Could perhaps have jumped to integrated circuits as soon as transistors could be built, but vacuum tubes were buildable well before transistors. I think that wi

Could perhaps have jumped to integrated circuits as soon as transistors could be built, but vacuum tubes were buildable well before transistors. I think that with the existing industrial base as one resource, and knowledge of future technology as the other, semiconductor grade silicon could have been produced as early as the mid 1930s. Not much sooner. Germanium is rarer and less optimal in many ways (small band gap) but it is easier to purify. Could you make simple ICs based on germanium instead of silicon earlier than the mid 1930s? I don’t know what additional complications the germanium path might have. Maybe it’s impractical for reasons other than material purity.