China AI leaders admit widening gap with US despite billion-dollar IPOs and market momentum

China AI Leaders Warn of Widening Gap With US After $1B IPO Week

The tech leaders are focusing on areas such as next-generation models, multimodality, and real-world agents, and are urging industry peers to work together to push artificial general intelligence further. Some of China's most prominent figures in generative artificial intelligence warned that the Asian nation is unlikely to eclipse the US in the global AI race anytime soon. Justin Lin, head of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Qwen series of open-source models, put at less than 20% the chances of any Chinese company leapfrogging the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic with fundamental breakthroughs over the next three to five years. His caution was shared by peers at Tencent Holdings Ltd., and at Zhipu AI, which this week helped lead Chinese large-language model makers in tapping the public market. "A massive amount of OpenAI's compute is dedicated to next-generation research, whereas we are stretched thin -- just meeting delivery demands consumes most of our resources," Lin said during a panel at the AGI-Next summit in Beijing on Saturday. "It's an age-old question: does innovation happen in the hands of the rich, or the poor?" The event, co-organized by Zhipu and Tsinghua University, followed market debuts this week in which Zhipu and Shanghai-based MiniMax Group collectively raised more than $1 billion. MiniMax shares more than doubled on their Friday debut, while Zhipu has climbed 36% since its debut a day earlier. Dealmaking from A to Z. Dealmaking from A to Z. Dealmaking from A to Z. Get the Bloomberg Deals newsletter and find out everything you need to know, from IPOs to startup investing. Get the Bloomberg Deals newsletter and find out everything you need to know, from IPOs to startup investing. Get the Bloomberg Deals newsletter and find out everything you need to know, from IPOs to startup investing. Bloomberg may send me offers and promotions. Plus Signed UpPlus Sign UpPlus Sign Up By submitting my information, I agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Still, China's AI heavyweights struck a cautious note on the chances of overtaking the US in developing state-of-the-art models at the gathering in Zhongguancun, a technology hub often described as Beijing's Silicon Valley. Joining Lin in that assessment were Tang Jie, Zhipu's founder and chief AI scientist, and Yao Shunyu, who recently joined Tencent from OpenAI to lead the AI push for China's most valuable company. "We just released some open-source models, and some might feel excited, thinking Chinese models have surpassed the US," Tang said. "But the real answer is that the gap may actually be widening." The breakout success of DeepSeek's R1 model at the start of 2025 spurred a wave of Chinese firms -- from giant Alibaba to startups like Zhipu -- to open-source their latest AI iterations. Such models have rapidly closed the gap with US proprietary offerings from the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Key Constraints While acknowledging progress, the speakers cited limited resources and US export controls on chips and lithography equipment as key constraints. Yao urged his industry peers to focus on the bottlenecks of next-generation models -- such as long-term memory and self-learning. The tech leaders also offered a primer on where they're placing bets for the coming year. Yao said he's helping Tencent leverage AI to generate greater value for its massive user base -- for example, by linking the company's Yuanbao assistant with WeChat chat history. Lin highlighted Alibaba's bet on multimodality and real-world agents, while both Tang and Yang Zhilin, who founded Moonshot AI, touted newer releases of their flagship foundation models. "Meaningless internal competition serves no purpose," said Tang. "We should represent China to push AGI further for the world," he added, referring to artificial general intelligence.

China is closing in on US technology lead despite constraints, AI researchers say

BEIJING, Jan 10 (Reuters) - China can narrow its technological gap with the U.S. driven by growing risk-taking and innovation, though the lack of advanced chipmaking tools is hobbling the sector, the country's leading artificial intelligence researchers said on Saturday. China's so-called 'AI tiger' startups MiniMax and Zhipu AI had strong debuts on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this week, reflecting growing confidence in the sector as Beijing fast-tracks AI and chip listings to bolster domestic alternatives to advanced U.S. technology. Yao Shunyu, a former senior researcher at ChatGPT maker OpenAI who was named technology giant Tencent's (0700.HK), opens new tab chief AI scientist in December, said there was a high likelihood of a Chinese firm becoming the world's leading AI company in the next three to five years but said the lack of advanced chipmaking machines was the main technical hurdle. "Currently, we have a significant advantage in electricity and infrastructure. The main bottlenecks are production capacity, including lithography machines, and the software ecosystem," Yao said at an AI conference in Beijing. China has completed a working prototype of an extreme-ultraviolet lithography machine potentially capable of producing cutting-edge semiconductor chips that rival the West's, Reuters reported last month. However, the machine has not yet produced working chips and may not do so until 2030, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. MIND THE INVESTMENT GAP Yao and other Chinese industry leaders at the Beijing conference on Saturday also acknowledged that the U.S. maintains an advantage in computing power due to its hefty investments in infrastructure. "The U.S. computer infrastructure is likely one to two orders of magnitude larger than ours. But I see that whether it's OpenAI or other platforms, they're investing heavily in next-generation research," said Lin Junyang, technical lead for Alibaba's (9988.HK), opens new tab flagship Qwen large language model. "We, on the other hand, are relatively strapped for cash; delivery alone likely consumes the majority of our computer infrastructure," Lin said during a panel discussion at the AGI-Next Frontier Summit held by the Beijing Key Laboratory of Foundational Models at Tsinghua University. Lin said China's limited resources have spurred its researchers to be innovative, particularly through algorithm-hardware co-design, which enables AI firms to run large models on smaller, inexpensive hardware. Tang Jie, founder of Zhipu AI which raised HK$4.35 billion in its IPO, also highlighted the willingness of younger Chinese AI entrepreneurs to embrace high-risk ventures - a trait traditionally associated with Silicon Valley - as a positive development. "I think if we can improve this environment, allowing more time for these risk-taking, intelligent individuals to engage in innovative endeavours ... this is something our government and the country can help improve," said Tang. Reporting by Laurie Chen; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Artificial Intelligence Laurie Chen Thomson Reuters Laurie Chen is a China Correspondent at Reuters' Beijing bureau, covering politics and general news. Before joining Reuters, she reported on China for six years at Agence France-Presse and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. She speaks fluent Mandarin.

