A recent study reveals that China has surpassed the United States in the global market for open-source artificial intelligence (AI) models, gaining a notable lead in one of the most technology-focused sectors.
Conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the open-source AI startup Hugging Face, the study found that Chinese-developed open-source AI models accounted for 17.1 percent of global downloads in the past year, overtaking the U.S. share of 15.8 percent for the first time.
Most downloads of Chinese models come from DeepSeek and Alibaba’s Qwen. Open-source models, which can be freely downloaded, modified, and integrated, are boosting product development for startups and pushing AI research globally. Their swift adoption is shaping the future of AI technology.
“Open source has become a powerful engine for global IT development, and in the era of AI driven by large models, its momentum is remarkable,” said Ni Guangnan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, at the 2025 OpenAtom Developers Conference in Beijing on November 21.
“China is now the world’s largest provider of open-source large models. Models such as Qwen, DeepSeek, and Kimi rank among the top on the evaluation platform LMArena,” he stated.
China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) calls for greater opening up and mutually beneficial cooperation, noting that China’s push to boost and develop open source aligns with global trends.
Chinese-led open-source communities are also growing swiftly overseas. A U.S. report cited by Ni found that around 80 percent of American AI startups use Chinese open-source models.
“China’s open-source AI ecosystem welcomes inclusiveness and global access, pooling international developer talent, facilitating technological exchange, and injecting fresh momentum into innovation,” Ni Guangnan mentioned.