China may need 300M inference chips by 2030 as token demand explodes

pstAsiatech · x · 2026-08-21

Addressing the compute squeeze, an expert warns that existing inference technology cannot sustain token demand growth, predicting China might need 300,000 high-end chips for inference by 2026 and 300 million by 2030—a figure deemed unrealistic. Daily token calls in China have surged over 1,000-fold since early 2024, exceeding 140 trillion in March, driven by the shift towards agentic AI.

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