The Zhiyun Shaanxi Token Supermarket, themed "Zhiyun Shaanxi · AI‑powered Sanqin", has launched in Xi'an. Developed jointly by Shaanxi Big Data Group Co., Ltd. and China Telecom Shaanxi Branch under the guidance of three provincial authorities, the platform hosts over 300 mainstream large AI models for intelligent conversation, document analysis, code generation and image understanding.

Its biggest highlight is token‑based billing. A token is the smallest unit for information processing by large AI models. Roughly 1.8 Chinese characters equal one token, meaning a 20‑character query consumes only over ten tokens. Tokens serve as the pricing metric for AI services — much like kWh for electricity and tons for water. The industry generally settles payments per thousand tokens. Leveraging this measurement mechanism, the Token Supermarket labels computing power, models, data and other resources with clear prices just like supermarket goods. Enterprises pay only for the tokens they actually consume.

Featuring a unified API gateway, unified model routing, unified token metering and unified billing, the platform automatically matches enterprises with the most cost‑effective models. Liu Bo, Deputy Director-General of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, stated in his address that the Token Supermarket aims to address small‑ and medium‑sized enterprises' pain points of insufficient computing power, limited model access, lack of application scenarios and talent shortages, making AI capabilities affordable as common tools.

According to industry statistics, China's daily token calls have surged from 100 billion at the start of 2024 to 140 trillion in March 2026, making tokens the "hard currency" of the intelligent era. Shaanxi takes the lead in advancing standardized token transactions via the supermarket model, offering a low‑cost path for local industrial digital transformation.