Global Foundation Model Industry Report

©2026CIC.Allrightsreserved.Thisdocumentcontainshighlyconfidentialinformationandissolelyfortheuseofourclient. Nopartofitmaybecirculated,quoted,copiedorotherwisereproducedwithoutthewrittenconsentofCIC. CICReports|GlobalFoundation ModelIndustry Report Ex ecutiveSummary Theglobalfoundationmodelindustryhasshiftedfromexperimentalresearchtothecoreengineofglobalintelligenttransformation,usingsuperiorscalabilityandgeneralizationtobuildaunifiedintelligencelayerforhigh-ordercognitivedemands. TableofContents 1.MarketOverview 2.KeyGrowthDriversandTrends2.1KeyDrivers2.2KeyTrendsandCompetitiveBarriers2.3FutureOutlook 1.Mark etOverview 1.1MarketDefinition Theglobal foundationmodelindustry representsa transformativesegmentwithin artificial intelligence,functioning as the primaryenginefor the intelligent metamorphosis of global societies.Byunlockingunprecedented levels of productivity and cognitivecreativity,these models are redefining the boundaries of humanpotential.Distinctfromtraditionalsmall-scaleAImodelsconfinedtofragmentedscenarios,foundation models are engineered withintrinsicscalabilityandsuperiorgeneralization. Foundationmodeltechnologycompanies,thecoreinnovatorsoftheindustry,arefurthercategorizedintotwotypes: Pureplaycompanies:Entitieswhosecore resources,technologicalaccumulation,and business models are entirely centered on theresearch,development,andcommercializationoffoundationmodels,drivingrapid technological innovation through focused resourceinvestment. Non-pureplaycompanies: Largeinternetplatformsandcloudserviceprovidersleveragecapital andcomputingpowertointegratefoundationmodeltechnologyintotheirproduct ecosystems,accelerating technical validation andcommercialization. 1.2MarketSizeandGrowth Revenuein the global foundation model market stems from twoapproaches:model-basedanddeployment-based,withtheformerservingas the primary growth engine.Model-based revenue isderivedfrom AI-native applications via subscription models andModel-as-a-Service(MaaS)throughcloud-basedAPIsandlicensing,whiledeployment-basedrevenuefocusesoncustomizedon-premisesolutions. Drivenbymaturingtechnologiesandincreasinguserwillingnesstopay,theglobalmodel-basedfoundationmodelmarketispoisedforexplosivegrowth.According to CIC,this market is projected toexpandfrom US$10.7 billion in 2024 to US$206.5 billion by 2029,representingaCAGRof80.7%.Withinthissegment,theapplicationmarketisexpectedtoreachUS$151.5billion,whiletheMaaSmarketwillgrowtoUS$55.0billionby2029. CICReports|GlobalFoundation ModelIndustry Report Source:CICReports Note:Model-based revenues primarily include income generated from foundationmodelapplicationsubscriptions,andfoundationmodelAPIcalls andlicensing. 2.KeyGrowthDriversandTrends 2.1KeyDrivers TechnologicalLeaps Theglobal foundation model industry is defined by disruptivetechnologicalbreakthroughs,where each generation of modeliterationunlocks unprecedented application boundaries andcommercialvalue.Notably,innovations such as the“interleavedthinking”frameworkandenhancedcodingcapabilitiesinClaude3.7andClaudeCodehaveshiftedtheindustryparadigmfrompassiveresponsetools to active AI agents capable of autonomous taskorchestration. ScalingLaw Thescalinglawremainsafundamentaldriverunderpinningindustrygrowth.Thepre-trainingscalinglaw—whereperformanceimproveswithmodelscale,dataandcompute—stillappliestotext,audioandvideo. Anewtest-timecomputescalinglawhasemerged:asshownin2025topreasoning models,greater inference compute enhancesintelligence.Thesynergybetweenpre-trainingandinferencescaling isforming a new“Moore’s Law”for the industry,driving collectiveprogressin model throughput and complex problem-solvingcapabilities. CostReductionandMark etDeployment Amore predictable driver than capability enhancement is thecontinuousdeclineininferencecosts,whichhaveplummetedfromapproximatelyUS$20permilliontokensinlate2022tobelowUS$0.1bylate2024. Drivenbyarchitecturalinnovations,engineeringoptimizations,andfallingcomputingcosts,thisexpectedtenfoldannualdeclinemakespreviouslyunviable vertical applications,such as large-scalecontentmoderationandreal-timeAIcompanionship,commerciallyfeasible.This cost-efficiency trend significantly lowers adoptionbarriers,accelerating the widespread integration of foundationmodelsintohigh-volumeindustrialandconsumerscenarios. 2.2KeyTrendsandCompetitiveBarriers SustainedImprovementinModelIntelligence Ex pansionofmodelscaleandcapabilities Foundationmodelshavewitnessedasharpriseinparametersand notableperformance gains,with GPT series models showingnear-humanreasoningandcomprehensionabilitiesinprofessionalassessments.TheMixture-of-Experts(MoE)architecturehasbecomea key breakthrough,expanding model scale whilecontrollingcomputationalcostsandlatency. Improvingcontex twindowsandreasoningefficiency Modernfoundationmodelshavetransitionedfromthe2,048-tokenlimitof GPT-3 to multi-million token context windows,enablinghigh-fidelityinteractionwithultra-longdocuments.However,longercontextwindows rais