Krypton Evening News | Millions of Tokens for just a few yuan, compute prices still falling; OpenAI is considering significantly lowering product prices; Starting today, child passengers can purchase railway travel multi-ride tickets, fares at 50% of adult passengers
OpenAI is finally starting to crunch the numbers. According to insiders, in order to snatch customers from Anthropic, the company is considering a significant price cut for its large model products. CEO Sam Altman has also publicly admitted that high usage costs have become a difficult problem. The signal could not be clearer: the halftime whistle of the AI race has blown, and a price war has officially begun. Grand ideals of AGI and safety debates—when it comes to "survival," all of that must t
Analysis
OpenAI is finally starting to crunch the numbers. According to insiders, in order to snatch customers from Anthropic, the company is considering a significant price cut for its large model products. CEO Sam Altman has also publicly admitted that high usage costs have become a difficult problem. The signal could not be clearer: the halftime whistle of the AI race has blown, and a price war has officially begun. Grand ideals of AGI and safety debates—when it comes to "survival," all of that must take a back seat.
But ironically, just as the industry leader is agonizing over costs, a legacy automaker appears remarkably "principled." General Motors' battery technology chief declared they might abandon the originally planned lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Why? They want to pursue "more advanced" technology. What an out-of-touch attitude. While the entire industry is using LFP batteries to drive down the price of electric vehicles and race toward the mass market, GM is considering a last-minute switch. This strategic indecision is like a student who keeps wrestling with basic problems but always dreams of solving the bonus questions. The market won’t wait forever—especially when your competitors are paving the road with cheaper batteries.
In stark contrast is the "involution" at the market’s foundational layer. In so-called "compute supermarkets," the rental price for a million tokens has fallen to just a few yuan and continues to drop. 80% of this supermarket’s customers are small and medium-sized enterprises, spanning education, e-commerce, robotics, and many other sectors. This is the true thread of technology democratization: not some groundbreaking breakthrough in a giant’s lab, but compute power—like water and electricity—being fragmented, scheduled, and sold cheaply, irrigating countless industries. The steep downward curve of cost is laying the groundwork for the next wave of application breakthroughs.
Meanwhile, the narrative in the high-end market remains sexy. Insta360’s new 8K Leica dual-lens gimbal camera sold out within minutes of listing. At 3999 yuan, you’re not buying specifications; you’re buying the identity and creative privilege brought by "dual Leica" and "Dolby Vision." This precisely divides two worlds: at the bottom, it’s a pragmatic carnival where tokens are priced in "cents"; at the top, it’s the luxury premium commanded by hardware combined with optical branding. Consumers vote with their wallets, coolly distinguishing between "tools" and "toys."
The logic of the business world is always pragmatic—even cold. Look at J&T Express, which was placed under investigation for safety issues. Their response was heartfelt, with phrases like "deep reflection" and "a profound lesson." But public memory is short. As long as rectification is in place and packages keep arriving, this storm will soon be forgotten. Meanwhile, AliExpress quietly launched official delivery to five European and American countries, aiming straight at localization. Alibaba’s strategic shift is moving deeper from traffic competition into capillary-like logistics infrastructure. These unglamorous heavy lifts are the true moats for future cross-border e-commerce.
Lifting your gaze higher, a sense of absurdity hits you head-on. U.S. President Donald Trump publicly stated he would meet with executives from 12–15 AI companies to discuss the possibility of the government holding stakes in these companies to "give back to the public." This sounds like a nationalization proposal from the last century, wrapped in a sugary coat of tech populism. On the tightrope between innovation and regulation, this feels more like political performance than serious policy discussion. At the same time, the chairman of Kweichow Moutai addressed shareholders about the need for "relative stability" in pricing, urging people to "not spread or believe rumors." The fact that the pricing stability of a bottle of liquor requires such a solemn public relations statement hints at a consumer environment and crisis of confidence far more worthy of reflection than stock price fluctuations.
Piecing together all these fragments paints an industry landscape brimming with internal tension: On one side, OpenAI and others launch a bloody price war to win customers; on the other, giants like GM hesitate and waver on technology routes. Compute power at the foundation is cheap as sand, while top consumer brands command premiums as high as gold. Geopolitics attempts to intervene in cutting-edge tech with outdated tools of power, while traditional consumer goods cautiously maintain the illusion of price stability. The future of AI will likely not be defined by a single technological singularity, but will be shaped by these contradictory, tearing forces of reality. In this grand game of chess, seeing your own position clearly matters more than blindly believing any grand narrative.
Disclaimer: The above content is generated by AI and is for reference only.