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Top Chinese AI models make 10% of OpenAI, Anthropic revenue despite high valuations: report

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Lee, C. M. (2026, September 18). Top Chinese AI models make 10% of OpenAI, Anthropic revenue despite high valuations: report. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3367991/top-chinese-ai-models-make-10-openai-anthropic-revenue-despite-high-valuations-report?utm_source=rss_feed

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

South China Morning Post · collected 2026-09-18 · by Chong Ming Lee

Quick Summary

A recent report by the US-based research firm Rhodium Group indicates that despite high valuations, top Chinese artificial intelligence models generate only about 10% of the revenue reported for OpenAI and Anthropic. From March to August, these seven major Chinese AI developers collectively earned an estimated $10.7 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR), compared to over $100 billion combined for OpenAI and Anthropic. ByteDance leads this group with approximately $4 billion ARR as of July, followed by Alibaba with $2.4 billion in August.
Written by AI on 2026-09-20, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

According to a report by US-based research firm Rhodium Group, Chinese artificial intelligence models from seven major developers generated only about 10% of the revenue reported for OpenAI and Anthropic between March and August. Despite this, these Chinese models earned an estimated US$10.7 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) as of August. By comparison, OpenAI and Anthropic combined reported more than US$100 billion in revenue during the same period. The report highlights that ByteDance, led by its AI initiatives, generated US$4 billion in ARR as of July, followed closely by Alibaba with US$2.4 billion in August. This data underscores the significant gap between Chinese and Western AI companies in terms of revenue generation, despite high investor interest in the former.

Written for “Chinese AI Models Revenue Comparison” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Chinese AI Models Revenue Comparison
Technology · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 67% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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Hedges 10 of 32 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles discuss different aspects of AI and its impact on stock markets and revenues, not the same specific incident.”
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⚖️ Leans left Hedges 1 of 3 claims Outlet record 60/100
“The articles cover different aspects of AI companies' financial situations and do not describe the same specific incident or outcome.”
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Hedges 0 of 3 claims Outlet record 63/100
“The articles discuss different aspects of AI industry dynamics: one focuses on an engineer's criticism and safety concerns, while the other reports financial performance comparisons.”
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Hedges 1 of 4 claims Outlet record 63/100
“The articles discuss different aspects of AI firms' financial performance and do not describe the same specific incident.”
CBS News
Hedges 5 of 18 claims Outlet record 66/100
“The articles discuss different aspects of AI developments and their economic impact; one warns about potential cyberattacks while the other focuses on revenue comparisons between Chinese AI models and OpenAI, Anthropic.”
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Hedges 1 of 5 claims Outlet record 63/100
“The articles discuss different aspects of the AI industry's fundraising and revenue, not the same specific incident.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
3
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
67%
2 of 3 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
63/100
South China Morning Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Technology
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-20 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

South China Morning Post · 3535 article(s) · 7 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 7 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Chong Ming Lee
12 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
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Also by Chong Ming Lee
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 12 articles by Chong Ming Lee →

Topics

Alibaba Anthropic ByteDance Chinese Rhodium Group

Subjects

Chinese NORP · 4× Anthropic ORG · 2× ByteDance ORG · 2× Rhodium Group ORG · 2× Alibaba ORG · 1× DeepSeek ORG · 1× Moonshot AI ORG · 1× OpenAI ORG · 1× Rhodium ORG · 1× Z.ai ORG · 1×

Narrative

The report covers DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Z.ai, MiniMax, Alibaba Group Holding, ByteDance and Kuaishou Technology, which runs the Kling AI video generator.
framing: speculative · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-20
2026-09-20 · South China Morning Post
Top Chinese AI models make 10% of OpenAI, Anthropic revenue despite high valuations: report · speculative framing

Claims (3 extracted, 2 hedged)

Top Chinese AI models make 10% of OpenAI, Anthropic revenue despite high valuations: report ByteDance led the Chinese group in ARR at US$4 billion as of July, followed by Alibaba at US$2.4 billion in August, Rhodium Group found Chinese artificial intelligence models from seven major developers combined generate only about 10 per cent of the revenue reported for OpenAI and Anthropic, even as investor enthusiasm remains intense, according to US-based research firm Rhodium Group. uncertain
enthusiasm → make → Group
The Chinese AI models earned an estimated US$10.7 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) from March to August, a fraction of the more than US$100 billion combined for OpenAI and Anthropic, according to the Rhodium report published on Thursday. uncertain
models → earn → Thursday
The report covers DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Z.ai, MiniMax, Alibaba Group Holding, ByteDance and Kuaishou Technology, which runs the Kling AI video generator. asserted
which → cover → generator
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