LLM Economics

LLM Economics

Token math, model selection, and the true unit cost of every generation.

Page 7 of 8

Gemini 3.5 Flash Gets Computer Use: What It Means for Agent Costs
LLM Economics
Jun 24, 20264 min read

Gemini 3.5 Flash Gets Computer Use: What It Means for Agent Costs

Putting agentic computer use in a budget-tier model can cut cost per step, but total agent cost depends on how many steps a task takes, so cheaper per token does not always mean cheaper per job.

GPU Cloud Providers in Europe 2026: The Real Cost of Data Residency
LLM Economics
Jun 23, 20264 min read

GPU Cloud Providers in Europe 2026: The Real Cost of Data Residency

European GPU clouds offer B200 and H200 capacity with EU data residency and sovereignty, but residency usually carries a price premium that you should model as part of cost per token, not treat as a free checkbox.

Custom AI Chips vs NVIDIA in 2026: What It Means for Your Inference Cost
LLM Economics
Jun 23, 20263 min read

Custom AI Chips vs NVIDIA in 2026: What It Means for Your Inference Cost

Hyperscaler custom chips like Trainium, Google TPU, Maia, and Meta MTIA are built to cut the provider's cost of serving AI, but that only lowers your bill if it shows up as a cheaper per-token price or GPU-hour rate.

Oracle Cloud GPU Pricing in 2026: H100 vs H200 vs B200 Per-Hour Cost
LLM Economics
Jun 23, 20263 min read

Oracle Cloud GPU Pricing in 2026: H100 vs H200 vs B200 Per-Hour Cost

Oracle Cloud prices H100, H200, and B200 GPUs at different per-hour rates, but the cheapest choice depends on your model size and utilization, not on which chip is newest.

TPU 8i vs NVIDIA Rubin and B200: Cost Per Token for LLM Inference (2026)
LLM Economics
Jun 23, 20264 min read

TPU 8i vs NVIDIA Rubin and B200: Cost Per Token for LLM Inference (2026)

The accelerator with the best benchmark is not always the cheapest per token, because cost per token depends on price per hour, real throughput, and how much migration and lock-in you have to amortize.

NVIDIA B200 Cloud Pricing in 2026: How to Compare Per-Hour GPU Costs
LLM Economics
Jun 23, 20263 min read

NVIDIA B200 Cloud Pricing in 2026: How to Compare Per-Hour GPU Costs

B200 rental prices vary widely across clouds, so the number that matters is not dollars per hour but dollars per million tokens once you factor in throughput and utilization.

LLM Inference Cost at Scale: Napkin Math for Founders
LLM Economics
Jun 23, 20264 min read

LLM Inference Cost at Scale: Napkin Math for Founders

To estimate LLM inference cost, multiply tokens per request by requests per month by your blended price per million tokens, then stress-test each assumption before you trust the total.

Why the Cheapest LLM Provider Won't Save Your Margins
LLM Economics
Jun 23, 20264 min read

Why the Cheapest LLM Provider Won't Save Your Margins

Switching to the cheapest LLM provider rarely rescues a thin margin, because your token volume and product design drive cost far more than a lower headline $/1M-token rate.

What a $150M/Month Compute Deal Says About Your Token Costs
LLM Economics
Jun 23, 20264 min read

What a $150M/Month Compute Deal Says About Your Token Costs

When an AI lab commits to about $150M a month for GPUs, that fixed cost has to be earned back through the tokens it sells, which is why your per-token price is really a bet on someone else's utilization.

What a $28B Neocloud Tells You About Your AI Token Costs
LLM Economics
Jun 23, 20264 min read

What a $28B Neocloud Tells You About Your AI Token Costs

A neocloud is a GPU-only cloud built for AI compute, and when one reportedly clears $28B a year, it is a signal that the compute under your LLM bill is a large, fast-moving cost you should model as a variable, not a constant.

Your Load Balancer Is Quietly Inflating Your LLM Bill
LLM Economics
Jun 22, 20264 min read

Your Load Balancer Is Quietly Inflating Your LLM Bill

Standard load balancers scatter requests across servers at random, which breaks prefix caching and makes you pay full price for tokens you already cached. Prefix-aware routing fixes it.

Governed AI Usage: How an AI Gateway Controls Token Spend
LLM Economics
Jun 22, 20264 min read

Governed AI Usage: How an AI Gateway Controls Token Spend

An AI gateway is a control plane that wraps every model request with identity, policy, safety, and observability, turning unpredictable token spend into a number you can govern and price against.

The Margin Memo

Pricing math, in your inbox.

One short note a week on AI pricing, token economics, and margin. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.