Chinese AI Dominates: 61% Global Token Consumption

Chinese AI models now account for 61% of global token consumption among the top ten models on OpenRouter, a major API aggregation platform. This shift is significant, with Chinese models processing approximately 5.3 trillion out of 8.7 trillion tokens consumed by leading models in one week in late February 2026. The top three spots on the global usage leaderboard are held entirely by Chinese AI systems: MiniMax M2.5, Kimi K2.5 from Moonshot AI, and GLM-5 from Zhipu AI. MiniMax M2.5, for example, is priced at just $0.30 per million tokens, making it about 17 times cheaper than some comparable American models. This cost advantage is a central factor driving developers to switch. This trend suggests a potential shift in the global AI landscape.