"Every aspect is crucial; overlooking any can lead to disaster."

Author｜Xingyu

Produced by｜Jixin Global Expansion

The global expansion of AI is undergoing a transformation at the paradigm level.

In a report published in June 2026, IDC systematically defined the concept of "Token Global Expansion" for the first time. It suggests that tokens are not cryptocurrencies; rather, they are units of measurement for intelligent capabilities in the AI era, similar to kilowatt-hours for electricity or gigabytes for data. In China, tokens are independently referred to as "word elements." Each use of AI capabilities consumes a certain number of tokens. Token global expansion involves exporting China's AI intelligent capabilities to the global market, with tokens serving as the unit of measurement.

The focus of global expansion is shifting from physical goods to intelligent capabilities themselves.

Wu Lianfeng, Vice President of IDC China, emphasizes that token global expansion is not merely about selling inexpensive model APIs overseas. Instead, it involves transforming China's model capabilities, computational efficiency, engineering experience, and industry expertise into intelligent productivity that overseas clients can legally acquire, transparently measure, and sustainably operate.

The Current State of Global Expansion

Selling products overseas is straightforward—money is exchanged, and goods are delivered. However, accounting for AI capabilities sold abroad presents challenges. Unlike hardware or software sales, where prices are clear and marginal costs decrease, AI is now billed per token. Determining the value of tokens, setting their prices, and explaining these to clients pose new challenges.

Data compliance also has significant implications. Non-compliance can halt operations, with GDPR fines reaching tens of millions of euros. Data regulations vary greatly across countries, with some embracing AI and others resisting it. This creates a dilemma: without data export, business is impossible; with data export, domestic and international backlash may ensue.

Controlling AI inference costs is another hurdle. Each use incurs costs, and most leaders lack visibility into token consumption, expenditures, and outcomes. Inefficiencies are difficult to quantify, potentially leading to token bankruptcy. For instance, after Uber encouraged unrestricted use of Agentic programming tools, it exhausted its annual AI budget in four months.

Gaining the trust of overseas clients is also vital. While models can be remotely invoked and APIs accessed across borders, enterprise clients demand localized services. Without localized delivery capabilities, even superior technology may be overlooked.

These challenges highlight that AI global expansion is no longer a simple product-selling proposition. New rules are needed for measuring, complying, managing costs, and implementing intelligent productivity. Personal involvement is essential; AI cannot replace this understanding.

The Time Seems Right

The token economy is thriving. IDC predicts that by 2026, China's MaaS market will witness 40,000 trillion token invocations, generating approximately 18.6 billion yuan in revenue, with a CAGR of 1154.9% from 2024 to 2030. In February 2026, Chinese AI models surpassed U.S. models in weekly invocations on OpenRouter for the first time. By July, Chinese models accounted for approximately 63.5% of the global market share over the past 28 days, while U.S. models held only 35.5%. Chinese AI models have exceeded U.S. models in weekly invocations for 15 consecutive weeks.

Open-source ecosystems are becoming the primary gateway. Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen Qwen series has surpassed 940 million downloads on Hugging Face, more than double the combined downloads of eight other major international open-source model organizations during the same period, officially surpassing Meta Llama as the world's top open-source large model family.

(Image source: Online material)

Meanwhile, overseas demand is evolving. The overseas market no longer settles for mere functionality but demands compliance, transparency, and sustainability. IDC reports indicate that model performance and token pricing, along with cost control, compliance capabilities, and local experiences, will determine the global competitiveness of Chinese vendors over the next three years.

Solving Current Challenges

Establish a globally tiered deployment architecture, utilizing node locations to determine cost, compliance, and experience.

The placement of inference nodes directly affects cost, compliance, and experience.

Tiered deployment based on latency sensitivity places real-time conversational tasks on regional nodes closest to users, while batch inference tasks are centrally deployed in lower-cost regions. Compliance-based zoning distributes requests to different computational nodes based on user IP. Capital Online's unified API gateway is compatible with various domestic large models, enabling global model service scheduling through a standardized interface. UCloud has built 36 computational nodes covering 28 countries and regions worldwide. Alibaba Cloud announced the launch of services in Paris, France, and Johor, Malaysia, in June 2026, expanding data centers in Tokyo, Japan, and Mexico.

Build a regional data governance system to conduct global business without data export.

Since the implementation of GDPR, cumulative fines have exceeded 7.1 billion euros, making data compliance the biggest constraint on global expansion.

A data localization strategy can be implemented, storing core business data in the target market. Shantou has pioneered a new approach: deploying large model services in the "Data Processing Zone" of the Overseas Chinese Experimental Zone, which acts as a "data free trade zone," providing token invocation services to overseas users while physically isolating them from the domestic internet. Shantou has successfully established a closed-loop system for "offshore data centers—token production—overseas invocation—data compliance transmission."

Alternatively, local compliance partners can be sought. Xunce Technology co-developed an AI transformation solution adhering to EU data sovereignty principles with Italy's Lutech. Partnering with local entities for joint ventures can resolve half of the compliance issues.

(Image source: Online material)

Establish an enterprise-level token ledger to manage tokens like financial assets.

National data bureau figures show that China's daily token invocations exceed 140 trillion, yet most companies lack visibility into their daily token consumption.

Therefore, department-level token cost accounting must be established, tracking token consumption, expenditures, and value generation across departments and business lines. Tokens should be managed as financial items, upgrading from technical invocations to governance objects. Wu Yunsheng, Vice President of Tencent Cloud, notes that more companies are optimizing token investments through model combinations and task segmentation. Kingdee's "Lingji" adopts a dual-track pricing model of "seat fees + usage points." Silicon Flow provides efficient MaaS services through a token factory model, handling trillions of daily token invocations, serving over 10 million users and 10,000 enterprise clients, with revenue growing over tenfold year-on-year and monthly revenue in overseas markets reaching millions of dollars.

Build a localized delivery ecosystem; without local partners, token global expansion is a castle in the air.

While models can be remotely invoked and APIs accessed across borders, enterprise clients demand localized services.

Shift from product sales to ecosystem building. The collaboration model between Xunce and Lutech can be replicated: Xunce provides the technological foundation, while Lutech contributes local industry knowledge and EU compliance experience. Establish local delivery teams; Deepexi Technology in Southeast Asia converts AI capabilities into sustainable localized productivity through privatized deployments, local team collaboration, and continuous operation mechanisms. Integrate into regional ecosystem platforms; the three major operators have formed a token global expansion business chain, and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology has launched the "Computational Word Element Global Expansion Ecosystem Plan."

These four initiatives correspond to capabilities at four levels. Deployment architecture enables service provision, governance systems ensure compliance, ledgers track profitability, and delivery ecosystems sustain operations.

Token Global Expansion: All Are Indispensable

Returning to the initial question, the four most pressing concerns—pricing, compliance, cost control, and client trust—find answers in IDC's four proposed initiatives.

In summary, a globally tiered deployment architecture addresses where services are provided. Regional data governance systems ensure data compliance. Enterprise-level token ledgers track expenditures. Localized delivery ecosystems enable sustainable implementation.

These four initiatives are interconnected. Focusing on just one will not lead to successful AI global expansion. Only by advancing all four simultaneously can one become a global intelligent productivity operator.

Wu Lianfeng, Vice President of IDC China, offers a memorable insight: Those who can transform token usage from technical invocations into business outcomes, financial budgets, and governance objects will have the opportunity to become global intelligent productivity operators.