The “Free” Era Is Ending: China’s Open-Source Giants Are Quietly Attaching a Price Tag to the Weights

by Raphael Dudler | Aug 30, 2026 | CHN AI NEWS

The weights are still free to download — but no longer free to build a fortune on. Alibaba and Moonshot now want a share of your revenue. China’s open-source giants are quietly rebuilding “free” into a royalty business.

The Death Zone: China’s Model Blitz Is Now Killing Companies That Aren’t at the Frontier

by Raphael Dudler | Aug 4, 2026 | CHN AI NEWS

Bloomberg calls it the “death zone” — a market where you survive only with the best technology or the cheapest price. Alibaba’s Qwen3.8-Max just matched Anthropic’s flagship. China’s model blitz is now suffocating everyone in between.

The Death Zone: China’s Model Blitz Is Now Killing Companies That Aren’t at the Frontier

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