TOKEN RUNNER // THE A.I. UNIVERSE EXPLAINED · 28 October 2026

Beijing's Turn

Since 2022, America has controlled which AI chips can go to China. This month, China published its answer.

The proposal.

On the sixteenth of October, China's commerce and science ministries proposed adding forty technologies to the list it bans or restricts from export. Twenty-three are in AI.

MOFCOM and MOST, Announcement 2026 No. 48, 16 October 2026: a draft revision of the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited or Restricted from Export, adding 40 technologies: 23 in AI, 12 in photovoltaics, 5 in biomedicine. By the ministry's Q&A, 14 would be prohibited (they could not be exported at all) and 26 restricted (they would need a licence). The US rule on advanced chips for China took effect on 7 October 2022.

OPEN THE INSTRUMENT →

Source: MOFCOM and MOST, Announcement 2026 No. 48 (16 October 2026), its Annex 1 and the MOFCOM spokesperson's Q&A of the same day, read at source 28 October 2026

The line.

The biggest models would be restricted: trained with at least ten to the twenty-six operations, at least two trillion parameters, or ranked in the world's top ten on public evaluations at the time of export. So would advanced agents, AI chip designs, and the technology behind clusters of more than ten thousand chips. Models trained on what China calls its "core data" would be banned outright.

Annex 1 of the draft, item by item. Restricted, 266504X, the biggest models: trained with at least 10^26 operations, or at least 2 trillion parameters, or with capability "达到全球领先水平", which the annex's note defines as the global top 10 on mainstream public evaluations at the time of export. Restricted, 266505X: advanced agents (at least 20-step task decomposition, at least 60 agents working at once, at least 200 tools). Restricted, 266506X: AI chip design at 14 nm or below, and advanced packaging. Restricted, 266507X: the technology of clusters of more than 10,000 accelerator cards. Prohibited, 266501J: "利用我国核心数据进行训练后提供服务的大模型", large models trained on China's core data and then offered as a service (translation: Token Runner).

A frame of the film: Annex 1's thresholds with their codes, the restricted models, agents, chip design and clusters, and the prohibited core-data models with the Chinese beside the translation

What stays free.

But in the ministry's words, offering these models abroad by API, app, web or SaaS is "not within the scope" of the controls on model exports. Technology already public through open source or published papers is out of scope too.

The Q&A: "对于企业利用限制类大模型对外提供API调用、APP/网页交互、SaaS应用、本地端侧轻量化部署等情形，不属于大模型技术出口管理范围。" Translation (Token Runner): where companies use restricted large models to provide API calls, app or web interaction, SaaS applications or lightweight on-device deployment abroad, this is not within the scope of large-model technology export control. Deploying a restricted model locally overseas is within scope; on a company's own overseas cloud it can get facilitation such as automatic licensing.

A frame of the film: two columns, what would be controlled and what is 'not within the scope', each Chinese line beside its translation

The announcement: "对已通过开源、发表学术论文等方式进入公共领域的技术，不纳入管理范围": technology already in the public domain through open source or published papers is outside the scope (translation: Token Runner). New open-source releases are not exempt; the Q&A lists them among the cases for automatic licensing.

The ministry's words.

The ministry says it's routine, and "not aimed at any particular country, region or entity." And once the measures take effect, "the vast majority of AI technologies can still be exported freely."

The spokesperson: the revision is routine work and "不针对任何特定国家、地区或实体", not aimed at any particular country, region or entity; and once the measures take effect, "绝大部分人工智能技术仍可以自由出口", the vast majority of AI technologies can still be exported freely (translations: Token Runner). Reuters wrote that the API carve-out "could allow Chinese AI developers such as DeepSeek and Alibaba to continue expanding internationally while giving Beijing greater oversight". We found no US government reaction at a primary source.

A frame of the film: the spokesperson's two lines in Chinese with their translations

Already in force.

It's still a draft, open for comment until the fifteenth of November. But one part already applies: since the day it was published, companies must register before exporting any technology on the list.

The announcement: "自本公告发布之日起", from the day of publication until the catalogue is formally revised and in force, exporters must register on the ministry's technology trade system before exporting a listed technology (translation: Token Runner). Registration is not a licence. Comments are open from 16 October to 15 November 2026. On 23 October, MiniMax told the Hong Kong stock exchange it had completed the registration under Announcement No. 48 for the open-source release and overseas licensing of some of its models; that is the company's own statement. No amended draft or final catalogue had been published when we read the ministry's pages on 28 October.

A frame of the film: the draft open for comment to 15 November, and the registration duty already in force, 'not a licence'

The know-how.

Washington controls the hardware. Beijing proposes to control the know-how, and leave the service open.

What we couldn't confirm: which companies' models the list would catch. The ministry names none, and neither do we.

Every word from China's own announcement and its ministry. Token Runner dot A I.

Sources