New Delhi, June 19 -- Silicon Valley's artificial intelligence boom is entering a decisive new phase. After a year defined by aggressive deployment of generative AI systems, companies are now shifting focus from maximizing usage to minimizing cost, particularly the number of tokens consumed by large language models.

The shift comes as AI boom infrastructure strains intensify across the industry, with enterprises deploying AI across software development, customer service, analytics, and internal automation. What once looked like unlimited scalability is now colliding with financial reality.

Tokens, the basic units of input and output in generative AI systems, have become the invisible currency of modern computing. As companies scale usag...