Historically, these numbers have been massive, and the larger the required scale of funding, the tougher it’s for companies to enter and keep aggressive. Some industries are nonetheless headed within the path of ever greater investments and capability required to realize scale. At the moment, constructing a brand new state-of-the-art semiconductor facility is so costly – estimated at as much as $30 billion – that just a few firms are left within the enterprise the place there have been as soon as dozens.