Credit: Visual China

BEIJING, February 19 (TMTPOST) – Microsoft-backed OpenAI released its text-to-video AI tool Sora last Thursday, sparking global discussions.

Last Friday, Zhou Hongyi, co-founder of China's Internet security company Qihoo 360, said that the release of Sora means that artificial general intelligence (AGI) may be realized within a year, significantly earlier than the previously estimated ten years. He said that OpenAI might have more advanced tools, such as GPT-5. “The gap in AI between China and the U.S. may be widening," said Zhou.

The launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 has sparked a global wave of AI enthusiasm. Since then, there has been a significant distance between China and the U.S. in the directions of financial and technological development in AI sectors.

In 2023, the secondary market witnessed a remarkable upswing in the stocks of numerous American AI companies. Supermicro, for instance, surged over 770% in the past twelve months, with an overall increase of over 100 times. Chip giant NVIDIA increased nearly five times in its share price, with a market value of over $1.79 trillion, overtaking Amazon and Google to become the world's third-largest technology company. ARM increased by three times, AMD by over 120%, and Intel by over 58%. Microsoft's stock doubled and surpassed Apple, becoming the world's most valuable technology giant.

Bloomberg data shows that among the top 500 wealthiest individuals globally, thirty attribute some of their fortune to companies tracked by the Bloomberg Global Artificial Intelligence Index. Those holdings have increased their total net worth by $124 billion so far this year, 96% of total wealth gained on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

In the primary market, CB Insights data shows that in 2023, the number of financing deals for AI startups in the U.S. reached 1,151, a slight decrease compared to 2022. However, the total financing amount reached $31 billion, a 14% year-on-year increase and nearly half (46%) of all AI transactions globally.

In 2023, the generative AI sector dominated the AI landscape, representing 48% of the overall financing value in the field. Key players like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Inflection are all located in the U.S., consolidating the country's leadership in attracting substantial funds, technology, talent, and core computing power within the AI sector.

Currently, OpenAI is valued just below ByteDance and SpaceX, making it the third-largest technology unicorn globally.

In 2023, OpenAI's annual recurring revenue (ARR) exceeded $2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4,500%. AI search company Perplexity also achieved annual revenue of over $10 million, more than three times from $3 million four months ago.

In comparison to the U.S. market, the Chinese AI financing sector experienced a decline in 2023.

According to CB Insights' report, last year, the number of AI financing deals in China was about 232, a 38% year-on-year decrease, with a total financing amount of about $2 billion (approximately 14.25 billion yuan), a 70% year-on-year decrease.

The secondary market performance did not meet expectations either. China’s leading AI chipmaker Cambricon (688256.SH) recently said that the company’s revenue for 2023 is expected to be between 680 million yuan and 720 million yuan. The net profit is expected to be a loss ranging from 756 million yuan to 924 million yuan, narrowing the year-on-year loss by 26.47% to 39.84%. Over the past twelve months (as of last Thursday), Cambricon’s stock price has only grown by 39.96%, and since the beginning of this year, its stock price has dropped by nearly 15% (14.46%).

Multiple Chinese listed AI companies have seen declines in their stock values over the past year. Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) on the U.S. stock market decreased by 24.41%, while Baidu's Hong Kong stock (HKG: 9888) saw a decline of 26.28%. SenseTime Group (HKG: 0020) witnessed a substantial 65.73% drop in its stock price, resulting in a market value reduction of over 99 billion yuan. Additionally, iFlytek faced a decline of more than 14.5%.

In the past year, despite China’s enthusiasm in the AI large model market, a discernible gap exists in its actual market environment compared to that of the U.S. This disparity stems from macro-level issues as well as variances in computing power, basic technology, and other aspects.

As AI technology becomes the new focus of the national strength competition between China and the U.S., China urgently needs to develop core areas such as AI chips and computing power to address related risks and challenges.

Zhao Zhiyun, Director of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China, said that in the future, China needs to enhance the comprehensive coordination of resources and research and development efforts. He also stressed the importance of expediting basic research and technological innovation, actively engaging in global AI governance, and fostering the systematic and regulated development of AI.

(Note: 1 yuan equals $0.14.)

(This article was first published on the TMTPost App. Author | Lin Zhijia)

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