Why do you have to be like AMD - why can't you be like Apple, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, or, well, about any successful/large chip maker other than Intel and Samsung?

Regarding the edge of technology - Intel doesn't beat others to a new node by making both chips and fabs, it would beat others even if it was only building fabs. And it's not like TSMC is that much behind Intel. Grandparent who mentioned 28nm could mention 16nm except that there the masks will costs much more but it's still millions, not billions.