Alibaba Cloud's Qwen series models have captured over 50% of global open-source model downloads, according to a report by Interconnects AI. As of March 2026, Qwen models have been downloaded 942.1 million times, significantly outpacing competitors like Meta's Llama and DeepSeek. In February alone, Qwen achieved 153.6 million downloads, surpassing the combined total of the next eight major vendors. The report highlights the popularity of Qwen's low-parameter versions, which allow for cost-effective customization and deployment. Since the release of Qwen 2.5 in September 2024, Chinese models have overtaken U.S. counterparts, a lead further strengthened by the launch of Qwen 3.5 in February 2026. This trend underscores the strategic importance of open-source models in the ongoing U.S.-China AI competition, with companies like Meta and Alibaba Cloud adjusting their strategies to balance open-source and proprietary approaches.