Rearview mirror and all that history stuff

The Everything Blueprint — how British chip company Arm became a global powerhouse | Financial Times

Ashton concludes that trying “to create another Arm is as much folly as trying to create the next Google”. His recommendation is for the British government to focus instead on training and skills and providing a stable tax and regulatory regime.

But at a time when the US, EU and Chinese governments are pouring billions of dollars into subsidising their chip industries, this policy recipe seems thin gruel. Serendipity cannot substitute for strategy. And, as one industry executive is quoted as saying: “Without semiconductors, you’re nowheresville.”

Re: Serendipity cannot substitute for strategy, I am not so sure.It can for a while, anyway.