Silicon Valley startups are adopting cheaper Chinese AI models due to cost pressures. Anthropic's model ranking by July 2026 at 87% YES.

Recent model releases from Chinese companies including DeepSeek and Z.ai are seen by many as highly competitive compared to leading U.S. frontier systems.

Chinese AI models are gaining ground with US companies because they cost far less than systems from OpenAI and Anthropic, CNBC reports.