Unlike market-driven demand, which too often results in a winner-takes-all dynamic, state-sponsored demand creates an environment in which multiple solutions to technical problems can proliferate and coexist. The pioneers of microelectronics tried many strategies to supplant vacuum tubes, and they delivered a host of semiconductors and chip designs: germanium, silicon, aluminum, gallium arsenide, PNP, NPN, CMOS, and so on.
与往往造成赢家通吃局面的市场主导需求不同，政府资助需求营造出技术问题多重解决方案并存及共同发展的环境。微电子技术的先驱尝试了众多策略来取代真空管，拿出了各式各样的半导体和芯片设计：包括锗、硅、铝、砷化镓、PNP、NPN和CMOS等等。其中有些研究工作从未实际进行，但很多都在专用设备领域发挥了作用。选择的多样性促进了广泛的应用，从而为数字化革命铺平了道路。