Unveiling "Western Shrimp, Eastern Farming": Three Logics Behind OpenClaw's Localization Explosion

An open-source AI agent software, OpenClaw, has sparked a nationwide “lobster farming” craze in China. Nearly a thousand people queued outside Tencent’s headquarters in Shenzhen to install it, including programmers, retired engineers, housewives, and even elderly people actively participating.

The speed and enthusiasm with which Chinese people embrace AI have left foreigners stunned.

“Quite amazing!” wrote Philip Sun, Asia Sales at Goldman Sachs, in a memo. “The young Chinese investors I’ve interacted with already have several ‘lobsters’ on hand… One summarizes market news every morning, another analyzes whether investment decisions are too emotional, and there’s even a ‘supervisor lobster’ watching over the others.”

(Tencent employees set up a booth outside the Shenzhen headquarters, offering free OpenClaw installations to passersby.)

This wave of “AI lobster” fever not only shocks Wall Street but also triggers a deep reassessment of the “Western shrimp, Eastern养” industry logic. On March 11, Guolian Minsheng Securities published a research report titled “Western Shrimp, Eastern养—A Comparison of OpenClaw’s Development in China and the US,” analyzing the underlying business logic of this trend.

“Western Shrimp, Eastern养”: The Chinese Logic of Industry Implementation

Although OpenClaw originated overseas, after February, the Chinese market quickly adopted and scaled its application, exhibiting a unique “Western shrimp, Eastern养” characteristic.

The report suggests that this wave of “Western shrimp, Eastern养” is mainly driven by domestic giants’ “FOMO-style anxiety” over OpenClaw, but in reality, it reflects an ecological mismatch between domestic and overseas AI application deployment in the Agent era. Compared to overseas, China has advantages in cost, traffic, and policy in this “lobster wave.”

From a cost perspective, China’s large model ecosystem has formed a unique “low-cost API” barrier. The report notes: “The API call price for domestic models is about one-sixth of similar overseas products.” This advantage stems from cheaper electricity behind domestic computing power, more flexible hardware configurations, and fierce competition among model vendors.

Moreover, driven by OpenClaw, domestic model token consumption has accelerated, with recent high usage peaks shown by OpenRouter data, indicating steep growth and top rankings for Chinese models in token consumption. The rapid increase in token usage also demonstrates cost advantages.

From a traffic perspective, active participation by major tech companies is key to the “lobster fever” explosion. With Zhipu launching “AutoClaw” on March 10, domestic “lobster products” have expanded deployment options to local, cloud, and hybrid setups.

For internet giants, deploying OpenClaw may not only boost revenue from Agent-related services but also involve competing for potential “new distribution rights” in the Agent era. As deployment continues, interactions between humans and digital worlds may undergo a fundamental reshaping—when the primary operator shifts from humans to Agents, new traffic entry points may also migrate.

Although this wave of OpenClaw may still face technical immaturity, its shift of AI from “Chat” to “Work” could trigger market concerns about changes in new platform entry points, leading major companies to experience FOMO and actively deploy. Additionally, giants like Tencent, leveraging their social viral effects, could further boost traffic and expand societal attention on the “lobster craze.”

From a policy perspective, Shenzhen, Wuxi, and other regions have already introduced special policies. The report mentions that Wuxi High-tech Zone issued 12 “lobster养” policies, with individual support up to 5 million yuan, covering talent recruitment, industry implementation, and safety compliance.

1. On March 8, Shenzhen announced that the Longgang District AI (Robotics) Office is seeking public comments on the “Measures to Support OpenClaw & OPC Development (Draft).” It encourages market-based, professional platforms to launch “lobster service zones,” offering free deployment services for OpenClaw, with subsidies for qualified entities.

2. On March 9, Wuxi High-tech Zone released “Measures to Support the Integration of OpenClaw and OPC Open Source Communities,” including 12 policies ranging from basic support to industry implementation, talent recruitment, and safety compliance, offering substantial financial incentives, with individual support up to 5 million yuan. For deployment, local cloud platforms providing free deployment and development kits can receive full subsidies up to 1 million yuan.

Localization of Deployment Forms and Model Selection

The latest development in this wave is the direct involvement of leading large model vendors.

Guolian Minsheng Securities reports: “On March 10, Zhipu officially launched AutoClaw (Chinese name: 澳龙)—a one-click installable local version of OpenClaw with full native capabilities.”

According to Zhipu, “AutoClaw 澳龙 comes preloaded with over 50 mainstream Skills, ready to use out of the box, covering high-frequency scenarios such as content creation, office work, coding, marketing, and financial research, supporting one-click integration with tools like Feishu.”

Not only Zhipu, but domestic giants are actively participating in localization. Since February, companies like Zhipu and MiniMax, along with major cloud providers, have released related Claw products.

Guolian Minsheng Securities observes that domestic products now show distinct differences in deployment methods and model sources.

In deployment, the report states: “The participation methods of various players in this ‘lobster wave’ are diverse.” Unlike overseas OpenClaw, which emphasizes local deployment, domestic “lobster products” feature local, cloud, and hybrid deployment options, offering greater flexibility. The report suggests this is mainly because “domestic ‘lobster products’ are more focused on deployment convenience and security.”

Regarding model integration, the report emphasizes: “Currently, most domestic players support multi-model matching, but some choose to rely solely on their own models.” Compared to the broader support in overseas versions, “domestic ‘lobster products’ mainly support calls to mainstream domestic large models, with some only supporting their own models as the primary source.”

Overall, the report believes that under the influence of this “lobster wave” driven by OpenClaw, China’s AI industry continues its trend of rapid application deployment, increasing demand, and industry chain prosperity.