Plenty pretend semiconductors or programming is a non political field where the science and creativity are rewarded, but the truth is both technology are "dual use".
I think programming or people who do a lot of work in cryptography and signals intelligence would know this all to well. What can be seen as scientific or academic curiosity can be seen as a threat to the establishment or a potential tool that the MIC can use.
Hell part of the reason semiconductors have come so far is due to how close they tie into defense and intelligence.
The government has long created rules it imposed on researchers such as the export restrictions on pgp, or on DVD keys, or prosecution of security researchers. This is nothing new for those who have been aware of the general trends.