> fabs are silly expensive.

This is NO exaggeration. You can build a lot of things in a garage, or a million dollar factory. Chips can't be built in a BILLION dollar factory.

> Hasn't the USA had some large profile power failures in the not to distant past? You'd be screaming at the moon as a fab if you suffered a shutdown caused by inadequate infrastructure outside your plant.

No country has 100% uptime. Like hospitals, you have batteries and generators onsite capable of picking up the load without interruption.

> China is also trying to get at the high end of chips, and they earmarked over $140 billion USD,

If they've done this, this will almost surely be enough to get them to the forefront.