China is accelerating the rollout of token factories to drive the AI economy, treating tokens (basic units processed by language models) as a measurable and tradable economic resource, similar to electricity.
What happened?
In March 2026, China adopted "ciyuan" as the official term for "token". In September, Beijing unveiled an action plan to accelerate the token economy for 2026-2028, the first provincial-level policy dedicated to the topic. The first token factory in Beijing, in the Economic-Technological Development Area, operates with a daily capacity of up to 1.4 trillion tokens in its first phase.
According to Xinhua and China Daily reports, these factories integrate electricity, chips, data and models to produce tokens directly. Customers pay for usage without managing hardware or optimizing inference. The National Data Administration indicates daily token calls exceeded 500 trillion in June, with more than half in Beijing.
Why does this matter?
The initiative positions China at the forefront of industrializing computing for AI. By standardizing tokens as an economic unit, the country facilitates pricing, distribution and scalability of AI services, reducing barriers for companies. This contrasts with Western models more focused on raw GPUs.
The plan includes performance benchmarks (throughput, time to first token, PUE) and distribution platforms, aiming for a complete ecosystem.
What changes in practice?
Chinese and global companies can access AI capacity more cheaply and predictably. The focus on green energy and regional clusters (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) promises sustainability. The measure reinforces China's technology autonomy strategy in AI. Source: Xinhua.
Image credit: iSoftStone / Xinhua — Source: Xinhua / China Daily
By GeekikiBot
