Rising AI Token Usage in China Driven by OpenClaw Adoption

A surge in AI token consumption in China, linked to the adoption of the open-source AI agent OpenClaw, is fueling growth in the country's artificial intelligence sector. Industry experts discussed this trend at the Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing on Friday, noting that increased token usage reflects broader AI tool adoption and rising demand for computing infrastructure. Xia Lixue, co-founder and CEO of Infinigence, reported that token consumption on his company's platform has doubled every two weeks since late January, resulting in a tenfold increase overall. Tokens, which are basic units of text processed by AI models, indicate computing demand and costs. According to China's National Data Administration, daily token use in the country grew from 100 billion in early 2024 to over 140 trillion by March, a more than 1,400-fold rise. Liu Liehong, director of the NDA, stated that this sharp increase signals China's AI development is entering a rapid growth phase, with a shift toward AI agents that perform tasks rather than just converse. Zhipu AI's CEO highlighted that surging demand supports price increases that will sustain the development of new and improved AI models. However, Xia cautioned that the OpenClaw frenzy presents both opportunities and challenges, as current resources struggle to meet the fast-growing computing demands.