China’s latest artificial intelligence breakthrough is taking a page from the country’s most successful budget-friendly businesses, such as Shein, Temu, and AliExpress.
These e-commerce giants have disrupted Western competitors by offering rock-bottom prices that are nearly impossible to match without incurring losses.
Now, a new AI model from DeepSeek, founded by billionaire Liang Wenfeng, is following the same playbook—delivering powerful technology at an unbeatable cost, in some cases, nearly free.
China is Ready to Change the AI-scene Globally
With its new DeepSeek AI, China has taken a big step into the AI-scene across the globe, where they aim to challenge the existing powers.
And they can do this through a veritable price war.
For comparison, OpenAI’s ChatGPT O1 model costs $60 for a million tokens, whereas DeepSeek R1 charges just $2 for the same service, despite offering similar capabilities.
Meanwhile, OpenAI users pay a $24 monthly subscription for its most advanced model, while DeepSeek’s AI remains entirely free—at least for now.
This aggressive pricing strategy mirrors Shein’s meteoric rise in the fashion industry, where the company has dominated the market despite ongoing scrutiny over its sustainability practices.
Shein saw an explosive rise in the fashion industry, where it quickly came to rival big global brands in the online clothes market.
The same is seen with the Chinese giant Temu, which quickly rose to rival companies like Amazon, becoming a globally used marketplace for practically any product category.
China’s dominance in AI and e-commerce is no accident—it’s a strategic, low-cost revolution that continues to reshape global industries.
With DeepSeek now entering the AI race under the same disruptive pricing model, Western tech companies, such as OpeanAI, could soon find themselves facing the same kind of intense competition that fast-fashion and online retailers have already experienced.
