China's leaders are seething at U.S. efforts to cut off access to technology to make advanced computer chips. They appear to be struggling to figure out how to retaliate without hurting their own ambitions in telecoms, artificial intelligence and other industries. President Xi Jinping’s government sees the chips that are used in everything from phones to kitchen appliances to fighter jets as critical assets in its rivalry with Washington and efforts to gain wealth and global influence. China has its own chip foundries, but they can supply only low-end processors used in autos and appliances. The U.S. government, Japan and the Netherlands have cut off access to chipmaking tools they say might be used to make weapons.
