Chinese Open‑Source AI Models Overtake U.S. Counterparts, Cut Costs Seven‑Fold
Chinese open‑source models such as DeepSeek’s R1, Moonshot’s K2.5 and Alibaba’s Qwen are now matching top U.S. systems while costing roughly one‑seventh as much. Their free weights have made them the most downloaded AI models globally, prompting U.S. startups to switch and threatening the U.S.‑centric innovation pipeline.