Talk about a masochistic streak. The world’s bulging sovereign wealth funds are not only willing to brave the Washington publicity circus when they buy into US companies, they also seem to have the stomach for serious losses.

China Investment Corporation, which bought 10 per cent of Blackstone, has seen the value of its stake slashed by a quarter since the buy-out company went public. Dubai International Capital has watched its shares in hedge fund Och Ziff lose an impressive 12 per cent in three days since its IPO. Even with those role models, Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Company is pumping a cool $622m into Advanced Micro Devices, the struggling chipmaker that is locked in a David and Goliath struggle with bigger rival Intel.