Considering two Germans in Paris independently discovered the transistor just a few months after Shockley's team, this seems like a self-serving fantasy: https://www.computerhistory.org/siliconengine/the-european-t...
There's no question in my mind that American industry and capital markets were far better at pivoting to this new industry though.
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If you have a diode, then the transistor is only a small step away.
Semiconductor physics books require you to work through a lot of material until you understand the diode, and then the bipolar transistor is just one next chapter.