How has China's AI usage surpassed the US?

Chinese LLMs reached 4.69 trillion tokens in weekly API calls as of March 15, surpassing the US for the second consecutive week, with the top 3 globally being Chinese models.

How do multinationals view China's AI?

Apple and Siemens CEOs praised China's AI innovation speed at the China Development Forum. Siemens Chengdu factory has deployed nearly 100 AI applications.

China Development Forum 2026: Apple & Siemens CEOs Praise China's AI Momentum, Chinese LLMs Surpass US in Weekly API Calls

Q: What are China's AI priorities for 2026?

The State Council pushes 'AI+' action, targeting 10 trillion yuan in AI industry scale by 2030. Tencent doubles AI investment; Alibaba sets cloud+AI revenue targets. Focus areas include smart manufacturing, medical AI, and embodied intelligence.

At the China Development Forum 2026, Apple and Siemens CEOs praised China's AI innovation speed. Chinese LLMs reached 4.69 trillion tokens in weekly API calls, surpassing the US for the second consecutive week. Tencent doubles AI investment; Alibaba sets cloud+AI revenue targets. China's strategy shifts from tech breakthroughs to mass commercial deployment.

China Development Forum 2026: AI as US-China Tech Diplomacy Focal Point

Forum Background

The China Development Forum 2026 convened global business leaders, including Apple and Siemens CEOs, amid escalating US-China tech competition. AI discussions at the forum drew particular attention.

Global CEOs Praise China's AI Momentum

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Siemens CEO Roland Busch publicly praised China's AI development speed. Multiple executives noted that China's AI deployment velocity has surpassed the US in areas like manufacturing AI and consumer-facing AI applications.

LLM API Calls Surpass US

A key statistic disclosed at the forum sparked widespread discussion: Chinese LLMs' weekly API call volume has surpassed the US. This reflects explosive growth in China's AI application market, driven by rapid rises of domestic models like DeepSeek, GLM, Ernie, and Qwen.

Policy Signals and Geopolitical Impact

The forum sent clear signals: China will maintain openness to foreign AI companies while accelerating domestic AI infrastructure. The friendly atmosphere contrasts with US-China tensions on AI chip export controls, suggesting China is using business diplomacy to ease tech decoupling pressures while demonstrating competitive AI capabilities despite chip restrictions.

In-Depth Analysis and Industry Outlook

From a broader perspective, this development reflects the accelerating trend of AI technology transitioning from laboratories to industrial applications. Industry analysts widely agree that 2026 will be a pivotal year for AI commercialization. On the technical front, large model inference efficiency continues to improve while deployment costs decline, enabling more SMEs to access advanced AI capabilities. On the market front, enterprise expectations for AI investment returns are shifting from long-term strategic value to short-term quantifiable gains. However, the rapid proliferation of AI also brings new challenges: increasing complexity of data privacy protection, growing demands for AI decision transparency, and difficulties in cross-border AI governance coordination. Regulatory authorities across multiple countries are closely monitoring these developments, attempting to balance innovation promotion with risk prevention. For investors, identifying AI companies with truly sustainable competitive advantages has become increasingly critical as the market transitions from hype to value validation. This trend is expected to deepen over the coming years, profoundly impacting the global technology industry landscape. The convergence of AI with other emerging technologies such as quantum computing, biotechnology, and robotics is creating entirely new market opportunities that did not exist even two years ago.