Even if folks are not running their own inference infra, there are still services like Fireworks, AWS Bedrock, and others that are running the open models. I suspect anyone doing serious work with it is likely using a US hosted provider and I'd guess that by volume, US use of Chinese open models is using a US hosted platform (enterprise).
replyI actually do do this. I'm not sure who the 'overwhelming majority' is and where you got the data (link would be appreciated) but everybody that I know that runs these is doing so on their own infra.
replyContext is useful. The parent said: "it's a cheaper product that's almost as good or better in some cases"
replyThe only open models that are "almost as good or better in some cases" require massive amounts of RAM. I posit that most people cannot afford a decked out Mac Studio, and therefore run the smaller "flash" variants on more normal devices. The issue is that those are nowhere near frontier-level in terms of capability.
"Running your own infra" also includes managed infra like Bedrock, Foundry, etc.
replyNot just your local machines.
Enterprises are where you see this adoption. Legal, finance, tax; sensitive context where the data must be contractually opaque to external parties.