Seek .(US:SKLTY) Sou Hu Cai Jing·2026-01-22 18:44Core Insights - The report by RAND focuses on the global competitive landscape of large language models (LLMs) between the U.S. and China from April 2024 to August 2025, analyzing website traffic data from 135 countries to understand market dynamics and the impact of the DeepSeek R1 model launch [1][12][18]. Market Growth and U.S. Dominance - The global LLM market is experiencing rapid growth, with monthly visits to major platforms increasing from 2.4 billion to nearly 8.2 billion, a threefold rise from April 2024 to August 2025 [21][58]. - U.S. models maintained a dominant market share of approximately 93% by August 2025, despite the emergence of Chinese models [21][58]. - The launch of DeepSeek R1 in January 2025 led to a 460% increase in visits to Chinese LLMs within two months, raising their global market share from 3% to 13% [21][58]. - Chinese models achieved over 10% penetration in 30 countries and over 20% market share in 11 countries, with significant growth in developing nations and those with close ties to China [21][58]. The DeepSeek Disruption - DeepSeek R1's introduction disrupted the market, as it did not cannibalize traffic from other Chinese models, which continued to grow [21][58]. - The overall market for Chinese LLMs expanded due to DeepSeek's success, indicating a shift in competitive dynamics [21][58]. Drivers of Model Adoption - Pricing is less of a factor in user adoption, as Chinese model API costs are significantly lower (1/6 to 1/4 of U.S. counterparts), but most users do not encounter these differences due to free-tier offerings [2][21]. - Multilingual support has improved, with Chinese models like Qwen expanding from 26 to 119 languages, narrowing the gap with U.S. models [2][21]. - In AI diplomacy, China has been more active, announcing 401 AI cooperation initiatives from 2015 to 2025, compared to the U.S.'s 304 initiatives, although this primarily affects government and corporate partnerships rather than individual user choices [2][21]. Regional Variations - Adoption of Chinese LLMs varies significantly by region, with substantial gains in countries like Russia, the Middle East, Africa, and South America, which are often developing nations or have strong ties to China [21][63]. - The correlation between the adoption of Chinese LLMs and GDP per capita indicates that lower-income countries are more likely to adopt these models, suggesting economic factors play a crucial role in driving adoption [21][66].