Rising use of AI agents has driven rapid growth in token consumption. Firms are deploying compute platforms to orchestrate multiple leading LLMs and compress token costs, while accelerating China-wide buildout of large-scale compute clusters. Industry participants say hyperscale clusters powered by China-made compute chips are the next key lever to cut costs. Over the next 3–5 years, photonic/optoelectronic chips and other frontier technologies could further reduce per-token compute costs by rou

Rising use of AI agents has driven rapid growth in token consumption. Firms are deploying compute platforms to orchestrate multiple leading LLMs and compress token costs, while accelerating China-wide buildout of large-scale compute clusters. Industry participants say hyperscale clusters powered by China-made compute chips are the next key lever to cut costs. Over the next 3–5 years, photonic/optoelectronic chips and other frontier technologies could further reduce per-token compute costs by roughly 50% or more by lowering latency and power per operation.