Ep. 113
03:50
Chinese AI Models Now Take Up to 46% of US Companies' Token Usage as Domestic Costs Surge
About This Episode
CNBC reported that Chinese open-weight AI models have captured more than 30% of US companies' weekly token usage since February, peaking at 46% - up from about 11% a year earlier - because they run 60% to 90% cheaper than OpenAI and Anthropic. US lawmakers opened a probe into the trend on July 8, and China is reportedly weighing whether to restrict access to its most powerful models.
Our Take
American companies are quietly defecting to cheaper Chinese AI models, and the book's lesson is that when the strategic resource shifts from oil to compute, the cheapest reliable supplier - not the smartest lab - starts writing the rules.