China's AI reality check: Why tech leaders say beating US AI giants is unlikely anytime soon

China vs US AI race: China's top AI minds are downplaying hopes of surpassing US rivals soon. Executives from Alibaba, Tencent, and Zhipu AI suggest breakthroughs are unlikely in the next three to five years. Despite strong investor interest and recent IPOs, a significant compute gap remains. Industry leaders are now focusing on collaboration and next-generation AI challenges. China vs US AI race: China's leading figures in generative artificial intelligence are tempering expectations about how quickly the country can catch up to or surpass the United States in the global AI race, even as Chinese AI companies gain momentum in markets and model development, as per a report. At the AGI-Next summit in Beijing, Justin Lin, head of Alibaba Group Holding's Qwen open-source model team, shared that the likelihood of a Chinese company leapfrogging US leaders such as OpenAI and Anthropic with major breakthroughs in the next three to five years is below 20%, as per a Bloomberg report. His view was echoed by executives from Tencent Holdings and Zhipu AI, underscoring a shared sense of realism across China's AI industry. Lin said that, "A massive amount of OpenAI's compute is dedicated to next-generation research, whereas we are stretched thin -- just meeting delivery demands consumes most of our resources," adding, "It's an age-old question: does innovation happen in the hands of the rich, or the poor?" as quoted by Bloomberg. Also read: Bitcoin stalls near $90,000: Why BTC USD can't break $$95,000 yet and what could trigger the next big crypto move The caution comes at a time when Chinese AI companies are enjoying strong investor interest. This week, Zhipu and Shanghai-based MiniMax Group raised more than $1 billion through public listings. MiniMax's shares more than doubled on their first day of trading, while Zhipu's stock has climbed 36% since its debut. Still, speakers at the Zhongguancun event, held in a technology hub frequently compared to Silicon Valley, warned that market success does not necessarily translate into leadership in cutting-edge AI. Zhipu founder and chief AI scientist Tang Jie said that, "We just released some open-source models, and some might feel excited, thinking Chinese models have surpassed the US," adding, "But the real answer is that the gap may actually be widening," as quoted by Bloomberg. Also read: What's different about Social Security's 2026 payment schedule? Key changes explained However, the industry leaders acknowledged meaningful progress. The success of DeepSeek's R1 model in early 2025 triggered a wave of open-source releases from companies ranging from Alibaba to emerging startups, helping Chinese models narrow the gap with offerings from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Looking ahead, the focus is shifting toward solving next-generation challenges. Yao Shunyu, who recently joined Tencent from OpenAI, said Tencent is concentrating on applying AI to better serve its massive user base, including integrating its Yuanbao assistant with WeChat chat history, as per the Bloomberg report. Lin pointed to Alibaba's emphasis on multimodal systems and real-world AI agents, while Tang and Moonshot AI founder Yang Zhilin highlighted updates to their core foundation models. Despite competitive pressures, Tang urged the industry to avoid internal rivalries. He said China's AI companies should work together to advance artificial general intelligence, framing the effort as a contribution to global progress rather than a race defined by national rivalry. What did Chinese AI leaders say about catching up with the US? They said it is unlikely China will overtake US AI leaders in the next three to five years. Who shared this view at the Beijing summit? Executives from Alibaba, Tencent and Zhipu AI expressed similar concerns.

