AI Research
Where AI Research Happens
US and China affiliated researchers have produced 1.83M AI research publications. That's 366,000 more than the next eight top ten countries.
Economics Of AI
Explore AI Insights Across The Five-Layer Stack
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Explore unbiased, data-driven AI insights across the five-layer stack: applications, models, infrastructure, chips, and energy.
AI Research
Institutions Leading AI Research
The CNRS in France has produced 37,953 more AI research publications than US institutions in the top ten combined. It leads them 107,721 to 69,768.
AI Research
China's AI Research Went Vertical
Since 2021, China affiliated researchers have led United States affiliated researchers in AI research publications. In 2025, they produced 70% more.
DeepSeek
DeepSeek Tops AI Tiger Compute
Among AI Tigers, DeepSeek's V4-Pro leads documented open-weight training compute at 9.7e24 FLOP. Alibaba's Qwen2.5 Instruct follows at 7.9e24 FLOP.
DeepSeek
DeepSeek Price-Performance
DeepSeek V4 Pro scored 51.5 on Artificial Analysis at $0.87 per million output tokens on OpenRouter. Claude Opus 4.8 scored 61.4 but cost $25 – 29x more.
DeepSeek
DeepSeek Developer Adoption
In May 2026, among AI Tigers, DeepSeek V4 Pro had 5.81M downloads – second-most on Hugging Face. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B led by 56,620 downloads.
DeepSeek
DeepSeek Token Usage Ranked
In May 2026, among AI Tigers, DeepSeek models processed 19.51T tokens – the most on OpenRouter. DeepSeek V4 took it from third in April to first in May.
DeepSeek
DeepSeek In Tokens
In May 2026, DeepSeek models on OpenRouter processed 19.51 trillion tokens. DeepSeek tokens processed increased 187.7% month-over-month.
OpenAI
ChatGPT Leads AI Apps In MAUs
In April 2026, OpenAI's ChatGPT app had 482.94 million monthly active users. It led AI apps in MAUs – social apps (shown for context) still set the scale.
OpenAI
OpenAI Revenue Per Employee
OpenAI generates $3.21M in revenue per employee. That places it above the hyperscalers – but rival Anthropic generates $11.62M per employee.
OpenAI
Meet Compute
OpenAI's compute spend is estimated to reach $50B in 2026 – up from $16B in 2025. As a share of annualized revenue, it would rise from 74.8% to 200%.
OpenAI
OpenAI In Tokens
In April 2026, OpenAI models on OpenRouter processed 10.93 trillion tokens. OpenAI tokens processed increased 20.56% month-over-month.
OpenAI
The Deep Research Effect
Since Deep Research launched, OpenAI's adoption rate on Ramp increased from 18.22% to 32.28%. In the 2 months after launch, it jumped 13.79 points.
Anthropic
Claude MAUs Trail ChatGPT
In April 2026, Anthropic's Claude app had 11.31 million monthly active users. OpenAI's ChatGPT led AI apps in MAUs – social apps provide scale context.
Anthropic
Anthropic Revenue Per Employee
Anthropic generates $11.62M in revenue per employee. That's 3.6x rival OpenAI and 4.2x Meta – the closest hyperscaler included in the comparison.
Anthropic
Anthropic In Tokens
In April 2026, Anthropic models on OpenRouter processed 14.52 trillion tokens. Anthropic tokens processed increased 23.12% month-over-month.
Anthropic
Anthropic's Tipping Point
Since Claude Code launched, Anthropic's adoption rate on Ramp increased from 4.42% to 34.44%. That's a 30.02 percentage point increase in 14 months.
Anthropic
$43 Billion In 37 Months
Anthropic reached $43B in annualized revenue in 37 months – since Claude launched in March 2023. $40B, or 93%, was added since Claude 4 launched.
AI Capital Expenditure
Hyperscalers RPE Ranked
Based on the last-twelve-months revenue, the five hyperscalers generated $787,000 per employee on average. Meta led at $2.76M per employee.
AI Capital Expenditure
Hyperscalers Profit Per Minute
Based on last-twelve-months net profit, the five hyperscalers generated a combined $881,000 per minute. Alphabet led at $305,000 per minute.
AI Capital Expenditure
Hyperscalers CapEx To Cash Flow
Combined, hyperscalers spent 98.88% of operating cash flow on capital expenditure in Q1 2026. It is up 46 percentage points since GPT-4 launched.
AI Capital Expenditure
Hyperscalers CapEx To Revenue
On average, hyperscalers spent 50% of their revenue on capital expenditure in Q1 2026. That is up 36 percentage points from 15% in Q1 2018.
AI Capital Expenditure
Hyperscalers CapEx In The AI Era
Hyperscalers spent $156B on capital expenditure in Q1 2026. Between GPT-4 and GPT-5, expenditure more than tripled from $38B to $118B per quarter.
Z.ai
Z.ai Revenue Mix
Z.ai hit ¥724.33M in revenue in 2025 – up 132% YoY. Open Platform & API was the fastest-growing segment hitting ¥190.38M in revenue – up 293% YoY.
