US China tech race shapes Indian enterprises' AI tool choices
The ongoing tech race between the US and China is shaping how Indian enterprises pick their AI tools.
Chinese players like Alibaba and Moonshot AI are making waves with open-weight models that are affordable and easy to self-host, which helps companies avoid tricky data rules.
These models now make up more than half the traffic on OpenRouter, mainly because they cost way less: think $0.14 to $1.74 per million tokens compared to $5 to more than $30 for US options.
Indian firms adopt mixed AI strategies
Indian businesses are mixing and matching different AI models based on what fits their needs best.
U.S.-made models still lead in highly regulated sectors like banking or healthcare thanks to strong compliance features.
But for high-volume, budget-friendly tasks, Chinese open-weight models are the go-to.
Experts say it's less about global rivalries and more about what actually works: they point out that flexibility and customization matter most, as companies focus on real-world results instead of taking sides in the tech showdown.