Volcano Engine Aims to Monetise AI Agents With ArkClaw Subscription Model
- tech360.tv
- May 14
- 3 min read
ByteDance's cloud unit, Volcano Engine, is transforming the artificial intelligence (AI) agent ecosystem into a profitable business through its OpenClaw-based cloud agent tool, ArkClaw. This strategy relies on a subscription model and increasing token demand.
Volcano Engine is betting on the next phase of AI hinging on cheaper tokens, higher inference efficiency, and longer context windows. Li Guodong, chief architect of ArkClaw, stated that agent-related token consumption, while still a single-digit percentage of total token usage, is growing.
The open-source agent framework OpenClaw went viral globally earlier this year, sparking widespread enthusiasm among Chinese developers who nicknamed it "lobster" due to its logo. A Shanghai event for OpenClaw attracted approximately 1,300 attendees, according to organiser the Mu, a global builder community.
Volcano Engine began developing agent-relevant products last year and engaged with OpenClaw after the project gained traction during the Chinese New Year holiday. March saw the launch of ArkClaw, a cloud version of OpenClaw. Li likened it to transforming MySQL, a widely used open-source database, into a service.
In April, Volcano Engine and OpenClaw co-launched the China mirror site for ClawHub, OpenClaw’s skills marketplace. Token demand is already climbing amid rapid adoption and advancements in multimodal models.
Daily average token usage of ByteDance’s Doubao large language models surpassed 120 trillion as of March, doubling in three months. This figure represents a more than 1,000-fold increase from their May 2024 launch, according to Volcano Engine.
Separate data from market research firm IDC showed China’s enterprise model-as-a-service market processed 1.944 quadrillion tokens on public clouds in 2025. This marked a 16-fold year-on-year increase, with Volcano Engine ranking first with a 49.5% market share.
Li stated that models are evolving to reduce inference costs and extend context windows, both crucial for the agent era. Volcano Engine has been reducing token costs through algorithmic optimisation and resource scheduling. He added that the industry seeks to balance more affordable tokens with the need for sustainable businesses.
ArkClaw is offered as a monthly subscription, with prices ranging from 29 yuan (USD 4.25) to 99 yuan. Chinese large language model developers are accelerating the adoption of domestic alternatives, cut off from Nvidia’s offerings.
DeepSeek’s latest V4 model exemplifies this shift through its collaboration with Huawei’s Ascend chips. V4 is expected to face throughput constraints until the second half of the year, when Huawei’s Ascend 950PR supernodes are anticipated to ship at scale.
ByteDance has increased its planned AI infrastructure spending this year to more than 200 billion yuan, a figure at least 25% above an earlier proposal of 160 billion yuan. A larger share of this investment is expected to go to domestic AI chips.
Li noted that common uses of ArkClaw now include media generation for gaming organisations, office productivity, and coding. For enterprises, a key challenge involves identity and configuration management. Agents require controlled access to downstream services and sensitive data to operate across corporate systems.
Li mentioned that ByteDance acts as the first client of its own products. ByteClaw, an internal agent tool connected to the company’s systems, has been widely adopted by employees, with multiple agents handling workplace tasks. This workflow shift sees developers moving from writing code to setting goals and reviewing.
Volcano Engine also launched Ark Agent Plan, a broader subscription package. This plan supports ByteDance’s in-house Seed series models, as well as models from Zhipu and Moonshot AI.
The package works with coding and agent platforms including Claude Code, OpenCode, Trae, OpenClaw, and Hermes Agent, and also includes ArkClaw. It offers four tiers, ranging from 40 yuan to 1,000 yuan a month. The plan uses "Agent Fuel Points" as a unified unit for measuring agent resource consumption, allowing users to track usage in real time.
* ByteDance's Volcano Engine is monetising AI agent technology with ArkClaw's subscription model.
* The strategy focuses on cheaper tokens, higher inference efficiency, and longer context windows for AI agents.
* ArkClaw offers monthly subscriptions ranging from 29 yuan (USD 4.25) to 99 yuan.
Source: SCMP
