Yes, Europe did invest: https://semiwiki.com/semiconductor-manufacturers/333584-how-philips-saved-tsmc/ https://semiwiki.com/semiconductor-manufacturers/333584

Yes, Europe did invest: https://semiwiki.com/semiconductor-manufacturers/333584-how-philips-saved-tsmc/ https://semiwiki.com/semiconductor-manufacturers/333584-how-... "TSMC and Philips have deep historical ties. In fact, TSMC may not have existed without Philips. In the 1980s TSMC was established as a joint venture with Philips Electronics, the government of Taiwan, and other private investors. Several semiconductor companies were approached by Morris Chang for funding including semiconductor giants Intel and Texas Instruments but neither chose to participate. Both Intel and TI are now TSMC customers so it came full circle." ASML is also a Philips spinoff from the time in which large European corporations sold off their IP to basically anyone. So the Trump quote in the Reuters article is wrong, in that not 100% of the U.S. chip industry was stolen; but you can bet there was technology transfer from Philips (European chip industry) to TSMC in the beginning.