US Companies Are Realizing That Chinese AI Models Are Way Cheaper, Ditch American Ones - Futurism

According to a report in the *Financial Times*, several major US companies, including DoorDash, Airbnb, and Siemens, are adopting Chinese artificial intelligence models in place of American ones. The report notes that leading Chinese models from DeepSeek and Z.ai have overtaken US equivalents on the model marketplace OpenRouter, a platform where developers compare and select AI models.

The shift is driven largely by cost: Chinese models are reportedly significantly cheaper than their American counterparts. However, the article highlights that Chinese models are now considered competitive not only on price but also on performance, as evidenced by their OpenRouter rankings.