中国最大的网民群体已经进入一场关于自治式人工智慧代理开发的狂热，这在中文语境中被称为「养龙虾」，由 OpenClaw/Clawdbot 衍生而来。这一潮流从社交平台渗透到企业战略：微信宣传中的🦞符号、企业宣称其定制化是最简单的入门方式、以及深圳、无锡等城市政府发布面向使用 OpenClaw 的初创企业的「数百万人民币」补贴通知，都显示其已非小众实验。这是一次扩散速度快、覆盖面广的市场热潮。
资本市场反应强烈：腾讯周二上涨约7%，而 MiniMax 的市值已超过 440 亿美元，其估值为其2025年 7,900 万美元营收的 500 倍以上；对比之下，百度仅为 2.3 倍。现场热度同样明显：在 OpenClaw 聚会中，创始人和工程师讨论诸如 ClawdChat 的新项目，甚至有人随身携带五台 MacBook Air，用于监控和管理其 AI「部下」来变现微信内容，显示出从投资端到应用端的「赌注」同步扩张。
从战略上看，当前局面可视为中国在 DeepSeek 去年开源模型热潮后，对下一个重大突破的追逐。OpenClaw 符合北京以开源对抗美国前沿闭源生态的政策方向，并被顶级云服务商与模型供应商用作推动平台使用和开源商业化的抓手。与美国用户常以 Mac Mini 等闲置本机运行代理不同，中国公司更多提供云端虚拟机，定价和布局更具竞争压力；在激烈博弈中，这可能压缩利润空间。这种景象也让人联想到2020年前的中国科技繁荣期：风险资本与创业者在出现高动能的赛道中高速挤入，形成「先进或补位」的高赌注争夺。
China’s largest internet population has fallen into a mania for autonomous AI agent development, referred to as “raising lobsters” and rooted in OpenClaw/Clawdbot. The trend has moved from platforms to corporate strategy: WeChat posts using the lobster motif, firms claiming one-click customization, and government notices in cities such as Shenzhen and Wuxi offering multimillion-yuan subsidies to startups using OpenClaw. This reflects fast, broad diffusion rather than a niche experiment.
Markets have reacted strongly: Tencent rose about 7% on Tuesday, while MiniMax is now valued at over US$44 billion, trading at more than 500 times its 2025 revenue of US$79 million; Baidu is at only 2.3 times. Enthusiasm is also visible in ground-level activity: at OpenClaw meetups, founders and engineers discussed ventures like ClawdChat, and one founder reportedly carries five MacBook Air laptops to supervise AI “minions” to monetize WeChat posts, showing coordinated betting across investors, builders, and users.
Strategically, this appears to be China’s search for a breakout after DeepSeek’s open-source breakout last year. OpenClaw fits Beijing’s push to use open software against proprietary U.S. frontier AI ecosystems and gives major cloud providers and model firms a path to monetize platform usage. Unlike the U.S. model, where agents often run on spare local hardware such as a Mac Mini, Chinese firms are offering cloud-based virtual machines, producing aggressive competition and likely margin pressure. The dynamic resembles China’s pre-2020 tech boom: venture capital and founders quickly swarm any high-momentum niche, turning it into a high-stakes scramble to stay ahead or recover lost ground.