China Rules How China became a superpower This best-selling Sony TV from 2009 says “Made in China.” But it wasn’t. Look inside, and you’ll find that most of the parts came from non-Chinese companies. Sony Bravia, 2009 Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Now, one of the best-selling televisions is a Chinese brand with Chinese parts. TCL S-Series, 2017 Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Source: Steve VanPuyvelde and Randy Thompson, ShopJimmy.com China is making more complex products at breakneck speed and unprecedented scale, transforming itself into the world’s second largest economy. It now has an ambitious plan to go even further, by trying to upend the traditional economic order and create a global powerhouse that can dictate the rules of trade.

It’s not just about powering growth. It’s also about national security and self-sufficiency.

China wants to build homegrown champions in cutting-edge industries that rival Western giants like Apple and Qualcomm. While China has a long way to go, the Communist Party is bringing the full financial weight of the state and forcing other countries to play defense.

In doing so, China is staking out a new manufacturing model.

Economic textbooks lay out a common trajectory for developing nations. First they make shoes, then steel. Next they move into cars, computers and cellphones. Eventually the most advanced economies tackle semiconductors and automation. As they climb up the manufacturing ladder, they abandon some cheaper goods along the way.

That’s what the United States, Japan and South Korea did. But China is defying the economic odds by trying to do all of them.

Look at the evolution of what China sells to the rest of the world. As it ramped up its manufacturing engine in 2000, China was pretty good at making basic products like toys and umbrellas.

By 2016, China had moved into more expensive goods like cellphones and computers, while making even more of the cheaper stuff.

Source: United Nations Comtrade Database

The next phase, which includes the most valuable products in the world, will be harder. China can’t make chips as small and fast as the United States can. Its cars are mostly sold at home. Its manufacturing prowess is built on the back of engineering and expertise from the West.

Both the Apple iPhone and Huawei Mate 10 are assembled in Chinese factories. Both rely on pieces from outside China.

iPhone 8, 2017 Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Huawei Mate 10, 2017 Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese Chinese Not Chinese

The most intricate and expensive technology in the Huawei phone, the motherboard, has a Chinese processor, but it is primarily composed of chips from American, South Korean and Japanese companies. The 2.8-inch board accounts for 52 percent of the cost of the phone, according to data from TechInsights.

South Korea Multichip memory, SK Hynix USA Taiwan China Netherlands USB switch ON Semiconductor Load switch battery charger, Richtek Battery charger, HiSilicon Audio Switch, NXP Semiconductor USA Power amplifier, Qorvo China Processor, HiSilicon Japan Regulator, Renesas SIM card slot China Audio CODEC, HiSilicon Netherlands Controller, NXP Semiconductor Japan Electronic Compass, AKM Semiconductor Netherlands South Korea Multichip memory by Samsung Audio Switch, NXP Semiconductors 1 inch China South Korea China Processor Memory Audio CODEC Japan Netherlands Regulator Audio Switch China Battery Charger South Korea Memory USA USB switch Netherlands Audio Switch Taiwan Load switch battery charger China Battery charger Netherlands Controller SIM card slot USA Power amplifier 1 inch Note: Graphic shows nationality of manufacturers but some components may be produced in Chinese facilities. | Source: TechInsights

Many of these companies are so advanced that they don’t even manufacture the chips. Instead they send their complex designs to foundries in Asia to manufacture. But even in this step of the production, most companies in China are shut out.

Unless China can catch up, it will remain vulnerable. One of China’s largest telecom companies, ZTE, nearly went out of business when it was banned from buying American parts; President Xi Jinping personally asked for a reprieve from President Trump — and got it.

China knows it has a problem. It’s investing heavily in electric cars, semiconductors and mobile technology, part of a major industrial policy.

And the trade war has also hardened China’s resolve. “The initial result of the trade war has made China appear to be weaker,” said Liu Rui, an economics professor at Renmin University in Beijing. “But it is precisely this weaker position that has awakened China, forcing us to change our approach.”