This shift follows a massive surge in domestic consumption, which grew from 100 billion tokens daily in early 2024 to 500 trillion by mid-2026.
This trend is driven by a global price war that has made Chinese AI models significantly more affordable, often costing 60% to 90% less than Western counterparts from companies like OpenAI.
These lower costs allow telecommunications providers to sell token bundles starting at approximately $1.40 per month, positioning AI access as a utility akin to a phone plan.
Beyond individual convenience, this infrastructure is becoming a financial metric; in Guangzhou, banks are now using "token loans" to assess the creditworthiness of startups based on their AI production and consumption levels.
The commercialization of AI has moved into physical retail, where small businesses use computing power as a marketing tool to attract customers.
Restaurants and cafes in Beijing are replacing traditional perks like free Wi-Fi with unlimited access to AI models or distribution of computing vouchers after a meal.
While analyst Poe Zhao describes these consumer packages as a "supply-led experiment," the mechanism is expanding into e-commerce marketplaces where users resell millions of tokens in daily or monthly passes to students and independent developers.