LLM Token Index Falls to 97 Cents as Open-Source Rivals Deepen AI Price War
Updated
Updated · CNBC · Sep 1
LLM Token Index Falls to 97 Cents as Open-Source Rivals Deepen AI Price War
1 articles · Updated · CNBC · Sep 1
Summary
Silicon Data's LLM Token Expenditure Index fell to 97 cents on Monday, its lowest level since launch and more than half below its early-summer peak.
Open-source Chinese models such as Moonshot's Kimi K3, lower token production costs and frontier labs' dynamic pricing have all pushed market rates down, while OpenAI also cut prices on two GPT-5.6 models in late July.
Cheaper tokens lower costs for users of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, but they squeeze pricing power for model providers whose compute commitments remain largely fixed.
Anthropic and OpenAI could face added profit pressure as they weigh IPO timing, while investors may need to reassess returns on the broader AI buildout backed by companies including Nvidia and Microsoft.
Tech stocks reflected some of that pressure Tuesday, with the Nasdaq Composite down nearly 1% and the S&P 500 off 0.4%.