CEOs of various Japanese firms, and tried to analyse the reasons for the firms' success. He cites examples of the firms cooperating and competing with each other, and under the umbrella of the Japanese government's economic policies. From these, he drew conclusions about how the US might imitate such arrangements.
However, since 1990, Japan went into a lost decade of little or no growth, and the urgent tone of part of the book seems so quaint now. With hindsight, this book was done at the height of an economic cycle, with concomitant distortions. In the 90s, the US semiconductor industry went on to thrive, with its dominance in microprocessors sustained. Whereas, many of the Japanese firms cited in the book faced heavier competition from their Taiwanese and Korean counterparts.