The US already lost because their economy is flawed, they operate on the "for profit" basis, meanwhile China operate on the "for the country and its people" basis, even if it's centralized with a communist head, it's what allowed them to catchup with the west in record time, it was never about the profits, for the same reason the west is still burning gas and coal and never fully embraced nuclear energy, it was not profitable
"Is AI profitable?", is the question we ask ourselves, wich already puts us behind china, since they don't ask this question to begin with, they do it