On March 19, Feishu unveiled a significant upgrade to its Feishu Daily AI Agent platform, enabling users to effortlessly activate and acquire their personalized Feishu-branded 'Lobster' with a single click. Leveraging the AI-driven capabilities of multi-dimensional tables, Feishu has made another strategic maneuver amid the burgeoning OpenClaw phenomenon.

Meanwhile, on the 20th, Tencent officially rolled out its customized 'Lobster' variant, QClaw, instantly sparking widespread discussion.

Pony Ma, during an earnings call, expressed his admiration for this 'Lobster,' stating that 'Lobster' applications enable AI to permeate diverse and enriched scenarios, rather than being confined to chatbots as in the past. This approach optimally utilizes Tencent's resources, fostering coordinated efforts across various fronts and providing inspiration for the WeChat AI Agent currently in development.

Alibaba also launched its AI Agent platform, 'Wukong,' on March 17—an independent product positioned as an enterprise-grade AI-native work platform, akin to OpenClaw but with enhanced security features. Launched as a standalone application, it has already opened for invitations and will be directly integrated into DingTalk. 'Today, we dismantle DingTalk and reconstruct it with AI to forge Wukong,' declared Chen Hang, CEO of DingTalk, at the launch event. 'In the past, people used DingTalk for work; in the future, AI will utilize DingTalk for work.'

Big tech firms seem to be cultivating 'Lobsters' in unison. OpenClaw, an open-source Agent framework quietly introduced on GitHub in late 2025, is rapidly transforming perceptions within the tech community. Mainstream cloud providers such as Tencent Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Cloud, and Volcano Engine are vying to integrate it.

The message is unmistakable. Big tech firms are transitioning from 'model sales' to dominating the entire token ecosystem—encompassing generation, transmission, and consumption. Tokens are the 'electricity' coursing through this 'infrastructure.' Whoever can embed Agents into the chatboxes of 1.4 billion users will shape the entry point of the next era.

I

The underlying rationale behind OpenClaw's popularity among big tech firms lies in the token consumption trajectory.

Positioned as a 'personal AI assistant,' OpenClaw has modest hardware requirements and can be flexibly deployed in the cloud or locally, enabling the 'Lobster' population to proliferate swiftly. In early March, Tencent Cloud initiated a complimentary OpenClaw installation event in Shenzhen, drawing large crowds and deploying hundreds of 'Lobsters' to Tencent Cloud servers within hours.

However, irrespective of deployment location, 'Lobster' operations predominantly rely on cloud APIs from large model providers, billed by tokens.

While typical AI single-question-and-answer sessions consume several hundred tokens, OpenClaw can devour tens to hundreds of times more for the same task. Cases on the Zhihu community reveal that an unoptimized Bot transmitting the entire chat history at once can consume over 50,000 tokens. Users with improper configurations can easily rack up monthly bills exceeding $1,000.

The surge in token consumption is directly mirrored in cloud demand. According to Discovery Report data, China's overall daily token consumption was 100 billion in early 2024, surpassing 30 trillion by mid-2025, and reaching 180 trillion daily across mainstream large models by February 2026—an 180-fold increase in two years. The 21st Century Business Herald reports that 90% of token consumption tasks stem from 'cultivating Lobsters.'

OpenClaw's nature as a major token consumer, coupled with its cloud deployment needs, presents a bespoke opportunity for big tech firms. OpenClaw serves as an entry point—it consumes vast tokens, necessitating support from big tech firms' infrastructure.

Big tech firms recognize that whoever can embed Agents into users' daily lives and work scenarios will dictate token flow.

II

Alibaba has executed the most decisive pivot.

On March 16, Alibaba completed a pivotal organizational restructuring internally. The newly established Alibaba Token Hub (ATH) business group is directly overseen by CEO Wu Yongming. Parallel to Alibaba Cloud Intelligence and the e-commerce business group, ATH integrates core AI businesses such as Tongyi Lab, Bailian Platform, and Tongyi Qianwen.

Wu Yongming set a clear AI commercialization objective during the earnings call: Over the next five years, cloud and AI commercialization annual revenue will surge from the already impressive 100 billion yuan this year to $100 billion, implying a compound annual growth rate exceeding 40%.

This marks Alibaba's most significant organizational shift since integrating its e-commerce business groups. Alibaba's AI strategy has transitioned from decentralized exploration to unified operations.

In an internal announcement, Alibaba redefined tokens from a technical unit of measurement to a strategic core asset. ATH's core objective is explicitly stated as 'creating tokens, delivering tokens, and applying tokens.'

Simultaneously, actions targeting OpenClaw's demand side were initiated. Alibaba Cloud's developer community uploaded multiple OpenClaw deployment tutorials, offering a 'zero-code, no command line' one-click deployment solution. Lightweight application servers paired with OpenClaw images allow users to connect by simply configuring API keys. Pricing-wise, some configurations are available for a limited-time flash sale at 9.9 yuan/month or as low as 68 yuan annually.

DingTalk concurrently opened API call permissions. According to Alibaba Cloud's announcement, DingTalk users can enjoy unlimited API call quotas until the end of March 2026. This policy directly reduces 'Lobster cultivation' costs, converting token consumption that might have flowed to local inference into cloud leasing and enterprise service revenue.

On March 17, Alibaba unveiled the world's first enterprise-grade AI-native work platform—'Wukong.' As a standalone application, it will be directly integrated into DingTalk, which boasts over 20 million enterprise organizations—a key differentiator from other big tech firms.

