Jack Ma-Backed Ant Group Enters US-China AI Race

Jack Ma-backed Ant Group says it has developed techniques for training AI models with Nvidia alternatives — potentially lowering costs by 20%. While Ant is still using Nvidia for AI development, it is now relying mostly on tech from other companies, including AMD, Alibaba and Huawei, for its latest models, according to people familiar with the matter. The development marks Ant’s entry into a race between Chinese and US companies that’s accelerated since DeepSeek demonstrated how capable models can be trained for far less than the billions invested by OpenAI and Google.

Ant published a research paper this month that claimed its models at times outperformed Meta in certain benchmarks, which Bloomberg News hasn’t independently verified. But if they work as advertised, Ant’s platforms could mark another step forward for Chinese AI development.