Relatives vs absolutes. America will spend $500B and because of leaky pipes that's effectively 100B going directly to what's needed. China gets a lot of bang for their buck so even if they're spending a fraction of the US, they make it worth their money.

their putting a ton of money into things that will benefit AI work if they work, but chipmaking is important for other reasons too, so if AI (somehow? I doubt) doesn't give enough ROI chips can be used for other things

China’s chip industry is 7-10 years behind, and that is because they are desperate and have been throwing money at it. But technological progress requires more than just money.