On September 11, the Chengdu Municipal Government released a draft implementation plan for its new "Token Voucher" program, which is now open for public feedback. The proposed initiative aims to leverage municipal fiscal funds to support market entities in utilizing tokens for large model invocation, intelligent agent development, multimodal reasoning, and model fine-tuning. Under the plan, a single entity could receive up to 2 million yuan in token vouchers annually, with the city's total annual issuance capped at 100 million yuan.

Tokens, as defined by the National Data Administration and the China National Committee for Terms in Sciences and Technologies, refer to the smallest computable units used by large models to process multimodal information such as text, code, and images. They serve as both a core value anchor in the intelligent era and a unified accounting unit for large model services. The voucher program targets legally registered and operating enterprises, one-person companies, OPC community operators, universities, and research institutions that use tokens. Eligible applicants must have a solid credit record over the past three years and no major safety incidents.

The subsidy rate for a single entity is capped at 30% of actual purchase amounts, though small and micro enterprises can receive up to 50%, with a maximum of 2 million yuan per entity. The specific voucher amount will be determined based on the annual budget size, application volume, and verification of business authenticity. The usage scope spans the entire artificial intelligence innovation chain, including scientific research, technology development, content creation, industrial innovation, intelligent transformation, intelligent agent development and application, as well as model fine-tuning and training services.

Chengdu is planning to implement the token voucher policy through two models: "automatic access" and "instant claim and use." Applicants can either choose an A-type institution to receive additional token consumption rights based on their service spending without applying, or opt for a B-type institution to directly deduct token service expenses. This dual-track approach is designed to accommodate the distinct capital turnover needs and application expansion requirements of companies at different scales and categories.

As the first city in China to introduce a computing power voucher policy, Chengdu's proposed token voucher will complement and coordinate with the existing framework. The computing power voucher focuses on securing underlying GPU and intelligent computing resources while reducing rental costs, whereas the token voucher targets application-level needs such as large model inference calls and intelligent agent development. Market participants can deploy both policies in tandem depending on their project's development stage, creating a complete support chain from foundational computing power to business model applications.

Looking ahead, Chengdu plans to roll out combined service packages like "token voucher plus token loans" and "computing power voucher plus computing power loans." These initiatives aim to achieve a two-way empowerment of policy tools and financial instruments, broadening financing channels for asset-light AI innovation entities. Additionally, in alignment with the national "AI Plus" action and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's initiative to cultivate AI application service providers, Chengdu intends to establish two categories of token voucher service institutions—A-type and B-type—to build a tiered provider system featuring "leading players plus token supermarkets."

With the backing of these targeted policies, Chengdu's artificial intelligence industry has experienced rapid growth. In 2025, the city's core AI industry scale surpassed 150 billion yuan. As of the first half of 2026, the core industry scale reached 104.14 billion yuan, marking a 38.3% year-on-year increase. The city now hosts over 1,200 AI-related enterprises and has secured its position among China's first-tier leading AI cities.