Chinese AI models have outpaced US counterparts in API call volume on OpenRouter for six consecutive weeks, with DeepSeek-V4-Flash leading and MiniMax M3 breaking into the global top three.
as I just said “Openrouter rankings tend to be skewed by discounts and free models (like Minimax m3 is on a 50% discount) , both on openrouter or through apps like Kilo code which route through openrouter then provide a discount”
also as I said “Most us model users don’t go through Openrouter (most chinese probably don’t either, but the ratio is probably higher for us).”
There’s several reasons for this. Openrouter providers easy provider switching and model discoverability in exchange for a 5% markup and some latency. Western models don’t have many providers anyway, their users are generally not exploring other models as much so both those benefits go away. Companies, which (outside of china) overwhelmingly prefer going to providers themselves and doing enterprise level contracts instead of going through openrouter. They also prefer western models. Most open model usage comes through individuals trying to reduce costs and/or explore other models, which are going to be overrepresented on openrouter.
My point was that there’s no reason to expect that the distribution is different outside OpenRouter. Also, companies absolutely do not prefer western models. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9baDOfwUzHQ
In fact, here’s an interview from Airbnb CEO plainly saying they prefer Qwen to ChatGPT:
There’s zero evidence for your assertion that Chinese models are overrepresented on OpenRouter. The reality is that these are the models everybody is using right now, and there’s a niche market for overpriced American models.
By this April, DeepSeek’s adoption rate still hovered at 0.1 per cent. For context, market leaders Anthropic and OpenAI dominated the index at 34.4 per cent and 32.3 per cent, respectively. Ramp did not provide the market share percentages for June.
Thanks for proving my point I guess. Your other links are anecodatal. Composer 2 & 2.5 are built off of Kimi K2.5, not GLM as it says very clearly in your own link. That’s not even relevant to the topic but given you don’t read your own sources.
I’ve made my point: the headline is misleading because it fails to mention it’s data from openrouter specifically, for reasons I briefly outlined all of which you dismissed without engaging.
Nowhere have you given any explanation for why you believe OpenRouter wouldn’t be representative of broader trends. What the links show is that Qwen, Kimi, and other models are in fact being used by American companies. It should be obvious that using open models and APIs that cost a fraction of the cost would be attractive to companies, but clearly that’s too fantastical of an idea for you to take seriously. Also love how you latched on to me misremembering GLM instead of Kimi. Really highlights how you’ve really got no actual point to make here.
I’ve made at least 5 points, one of which from your own sources all of which you’ve ignored in favoring of dumbly repeating your line of openrouter being representative of broader trends which I’ve explained twice why it wouldn’t be true. Good day sir
because
There’s several reasons for this. Openrouter providers easy provider switching and model discoverability in exchange for a 5% markup and some latency. Western models don’t have many providers anyway, their users are generally not exploring other models as much so both those benefits go away. Companies, which (outside of china) overwhelmingly prefer going to providers themselves and doing enterprise level contracts instead of going through openrouter. They also prefer western models. Most open model usage comes through individuals trying to reduce costs and/or explore other models, which are going to be overrepresented on openrouter.
My point was that there’s no reason to expect that the distribution is different outside OpenRouter. Also, companies absolutely do not prefer western models. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9baDOfwUzHQ
In fact, here’s an interview from Airbnb CEO plainly saying they prefer Qwen to ChatGPT:
Cursor’s Composer 2 is based of GLM https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47452404
and here’s an article from just a few days ago stating that US companies are increasingly using DeepSeek https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/many-us-tech-firms-turning-202000738.html
There’s zero evidence for your assertion that Chinese models are overrepresented on OpenRouter. The reality is that these are the models everybody is using right now, and there’s a niche market for overpriced American models.
which says
Thanks for proving my point I guess. Your other links are anecodatal. Composer 2 & 2.5 are built off of Kimi K2.5, not GLM as it says very clearly in your own link. That’s not even relevant to the topic but given you don’t read your own sources.
I’ve made my point: the headline is misleading because it fails to mention it’s data from openrouter specifically, for reasons I briefly outlined all of which you dismissed without engaging.
Nowhere have you given any explanation for why you believe OpenRouter wouldn’t be representative of broader trends. What the links show is that Qwen, Kimi, and other models are in fact being used by American companies. It should be obvious that using open models and APIs that cost a fraction of the cost would be attractive to companies, but clearly that’s too fantastical of an idea for you to take seriously. Also love how you latched on to me misremembering GLM instead of Kimi. Really highlights how you’ve really got no actual point to make here.
I’ve made at least 5 points, one of which from your own sources all of which you’ve ignored in favoring of dumbly repeating your line of openrouter being representative of broader trends which I’ve explained twice why it wouldn’t be true. Good day sir
It’s clearly what you think you did. Have a good rest of your day.