china is not a hive mind, it does not exert the kind of iron grip over their private sector that westerners think. external stimuli like these could potentially have the effect of aligning the government's interests and the private sector's interests more closely
Creating semiconductor fabs takes billions of dollars in investment and can only be achieved by a few very large companies, most likely with government support and coordination in any country that builds them. While it is true that China has a private sector with its own set of interests, the Chinese government is already working very closely with relevant parties in this particular circumstance.
Its pretty much the cutting edge of engineering I'm told.
TSMC is planning to invest like 20 billion this year alone to stay ahead of their mainland, south Korean and potential US rivals.
Still I wouldn't be surprised that TSMC will be gutted by the US and get their tech stolen just to prop up failing Intel. That pretty much what super powers do, US has planned this really well making sure key component are all made in the US. Like the needed materials and the light source ASML uses for their EUV device.
it's all relative, right? compared to us, sure. but while the government can exert direct control when necessary, they don't have the capacity and/or desire to do that 24/7. look at the public fracas with the ant ipo for example, my concept of a hive mind wouldn't allow for a conflict like that