The big question is whether the demand will stay if the subsidized pricing ends. That's what the bubble talk is about. Right now all the players compete for market share and don't care about the losses (hence the debt). But what happens if no one wants to lend them anymore?
I don't think inference is subsidized, it's the training. So what happens is, there's no new models anymore or are released slower.
API inference is probably not subsidized. Coding plans absolutely are.
Good distinction. The demand is partially driven by the low costs, which are only low because the major providers are losing money.
There is no evidence they are losing money on inference, though?
Also if they are keeping the price low because they want to gain market share and reduce the competitiveness of Chinese models they won't be able to raise prices without providers serving open models (at cost + low margin) severely undercutting them.