Genshin Impact maker MiHoYo reportedly plans up to US$13.8B AI push to build a top-tier Chinese model lab

China's large-language-model race keeps attracting companies from outside AI, The Information reports, with Shanghai game studio MiHoYo, maker of Genshin Impact, now building its own foundation models.

What's reported

According to a person with direct knowledge cited by The Information, MiHoYo aims to become a top-tier Chinese AI lab within a few years and plans to invest up to US$13.8B in AI over three years. Co-founder Cai Haoyu is said to oversee the team, which is seeking access to Nvidia Blackwell chips.

MiHoYo is not alone. Xiaomi released MiMo-V2.6-Pro last month, which ranked ninth on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, and is building MiMo into its gadgets and cars. Meituan shipped a stronger LongCat 2.0 in June, and CEO Wang Xing has argued that the only viable AI strategy is to "play offense" with models a company owns. They join ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent, plus Zhipu (Z.ai) and MiniMax, which listed in Hong Kong in January, and DeepSeek, Moonshot and StepFun, which are preparing to list.

Caveats

MiHoYo's plans rest on a single source; MiHoYo and Meituan did not reply to The Information and Xiaomi declined to comment. The investment figure is a plan, not committed spending.

Why it matters

Instead of consolidating, China's model market is getting more crowded, as cash-rich consumer companies decide that owning a model is cheaper and safer in the long run than renting one.

Source: The Information, "China's AI Model Race Is Just Getting More Crowded" (9 October 2026)