About 20 years ago, the idea caught hold among the steel-manufacturers of a far-off country that the semiconductor business was a very good business to get into.
After all the semiconductor industry was enjoying 20% annual growth whereas the steel industry had been flat or declining for many years.
The steel companies saw the semiconductor business as very like their own industry - process-driven and highly capital intensive - which meant there should be barriers to entry to anyone coming along behind them.
So the steel-makers built semiconductor fabs - that was the easy part - what they couldn't do was build circuits. So they became foundries, making chips for other companies.
However, not even as foundries could they achieve their goal of 20% growth. They never became major players in the semiconductor industry.
Moral: The grass always looks greener on the other side of the hedge.
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