Reportedly: DeepSeek and MiniMax complete registration for open-source and overseas licensing under China's revised export-control rules
Reported by IT Home · not yet confirmed by the company or a second independent outlet. We update this page when it is.
DeepSeek and MiniMax have completed registration procedures for open-source and overseas licensing after China proposed adding 23 AI technologies to its export-control list, IT Home reported. The report cites Yuyuan Tantian, a China Media Group account. Technologies already in the public domain through open source or academic papers are excluded from the controls.
China context
- Original name
- 深度求索
- Outside China
- Not stated in the sources yet
- Claims
- Company-reported; not yet independently evaluated
- For builders
- If you rely on open-source models from Chinese companies, monitor whether future releases are delayed by registration requirements. The exclusion of public-domain technologies means existing open-weight models are likely unaffected.
- For investors
- The registration process adds a compliance step for Chinese AI companies expanding overseas, but the automatic licensing for open-source and certain overseas activities suggests the government aims to facilitate rather than block international cooperation.
Translated from Chinese. Quotes and facts link to the original sources.
China's Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Science and Technology published a draft revision of the Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export for public comment on October 16. The draft proposes adding 23 AI-related technologies, including large models, agents, compute clusters, and information processing. Technologies already in the public domain through open source or academic publication are not subject to the controls. According to Yuyuan Tantian, a China Media Group account, DeepSeek and MiniMax have completed registration procedures and completed open-source and overseas licensing since the policy was announced. The Ministry of Commerce stated that for open-source AI technologies, Chinese enterprises building self-operated compute centers abroad, overseas chip tape-outs, joint R&D using overseas resources, and participation in international standards, automatic licensing and other facilitation measures apply, essentially enabling immediate export upon filing.
The draft export-control list covers 23 AI technologies, including large models, agents, compute clusters, and information processing. The exclusion of technologies already in the public domain through open source or academic publication means that open-weight models and published research are not subject to export restrictions. The registration process for open-source and overseas licensing appears to be streamlined, with automatic licensing for certain categories.
Chinese AI companies seeking to open-source models or license technology overseas must now complete registration with Chinese authorities, adding a compliance step that could delay releases if not managed early. DeepSeek and MiniMax have already completed this process, indicating that the procedure is operational and may become a standard requirement for other Chinese AI firms.
For developers and enterprises outside China, the registration requirement may affect the availability and timing of open-source releases and overseas licensing from Chinese AI companies. The exclusion of public-domain technologies suggests that already-released open-weight models are not retroactively restricted, but future releases may require prior registration.
The specific signal to watch is whether other Chinese AI companies, such as Alibaba, Baidu, or Zhipu AI, publicly confirm completing similar registration procedures for their open-source or overseas licensing activities. The final version of the export-control list and its implementation details will clarify the scope and timeline for compliance.