It would also lighten the load of the launch, meaning we could put much heavier things in orbit.
Getting that fuel to objects in orbit will require a significant infrastructure, and huge up front costs, but someone clearly sees a calculus that results in a net savings over time.
If we can get that infrastructure built, it becomes much more reasonable to start looking at other things near Earth as potential resource sites -- asteroids in particular. All sorts of metals are out there in ahem astronomical quantities.
I see this as an exercise in improving what we're currently doing (let's get some gas stations installed between home and orbit), followed by innovation/new industries.
It may be more expensive to do manufacturing cleanly, but it's not that much more expensive.
Just like submarine launched ICBM's and Nimitz class aircraft carriers project power, so too shall a presence in orbit.
It's just not entirely clear how to enter that game yet, but it will be a game that gets played sooner or later.
I think there's probably going to be a big stare-down between 4 or 5 big players, but there's no way to guess at what's on the other side of that.