China is closing the AI usage gap

The AI race between the U.S. and China is getting more competitive.
According to Apollo, 20 of the world’s 50 most-used AI models now come from China.
That is up sharply from 2025.
At the same time, U.S. models in the top 50 have fallen to 28 from 33.
Chinese model token usage among the top 20 AI models surged 113% MoM to 98T tokens in June.
U.S. model usage rose 43% MoM to 53T tokens.
That means Chinese model token usage is now 85% higher than U.S. model usage, up from 24% in May.
The AI race is no longer just about model quality. It is also about usage, distribution, and scale.