I have doubts the gap will widen. If you look at the research papers, the majority of researchers are Chinese. Of course many of them are living in the US or elsewhere. But under the current circumstances, many are returning home or choosing not to leave China.

The future of cutting edge research and tech seems to be progressively moving to China. And a delay in model quality could represent more of an unwillingness to burn stacks of cash to be first, when you can have the same thing slightly later for much cheaper.