China's AI large models maintained their global lead in token usage for the 17th consecutive week, according to calculations by National Business Daily based on OpenRouter data released around August 24, 2026.
For the week of August 17-23, global AI large model usage totaled 93.3 trillion tokens, up 23.9% week on week. Chinese models contributed 40.48 trillion tokens, up 9.88%, while US models recorded 9.66 trillion tokens, down 5.85%. Chinese models occupied four of the top five positions in global usage rankings.
DeepSeek-V4-Flash, the official version, ranked first for a third consecutive week with weekly usage of 11.6 trillion tokens, up 4%. An anonymous model codenamed Ox Alpha (nicknamed "Niulai" in the Chinese community) surged to second place with 11.6 trillion tokens just four days after its launch on August 20, featuring a context window of about 1.048 million tokens and support for text, image and video input. Xiaomi MiMo-V2.5 rose to third with 9.94 trillion tokens, up 162%, followed by Tencent Hy3 in fourth and the DeepSeek-V4-Flash preview version in fifth.
Analysts noted that the data reflects how Chinese open-source models are becoming a preferred choice for global developers, with cost-effective pricing and rapid iteration driving continued expansion of domestic AI adoption.
Image: AI-related computer chip efficiency improvement. Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC0).
