China's token demand surges as AI infrastructure expands

According to a report by China Telecom Research Institute, token demand in China is experiencing explosive growth as the focus of the AI industry shifts toward the deployment and monetization of intelligent agents. The report, titled 'AI Infrastructure Development Report (2026)', predicts that China's annual token consumption will reach 10 quadrillion by 2026, rising to over 35 quadrillion by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate of nearly 12 times. Dr. Rao Shaoyang, head of the Industry and Enterprise Strategy Research Institute at China Telecom Research Institute, noted that the demand for inference computing power will surpass training computing power, with the inference market expected to account for 80% by 2029. IT Home reported that China's top tech companies are investing nearly 60 billion yuan in AI in 2026, representing over 10% of total investment. Global market research predicts that the number of active intelligent agents will reach nearly 80 million by 2026, rising to 2.216 billion by 2030.