DeepSeek is 17% of token volume, Anthropic is 65% of spend (Vercel gateway data) (vercel.com)

In May 2026, AI Gateway reported significant shifts in token distribution and spending patterns within the AI/ML landscape. DeepSeek, a newcomer, saw its token share surge from under 1% to 17%, marking its debut as the third-largest provider by volume. This remarkable growth was fueled by the launch of its low-cost models, particularly deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash, which offered competitive performance at a fraction of the price of established players like Anthropic. Despite its token volume growth, DeepSeek maintained a spend share around 1%, illustrating a focus on cost-effective solutions rather than premium spending. Conversely, Anthropic continued to dominate in terms of spending, holding 65% of the total market and significantly benefiting from high-stakes use cases. While overall spending on AI applications increased, customers adopted more strategic routing of workloads, optimizing their budgets by directing low-cost tasks to DeepSeek while reserving frontier models for high-quality needs. This evolving landscape underscores a growing sensitivity to pricing within the AI community, as organizations balance the demand for advanced capabilities with the need for cost efficiency. The report highlights an essential trend towards smarter model mixes, emphasizing the importance of both affordability and performance in AI deployments.