Amid the debate about how the United States can bring more manufacturing of semiconductors back to the country and worries it has become a national security concern, a surprising group of well-connected billionaires has quietly assembled to influence the way Washington approaches this thorny challenge.Over the past several months, without attracting much notice, Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive of Google and a longtime Democratic donor, has joined Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and a vocal Trump supporter, to back an unusual nonprofit venture capital fund to invest in chip-making across the country. The group also includes a cadre of former government officials, including Ashton B. Carter, former secretary of defense, and H.R. McMaster, former national security …
