A consortium led by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (????) has emerged as the frontrunner to take over Tsinghua Unigroup Co (????), a deal that could fetch more than 50 billion yuan (US$7.8 billion) to help keep China’s indebted chip champion afloat. The Chinese government is leaning toward the Alibaba-led offer given the e-commerce giant’s financial heft and the potential synergies with its own cloud and semiconductor business, people familiar with the matter said. The consortium, which includes funds backed by the Zhejiang Provincial Government, is edging out several competitors for Beijing-based Unigroup, several other people said, asking not to be...