AI TRENDS | UBS: China's Leading Model Training Costs About One-Tenth of Overseas Leaders

According to Jin10, UBS Securities China internet analyst Xiong Wei said at a media sharing session on July 24 that, as demand becomes more segmented, pricing power differs across model tiers. He said China's leading model training costs are about one-tenth of those of overseas leaders, while inference costs and API pricing are about 10% to 20% of the average pricing of overseas comparable models, with gross margins still at 20% to 40%, slightly below U.S. peers but still at a very healthy level. He added that the advantage does not come from aggressive subsidies or vendors sharply cutting prices, but from structural cost-efficiency advantages, including training algorithm and architecture innovation, differences in model strategy priorities, and open-source ecosystem coordination.