The track that Zhu Xiaohu isn't optimistic about is quietly making money overseas.

Text by | Zhou Xinyu

Edited by | Su Jianxun

Since 2025, the widely circulated AI wealth - creation stories have generally existed in two tracks: Agents represented by Manus and AI hardware represented by Plaud.

However, beyond these glamorous AI application stories of Agents and hardware, an old and once - cooled track - video generation models - is taking a group of domestic AI companies to new heights:

According to the monitoring of Feifan Data, in June 2025, the ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) of Kuaishou's Keling AI on both App and Web reached 100 million US dollars. Among startups, the ARR of MiniMax's Conch AI and Vidu of Shengshu Technology on the Web alone has also reached about 10 million US dollars.

Multiple insiders revealed to "Intelligent Emergence" that the actual subscription revenues of these products are even higher.

Even the cash flow that large language models have yet to turn positive has achieved a breakthrough in the video generation track first.

Aishi Technology officially revealed that the subscription revenue of its video generation model PixVerse can already cover most of the company's costs, and the cash flow is close to positive.

At the 2025 Beijing AI Conference, Huang Weilin, the person - in - charge of ByteDance's Seed image and video generation, gave an optimistic judgment: The annualized revenue (ARR) of leading video generation products is expected to reach 100 million US dollars this year and may grow to 500 million to 1 billion US dollars next year.

But just a year ago, Sora - like video generation models were unpopular in China. The reason lies in the fact that large - scale video models are too expensive and the returns are uncertain, making it unaffordable for ordinary companies.

Tencent Technology reported that Wang Changhu, the former person - in - charge of ByteDance's visual technology, was dissuaded by Zhu Xiaohu of Jinshajiang Venture Capital when he founded Aishi Technology. Zhu said, "You'd better go back to work. There is no chance for large models in China." In September 2024, when MiniMax released its video generation model Conch AI between the pressures of Kuaishou and ByteDance, it was also once downgraded by the market.

An investor who once gave up investing in Wang Changhu gave a judgment representing the consensus at that time: The ROI of video models could not turn positive in the short term, and startups would be eliminated by 2 - 3 large companies, just like in the language model track.

Indeed, in 2024, many domestic video startups were on the verge of collapse: they had difficulties in financing and could not find the Product - Market Fit. For example, Luying Technology, an AI video startup once invested by Redpoint China and BlueRun Ventures, was acquired in December 2024.

However, in less than a year, the recent turnover of Aishi Technology has changed the investor's view. He told "Intelligent Emergence" that he "regrets it deeply": "The belief that video models are unprofitable is a collective misjudgment of investors."

These Chinese AI video companies' wealth - creation experiences, which have "slapped the face" of public opinion with real money, are, in summary, the result of the combined effects of three elements: the track, the market, and marketing.

Let's start with the track.

Facts have proved that even though video generation technology is in an earlier stage than language technology, consumers are more inclusive. The reason is that the video generation field is a track where demand is driven by aesthetics.

"Differences in each company's data strategy, even immature technology and biases in training data, will lead to different video generation styles," an investor told us. "Video creation is a market with diverse aesthetics, and each video model has its own consumers."

For example, many users have found that Kuaishou's Keling AI is very good at generating shots related to food and food - live - streaming. This is also considered to be related to the rich food - live - streaming video resources on Kuaishou's short - video platform.

As for the market - going global has long been a well - known consensus in the AI industry, especially in the European and American markets where users have stronger payment capabilities and higher acceptance of new products.

For example, MiniMax's Conch AI, which was resisted by creators when it launched a subscription - based payment system in China, has obtained six times the number of users and tens of millions of dollars in ARR overseas.

However, in addition to the inherent advantages of the overseas market, the "cost - effectiveness" niche that domestic video models occupy overseas is also worth noting.

Many industry insiders believe that the relatively limited funds and computing power have forced domestic AI video startups to spend a lot of effort on cost optimization, which in turn gives them a price advantage when going global.

For example, when generating videos of the same length and resolution, the costs of models from startups such as Conch AI and Vidu are only 1/10 - 1/6 of Sora's.

Chart by "Intelligent Emergence".

Finally, let's look at marketing.

It can be found that video social media platforms such as TikTok and YouTube play a crucial role in the growth strategies of AI video companies.

An employee of Aishi Technology once told "Intelligent Emergence" that an important node for the accelerated growth of its video model PixVerse was at the end of 2024 when the total exposure of the venom special effect on short - video platforms such as TikTok and Douyin exceeded 100 million times. An investor also mentioned that Pika's "Pinch" special effect and Conch AI's "Half - Cat" are the keys to driving growth.

△Pika's Pinch special effect. Source: Pika's official Xiaohongshu account

"For current model companies, ranking high on technology lists is no longer enough to drive growth," the above - mentioned investor summarized. "Everyone should actively find or even create scalable demand."

In the context of video creation, in addition to improving productivity, creators also need incentives such as traffic. "The popular gameplay created by AI video companies actually meets the creators' need for incentives."

Good news for entrepreneurs is that according to the ranking released by a16z, in January 2025, the user visits of MiniMax's Conch AI (ranked 12th) exceeded those of OpenAI's Sora (ranked 23rd) and Kuaishou's Keling AI (ranked 20th).

This means that unlike the language model track, which is oligopolistic, the pattern of the video generation track is still uncertain, and startups still have plenty of opportunities.

Wang Changhu once told "Intelligent Emergence" that although the video generation track is developing rapidly, it is currently at a stage between GPT - 2 and GPT - 3. There are still many technical difficulties to be overcome in this stage, which will be opportunities for startups.

However, while replicating the self - sustaining business model, it should also be realized that the entry bonus period of the video generation track is gradually fading. And the pressure on existing video model companies to stay in the game will increase.

In March 2024, Wang Changhu judged in a media interview that it would be difficult for startups entering the market later to have opportunities. The reason is that "if a startup does not obtain enough funds, and has no accumulation of users, teams, and technology in the first - stage development, it may not have enough resources to stay in the game in the subsequent competition."

An AI investor also confirmed this from the side. She told "Intelligent Emergence" that even though the pattern in the video generation field is not yet set, it is difficult to allocate investment to new entrants. "Unless a company becomes a dark horse like DeepSeek."

She also pointed out that the amount of financing that video companies can obtain is an order of magnitude less than that of language model companies. "As time goes by, the resource disadvantages of startups will become more prominent," she summarized. "Keling AI and Jimeng AI have an advantage in continuous technological iteration."

This cruel reality is also forcing the current AI video startups in the game to accelerate their self - sustaining pace.

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