UBS China internet analyst Xiong Wei said on July 24 that demand stratification is creating divergent pricing power across model tiers. UBS estimates China’s top models have training costs roughly one-tenth of overseas leaders; inference API pricing for Chinese models is about 10–20% of comparable foreign models while still delivering 20–40% gross margins—slightly below U.S. peers but economically healthy. The firm says the advantage is structural, not subsidy-driven, reflecting training algorit

UBS China internet analyst Xiong Wei said on July 24 that demand stratification is creating divergent pricing power across model tiers. UBS estimates China’s top models have training costs roughly one-tenth of overseas leaders; inference API pricing for Chinese models is about 10–20% of comparable foreign models while still delivering 20–40% gross margins—slightly below U.S. peers but economically healthy. The firm says the advantage is structural, not subsidy-driven, reflecting training algorithm and architecture innovations, different model strategy priorities, and open-source ecosystem synergies.