On Friday, 25 major US tech companies, including Nvidia and Microsoft, published an open letter urging the Trump administration to avoid imposing "premature restrictions" on open-source artificial intelligence (AI) models, arguing that doing so would "stifle competition or force innovation overseas."
The Washington Post noted that while the letter does not explicitly mention China, its stance would ultimately benefit Chinese AI firms. This has drawn criticism from some figures in Silicon Valley and the Trump administration who believe US policy should specifically target these Chinese companies.
The report highlights that leading Chinese AI companies, such as DeepSeek, have made their most advanced AI models freely available for anyone to download or use. Many global firms, including US-based ones, are now adopting these "open" models as alternatives to expensive AI services from American providers like OpenAI and Google.
As the performance of free Chinese AI models increasingly rivals that of paid US products, anxiety is growing among some tech executives and national security officials.
The Trump administration is reportedly considering a ban on Chinese AI models entering the US market. Senior White House officials have also made unfounded claims that Chinese firms are using "distillation" techniques to steal US intellectual property and have threatened sanctions.
In response, China's Foreign Ministry stated that China's AI development is a result of pursuing high-level technological self-reliance, as well as benefiting from its consistent commitment to the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits.
Although OpenAI did not sign the open letter, its President, Greg Brockman, stated that the company supports broadly expanding access to AI technology. He noted he had not participated in any discussions regarding whether the Trump administration would ban Chinese open-weight models from the US market.
Separately, nearly 200 Silicon Valley companies are also urging the Trump administration not to cut off access to Chinese AI models for US firms, warning that doing so could stifle the next generation of American startups.
Suhail Doshi, founder of AI infrastructure startup Particle, stated in an interview: "Hundreds of companies would be wiped out instantly. This is certainly great for Anthropic because we would all be forced to pay for its services."
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