More US companies switch to Chinese AI models to save money and tokens

U.S. companies are increasingly shifting workloads to Chinese AI models to cut costs. DeepSeek leads the trend, but Alibaba's Qwen has also gained significant ground, with the company claiming its Qwen3.8-Max model rivals top U.S. systems on coding and reasoning benchmarks while offering far cheaper costs per token.

Ride-hailing giant Uber has publicly acknowledged building on Chinese open models, drawing scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers who have opened inquiries into the practice over national security concerns. Coinbase has also made the switch, cutting its AI spending by nearly half after moving to Chinese models GLM 5.2 and Kimi 2.7, even as its overall AI usage increased.

#CGTNNews

Watch CGTN LIVE on your computer, tablet or mobile https://www.cgtnnow.com/featured/events/cgtn-live-now-1 Subscribe to CGTN America on YouTube Follow CGTN America: X: @cgtnamerica Facebook: @cgtnamerica Instagram: @cgtnamerica TikTok: @cgtnamerica

This material is distributed by MediaLinks TV, LLC on behalf of CCTV. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.