Z.ai
Z.ai 7-Day MA Ranked
In April 2026, among the AI Tigers, Z.ai models had a 151B seven-day moving average in tokens processed. It's decreased 9% month-over-month.
Z.ai
Z.ai Token Usage Ranked
In April 2026, among AI Tigers, Z.ai models processed 5.38T tokens – fourth-most on OpenRouter. DeepSeek, MiniMax, and Alibaba processed more.
Z.ai
Z.ai In Tokens
In April 2026, Z.ai models on OpenRouter processed 5.38 trillion tokens. Z.ai tokens processed increased 75.77% month-over-month.
Z.ai
From $8M To $104M
Z.ai generated $103.6M (USD) in revenue in 2025 – up 12x since 2022. Research & Development spend hit $454.8M in 2025, or 439% of revenue.
MiniMax
MiniMax Alibaba Cloud Spend
MiniMax spent $75.88M on Alibaba Cloud in 2025 – up 7x from 2024. Its cap under the Alibaba Cloud Services agreement rises to $135M in 2028.
MiniMax
MiniMax 7-Day MA Ranked
In April 2026, among the AI Tigers, MiniMax models had a 170B seven-day moving average in tokens processed. It's decreased 26% month-over-month.
MiniMax
MiniMax Token Usage Ranked
In April 2026, among the AI Tigers, MiniMax models processed 8.06T tokens – the second-most on OpenRouter. Only Alibaba models processed more.
MiniMax
MiniMax In Tokens
In April 2026, MiniMax models on OpenRouter processed 8.06 trillion tokens. MiniMax tokens processed increased 24.39% month-over-month.
MiniMax
From $3M To $79M
MiniMax generated $79.04M (USD) in revenue in 2025 – up 23x in two years. AI native products went from 22% of revenue in 2023 to 67% in 2025.
OpenAI
$852,000,000,000
In March 2026, OpenAI closed a $122B funding round at a $852B valuation. This round made it the most valuable private company in the world.
OpenAI
$12 Billion In 6 Months
In February 2026, OpenAI reached $25B in annualized revenue. Between GPT-4 and GPT-5 (29 mo), it added $12.8B. Since GPT-5 (6 mo), it added $12B.
Anthropic
When Revenue Met Compute
Anthropic's compute spend increased by $4.3B, or 172%, in 2025. Over the same period, annualized revenue increased by $8B, or 800%.
Anthropic
$380,000,000,000
In February 2026, Anthropic raised $30B in its Series G round at a $380B valuation. Only ByteDance, SpaceX, and OpenAI have a higher valuation.
American AI Token Usage
Premium AI Still Gets Used
American models in OpenRouter's top ten averaged $9.20 per million output tokens. Despite their premium, five of the most-used models were American.
American AI Token Usage
The AI Token Usage Gap
America is home to the labs that started the AI arms race. Yet in March 2026, American models in OpenRouter's top ten processed only 40.19% of the tokens.
American AI Token Usage
America's Concentrated AI Market
Anthropic – creator of Claude – led American AI labs in tokens processed in March 2026. The gap between the three labs is 32 percentage points.
American AI Token Usage
America's Fastest-Growing Model
In March 2026, Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4.6 grew token usage 352% on OpenRouter. Only one model grew faster – Step 3.5 Flash (Free) from China.
American AI Token Usage
America's Most-Used AI Models
In March 2026, five American models in OpenRouter's top ten processed 16.62 trillion tokens. Chinese models in the top ten processed 49% more.
Chinese AI Token Usage
Price Shapes AI Token Usage
Chinese models in OpenRouter's top ten averaged $1.34 per million output tokens. American models averaged $9.20 – nearly seven times more.
Chinese AI Token Usage
Chinese Models Lead Token Usage
In March 2026, Chinese models in OpenRouter's top ten processed 59.81% of the tokens. American models trailed by nearly 20 percentage points.
Chinese AI Token Usage
The Most Competitive AI Market
In March 2026, Xiaomi – the Apple of China – led Chinese AI labs in tokens processed. The gap between the five labs is just 14 percentage points.
Chinese AI Token Usage
The Fastest-Growing AI Model
Step 3.5 Flash, a free model by StepFun in China, grew token usage 389% in March 2026. That made it the fastest-growing model on OpenRouter.
Chinese AI Token Usage
China Leads The AI Token Race
In March 2026, five Chinese models in OpenRouter's top ten processed 24.73 trillion tokens. That is 49% more than the five American models combined.
AI Capital Expenditure
Hyperscalers Outspend Apollo
Since ChatGPT launched in 2022, hyperscaler capital expenditure as a share of US GDP has more than doubled. At 1.46%, it eclipses the Apollo Program.
AI Capital Expenditure
Hyperscalers Vs US Defense
Capital expenditure by Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle (hyperscalers) as a share of US defense spending has risen from 13% to 30%.
AI Research
Where America Researches AI
The top ten institutions for AI research in America include universities, agencies, and corporations. Not one Ivy League school makes the list.
AI Research
China's AI Research Capital
Five of China's top ten institutions for AI research are in Beijing. The Chinese Academy of Sciences leads with 34,087 papers, nearly triple Tsinghua.