According to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), by March 2026, China's daily average token usage surpassed 140 trillion, reflecting a more than thousand-fold increase over two years. In January, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that China's gross domestic product (GDP) for 2025 exceeded 140 trillion yuan for the first time, representing a 5.0% growth at constant prices.

At the policy level, the strategic upgrade from the "AI Plus" initiative to a "new paradigm of the smart economy" indicates that AI has evolved from a mere technological tool into the bedrock of the economy. Official forecasts project that by the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the scale of AI-related industries will surpass 10 trillion yuan. The policy signal has decisively shifted from "encouraging pilot programs" to a "full-scale rollout," directly igniting enterprises' willingness to integrate AI.

A deeper driving force stems from the maturation of AI agents. In the past, single-turn dialogues consumed only a few dozen tokens. Today, as agents execute cross-platform tasks, a single interaction can consume tens to hundreds of thousands of tokens. In March 2026, China's weekly token utilization for foundation models ranked among the global top for four consecutive weeks, with all of the world's top six spots occupied by domestic models. This data sends a clear signal that the primary battlefield of the global AI race is shifting from possessing foundation models to utilizing them more deeply.

Rather than being merely an internal loop within the tech industry, AI has become a new function driving the real economy. In 2025, the value-added of China's high-tech manufacturing enterprises above designated size accounted for 17.1% of the total industrial output, while the R&D investment intensity reached 2.8%, surpassing the OECD average for the first time. The explosive growth in token utilization serves as the micro-level projection of these new growth drivers, where every financial transaction, smart customer service interaction, and every second of video generation translates computing power into productive forces.

两个140万亿的相遇：当中国经济厚度遇上AI密度

国家发展改革委披露，至2026年3月，中国日均词元调用量突破140万亿，两年增长超千倍。1月，国家统计局发布数据显示，2025年中国国内生产总值首次突破140万亿元，按不变价格计算增长5.0%。

政策层面，从“人工智能+”到“智能经济新形态”的升级，标志着AI从技术工具上升为经济底盘。官方预测，到“十五五”末AI相关产业规模将突破10万亿元，政策信号从“鼓励试点”转向“全域铺开”，直接引爆了企业端的接入意愿。

更深层的推动力来自智能体的成熟。过去单轮问答消耗几十个词元，如今智能体执行跨平台任务，单次互动消耗可达数万乃至数十万词元。2026年3月，中国大模型周词元调用量连续四周位居全球前列，全球前六名均为国产模型。这组数据传递了一个清晰的信号：全球AI竞赛的主战场，正从“谁有大模型”转向“谁用得更深”。

AI不再只是科技行业的内循环，而是实体经济的新函数。2025年，中国规模以上高技术制造业增加值占工业比重升至17.1%，研发经费投入强度达2.8%，首次超过OECD国家平均水平。词元调用量的爆发，正是这些新动能在微观层面的投影——每一笔金融交易、每一次智能客服、每一秒视频生成，都在将算力转化为生产力。

统筹｜吴江
文｜记者 董鹏程
译｜陈冠臻
英文审校｜林佳岱