China is shaping open-source technology – including AI

Christopher K. Tong,
University of Maryland

As you read this article on your computer or smartphone, you are almost certainly using open-source technology. It forms the foundation of the global digital economy, from operating systems and web servers to databases and encryption protocols.

While the United States and Europe have led open-source development, China is championing its own alternatives. The Chinese government has made open-source development part of its national technology strategy, while Chinese companies and institutions are redefining how open-source technology is developed, licensed and deployed.

China’s strategy could influence products and services worldwide. Its success may depend on building global trust, however. Chinese companies, backed by the government, have long been known to acquire advanced technology through intellectual property theft and pressure in joint ventures and licensing agreements.

Open-source technology is increasingly an arena of strategic competition. Countries that lead its technical and legal standards will gain a competitive edge for decades.

Linux, the core software powering Android phones and much of the internet, is open-source. RISC-V, an emerging alternative to Intel and Arm chip designs, is another example.

Early Chinese efforts aimed to develop technologies free from foreign control. A government-run institute developed Red Flag Linux as an alternative to Microsoft’s Windows, while a military university created Kylin, an operating system for the People’s Liberation Army and government organizations.

More recently, Chinese tech companies have embraced open-source technology as a way around sanctions and export controls. After Washington blacklisted Huawei for its ties to the Chinese military, Google revoked its access to licensed services and apps. Huawei used Android’s open-source code to maintain its smartphone operating system, eventually developing HarmonyOS NEXT and releasing OpenHarmony.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping now stresses science and technology independence and self-strengthening. Government bodies have supported platforms such as the state-guided OpenAtom Foundation and Gitee, a Chinese alternative to GitHub. China is also positioning itself in open-source hardware standards. Its work on RISC-V reduces dependence on foreign semiconductor intellectual property and vulnerability to export controls.

The contest has moved into AI. Major Chinese models such as Qwen, DeepSeek, Kimi and GLM are generally open-weight rather than open-source: their software and final parameters are available, but not their training data and methodology.

The White House and Silicon Valley remain split over open-source AI. Anthropic and OpenAI have accused Chinese model makers of unauthorized distillation, a technique used to copy proprietary models. U.S. officials have proposed restrictions on Chinese open-weight models, while some agencies and states have prohibited DeepSeek for security reasons.

Chinese models also raise less understood risks. They are designed to align with government censorship and propaganda, and some licenses impose additional obligations.

Bilingual licenses developed under Chinese government guidance give Chinese courts more control. The Mulan Permissive Software License and OpenAtom Model License are written in English and Chinese, but the Chinese version prevails in conflicting interpretations, especially in Chinese jurisdictions.

The U.S. regulates AI through a patchwork of federal and state laws. International frameworks, including the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act, UNESCO’s AI ethics recommendation, the Hiroshima AI Process and ISO/IEC 42001, may offer a more coherent approach.

Open-source technology has always been global. As China becomes a central force in its development, the challenge is not simply who produces the best technology, but who writes the rules under which it is shared, trusted and used.

[Abridged]