DeepSeek and MiniMax Clear Export Registration as Beijing Calms Fears
DeepSeek and MiniMax have completed China's new export registration requirements and carried on with open source releases and overseas licensing, according to state media, days after Beijing proposed controls on transfers of artificial intelligence technology. The South China Morning Post reports that the claim came from Yuyuan Tantian, an influential account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV.
The draft, issued by the commerce and science ministries, would add export restrictions and prohibitions to 23 AI related technologies, among them large language models, AI agents and computing clusters. Part of it took effect on release, requiring official registration for the covered technologies, which raised the question of whether Beijing intended to slow the overseas spread of Chinese open weight models.
And the paperwork is broad. Registration is triggered by a transfer of technology ownership, an overseas licensing arrangement, or a change in ownership or control involving a foreign entity, and companies must file with the commerce ministry before the transaction goes ahead.
The state media account insisted the intent is narrower than the reaction suggested. "Simply put, AI companies can continue with their commercialisation efforts as usual," it said, adding that once the measures are formally in force "the vast majority of artificial intelligence technologies will still be freely exportable". It urged companies to remain calm in the face of the new rules.
Officials are drawing a line between moving the underlying technology out of China, which they want to control on national security grounds, and selling AI services to customers abroad, which they say they still encourage. That distinction was set out earlier by a commerce ministry spokesman, who said access to Chinese models through interfaces, official websites and mobile apps would not be caught.
But the open source route gets its own lane. The spokesman said publishing model code would be handled through expedited automatic licensing, described as immediate reporting and export, which keeps releases flowing while leaving a record with the authorities.
Both companies have shipped work in recent days. Hangzhou based DeepSeek upgraded its V4.1 Flash model and open sourced its in house inference framework, and Shanghai based MiniMax released its M3.1 model as open source.
The timing matters because open weight releases have become China's main export. Developers outside the country build on them, cloud providers host them, and the licences that accompany them have started to carry commercial weight, so a registration regime that applies to licensing could touch revenue as well as research.
But the backdrop is American pressure. The US Department of Homeland Security ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek and tools built on it, a move Beijing called discriminatory, while Congress weighs bills that would tighten curbs on advanced chips and the equipment used to make them. The state media account said China "is not taking the path" of using export controls to isolate competitors.
The rules remain a draft, and the registration duty is the part already operating. For now the approvals suggest the government wants a record of who is sending what abroad rather than a halt, and the two companies that tested the process first are the two whose models overseas developers use most.
DeepSeek and MiniMax completed export registration and continued open source releases and overseas licensing.
The draft would cover 23 AI technologies, including language models, agents and computing clusters.
Registration applies to ownership transfers, overseas licensing and foreign control changes, filed before the deal.
A commerce ministry spokesman said interface, website and app access is not covered, and open sourcing gets expedited automatic licensing.
The US has ordered DeepSeek removed from federal civilian systems, which Beijing called discriminatory.
Source: SCMP
