Debunking the Myth of Chinese Models Dominating OpenRouter
teortaxesTex · x · 2026-07-20
The author rebuts recent claims that Chinese models (like Moonshot K3 and DeepSeek R1) have overcome compute limitations and now supply the majority of tokens on OpenRouter:
- Sample bias: OpenRouter's token volume represents only a tiny fraction of global production and cannot indicate broader trends.
- Infrastructure illusion: Many of the so-called "Chinese models" on OpenRouter are actually powered by compute provided by Western cloud providers.
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