❯ OpenRouter-based estimates put Chinese models at 67.46 trillion weekly tokens, with important coverage limits

Platform estimateNational Business Daily calculated from OpenRouter data that models handled about 129 trillion tokens worldwide in the week of September 14–20. It assigned about 67.46 trillion to Chinese models and 14.21 trillion to US models, with Chinese-model usage up 10.28% week over week.

RankingThe report puts DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash first on the platform at about 15.8 trillion weekly tokens, up 219%. OpenRouter traffic grouped by model origin is not all model usage in either country, nor a measure of domestic consumption. Providers’ direct channels may fall outside the sample.

Commercial limitThe numbers show developer preferences on a major routing platform, not national compute, revenue or technical leadership. Paid usage across platforms remains distinct from token volume because prices, free allowances and task types differ.

▪ SIGNALToken share shows where models are being tried and called; commercial share still depends on who pays and at what price.