China is closing in on US technology lead despite constraints, AI researchers say - The Economic Times

China can narrow its technological gap with the US driven by growing risk-taking and innovation, though the lack of advanced chipmaking tools is hobbling the sector, the country's leading artificial intelligence ⁠researchers said on Saturday. China's so-called 'AI tiger' startups MiniMax and Zhipu AI had strong debuts on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this week, reflecting growing confidence in the sector as Beijing fast-tracks AI and chip listings to bolster domestic alternatives to advanced US technology. Yao Shunyu, a former senior researcher at ChatGPT maker OpenAI who was named technology giant Tencent's chief AI scientist in December, said there was a high likelihood of a Chinese firm becoming the world's leading AI company in the next three to five years but said the lack of advanced chipmaking machines was the main technical hurdle. "Currently, we have a significant advantage in electricity and infrastructure. The main bottlenecks are production capacity, including lithography machines, and the software ecosystem," Yao said at an AI conference in Beijing. China has completed a working prototype of an extreme-ultraviolet lithography machine potentially capable of producing cutting-edge semiconductor chips that rival the West's, Reuters reported last month. However, the machine has not yet produced working chips and may not do so until 2030, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Mind the investment gap Yao and other Chinese industry leaders at the Beijing conference on Saturday also acknowledged that the US maintains an advantage in computing power due to its hefty investments in infrastructure. "The US computer infrastructure is likely one to two orders of magnitude larger than ours. But I see that whether it's OpenAI or other platforms, they're investing heavily in next-generation research," said Lin Junyang, technical lead for Alibaba's flagship Qwen large language model. "We, on the other hand, are relatively strapped for cash; delivery alone likely consumes the majority of our computer infrastructure," Lin said during a panel discussion at the AGI-Next ⁠Frontier Summit held by the ⁠Beijing Key Laboratory of Foundational Models at Tsinghua University. Lin said China's limited resources have spurred its researchers to be innovative, particularly through algorithm-hardware co-design, which enables AI firms to run large models on smaller, inexpensive hardware. Tang Jie, founder of Zhipu AI which raised HK$4.35 billion in its IPO, also highlighted the willingness of younger Chinese AI entrepreneurs to embrace high-risk ventures - a trait traditionally associated with Silicon Valley - as a positive development. "I think if we can improve this environment, allowing more time for these risk-taking, intelligent individuals to engage in innovative endeavours ... this is something our government and the country can help improve," said Tang.

China is closing in on US technology lead despite constraints, AI researchers say

BEIJING, Jan 10 (Reuters) - China can narrow its technological gap with the U.S. driven by growing risk-taking and innovation, though the lack of advanced chipmaking tools is hobbling the sector, the country's leading artificial intelligence researchers said on Saturday. China's so-called 'AI tiger' startups MiniMax and Zhipu AI had strong debuts on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this week, reflecting growing confidence in the sector as Beijing fast-tracks AI and chip listings to bolster domestic alternatives to advanced U.S. technology. Yao Shunyu, a former senior researcher at ChatGPT maker OpenAI who was named technology giant Tencent's chief AI scientist in December, said there was a high likelihood of a Chinese firm becoming the world's leading AI company in the next three to five years but said the lack of advanced chipmaking machines was the main technical hurdle. "Currently, we have a significant advantage in electricity and infrastructure. The main bottlenecks are production capacity, including lithography machines, and the software ecosystem," Yao said at an AI conference in Beijing. China has completed a working prototype of an extreme-ultraviolet lithography machine potentially capable of producing cutting-edge semiconductor chips that rival the West's, Reuters reported last month. However, the machine has not yet produced working chips and may not do so until 2030, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. MIND THE INVESTMENT GAP Yao and other Chinese industry leaders at the Beijing conference on Saturday also acknowledged that the U.S. maintains an advantage in computing power due to its hefty investments in infrastructure. "The U.S. computer infrastructure is likely one to two orders of magnitude larger than ours. But I see that whether it's OpenAI or other platforms, they're investing heavily in next-generation research," said Lin Junyang, technical lead for Alibaba's flagship Qwen large language model. "We, on the other hand, are relatively strapped for cash; delivery alone likely consumes the majority of our computer infrastructure," Lin said during a panel discussion at the AGI-Next Frontier Summit held by the Beijing Key Laboratory of Foundational Models at Tsinghua University. Lin said China's limited resources have spurred its researchers to be innovative, particularly through algorithm-hardware co-design, which enables AI firms to run large models on smaller, inexpensive hardware. Tang Jie, founder of Zhipu AI which raised HK$4.35 billion in its IPO, also highlighted the willingness of younger Chinese AI entrepreneurs to embrace high-risk ventures - a trait traditionally associated with Silicon Valley - as a positive development. "I think if we can improve this environment, allowing more time for these risk-taking, intelligent individuals to engage in innovative endeavours ... this is something our government and the country can help improve," said Tang. (Reporting by Laurie Chen; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)