A view has emerged that competition in China's AI market is shifting from model performance to real business value. On June 14 (local time), Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported that Alex Yao (알렉스 야오), head of JPMorgan's China equity research, said China's AI market is rapidly restructuring away from the dispersed dynamics of the so-called "hundred-model war" toward a small group of leading companies with global competitiveness.

Yao said companies that can turn consumer-facing functions into stable enterprise infrastructure will lead in commercialisation. He said the AI monetisation race among Chinese tech companies is moving toward providing "measurable business value" rather than simply improving technical performance.

He also judged that even if Chinese AI models lag slightly behind top U.S. models on some performance metrics, that is not a decisive factor for commercialisation in China. That is because access to U.S. models is difficult in China and the market is placing greater importance on practicality. Yao said, "We do not need a model with intelligence like Einstein," adding that "with capabilities at the level of a competent master's graduate, you can start real work."

He said the view that Chinese consumers are reluctant to pay for software may be exaggerated. He said adoption depends on "clear and demonstrable value" rather than price.

Monetisation strategies are also taking shape. ByteDance introduced subscription plans for its AI app Doubao in early May, ranging from 68 yuan to 500 yuan a month. Alibaba and Tencent have not yet introduced consumer subscriptions, but are actively integrating AI across their software ecosystems.

Alibaba opened its Qwen AI ecosystem to partners such as KFC and Luckin Coffee. Tencent is opening WeChat to smartphone AI agents. Large consumer internet platforms see opportunities to use AI to expand into adjacent high value-added areas such as e-commerce and video games.

JPMorgan's view is that the bigger revenue opportunity lies in the enterprise market. Citing JPMorgan estimates, Yao said the global enterprise AI market opportunity is about 4 times larger than consumer AI. He pointed to AI-assisted software development as one of the most notable drivers of monetisation at present.

In this market, not only large tech companies such as Alibaba and ByteDance but also AI startups such as Zhipu AI are competing. Zhipu AI launched its "GLM Coding Plan" in September last year and promoted it as a cheaper alternative to Anthropic's Claude. Yao said, "Profits may not be immediately clear, but the direction of growth in commercial revenue is clear."