China eyes AI breakthrough as DeepSeek V4 awaited

For weeks, the global technology sector has been anticipating a major artificial intelligence release from DeepSeek, widely viewed as a key indicator of China’s advancement in the rapidly evolving field.

More than a year has passed since the company drew global attention in early 2025 with a low-cost chatbot that matched the performance of leading US competitors, helping put Chinese AI firmly on the map, News.Az reports, citing AFP.

However, despite ongoing reports and speculation about an imminent launch, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model has yet to materialize.

Questions are also emerging over the geopolitical implications of the hardware used to train and run the new system—whether it relies on cutting-edge chips from US firms or domestically produced alternatives that China is striving to develop.

“It’s important to know because at one level, it is a signal of China’s AI self-sufficiency trajectory,” said Wei Sun, a principal AI analyst at Counterpoint Research, in comments to AFP.

Tech outlet The Information reported last week that the V4 model can operate using advanced chips developed by Huawei.

Such a development would represent a significant milestone for China as it seeks to overcome US restrictions on exports of high-end AI chips from Nvidia.

The report, citing five sources familiar with the matter, said major Chinese tech firms—including Alibaba, ByteDance, and Tencent—have placed large orders for Huawei chips in preparation for DeepSeek’s upcoming launch.

Founded in 2023 as a side project of a hedge fund with access to powerful Nvidia processors, DeepSeek rose to prominence in January 2025 with its R1 deep-reasoning chatbot. The launch rattled US technology stocks, prompting Donald Trump to describe it as a “wake-up call” for American companies.

R1 was built on the company’s previous major AI model, V3, released in December 2024.

DeepSeek’s cost-effective and customizable AI tools have since seen widespread adoption across China, as well as in emerging markets including Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Stephen Wu, founder of Carthage Capital, told AFP that the V4 model—reportedly multimodal and capable of generating text, images, and video—could once again disrupt US tech valuations.

“I expect the upcoming DeepSeek V4 release will not just be a software update; it will be a highly capable, open-source model that handles massive context windows at a fraction of the cost,” he said.

At the same time, the company’s standing as a leader in advanced AI development is on the line.

Its earlier models depended on Nvidia chips, meaning a shift toward domestic alternatives would require significant re-engineering, according to Wei Sun.

“That transition can slow development cycles and introduce performance trade-offs, especially for V4, a model expected to be state-of-the-art,” he added.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev