One of China’s most prominent homegrown chipmakers is up for sale. Media reports suggest tech giant Alibaba is the frontrunner to take over Tsinghua Unigroup, the debt-saddled semiconductor manufacturer that’s currently majority-owned by Tsinghua University, in a deal worth nearly $8 billion.  Buying Unigroup would be a significant win for Alibaba, which is reeling from a political crackdown over the past year. It would also provide a lifeline for a company once at the forefront of C