Even as some of the largest tech companies have continued to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into scaling up their AI infrastructure, some investors may be skeptical about AI’s practical utility and broader adoption. After all, is artificial intelligence being used enough to justify all this investment?
New evidence shows just how much artificial intelligence consumption has risen over the past year. Recent research from Alger examined the amount of AI tokens being consumed on a weekly basis. In layman’s terms, AI tokens are essentially blocks of text that get processed as an AI model generates a response.
Using data from OpenRouter, Alger’s chart weekly AI token usage surged from August of 2024 to August of 2025. Although total global usage is hard to measure since many firms do not disclose figures, annual volume likely reaches the tens of quadrillions. As a proxy for adoption, OpenRouter indicates weekly token volume rose more than 3,800% year over year—steady through 2024, then sharply higher beginning in January 2025, aided by innovative model techniques like chain-of-thought reasoning for better AI outputs.
Falling AI training costs are lifting utilization, and Alger believes token usage could climb even higher, as agentic APIs let systems plan, execute, and coordinate with AI services with less human prompting.
Meeting this demand will require greater investment in GPUs, high-speed networking, and reliable power. Emerging agentic and multimodal models (e.g., audio and video) add complex back-end steps that further amplify token consumption.
Looking ahead, rising token consumption means that leading AI cloud service providers would need to continue investing in AI infrastructure to support increased demand. This can create unique investment opportunities for those who know which sectors to capitalize on.
One fund that might be especially positioned to meet the moment is the Alger AI Enablers & Adopters ETF (ALAI). This actively managed fund gives investors access to Alger’s experience in navigating opportunities in the field of artificial intelligence.
ALAI looks to hold a high-conviction mix of stocks at the forefront of artificial intelligence development and adoption. This is done with a focus on finding growth opportunities over the long-term. ALAI’s portfolio team conducts proprietary field research to select companies that it believes are undergoing Positive Dynamic Change.
For ALAI, companies undergoing Positive Dynamic Change are either experiencing “high unit volume growth” or “positive life cycle change.” “High unit volume growth” companies are those experiencing rapid growth opportunities, due in part to artificial intelligence demand. Meanwhile, “positive life cycle change” stocks are companies that stand to benefit from new product introductions, management teams, or regulations. By putting these two buckets together, ALAI aims to construct a well-balanced portfolio to capitalize on market growth and macroeconomic trends.
With AI token consumption continuing to rise, ALAI is correspondingly seeing strong flows data. FactSet data shows that, as of September 26, 2025, the fund has seen over $170 million in net flows year to date.
For more news, information, and analysis, visit VettaFi | ETF Trends.
Click here for more information on the Alger AI Enablers & Adopters ETF.
The views expressed are the views of Fred Alger Management, LLC (“FAM”) and its affiliates as of September 2025. These views are subject to change at any time and may not represent the views of all portfolio management teams. These views should not be interpreted as a guarantee of the future performance of the markets, any security or any funds managed by FAM. These views are not meant to provide investment advice and should not be considered a recommendation to purchase or sell securities. Holdings and sector allocations are subject to change. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
Risk Disclosures: Investing in the stock market involves risks, including the potential loss of principal. Growth stocks may be more volatile than other stocks as their prices tend to be higher in relation to their companies’ earnings and may be more sensitive to market, political, and economic developments. Companies involved in, or exposed to, AI-related businesses may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel as they face intense competition and potentially rapid product obsolescence, and many depend significantly on retaining and growing their consumer base. These companies may be substantially exposed to the market and business risks of other industries or sectors, and may be adversely affected by negative developments impacting those companies, industries or sectors, as well as by loss or impairment of intellectual property rights or misappropriation of their technology. Companies that utilize AI could face reputational harm, competitive harm, and legal liability, and/or an adverse effect on business operations as content, analyses, or recommendations that AI applications produce may be deficient, inaccurate, biased, misleading or incomplete, may lead to errors, and may be used in negligent or criminal ways. AI technology could face increasing regulatory scrutiny in the future, which may limit the development of this technology and impede the future growth. AI companies, especially smaller companies, tend to be more volatile than companies that do not rely heavily on technology. A significant portion of assets will be concentrated in securities in related industries, and may be similarly affected by adverse developments and price movements in such industries. A significant portion of assets may be invested in securities of companies in related sectors, and may be similarly affected by economic, political, or market events and conditions and may be more vulnerable to unfavorable sector developments. Investing in companies of small and medium capitalizations involves the risk that such issuers may have limited product lines or financial resources, lack management depth, or have limited liquidity. The Fund is classified as a “non-diversified fund” under federal securities laws because it can invest in fewer individual companies than a diversified fund. Private placements are offerings of a company’s securities not registered with the SEC and not offered to the public, for which limited information may be available. Such investments are generally considered to be illiquid. Foreign securities involve special risks including currency fluctuations, inefficient trading, political and economic instability, and increased volatility. ADRs and GDRs may be subject to international trade, currency, political, regulatory and diplomatic risks. Active trading may increase transaction costs, brokerage commissions, and taxes, which can lower the return on investment. At times, cash may be a larger position in the portfolio and may underperform relative to equity securities.
ETF shares are based on market price rather than net asset value (“NAV”), as a result, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). The Fund may also incur brokerage commissions, as well as the cost of the bid/ask spread, when purchase or selling ETF shares. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruption in the creation and/or redemption process of the Fund. Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than NAV when you buy shares of the Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those shares in the secondary market. The Manager cannot predict whether shares will trade above (premium), below (discount) or at NAV. The Fund may effect its creations and redemptions for cash, rather than for in-kind securities. Therefore, it may be required to sell portfolio securities and subsequently recognize gains on such sales that the Fund might not have recognized if it were to distribute portfolio securities in-kind. As such, investments in Fund shares may be less tax-efficient than an investment in an ETF that distributes portfolio securities entirely in-kind. Brokerage fees and taxes will be higher than if the Fund sold and redeemed shares in-kind. Certain shareholders, including other funds advised by the Manager or an affiliate of the Manager, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the shares of the Fund. Redemptions by large shareholders could have a significant negative impact on the Fund.
Alger pays compensation to VettaFi to sell various strategies to prospective investors.
Before investing, carefully consider a Fund’s investment objective, risks, charges, and expenses. For a prospectus and summary prospectus containing this and other information or for a Fund’s most recent month-end performance data, visit www.alger.com, call (800) 992-3863 (for a mutual fund) or (800) 223-3810 (for an ETF), or consult your financial advisor. Read the prospectus and summary prospectus carefully before investing. Distributor: Fred Alger & Company, LLC. All underlying series of The Alger ETF Trust listed on NYSE Arca, Inc. NOT FDIC INSURED. NOT BANK GUARANTEED. MAY LOSE VALUE.
Man’s best friend is more than a furry companion — many Canadians rely on service…
Escalating Middle East tensions, tightening supply and rising AI-driven demand may be shifting oil markets…
NewsFeedIran says it launched multiple ballistic missile and drone strikes, targeting bases in Al Minhad…
If you wish to voice educated – and get the best experts – you need…
The London Knights will be rooting for the Windsor Spitfires on Sunday, the final day…
By The Canadian Press The Canadian Press Posted March 22, 2026 8:04 am Updated March…