Securing the Electronic Hardware Supply Chain: A Cost-Benefit Analysis Framework
Executive Summary
Electronic hardware supply chain security has emerged as a critical concern in security discussions at national and multilateral levels. This paper proposes a governance and institutional structure for implementing a systematic approach that balances national security interests with practical implementation considerations. This institutional mechanism must do the analytical work required to secure electronic hardware supply chains. This paper also recommends following an analytically rigorous, quantitative, cost-benefit analysis approach to analyse policy interventions before implementing them. It proposes transforming traditional subjective assessments into data-driven decision-making, enabling policymakers to evaluate specific product and use-case combinations based on sector criticality, a product’s vulnerability, and policy severity requirements. It takes into account economic factors as well as implementation details. This is in contrast to the currently followed one-size-fits-all, ad hoc approach. The paper then proposes one such framework that combines harm prevention value, implementation costs, and strategic importance of sectors (based on the two parameters of criticality and vulnerability) to come up with a severity score, which helps decide the severity and details of a policy targeting a particular product’s supply chain security. IF THE SUMMARY HAS IMAGES, download the images to the images folder and link it as follows: 