Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, believes that the emergence of advanced Chinese AI models will significantly increase competition with US rivals and drive down global adoption costs. GIC, a major AI investor, has observed that Chinese labs like Moonshot and Deep Seek are narrowing the gap with US developers.

Bryan Yeo, GIC's chief investment officer, stated that open-weight models, including those from China, are beneficial for the global AI ecosystem by reducing costs. This reduction is expected to lead to faster and broader adoption of AI across industries, exponentially growing its use cases. The valuations of US AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, which are approaching $1tn, could be challenged by the availability of cheaper Chinese alternatives.

While GIC is cautious about investing in AI startups, they see strong growth potential in Chinese AI companies. The fund also plans to deploy $30bn into hedge funds over the next three years. GIC's recent annual report showed a 3.4 percent inflation-adjusted return over the past two decades, the lowest since 2020.