It doesn't have to be anticompetitive conspiracy, milking current technologies for all they've got make sense in a lot of ways. Making your previous generation profitable by delaying your next generation a little means your business can last in the long term. Releasing things ASAP in every instance means in many circumstances competing with yourself.
This is a cost of capitalism but it comes with the benefits of a self-sustaining system and more predictable futures. If politicians were funding processors, you'd bet they wouldn't want to spend the resources to double processor parameters every 18 months.
If politicians were funding a processor we will have processor operator licenses that every computer user should have to legally use a computer and we will have 12cm process with processor connected via landline to the ministry of truth. There would also be half processors for free for the poor.
Considering that a lot of current semiconductor demand comes from games, politicians would be hard pressed to come up with that channel of funding in the first place.
Heck, I probably won't think to tax games to fund chip foundries.
This is a cost of capitalism but it comes with the benefits of a self-sustaining system and more predictable futures. If politicians were funding processors, you'd bet they wouldn't want to spend the resources to double processor parameters every 18 months.