Behind OpenAI, the quiet rise of Chinese models
Summary
The article argues that the AI market is shifting from a pure performance race to an infrastructure and cost-efficiency battle. It highlights how Chinese open models from DeepSeek, Alibaba, Moonshot AI, Z.ai, ByteDance, and MiniMax are gaining traction because they deliver strong results at lower cost. The piece also notes that companies increasingly care more about token and inference economics than marginal benchmark gains. It frames open models as a strategic layer that can win developers and become core building blocks for agents, copilots, and specialized applications. The article closes by warning that organizations could reduce dependence on U.S. model providers while creating a new dependence on Chinese software foundations.
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