The inputs in hydroponics are expensive compared to field grown rice. The people experimenting with hydroponic rice are reporting enormous water savings, but not expense savings. The only two ways I could see that becoming profitable is a dramatic increase in world rice prices, or by using a variant system.
Vermiponics (worms) and aquaponics (marine creatures) both offer the benefit of a secondary revenue source. Inputs must still be made into the system, but experimentation may find a profitable path for rice using those systems.