What was the point of the Space Race between the US and the USSR? Proving who had more powerful capabilities. There doesn’t need to be any near-term profit at all. China has a lot to gain by beating US AI even if it makes no money from it. Money is such a small concern compared to the prestige and strategic benefits of being the global center of intelligence research.

To answer your question, what can China do if it wins? Become a global talent/education magnet, replacing the US, for example.

> what can China do if it wins? Become a global talent/education magnet, replacing the US, for example

I'd have given them relative low odds of success were it not for the coincidentally perfect timing of a US administration that seems hell bent on doing whatever it takes to knock the US out of its position as the sole superpower.

I still think it is a somewhat tall order, a lot depends on what happens over the next few years.