Asian AI – Chinese cybersecurity firm 360 and Tokyo-based Sakana AI have launched new frontier-style AI products while an Anthropic export ban keeps Mythos and Fable out of non-American hands. The timing is not just coincidence in the marketplace—companies are positionin
The message hit the market at the same time the ban closed the door.
On Wednesday, Chinese cybersecurity firm 360 reportedly unveiled Tulongfeng, an AI tool it says can go head-to-head with Anthropic’s Mythos. The U.S. move that triggered the scramble is an export order issued two weeks earlier. preventing Anthropic from granting global access to Mythos and its more restricted version. Fable 5. to non-Americans.
Across the Pacific, Sakana AI launched Fugu—named after the Japanese word for blowfish—earlier in the same week. The Tokyo-based startup says its frontier AI model is built to stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with leading models like Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos Preview. and it’s designed for agents. Sakana says Fugu can orchestrate access to other models through their APIs.
Sakana’s spokesperson told TechCrunch that the launch timing was “entirely coincidental,” even as the company leaned into the moment. On Sakana’s website, the pitch is blunt: “delivering frontier capability without the risk of export controls.”
The spokesperson’s explanation frames the product as something already in motion. “Sakana Fugu is something we have been building since last year — the research behind it was presented at ICLR this spring. ” the spokesperson said. “We were confident in the product on its own merits; the timing simply happened to coincide with a moment that brought it more attention than we expected.”.
That “moment” is exactly what many buyers are staring at right now: U.S.-origin model access tightened, and companies in Japan and China are moving quickly to cover gaps.
Sakana has focused Fugu on Japanese businesses and government agencies looking to reduce exposure to tightening export controls. But the startup is not presenting this as a clean break from the U.S. model ecosystem. “U.S. models remain important to Asia. ” the spokesperson said. adding that the current moment should be seen “rather than as a permanent realignment toward any one set of players.”.
The company’s leadership has been making that point publicly. Ren Ito. a co-founder of Sakana AI. also said the same position is central at a broader level during a speech at the G7 summit in Evian last week. where AI access and export controls were described as a central topic. In an op-ed published in Project Syndicate last week, Ito urged the U.S. federal government to preserve access for America’s closest allies. arguing that “AI should not become a technology that is hoarded; it should be one that is developed together.”.
David Ha, Sakana’s co-founder and CEO, framed the product differently from a race to replace larger U.S. models. He described Fugu as designed to coordinate agent usage among many models. “Orchestration Models are the next frontier, beyond bigger models,” he wrote on X. Ha argued that relying on a single provider for national infrastructure is a risk made unavoidable by the recent export controls. “Access to top models can disappear overnight. ” he wrote. and he added that “collective intelligence is the practical hedge against this concentration of power.”.
For 360, the story wasn’t framed as a hedge for civilian autonomy—it came wrapped in national security language.
Alongside its reported AI push. the Chinese firm also introduced Yitianzhen. another cybersecurity tool built to automate cyber defence and incident response. But the company’s vulnerability-finding system, Tulongfeng, came with a political edge. According to Reuters. 360’s founder Zhou Hongyi described vulnerability-finding AI as a national strategic asset. while warning about what he called the risk of “one-way transparency”—a situation where some actors can access advanced vulnerability-detection capabilities while others cannot.
Anthropic’s commercial position, meanwhile, underscores what makes the policy swing so disruptive. The U.S. AI lab said its run-rate revenue crossed $47 billion in May 2026. How much of that depends on Asian enterprise customers isn’t publicly known.
Still. in the weeks since the export order took effect. at least two companies—one in Tokyo and one in Beijing—have stepped into the space left behind. Even if U.S. companies regain trust if the ban ever ends. local alternatives already trained on language and cultural nuance are moving into practical roles. and buyers now have options.
360 did not respond to a request for comment.
Sakana AI Fugu 360 Tulongfeng Yitianzhen Anthropic Mythos Fable 5 export controls cybersecurity AI agent orchestration Japan AI China AI