Two of China's best-known AI labs have passed through Beijing's new export paperwork without stopping their overseas business, according to a source close to the state. Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with broadcaster CCTV, wrote late on Thursday, October 22, that DeepSeek and MiniMax had finished registering under the government's proposed AI export rules and had also completed the procedures for open-sourcing their models and allowing their use outside China. Reuters, Bloomberg and the South China Morning Post all reported the post on Friday.
The registration stems from a draft revision of China's catalogue of technologies whose export is banned or restricted, released for public comment on October 16 by China's commerce and science ministries. It adds 23 AI-related items covering, among other things, large models, agents, compute clusters and information processing. The SCMP notes that some provisions, including the duty to register covered technologies, took effect at once, which had raised questions over whether Beijing meant to hold back companies whose open-weight models are popular abroad.
The state-linked post pushed back on that reading. It said the revised list is meant to mark out boundaries rather than simply limit AI exports, that officials had been drafting the changes since the first half of 2026, taking input from research bodies and industry, and that AI companies can carry on commercializing their products. Bloomberg reported that the post also drew a contrast with Washington, accusing the US of relying on targeted bans and technology blockades. A second post on Friday, cited by Reuters, said overseas users had urged other Chinese open-source model makers to follow the two companies.
The detail of what counts as an export is where the rules bite. According to the Ministry of Commerce's explanations, as summarized by AI Affairs, offering a restricted model through an API, an app, a website or a software service does not count as exporting large-model technology, and neither does lightweight on-device deployment. Installing such a model locally for a customer abroad does fall under export management, although a Chinese company running it in its own overseas data center can use an automatic licensing route. Technology already made public through open-source releases or papers is proposed to sit outside the controls.
Both companies have kept shipping. DeepSeek open-sourced its DeepInfer inference framework on October 20. AI Affairs reports that MiniMax has set up an application process for regions its earlier model licence excluded, among them South Korea, the UK, the EU and the US. Organizations there now need to clear a compliance check and secure a licence before running its open weights on their own infrastructure.
Wording across outlets differs, and the difference matters. Reuters described the outcome as state approval for global use, while AI Affairs stresses that registration is a separate step from a restrictive export licence. DeepSeek and MiniMax did not respond to Reuters, no ministry statement naming the two firms has been published, and the catalogue is still a consultation draft that could change before it is finalized.