China’s Algorithm Registry Maps a Booming AI Landscape

The CAC’s Algorithm Registry

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) mandates that any company launching an AI tool with “public opinion properties or social mobilization capabilities” first submit a filing to a public algorithm registry. Developers must demonstrate how their products avoid 31 risk categories, ranging from age and gender discrimination to psychological harm and violations of core socialist values. Submissions are reviewed locally and then forwarded to the central CAC for final approval before the tool is listed publicly. This process has unintentionally created the most detailed map of a nation’s AI ecosystem, cataloguing both generative‑AI and deep‑synthesis algorithms.

Regional Hubs and State Participation

Nearly 80 percent of China’s generative‑AI registrations cluster around its top tech hubs—Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Each city offers distinct advantages: Beijing leverages elite universities and national labs; Shenzhen benefits from a dense hardware supply chain and engineering talent; Shanghai excels at commercialization near multinationals; and Hangzhou draws on Alibaba’s e‑commerce empire. Innovation also spreads to interior regions; Chongqing positions itself as an AI manufacturing and logistics node, Hefei is known as “China’s speech valley,” Guizhou hosts massive data centers powering Huawei’s Pangu model, and Inner Mongolia integrates AI into mining and agriculture.

State‑linked listings—state‑owned enterprises and government‑backed research institutes—make up about 22 percent of filings. These entities often partner with major tech firms; for example, PetroChina teamed with Huawei and iFlyTek to create oil‑and‑gas applications, while State Grid used DeepSeek to optimize power‑grid operations. Foreign firms account for only 0.5 percent of registrations, with examples such as IKEA’s smart shopper algorithm and Yum China’s menu‑generation model.

Diverse Competition and Emerging Startups

More than half of the registry’s entries are cross‑sector technologies, including foundational models, general‑purpose text generators and a wide array of multimedia tools. Unlike the United States, where a few large players dominate, China’s competition remains fragmented. Six “AI tigers”—Moonshot, Minimax, Zhipu, Baichuan, 0.1AI and Stepfun—are backed by Alibaba or Tencent. ByteDance’s Doubao recently surpassed DeepSeek as the most popular chatbot, though market leadership remains fluid.

Startups are applying AI across a spectrum of domains. Squirrel, an ed‑tech firm, uses AI to diagnose knowledge gaps and personalize lessons, serving over 1.2 million students. AI Kanshe combines traditional Chinese‑medicine diagnostics with machine vision, analyzing tongue, palm and facial images. Zhongtan Puhui Cloud Technology offers AI‑driven carbon‑accounting agents that can reduce a 30‑day emissions audit to 15 minutes. UBtech, a robotics company founded by Zhou Jian, produces humanoid and industrial robots for factories, schools and homes, with a third of revenue coming from overseas markets. XVerse builds immersive virtual worlds, turning chat conversations into AI‑driven story videos for 20 million users. BubblePal, created by Haivivi, attaches AI companions to children’s toys, supporting multiple languages and personalities.

Global Ambitions and Challenges

The term “chuhai”—to go overseas—has become a buzzword as Chinese AI firms seek markets beyond a slowing domestic economy. China now produces roughly a quarter of the world’s top 100 AI products by revenue, many of which target international users. Companies like Glority’s PictureThis plant‑identification app have found success abroad. To navigate geopolitical tensions, some firms have relocated headquarters to Singapore or California, hired foreign staff, or rebranded to distance themselves from China. Butterfly Effect, for instance, moved to Singapore after U.S. export controls on Nvidia chips and removed Chinese‑origin content from its platforms.

These trends illustrate a dual reality: while the CAC’s registry provides a comprehensive domestic snapshot, Chinese AI innovation is increasingly outward‑looking, shaping a global ecosystem that blends state support, private entrepreneurship and international market strategies.