Ramp data: AI token spend grew 1.5% in Aug-Sep — SkimNews
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Ramp measured enterprise AI token spend growing just 1.5% across August and September, against 42% month-over-month growth in July, even as token volumes rose.
- Ara Kharazian said almost all AI spending comes from venture-backed, high-growth tech companies that would slow simultaneously if spending slips — and in Ramp's data the top 1% of firms fell just below the roughly $10,000 per employee they hit at summer peaks, versus $12–$15 per month for median firms and $600–$1,000 for the top 10%.
- Anthropic made significant price reductions to Fable 5.1 and Opus 5.5 — a decision the company said in a recent filing slashed revenue growth by about $600 million — while OpenAI halved September API prices for GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna; Kharazian called the result a buyer's market where enterprise discounts meant to lock in spend are hitting revenue targets.
- October data showed a re-acceleration, with token spend up 8.9% from September 23 to October 23, though Kharazian said headwinds on spend growth remain strong.
- Akshay Kothari said Notion's internal data matched Ramp's findings, summarizing the pattern as "tokens go brrr. costs go ahhh."
- Anthropic's potential valuation fell from the $2 trillion estimated in early October to $1.2–$1.3 trillion and is reportedly expected to receive a high "junk" credit rating, while OpenAI lowered its proposed valuation to $1.25 trillion from $1.4 trillion and cut its latest fundraising goal by about $10 billion, according to Bloomberg.
- Jev, a lightweight tool for choosing between a few predetermined outputs, is increasingly among the top performers on Ramp as Meta and Nvidia roll out cheap enterprise and open-source models alongside a wave of open models from China and the U.S.
Why it matters: Anthropic says its price cuts shaved about $600 million off revenue growth, and Ramp shows AI token spend up just 1.5% across August and September. With nearly all AI spend concentrated in venture-backed tech firms and the top 1% slipping below $10,000 per employee, IPO valuations now rest on new use cases rather than continued price-insensitive growth.
Ask SkimNews
