Commentary When China decides to enter into a new undertaking, it rarely holds back. It has built the world’s largest high-speed rail network, the world’s fastest supercomputer, and the world’s largest hydroelectric dam. Beijing’s ongoing “Made in China 2025” initiative is a ten-year plan to make the country the global leader in such fields as next-generation information technologies, electric vehicles, advanced robotics, and—in particular—artificial intelligence. All of these endeavors are undeniably quite impressive, even worthy of praise. But success in one area does not guarantee success in others. Some business sectors still have “very” high barriers to entry, let alone dominance, and sometimes even the most arduous efforts do not pay off. We have already seen this with China’s efforts to break into the commercial airliner business, which have been fitful at best. But another, even more critical technology area is in the field of high-end semiconductors, or microchips. Designing …