# GPU Rental Prices Across Listed Tiers Exceed January Levels

By Simon Yoon

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/technology/40722
Published: 2026-10-26T00:41:23.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-26T00:41:23.000Z
Section: Technology

> Token use rose again after a brief late-summer pause. Older A100 and H100 rates had spent more of the longer period below a six-year depreciation benchmark before strengthening in April.

GPU rental prices across every listed tier were above January levels as token use rose again, highlighting higher compute costs alongside renewed AI activity.

The oldest listed tier, A100, was also above January levels. Over a longer period, older A100 and H100 rental rates spent more time below a six-year straight-line depreciation benchmark, then began strengthening in April.

Token consumption across open and closed models surged in spring, flattened briefly late in the summer and then jumped again. The trend remained exponential, while proprietary models took a slightly larger share in the latest weekly reading. The token indices cover only a small portion of overall activity and are not perfect proxies for total token spending or GPU pricing.

U.S. output trends varied across four categories tied to AI capital spending. Computer production rose alongside higher capacity and utilization, while gains in communications and semiconductors came mainly from added capacity. Electrical-equipment prices rose the most even as domestic production slipped slightly. The dollar increase in imports far outpaced domestic production gains across all four categories.

Labor measures were mixed as well. Weekly hours per employee increased more in AI construction-related industries than in other sectors, and generally more than net new headcount. In manufacturing, workers who switched jobs had about a five-percentage-point wage-growth premium over those who stayed.

Netflix revenue growth was roughly 12%, its slowest rate since 2021-22. Netflix is developing short-form video and moving into live sports, while weekly U.S. media consumption appears to top out at about 26 hours and has eased moderately from its lockdown peak. Some recent growth in media use came from background consumption while people drove or worked.

Cybersecurity shares remained relatively strong for the year but had pulled back more than the broader market since October. Revenue growth at large companies mostly improved by only a few percentage points, with some slowing; Palo Alto Networks' revenue growth was driven largely by acquisitions.