How China Plans to Win the Global AI Race

China’s low-cost, open-weight artificial intelligence models are rapidly gaining ground on US rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic. In June, global usage of Chinese AI models surpassed US models for the first time, according to OpenRouter data. From DeepSeek to Kimi K3, Chinese AI companies are attracting users around the world, including in Silicon Valley, where hundreds of startup founders urged the Trump administration not to restrict access to Chinese AI models. The shift comes as concerns