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Chinese artificial intelligence models have outpaced U.S.-made models in global usage for a fifth consecutive week, signaling the rapid rise of a token-based AI economy. A token represents the fundamental unit of data processed by an AI model, and its growing trade highlights China’s ability to scale, price, and manage AI infrastructure efficiently.
From March 30 to April 5, OpenRouter data shows global weekly usage of Chinese AI models reached 12.96 trillion tokens, up 31.5% week-on-week, while U.S. AI models registered 3.03 trillion tokens, growing only 0.76%. Notably, six of the world’s most-used AI models are Chinese, with Alibaba Group’s Qwen models ranking two of the top three spots.
Experts note that overseas adoption is driving much of this growth, illustrating China’s increasing influence in shaping the global AI landscape.
The government is actively supporting this momentum through computing infrastructure initiatives, including “computing banks” and “computing supermarkets” that turn idle computing power into a tradeable, financially backed resource. These policies aim to make AI computing accessible, affordable, and scalable, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
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