Alibaba and China Push Open-Source AI to Counter US Curbs

China, led by companies like Alibaba, is ramping up its efforts in open-source AI models as a strategic response to U.S. export controls and chip restrictions.

The shift gained momentum with DeepSeek’s R1 model in January 2025—an affordable, open-source alternative that shook up the global AI scene. Major players including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, DeepSeek, and Moonshot AI are now spearheading this open-source movement, reinforcing China’s goal of AI self-reliance and global tech leadership by 2030 under its national strategy.A standout example is Moonshot AI’s Kimi K2, a 1 trillion-parameter Mixture-of-Experts model that activates only 32 billion parameters per query—offering both scale and efficiency.

Key Highlights

• Alibaba and Chinese firms use open-source AI to counter U.S. curbs
• Moonshot’s trillion-parameter Kimi K2 rivals top U.S. models
• DeepSeek disrupted AI markets with low-cost, open access

Backed by Alibaba, Moonshot is pricing aggressively at $0.15 per million input tokens to outpace both domestic and U.S. competitors.

While U.S. firms like OpenAI and Google remain closed-source, China's model encourages community collaboration, faster iteration, and global accessibility. Meta is a rare U.S. exception also pursuing an open-source path.

This strategic pivot not only helps Chinese AI developers bypass hardware limitations but also fosters international developer adoption, data generation, and brand recognition.

Also Read: Alibaba Ovis-U1 Opens Multimodal AI, Slashing Adoption Costs

Alibaba’s leadership in this movement underscores how open-source AI is becoming a geopolitical tool—one that helps China compete in an era where hardware access is restricted, but innovation remains borderless.