- NBD estimates Chinese-model token usage fell 8.72% in the week of October 12–18.
- The figures are attributed to NBD’s OpenRouter-based calculation.
A smaller week for model usage
Chinese AI models recorded lower weekly token usage in National Business Daily’s latest OpenRouter-based calculation, despite retaining their lead over US models. The newspaper’s original October 20 briefing, by reporter Yang Yu, covers the week of October 12–18.
NBD estimates total usage at 164 trillion tokens, down 4.65% from the preceding week. It puts Chinese models at 79.18 trillion tokens, a decline of 8.72%, and US models at 17.36 trillion, down 8.49%. These are the newspaper’s reported calculations, rather than independently verified figures.
Scale alongside demand fluctuations
The briefing says Chinese models have exceeded US models in weekly usage for 25 consecutive weeks. It also reports that Chinese models held all five leading positions in the latest weekly ranking.
NBD’s accompanying commentary highlights both the scale advantage and the simultaneous declines. It argues that competition is moving toward usage, costs and practical applications. The report offers a platform-based view of activity; it does not establish a comprehensive measure of worldwide AI demand.
Sources & context
Go to the original material. Company claims remain attributed to their sources.
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