China's token consumption to reach 100 quadrillion in 2026, says report (www.wicinternet.org)

China's annual token consumption is projected to skyrocket to 100 quadrillion by 2026 as the country's AI industry transitions from competition in large models to the large-scale deployment of AI agents. This shift, highlighted in the "Research Report on AI Infrastructure Development in the Agent Era (2026)" by the China Telecom Research Institute, emphasizes that AI agents are simplifying complex technologies, making them more accessible for businesses and individuals without requiring specialized skills. The enormous increase in token consumption translates to approximately 274 trillion tokens used daily, or around 3.2 billion tokens per second. This rapid growth signals a significant demand for computing power in China, expected to escalate nearly tenfold annually over the next few years. The report predicts that by 2029, inference computing will dominate the market, accounting for 80% of the computing landscape, outpacing training computing. Major Chinese companies, like China Mobile, are already ramping up infrastructure to meet this demand, with plans to exceed last year's output of 3.4 trillion tokens daily. The expected rise of active AI agents, from 28.6 million in 2025 to 2.216 billion by 2030, underscores the global significance of this trend and its potential to transform various industries through enhanced computing capabilities.