If I were an ASIC-implemented AI why would I need an ASIC factory? Why wouldn't I just create a software replica of myself on general purpose computing hardware, i.e. become an upload?

I know next to nothing about neuroscience, but as far as I can tell, we're a long way from the sort of understanding of human cognition necessary to create an upload, but going from an ASIC to an upload is trivial.

I'm also not at all convinced that I want a layover at humanville. I'm not super thrilled by the idea of creating a whole bunch of human level intelligent machines with values that differ widely from my own. That seems functionally equivalent to proposing a mass-breeding program aiming to produce psychologically disturbed humans.