Ok, but it means you need to have quite a bit of confidence that fabs are the way to go.
The UAE's modus operandi is a gigantic version of "if you build (acquire) it, they will come", looking at everything else they've been buying and building.
With the biggest towers, the biggest commercial districts, artificial islands, and attempting to pay for higher education branches in Dubai, they're hoping something will stick.
Perhaps Abu Dhabi will commission AMD to build a national vanity chip, the tallest microchip in the world.
The fact that many of these ventures have not really gained any traction is a sign that things can flame out badly, though AMD might be able to snap itself back if they do. It's not like the UAE can seize much, since nothing so far is actually within the country.
I didn't look up how profitable UMC and Chartered are, but they're really eating the crumbs that are falling from TSMC's table. It's safe to assume that The Foundry Company has no plans to go head on against TSMC, so it'll be just one more party eating crumbs. Most companies use UMC as a way to get TSMC to lower its prices, they are rarely selected because of their own merits. I don't see why it would be different for TFC.
TFC does have a pretty good piggy bank backing it up, and a significant direct customer of TSMC's is a primary client for CPUs. It's a pure-play foundry that from the outset has financial friends who aren't affected by any ongoing credit crisis and unafraid to spend lavishly, something the other smaller fabs and maybe TSMC would kill for.
The UAE doesn't have to cut capex in line with the rest of the industry.
The problem with fabs is that there's the never ending need for tons of capital to make it work. I think the guys from Abu Dhabi are going to be throwing money in a bottomless pit.
I'd say it's likely. Given the cash they make on their oil thing, and the costs if they fail move off of it before it fails, the comparatively minor costs of a blunder into semiconductor manufacturing seems like a calculated risk worth taking.
Hey, treasuries have been doing great lately!
Remember the last country that modernized by mastering buying bonds?
