AI tokens, representing units of data processed by AI models, are becoming a standard consumer offering in China. Daily processing volume in the country reached 500 trillion tokens by mid-2026, up from 100 billion in early 2024.
Financial institutions are integrating tokens into credit products. China Merchants Bank offers up to 1.8 billion tokens for MiniMax models, while Shanghai Pudong Development Bank provides up to 3 billion tokens for Alibaba Qwen. Additionally, Moonshot AI, the Agricultural Bank of China, and American Express launched a co-branded card that rewards users with AI tokens and agent access.
Major mobile carriers are bundling tokens with data plans. China Telecom charges ¥9.9 for 10 million tokens, China Mobile offers 400,000 tokens for ¥1, and China Unicom provides packages ranging from 6 million to 18 million tokens for monthly fees between ¥15 and ¥45.
Retailers and marketplaces are also adopting this model. Establishments like AGI Bar and Jingu Yuan distribute tokens or computing credits to customers. Meanwhile, the Xianyu platform hosts secondary sales of AI access, and banks in Guangzhou are testing token consumption metrics to evaluate the creditworthiness of AI startups.