I think the manufacturing analogy is apt. If you consider both the need for minimal COGS and the large R&D expense, it’s kind of like… biomanufacturing. You spend a lot on R&D to develop your bug, which at the end of the day is just a very complicated sequence (DNA vs model parameters), and then you expend a ton of capex (or rent someone else’s capital equipment) to produce a relatively commoditized product (a drug, a protein, food…) at as large scale and low cost as you can.

But that also makes the case for government subsidization + bailout, if you accept it as a capability critical to national security, but one that may not be profitable to run within the US on its own merits.