---
title: AI TOKEN COSTS ARE DOWN 40% FROM THEIR MAY PEAK.
description: "The main reason? Chinese AI models are dramatically cheaper.\n\nDeepSeek, Qwen and Kimi are delivering increasingly competitive performance at 10–35x lower token prices than many U.S. alternatives — and already account for as much as 46% of usage in some enterprise segments.\n\nThe pressure is spreading.\n\nOpenAI, Google and Anthropic have responded by cutting prices by as much as 80%.\n\nThis creates an interesting dynamic:\n\nCheaper inference → more AI adoption → more token consumption → more demand for compute.\n\nBut at the same time, it is compressing margins and commoditizing the intelligence layer.\n\nThe likely long-term winners could therefore be the hyperscalers and infrastructure providers: even if the price per token collapses, exploding volumes can more than compensate.\n\nAI intelligence may become a commodity. AI compute may not.\n\nAnd markets still seem far from fully pricing that shift.\n\nSource: Austral Research, zerohedge"
---

[Syz The Moment](https://blog.syzgroup.com/syz-the-moment)

# [AI TOKEN COSTS ARE DOWN 40% FROM THEIR MAY PEAK.](https://blog.syzgroup.com/syz-the-moment/ai-token-costs-are-down-40-from-their-may-peak)

 Written by [Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA](https://blog.syzgroup.com/syz-the-moment/author/charles-henry-monchau) | Aug 7, 2026, 2:34:24 PM

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