In Depth: China’s Dwindling AI Chip Stockpile Leaves Little Room for Sora Copycats

Chinese enthusiasm for generative video has been notably cool compared with the frenzy over ChatGPT-style large language models

The immense computational and financial cost of developing and optimizing Sora have brought a round of reality checks among China’s tech giants, particularly as they face growing domestic and international challenges. Photo: AI generated

The release three months ago of Sora, a program developed by OpenAI to convert text prompts into computer-generated videos, has placed significant pressure on Chinese firms in the space.

But weighing the high costs, immense computing resources required and the nation’s dwindling stocks of advanced hardware, most see little business case to justify a generative video arms race.

Two Beijing-based generative video startups are outliers. Shengshu Technology announced in March that it had attracted hundreds of millions of yuan in venture capital while AIsphere said the same month it drew around 100 million yuan ($14 million) in its latest funding round. Experts are skeptical that they will deliver on bold claims about their ability to catch up to Sora in a matter of months.