Published on: 2026-07-30
Source: People’s Republic of China — Translation
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Global companies are increasingly switching to Chinese artificial intelligence models. Western companies, such as the American food delivery giant DoorDash, the global online platform for placing and searching for short-term private housing rentals Airbnb, and the German conglomerate Siemens, are gradually replacing their AI models with Chinese products. The reason is simple: Chinese models are significantly cheaper, and the performance gap has narrowed to a level that is difficult for most users to detect. Additionally, the weight parameters of the Chinese models are open and transparent, allowing companies to perform custom tuning themselves.
This market change has a deeper meaning. Structural cracks are appearing in the technological containment system of China that Washington has applied for many years. The American strategy for containing China in the field of AI relies on two pillars: the first is hardware such as chips, the second is software and algorithms such as AI models. Hardware is a tangible commodity subject to physical control. But an AI model is a digital file which, once its source code is open, has endless possibilities for copying and distribution, so open-source technologies are difficult to contain within geopolitical boundaries.
Previously, American AI models dominated the market due to their performance and better price-to-quality ratio. Now, Chinese models have significantly narrowed the performance gap, while their cost is several times or even tens of times lower, making companies’ choice obvious.
It is worth noting that this transition is happening during a period of tightening US restrictions against China. External constraints did not hinder AI development in China; instead, they pushed the industry toward a qualitative leap. Washington wanted its competitors to fall behind by cutting off resource supplies, but as a result, a more economical and independent alternative technological system emerged in China.
Initially, Washington designed the AI sphere as a zero-sum game, beneficial only to its own side. But reality has shown that the failure of the containment policy is not due to its implementation, but because the overall strategic logic is separated from the law governing the spread of digital technologies. In the field of AI, the question Washington most needs to clarify may not be “how to leave China behind,” but rather that “this is simply impossible to stop.”
Recognizing this, one can also see another side of Sino-American relations. The United States has advantages in innovation and venture capital, while China excels in rapidly implementing technologies in industry, cost optimization, and large-scale commercial application. If both countries can establish channels of healthy cooperation even amid technological competition, it will change not only the sphere of their own science and technology sectors but also the path of global AI dissemination and the direction of industry development. The sooner Washington realizes this, the more beneficial it will be for itself.
Please note; This information is raw content obtained directly from the information source. It is an accurate report of what the source claims and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.