China’s Open-Source AI Platforms Vie to Become Its Hugging Face

Summary

ModelScope and MoArk are competing to become China’s domestic equivalent of Hugging Face, the leading global platform for sharing open models and datasets. ModelScope, launched by Alibaba in 2022, says it hosts more than 170,000 models and has 250 million users; OSChina’s MoArk, launched in 2023, hosts more than 20,000 commonly used models. Both platforms provide model testing and customization, offer some free usage, and charge for additional computing power and advanced features. Their growth follows China’s 2023 blocking of Hugging Face, although regulators did not disclose a specific reason and Chinese AI developers still commonly use VPNs to reach foreign platforms. The article describes a policy tension: Beijing wants access to global open-source research for domestic innovation, while also viewing Chinese-controlled platforms as more secure and less exposed to U.S. regulation. That concern has intensified after Nvidia announced a $12.9 billion acquisition of Hugging Face and warned that regulators could restrict Chinese models on the site. Chinese companies continue to publish models on Hugging Face for global distribution, while domestic developers need access to models created abroad. ModelScope is trying to attract users through university hackathons and an AI coworking space in Hangzhou. MoArk is deploying engineers to adapt mainstream models to different Chinese chips, addressing the computing constraints created by U.S. restrictions on advanced chip sales. Developers value domestic platforms for faster downloads, but some still prefer Hugging Face and GitHub because they offer greater variety and remain the default in open source. The platforms therefore represent an effort to build a more self-reliant Chinese AI stack, but their smaller catalogs and the continued usefulness of global services leave the competition unresolved.