If AI is becoming a new kind of “factory,” as Jensen Huang suggests, can China win by replicating its low-cost manufacturing playbook?
Alibaba's Qwen AI foundation model exhibition booth at the 2025 Apsara Conference, hosted by Alibaba Cloud, in Hangzhou, China, from September 24–26, 2025. Credit: Alibaba
From sector to sector, Chinese companies have come to dominate global industry through their ability to export mass quantities of low-cost products. The world of AI may prove harder to conquer with the same trick.
Chinese firms involved in AI, from tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent to newer model developers like Zhipu have this year had to hike prices for their services, in response to rising costs.
A section from Alibaba's Qwen pricing. Credit: Alibaba
As they do so, it is bec
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