In January 2017, Chinese leader Xi Jinping promised “win-win outcomes” via a “dynamic, innovation-driven growth model.” Yet only several months prior, Xi had struck a different tone in a speech to an audience that included Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, Alibaba CEO Jack Ma, high-profile People’s Liberation Army researchers, and most of China’s political elite. China must focus on “gaining breakthroughs in core technology as quickly as possible,” Xi declared, referring above all to semiconductors, the tiny chips that provide the computing power in everything from smartphones to dishwashers to autonomous drones.

How did Xi envision China advancing its semiconductor capabilities?