What you are implying is not super clear. Are you saying that the French nationalizations [1], which btw predate the emergence of democracy in 1789, are somehow signs of an autocratic system?
If you look at the Fifth Republic, most of the nationalizations in France happened under socialist governments, democratically elected, and with a mandate to do so from the population. Even the more rightwing French governments follow similar rules and nationalize companies to protect them and their workers (for instance from takeovers), or protect from foreign influence (and not just from countries with more imperialistic tendencies, for instance Italy for the ports).
Nothing of the sort applies here. France, its population and and government, would almost certainly approve of a nationalization in the first place if it were to protect their interests. But these Soitec changes seem relatively innocuous, and some of the claims are really paranoiac. For instance believing that a former CEA employee or administrator would continue to work undercover while at another company.
Of course France is a democratic country and thus its interests often conflate with the ones of its citizens. Nothing would prevent them from administering a company in a way that best suits their vision of the world, quite often matching a government perspective without any concertation.
I know this is HN and "China bad", but not everything China does is "bad"