Edit - if FC has all the funds he needs I just wonder why he is looking for partners and customers months before the chip is ready? Why wouldn't he just get the chip fabbed and start selling when he has them? I think he knows how problematic this process can be and he knows there is a big risk of delays and wants to share that risk so that any losses are not just his own. This business is hard.
As difficult as it is to design and produce a chip, it is a logistic nightmare to manage the sales of millions of them. And yes, all indications are that this production line will run into many millions of chips produced. These chips will be distributed... everywhere.
It would be foolish for anyone to just discount the capability of AM. They have a long history of underpromising and overdelivering. The failure of Gen2 was the exception, and a very valuable learning experience, one that would have bankrupted anyone else. It appears likely that they will emerge even stronger for the experience.
That does not mean there is not a place for competitors. But they are best served by taking their blinders off and recognizing AM for what they really are, not for what they wish they would be.