“The new year begins much like the last one—namely, with a Chinese demonstration of strength in the field of artificial intelligence. As a reminder: a year ago, Deepseek sent shockwaves through stock markets around the globe. This time, it is the Chinese AI ‘tigers’—Zhipu AI and Minimax—that are showcasing the capabilities of China’s AI landscape through successful IPOs. Both companies are small, are incurring heavy losses, and—in terms of their models—still lag a few percentage points behind their American competitors. Yet they serve as proof of the sheer depth and breadth that the Chinese AI ecosystem has to offer. Depth, because there are roughly a dozen noteworthy companies developing their own AI models and plunging into direct competition with rivals from the U.S. Breadth, because while these companies may appear similar from a distance, closer inspection reveals that they pursue very different approaches—particularly regarding their corporate cultures.
Zhipu—fittingly based in Beijing—comes across as academic, close to the state, and distinctly Chinese; Minimax, based in Shanghai, is more cosmopolitan and modern.
Then there are the usual suspects: corporate giants like Alibaba and Baidu, or the highly idiosyncratic Deepseek project—the brainchild of a wealthy AI purist.
These companies compete for talent, investors, and customers through a mix of distinct leadership styles, cultures, and business models. It is precisely this breadth that fosters competition and serves as the defining characteristic of a true ecosystem. Alongside the U.S., China is the only country that can legitimately claim to possess such an AI ecosystem.
Europe has its individual bright spots—such as Mistral from France—but it lacks a true ecosystem. The reasons for this are manifold. They certainly stem, in part, from China’s insularity—a stance that, not least through censorship, effectively bars foreign providers like ChatGPT from entering the market.
However, they also lie in what is sometimes referred to as the ‘engineering dividend.’ Quite simply, the country produces a vastly disproportionate number of engineers and highly gifted researchers for artificial intelligence than any other country in the world. These individuals found the companies—some of which later rise to become AI tigers.” [1]
1. Chinas KI-Dividende. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 10 Jan 2026: 28. Von Gustav Theile
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