There is a good tale about Samsung’s entry into the silicon-chip business, which at the time – 1983 – was dominated by Japanese and American manufacturers.

Mr Lee Byung-chul, the founder of the South Korean chaebol, announced the new strategy in what he grandiloquently called the Tokyo Declaration. He said that though his country lacked raw materials such as oil, it had an educated and diligent workforce that was well-equipped to turn its hand to chipmaking.