Digital News

At the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2026, held recently in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, “tokens” emerged as a major topic of discussion and attracted widespread attention from all walks of life.

A token is the basic unit used by AI models to process text and the smallest unit of information handled by large language models. Simply put, tokens are the smallest pieces of data into which information is broken down for more efficient processing by AI models. They can represent inpidual characters, word fragments, symbols, or other textual elements.

At the Expo, Liu Liehong, a member of the Party Leadership Group of the National Development and Reform Commission and head of the National Data Administration, said that as a new pathway for unlocking the value of data as a factor of production, tokens provide a key benchmark for measuring, pricing, trading, and settling AI services. By connecting the value chain among data, models, and computing power, tokens are becoming an essential unit of measurement and a value anchor in the era of the intelligent economy.

Liu Liehong noted that business logic built around tokens continues to evolve, while new economic paradigms characterized by tokens are rapidly taking shape. As an emerging concept, tokens bring both new opportunities and challenges. He called for concerted efforts from the government, industry, academia, research institutes, and end users to advance theoretical research and foster exchanges in four key areas: leveraging tokens to unlock the value of data as a factor; fostering an industrial ecosystem featuring collaboration among multiple stakeholders; exploring business models tailored to industry needs and expanding industry applications; and improving institutional frameworks for the token sector to ensure its secure and orderly development.

Source: National Data Administration (Official WeChat Account), China City News