A visit to an industrial park or a high-tech factory is rarely absent from Xi Jinping’s itinerary when he travels across China, as he continually stresses the importance of achieving technological self-reliance. In turn, companies like chipmaker Biren Technology are earning backing from some of the country’s largest financial institutions. Biren, one of China’s newest startups in the critical field of advanced chips, already boasts products with capabilities only narrowly behind those o