Semiconductor tooling is of a level of complexity that there's a huge amount of skill, institutional knowledge, process, and some art in getting them doing what

Semiconductor tooling is of a level of complexity that there's a huge amount of skill, institutional knowledge, process, and some art in getting them doing what you want at yields that pay off and on fast schedules. Lead is maintained by having all of that. They're also extremely expensive ($10b+ to get to leading edge node), which is a huge barrier to entry and just about requires nation-state help, as is the case in Taiwan, Korea, and the US.