Congress Targets the Wrong Tech Monopolies
Industrial firms are the real antitrust problem. The solution? Welcome rather than shun Chinese competition.
Just three companies dominate the memory chip sector.
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
On Tuesday, members of the House antitrust subcommittee plan to grill the representatives of major internet companies on the supposedly pernicious impact of their market dominance. Lawmakers have the right idea: There is indeed a crisis of market consolidation when it comes to technology companies. But they’re aiming at the wrong target.
The real problem in the tech sector is the dominance of a few industrial companies, rather than internet platforms. In general, the latter are driving prices lower or offering services that consumers don’t directly pay for. Reining them in would call for novel shifts in U.S. antitrust policy. There’s good reason why such efforts have thus far been tentative.