China’s AI Startups Are Booming—Should the West Be Worried?

While Silicon Valley debates how to respond to Deepseek, China is busy building the next AI superpowers. With billions in funding and backing from tech giants, startups like Stepfun, ModelBest, and Zhipu AI aren’t just competing, they’re leapfrogging.

If you think the AI race is just OpenAI vs. Google, you’re missing the real competition.

China’s AI ecosystem is evolving fast, with new startups tackling chip shortages, AI infrastructure, and consumer applications. Stepfun is pushing for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), while ModelBest is betting on small, efficient AI models for real-time processing.

Meanwhile, Zhipu AI’s ties to China’s government have put it on the U.S. restricted trade list, and Infinigence AI is solving China’s chip crisis with a cloud-based approach. Unlike Western firms locked in competition, these companies are strategizing for AI dominance in a geopolitically fractured world.

China isn’t just catching up in AI, it’s playing by a different set of rules. Will Western AI firms wake up before it’s too late?

Read the full article on MIT Technology Review.

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