Don't forget it isn't just money; there's a whole heap of infrastructure that already exists to make this cheaper (standards for electricity, production scale for said standards, etc) but also socio-economic infrastructure (rule of law, etc). Imagine trying to build the same scale of infrastructure in a country with rampant corruption or in a war zone.

In particular from a strategic level consider all the benefits of Mahan's "Influence of Sea Power"[0] and the benefit nations with suitable sea power / access to global markets has on being able to build the necessary infrastructure at scale quickly in order to support such endeavours. And this isn't just about raw "Sea Power" but all the concomitant requirements to achieve this, in particular the "Number of population", "Character of the people", and "Character of the government".

[0] Alfred Thayer Mahan; "The Influence of Sea Power on History"