E83. OpenRouter 不得不卖，Stripe 不得不买：当智能管道遇上资本管道

Stripe’s acquisition of OpenRouter for over $7 billion signifies a strategic shift in the AI economy, moving from simple transaction processing to managing the "intelligence pipeline." OpenRouter functions as a critical infrastructure layer, aggregating models, providers, and developer demand while abstracting the complexity of model switching and cost management. For Stripe, this deal is a defensive necessity to prevent being relegated to a backend utility as AI platforms develop their own billing and routing systems. By integrating OpenRouter, Stripe gains visibility into the entire AI task lifecycle—from model selection and token consumption to cost optimization—allowing it to capture value at the start of an AI workflow rather than just at the point of payment. This move ensures Stripe remains the central economic infrastructure for both capital and intelligence flows in the evolving AI landscape.