ByteDance, Alibaba, SenseTime lead generative AI infrastructure services market in China

The three companies combined had a more than 50 per cent share of the market in the second half of 2023, according to an IDC report

Reading Time:2 minutes

ByteDance, Alibaba and SenseTime provide enterprises with software, computing power, storage and networking resources used for building generative artificial intelligence applications. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 6:00pm, 10 Jul 2024

TikTok owner ByteDance, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding and artificial intelligence (AI) specialist SenseTime are the top generative AI (GenAI) infrastructure services providers in China, according to market research firm IDC.

The three companies combined had a more than 50 per cent share of the market in the second half of 2023, according to a report on Tuesday by IDC, without offering each firm’s exact share. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

They lease software, computing power, storage and networking resources for enterprises to build applications using large language models (LLMs), the technology underpinning GenAI services like ChatGPT.

GenAI refers to algorithms that can be used to create new content – including audio, code, images, text, simulations and videos – in response to short prompts.

The IDC data reflects how mainland China has swiftly become a world leader in GenAI adoption since OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022, which sparked an investment frenzy and soul searching on the mainland’s technology industry.

A staff member shows how artificial intelligence-generated technology is used in restoring ancient books to a visitor during the 2024 World AI Conference in Shanghai on July 6, 2024. Photo: Xinhua

According to a survey of 1,600 decision-makers in industries worldwide by American AI and analytics software company SAS and Coleman Parkes Research, 83 per cent of Chinese respondents said they used GenAI.