China Telecom think tank projects China’s annual token consumption at 10 quintillion in 2026

A report from the China Telecom Research Institute says demand for tokens, or word units used in AI processing, is rising sharply in China as the focus of the artificial intelligence industry shifts away from competition over foundation models and computing power toward large-scale agent deployment and application monetization. The report, titled Development Research Report on AI Infrastructure in the Agent Era (2026), describes AI as entering a new stage in which agents become the main form of deployment. According to the report, agents are making complex AI technology less visible to end users and more widely accessible, allowing both consumers and businesses to complete complex end-to-end tasks without needing specialized technical expertise. Rao Shaoyang, head of the Industry and Enterprise Strategy Research Institute at the China Telecom Research Institute, said China’s annual token consumption is expected to reach 10 quintillion in 2026 and exceed 3,500 quintillion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate close to 12x.