When He Tingbo took the stage in Shanghai this week to unveil Huawei Technologies’ Tau (τ) Scaling Law, the message was about more than a new chip development framework. It was also a statement, showing how the most prominent Chinese technology company to have been subjected to US sanctions wants to compete in semiconductors when access to the world’s most advanced chipmaking tools remains restricted, and when the industry’s decades-old reliance on shrinking transistors is becoming more...