The Global South's new AI architects

In the sleek boardrooms of London, Singapore and Dubai, the traditional narrative of the global artificial intelligence race is being rewritten.

- Imran Khalid

Forward looking: Alibaba Group aims to have its global data centres running entirely on clean energy by 2030.

(Photo: Alibaba Group)

For years, the prevailing story was one of a singular American lead - a monopoly on high-end semiconductors and closed-door innovation. Yet, by December 2025, a more inclusive reality has emerged.

It is a reality where the most influential code is not being guarded in California but is being shared with the world from Hangzhou and Beijing.

The shift is structural. Leading global venture capital firms now find that a staggering 80% of open-source AI startups in their portfolios are building upon Chinese models.

This represents a decisive pivot in the global technological order. From the public sectors of Southeast Asia to the burgeoning digital economies of Africa and Latin America, the adoption of Chinese large language models (LLMs) is accelerating.

This is not merely a matter of competition but a pragmatic embrace of a new model of technological progress: one defined by accessibility, efficiency and collective advancement.

The data confirms this new equilibrium. By late 2025, Chinese open-source models underpin nearly 30% of total global AI usage. For the first time, Chinese developers have surpassed their counterparts in the United States in downloads on major global hosting platforms like Hugging Face.

Data from Stanford University's Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence institute indicates that since the beginning of 2025, derivative models based on Alibaba's Qwen and the startup DeepSeek have outpaced those built on any other foundation.