Two Asian artificial intelligence companies have unveiled new frontier AI models within days of each other, positioning their products as alternatives to advanced US systems as Washington’s export restrictions on Anthropic’s most powerful models continue to reshape the global AI market.
On Wednesday, Chinese cybersecurity company 360 reportedly introduced Tulongfeng, an AI tool designed to identify software vulnerabilities. The company also unveiled Yitianzhen, a system built to automate cyber defense and incident response. According to Reuters, 360 founder Zhou Hongyi described vulnerability-detection AI as a national strategic asset and warned against what he called the risk of “one-way transparency,” where only certain countries or organizations have access to advanced vulnerability discovery capabilities.
Earlier in the week, Tokyo-based AI startup Sakana AI launched Fugu, a frontier AI model named after the Japanese word for blowfish. The company said Fugu delivers capabilities comparable to Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos Preview while also serving as an orchestration model capable of coordinating access to other AI systems through application programming interfaces.
The launches come just two weeks after the US government imposed export restrictions preventing non-Americans from accessing Anthropic’s cybersecurity-focused Mythos model and its more restricted counterpart, Fable 5. The ban has created an opening for regional competitors seeking to serve customers affected by the restrictions.
Sakana AI rejected suggestions that the timing of Fugu’s launch was planned to capitalize on the export controls. A company spokesperson told TechCrunch the release was “entirely coincidental,” explaining that development had been underway since the previous year and that the underlying research had already been presented at the International Conference on Learning Representations earlier this year.
Nevertheless, Sakana has incorporated the geopolitical context into its marketing. Its website promotes Fugu as offering “frontier capability without the risk of export controls,” while targeting Japanese businesses and government agencies seeking to reduce their dependence on foreign AI providers.
Despite positioning Fugu as an alternative, the company emphasized that it does not view the current situation as a permanent shift away from US artificial intelligence. The spokesperson said American AI models remain important to Asia and described the current environment as a temporary response to changing access conditions rather than a long-term realignment.
That position aligns with recent comments by Sakana co-founder Ren Ito, who argued in an opinion article published by Project Syndicate that the United States should prioritize preserving AI access for its closest allies. Ito wrote that artificial intelligence should be developed collaboratively rather than becoming technology that is restricted to a limited group of countries.
Sakana co-founder and Chief Executive Officer David Ha also framed Fugu as part of a broader strategy to reduce reliance on any single AI provider. Writing on X, Ha argued that orchestration models represent the next stage of AI development and said recent export controls demonstrated how quickly access to leading models could be disrupted. He described collective intelligence across multiple systems as a practical safeguard against concentration of power.
Unlike Sakana, which presented Fugu as a way to preserve access to frontier AI while complementing existing models, China’s 360 adopted a more direct message focused on strategic technological capability. The company’s announcements emphasized the national security implications of advanced AI for cybersecurity.
Anthropic has reported strong commercial growth, stating that its annualized revenue reached $47 billion in May 2026. The company has not disclosed how much of that revenue comes from Asian enterprise customers.
However, the recent export restrictions have already created opportunities for regional competitors. Within weeks of the US order taking effect, companies in both Tokyo and Beijing introduced advanced AI systems aimed at markets affected by the restrictions. While it remains unclear how the competitive landscape will evolve if the export controls are lifted, local developers are moving quickly to establish alternatives tailored to regional languages, business needs, and regulatory environments.
