In Depth: Chinese AI-App Makers Look Overseas for Their Big Break

Fierce competition and strict regulations at home have pushed AI firms to get their start abroad, where customers are more willing to pay

Instead of following the well-worn TikTok and Temu playbook of dominating the domestic market before venturing overseas, Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) ventures have been taking the opposite approach.

The strategy, driven mostly by fierce competition and strict regulations on generative AI apps at home, has allowed the companies to capitalize on mature markets where subscription-based Software as a Service (SaaS) models are well-established and where there is a readiness to pay for AI-driven services.

The AI generative application market is buzzier than ever, at least based on the number of apps that now claim to include AI technology. According to mobile data research firm data.ai, the sector saw a 192% increase last year in new photo editing apps featuring “AI” in their names. Moreover, 70% of the top 20 globally downloaded photo editing apps now prominently include “AI” in their titles or descriptions. In the generative text field, the competition is fierce between Chinese firms like AIWavesInc’s siuuu.ai, 01.AI’s WanZhi, Pai Tech’s ChatDOC, and the U.S. startups such as Copy.ai and Writesonic, along with Microsoft’s Copilot. These companies are actively competing for market share in both the U.S. and China.