The silicon data llm token spend index fell below $1 per million for the first time, and september…
the silicon data llm token spend index fell below $1 per million for the first time, and september alone crushed frontier api prices by 60-80%. when tokens approach zero, the market stops selling tokens and starts selling outcomes.
the price war is the product changing shape.
Context
Quartz, dated 1 September 2026, reports that the Silicon Data LLM Token Expenditure Index fell to 97 cents per million tokens on Monday 31 August, below one dollar for the first time and less than half its summer peak, down 8.6% over the prior seven days. Silicon Data describes it as a usage-weighted effective price of a million tokens across a defined set of models, blending provider pricing with consumption seen on multi-provider routing gateways.
This is a usage-weighted blended index, not any one provider's list price or total dollar spend. The crossing was on 31 August, not in September. September alone crushing frontier API prices by 60 to 80% was not found in any text read; the sources show an 8.6% fall in the seven days to 31 August and a drop of more than half from the peak, so it is unverified. When tokens approach zero the market sells outcomes is the author's opinion.
Related work
- Silicon Data LLM Token Expenditure Index ↗Product page, updated 1 Oct 2026.
- Token prices fall to 97 cents (Gate) ↗Snippet only.
Watch next
- Dated September index readings from Silicon Data.
Sources
Provenance
The note above is reproduced unedited from the original post, first published on Threads on 18 September 2026 at 10:09 IST. Sources are the papers and datasets the note draws on.
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