China leads video AI race as OpenAI retires Sora over costs

The shutdown of Sora signals a structural shift: video AI is no longer a viable standalone subscription tool but a platform feature. While Western firms like OpenAI and Runway struggle with unsustainable inference costs and copyright litigation, Chinese giants like ByteDance (Douyin/TikTok) and Kuaishou are successfully treating compute as a marketing expense. They monetize output immediately through their internal platforms, creating a self-sustaining content flywheel. This vertical integration allows them to dominate the mass-market social and mobile entertainment sectors. Watch for whether Google or Meta can leverage YouTube or Instagram reels to replicate this economic model and offset the high costs of multi-modal video generation.

The economics of OpenAI's Sora collapse were exacerbated by the sudden dissolution of a major deal with Disney. Per Digital Applied and The Wall Street Journal (March 2026), Disney canceled a planned $1 billion investment and character licensing agreement just one hour before OpenAI publicly announced the shutdown. Sora's user engagement had already cratered, with downloads falling 66% from a November 2025 peak of 3.3 million to just 1.1 million by February 2026. This high-profile exit forced Western attention toward enterprise and professional tools, such as Runway Gen-4 and Google Veo, which prioritize creative control over mass-market volume.

In contrast, Chinese platforms are scaling through technical specialization and aggressive domestic growth. Kuaishou's Kling AI reported a 300% revenue surge in early 2026, leading to a planned spinoff at a $20 billion valuation, according to the South China Morning Post (May 2026). Alibaba simultaneously expanded its reach with the April 2026 launch of Wan 2.7, a 27-billion-parameter model that supports native audio synchronization and multi-shot storytelling. Per Deloitte and local industry trackers, China's total micro-drama market is projected to reach $16.5 billion during 2026, officially surpassing the country's domestic theatrical box office revenue.

Regulatory and industrial support continues to widen the gap. While U.S. labs face mounting IP lawsuits from entities like Getty Images and The New York Times, China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) explicitly designates AI-generated micro-dramas as a strategic cultural export. Per China.org.cn (March 2026), local governments now offer direct financial subsidies for AI-native productions, helping clear the path for 6,000 new AI-generated titles to launch monthly. This state-backed infrastructure ensures that even if individual apps fail, the underlying technology stack remains heavily capitalized and integrated into the global content supply chain.