4 charts on China vs. the American AI Labs

2026-06-30 · Source: Ramp Economics Lab · Field: Technology & Digital — Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Emerging Technologies & Innovation · Depth: Intermediate, short

Summary

The Ramp AI Index, utilizing business spend data from Ramp, reveals key trends in American AI adoption as of June 2026. Anthropic has extended its lead over OpenAI in enterprise adoption, increasing 1.4 percentage points to 42.4%, while OpenAI slightly decreased to 39.5%. This puts Anthropic ahead by 2.9 percentage points. Concurrently, the use of model-serving platforms, a proxy for open-source and Chinese AI models, is growing but remains limited, reaching 5.8% of AI-spending businesses in June 2026, up from 4.5% in January. These platforms are primarily adopted by highly advanced AI users, who spent a median of \$248 per employee on AI in June, 23 times the median AI-spending business. Crucially, this adoption does not displace OpenAI or Anthropic, as 96.4% of model-serving users also utilize at least one of the major American labs.

Key takeaway

For Directors of AI/ML evaluating model strategies, recognize Anthropic's growing enterprise lead over OpenAI. While cheaper open-source and Chinese models are gaining traction among highly advanced teams, they currently supplement, rather than replace, established American labs. Your focus should remain on optimizing cost for specific tasks with diverse models, but do not overstate the immediate competitive threat to your core OpenAI or Anthropic deployments. Monitor future price adjustments from major labs.

Key insights

Chinese and open-source AI models show limited, specialized adoption among American businesses, not displacing market leaders.

Principles

• Cost sensitivity drives niche AI adoption.
• Advanced AI users explore diverse models.
• Market leaders maintain distribution advantages.

Method

The Ramp AI Index tracks AI adoption using corporate card and invoice payments, employing model-serving platforms as a proxy for open-source and Chinese model usage.

In practice

• Track model-serving platform usage.
• Analyze AI spend per employee.
• Monitor co-adoption rates of models.

Topics

• Ramp AI Index
• Enterprise AI Adoption
• OpenAI
• Anthropic
• Chinese AI Models
• Open-source Models
• AI Spending Data

Best for: CTO, AI Product Manager, Director of AI/ML, VP of Engineering/Data, Investor

Related on AIssential

• Anthropic beats OpenAI on business adoption — Anthropic's lead in business adoption is challenged by cost-incentive misalignment and performance issues.
• American AI is expensive. Some startups are turning to cheap Chinese models - NPR — Cost-effectiveness is driving startups to adopt cheaper Chinese AI models over expensive American alternatives.
• The U.S. and China want the same things from AI — The U.S. and China share fundamental AI goals, with perceived strategic differences often stemming from pragmatic responses to environmental factors, not philosophical divergence.
• anthropic vs. openai — Anthropic has surpassed OpenAI in new enterprise AI adoption, driven by targeted technical focus and broader non-technical applications.
• How AI Customers Are Lowering Their Anthropic and OpenAI Bills — AI customers are optimizing costs by switching to cheaper models from current or alternative providers.
• AMD CEO Lisa Su Meets With Chinese Vice Premier — Anthropic and OpenAI dominate AI startup revenues, capturing 89% of the market.

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by Ramp Economics Lab.