Right but if we do this with public funds then the narrative shifts to "OMG the EU is so corrupt and stupid, looking they're pouring taxpayer dollars into unproven stuff! They're deindustrializing!!"
The point being that, as soon as public dollars are on the table, people expect perfection. Anything less is waste, fraud, and abuse.
There's literally no winning. Want to make sure the money is allocated right? Bureaucracy. Want to not do that? Waste, fraud, and abuse.
Except that Apple, Intel, Tesla, etc have all received US government investment [1]. TSMC is a product of the Taiwanese state! Government investment can be done well, and seeds excellent companies.
Denmark has a large hearing aids industry due to lots of government funding for hearing aids, and a large wind turbine industry due to funding for wind farms. So stimulating demand can work to build or strengthen an industry, but what Denmark and EU are doing with GPUs is stimulating supply in Europe and demand in the US. I would be surprised if that does not end up strengthening US and not EU industry.
I wouldn't count the wind turbine industry in the same category as startups, energy production and infrastructure are classical government investment schemes.
It doesn't matter if government funded startups have been successful. It's not the government's job to provide capital to high risk ventures. They should provide public services for the people and regulate the private sector according to the interest of the people.
Well, depends on your definition of high risk.
Basic research is definitely high risk, in that return for investment may happen generations from now if ever. I'd argue that funding of basic research through universities etc. is part of government's job.
And funding for basic research should be made so that the results belong to the public, for example through universities as you mentioned. Not through private startups.
The comment you're replying to is tainted with the survivorship bias. We see successful companies that got government funding, but not the opposite. Maybe we'd have more innovation and competition without government picking these specific winners.
Ironically, one of the companies you mentioned (Apple) now operates in an environment with very little competition and regularly faces antitrust claims.
Government picking winners may actually reduce competition in the long run.
The key difference: when private money picks wrong, it's their loss. When government picks wrong, it's taxpayer money.
The point being that, as soon as public dollars are on the table, people expect perfection. Anything less is waste, fraud, and abuse.
There's literally no winning. Want to make sure the money is allocated right? Bureaucracy. Want to not do that? Waste, fraud, and abuse.