It does design and manufacture chips – Huawei designs the chips for its 5G equipment and smartphones – but can't produce the advanced chips that are central to technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and the Internet of Things. Nevertheless its open ambition, supported by billions of dollars of state funding, is to become the major player in the sector as part of its broader ambition to dominate the building blocks of key 21st Century technologies. The US Congress has authorised subsidies for companies that invest in domestic chip research and manufacturing but not appropriated the funding for what would be a massively expensive program – semiconductor production is arguably the most sophisticated and challenging manufacturing process ever developed. The current chip shortage has highlighted America's vulnerability to external shocks but the transformation in the relationship with – and US perceptions of – China during the Trump presidency is a key motivator of the push for reshoring.