A new study finds that Chinese AI models and companies earn only a fraction of the revenue generated by OpenAI and Anthropic. Across Chinese AI providers covered by the research, total revenue is estimated at roughly 10% of OpenAI’s level, despite the scale of activity in China’s AI market.
The reports note that Chinese firms often develop models at lower cost, which can help explain differences in margins and business economics. At the same time, the study suggests that some Chinese startups are valued with higher valuation multiples than their U.S. counterparts, indicating that investors’ expectations may not align with current revenue figures.
Quartz and Seeking Alpha frame the findings with attention to the same central comparison: relative revenue size versus spending and valuation. Both outlets also point to the gap between financial performance today and how highly some Chinese companies are priced, while not necessarily attributing the difference to any single cause.