'Wukong' is clearly tailored for the B-end market. Unlike consumer-grade AI assistants, it targets enterprise workflow automation from the outset. An Alibaba insider revealed that the goal is to enable every team and company to have a 24/7 'Lobster Legion.'

The open-source framework and big tech firms' strategies form a closed loop here. OpenClaw amplifies token demand, while Alibaba uniformly creates tokens (Qianwen large model), delivers tokens (Alibaba Cloud), and applies tokens (DingTalk/Wukong) through ATH, constructing a complete 'infrastructure'-like system—even if users deploy the framework locally, inference still relies on cloud APIs; when enterprises use 'Wukong,' data and computing power will also settle within the Alibaba ecosystem.

The crux of this model lies in controlling token flow. By elevating tokens to a strategic core, Alibaba is essentially redefining the AI-era business model: extending from computing power leasing to full token lifecycle management.

III

Big tech firms are attempting to lure users into their AI ecosystem 'infrastructure' by freely distributing OpenClaw as an 'appliance.' Tencent, as the instant messaging behemoth, is best positioned to distribute 'appliance experience vouchers' to users.

As an instant messaging giant, Tencent first recognizes that OpenClaw signifies a major paradigm shift in AI from a 'chat' model to an 'execution' model. The core of this transformation is AI evolving from a content generation tool to a production execution entity.

Thus, Tencent swiftly opened its core IM to agents—the customized QClaw. Beyond QQ and Enterprise WeChat, it even unusually integrated with personal WeChat via mini-programs, enabling remote control through direct WeChat dialogues. It also launched OpenClaw-based tools supporting audio messages and image commands to execute multi-step automation workflows on computers.

For enterprise users, Tencent introduced WorkBuddy, targeting B-end customers. This all-scenario AI Agent is fully compatible with the OpenClaw ecosystem, seamlessly integrating with Enterprise WeChat/QQ/Feishu/DingTalk. It also offers privatized knowledge bases and backend automation monitoring for enterprise users. Tencent stated that within a week of launch, WorkBuddy's actual usage surged, triggering a tenfold capacity expansion due to service pressure.

Tencent's logic is clear: WeChat and Enterprise WeChat provide 1.4 billion-level command entry points, Tencent Cloud CodeBuddy and Lighthouse supply computing power and security hosting, and PC Manager ensures local execution and permission interception, forming a production closed loop of 'IM command—local/cloud execution—result feedback.'

IM entry points accumulate user behavior data, cloud facilities record execution logs, and model iterations rely on scenario feedback. In this closed loop, data continuously feeds back into model optimization, forming a virtuous cycle.

ByteDance follows a similar logic but leverages the massive traffic from apps like Douyin and Doubao. Lowering barriers is the top priority to convert traffic into actual users.

On March 19, Feishu announced a major upgrade to its Feishu Daily AI Agent platform, allowing users to activate and obtain their personal Feishu-version 'Lobster' with a simple click, lowering the barrier to 'click and acquire.'

ByteDance launched ArkClaw, a cloud SaaS version powered by Doubao 2.0 large model, directly embedded into core businesses like Feishu, Doubao App, Douyin/Volcano Engine, forming a production closed loop of 'command entry point + cloud execution + security hosting.'

ArkClaw deeply integrates with Feishu's office suite and can invoke exclusive plugins from Douyin and Toutiao, gaining a unique advantage in content marketing scenarios.

For enterprise solutions, ByteDance simultaneously launched ByteClaw Enterprise Edition, building unified identity authentication and permission management based on ArkClaw. Volcano Engine's AgentKit platform provides a one-stop intelligent agent foundation, enabling enterprises to swiftly transform internal business processes into dedicated Agents, covering vertical scenarios like data analysis, marketing, and user research.

Within ByteDance's ecosystem, Feishu/Doubao provide massive command entry points and user scenarios, Volcano Engine supplies cloud computing power, AgentKit infrastructure, and security hosting, while the Doubao 2.0 model handles core execution and multimodal understanding. Together, they elevate Agents from standalone tools to business infrastructure.

Alibaba dominates cloud infrastructure and DingTalk's enterprise channels, Tencent holds WeChat's social entry point and Enterprise WeChat, and ByteDance controls Feishu's office scenarios and Douyin's content ecosystem. The essence of this three-way rivalry is emerging: leveraging OpenClaw to attract users and bind them to their respective 'infrastructures.'

IV

The competitive logic among AI big tech firms has fundamentally shifted when facing this 'Lobster' phenomenon.

In its February 24 strategy report, 'The HALO Effect: Heavy Assets, Low Obsolescence in the AI Era,' Goldman Sachs proposed an investment framework of 'heavy assets, low obsolescence.' The report points out that in the AI era, capital is flowing toward physical assets with infrastructure attributes, such as electricity, computing power, and data centers.

Goldman Sachs strategists named this logic the 'HALO effect.' Investors are turning to companies with 'heavy assets, low obsolescence' characteristics to mitigate AI disruption risks.

Vying for control over the entire token supply chain is a concrete manifestation of this logic in the current 'Lobster craze' competition among big tech firms.

In the past, cloud providers sold computing power and model APIs, charging by call volume. Now, Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance are unanimously embedding tokens into super apps and enterprise workflows. The core of this contest is control over the entire token supply chain—from generation and transmission to consumption.

Whoever controls the entry points and pricing power will define the production relations of the AI era. By offering free installations and low-cost deployments, big tech firms are essentially converting token consumption into long-term revenue, attempting to build a token infrastructure system akin to an 'infrastructure.'

The war has just begun.