Published on: 2026-09-11
Source: People’s Republic of China — Translation
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
As artificial intelligence becomes widely spread, the focus of global competition in this field is undergoing fundamental changes. Previously, the main task was to create a more powerful large model; now, the decisive factor is the ability to turn AI into a stable, cheap, and widely accessible “infrastructure.” In this new contest, electricity becomes an important advantage for China.
AI is transforming from a high-tech product into a fundamental capability that ensures the functioning of the economy and society. Enterprises use it for research and production, governments for improving service quality, and ordinary people for solving daily tasks. At the same time, the rapid adoption of the technology as infrastructure generally depends on its price accessibility, operational stability, and ease of deployment.
Almost 80% of the world’s population lives outside of China and the USA. For countries in Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and other regions, the most important factor is not the top-ranked model, but an affordable model that is suitable for local deployment and adapted to local needs. At the beginning of 2026, the volume of token consumption by Chinese models on the OpenRouter aggregator platform had already surpassed that of American ones – this indicates that cost directly influences consumer choice.
Price competition of large models can be considered on three levels. At the basic level, energy powers data centers; at the middle level, chips convert electricity into computational power; and at the top level, models turn computation into intelligence. All three components together determine the cost per unit of intelligence.
At the same time, the role of energy has a deeper significance. As AI shifts from episodic responses to queries to functioning as social infrastructure, the number of requests to it will grow explosively – and then energy constraints will be felt more acutely.
China’s advantage in energy lies in the high speed of infrastructure construction and its commissioning. In 2025, the installed capacity of solar and wind power plants in the country exceeded 430 million kW. At the state level, work is also being carried out to more effectively coordinate energy resources, computing capacities, and practical tasks. In the hubs of the “Eastern Data – Western Computing” project, the energy advantage is already beginning to transform into a price advantage in the field of computing.
Today, China’s advantages in AI rely on model efficiency, an open ecosystem, and market competition. In the future, a more sustainable competitive advantage will be determined by the scale capabilities provided by energy and infrastructure.
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.