Data Fuels AI Innovation: Token Usage Skyrockets in 2025

A pivotal report unveiled at the recent 9th Digital China Summit sheds light on the engine behind China's artificial intelligence advancement. The "National Data Resources Survey (2025)" indicates that the utilization of "Tokens"—the fundamental units processed by large AI models—has witnessed unprecedented expansion over the past year.

The Building Blocks of AI: Understanding Tokens

In the realm of artificial intelligence, particularly for large language models, "Tokens" serve as the basic informational components. To efficiently analyze and generate content, complex text, code, and other inputs are broken down into these smaller, processable units. They form the essential foundation for model comprehension and operation.

A Staggering Growth Trajectory: From Trillions to Hundreds of Trillions

The figures from the survey outline a clear narrative of explosive growth:

  • Start of the Year: At the beginning of 2025, the national average daily token call volume already stood at a substantial level of "over a trillion".
  • Year-End Peak: By the close of 2025, this figure had surged dramatically to approximately 100 trillion per day.
  • Annual Aggregate: The estimated cumulative annual volume reached around 21,100 trillion, unequivocally demonstrating characteristics of exponential growth.

This magnitude of increase directly mirrors the deepening application of AI technologies across industries, the soaring demand for computing power, and the accelerated realization of data resource value.

Looking Ahead: Data Resources Propelling Intelligent Transformation

The release of the survey is not merely a summary of past achievements but also a pointer to future trends. As digitalization progresses, data, as a new type of production factor, will integrate even more tightly with artificial intelligence. The explosive growth in token usage is just a beginning, foreshadowing that the wave of innovation driven by both data and intelligence will more profoundly reshape economic and social development paradigms.