OpenClaw effect: explosion in AI token use adds fuel to Chinese AI development
Surging demand supports price increases that will sustain development of new and better models, Zhipu AI CEO says
The recent nationwide frenzy to adopt OpenClaw, an open-source artificial intelligence agent, has pushed token use to new levels and given fresh momentum to China’s booming AI sector, according to industry experts at a state-backed conference on Friday.
“Since late January token consumption [on my company’s platform] has been doubling every two weeks, and by now it has increased roughly tenfold,” said Xia Lixue, co-founder and CEO at Infinigence, a Beijing-based AI computing service provider, during a panel discussion at the annual Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing.
Tokens are the basic units of text processed by AI models, with their volume reflecting computing demand and costs.
Rising usage of AI tokens in China signalled broader adoption of AI tools and growing demand for underlying infrastructure and services, according to China’s National Data Administration (NDA). Its latest statistics, released on Tuesday, showed that China’s daily token use grew more than 1,400 times to over 140 trillion as of March from 100 billion in early 2024.
The sharp rise showed that China’s AI development had entered a rapid growth phase as focus shifted to AI agents capable of performing tasks for users rather than merely engaging in conversations, said Liu Liehong, NDA director, at a briefing on the new data.
Still, Infinigence’s Xia cautioned that the OpenClaw frenzy had brought both opportunities and challenges to the country’s AI ecosystem, as current resources struggled to keep up with the breakneck growth in computing demand.