Payments giant Stripe is about to drop over $7 billion to become a gateway to AI token sales
AI gateways look promising as companies struggle with model orchestration
Payments giant Stripe is reportedly on the verge of spending over $7 billion to acquire AI gateway service OpenRouter, according to recent reports. OpenRouter enables customers to integrate multiple AI models into their workflows and infrastructure, making it a popular choice among AI developers. By acquiring OpenRouter, Stripe would become a mediator of AI token sales, aligning with its core business while gaining valuable insights into AI model usage.
OpenRouter serves over 10 million developers and processes more than 1 trillion tokens per day, a significant increase from its previous serving of more than 5 million developers and 80 providers. The acquisition is seen as a strategic move by Stripe, as the company believes that metered pricing is the native business model of the AI era.
This move could potentially reshape the AI industry, as more business customers prefer options that avoid lock-in and maintain negotiating power. OpenRouter's valuation of $1.3 billion in May raised eyebrows, as the company's revenue has grown significantly since then. The economics paper AI Premium estimates that global LLM token consumption is about 5 to 7 quadrillion per month, with OpenRouter handling around 2 percent of that.
The acquisition of OpenRouter could be a smart move for Stripe, as it allows the company to gain access to valuable data and potentially expand its presence in the AI gateway market.
Written by urgent.news from The Register Science's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
