In China you need to appease state goals. In the US you need to appease investor goals.

China will keep funding them regardless of their income, because the goal is (ostensibly) a state AGI/ASI. In the US, the goal is an ROI which may or may not come with AGI/ASI.

They are different economies with different goals. We can look at past Chinese national projects and see that they are fine with burning $50 to get [social goal] that's worth $5.