DeepSeek V4 closes gap with frontier models while slashing AI costs by 75%
42 Sources
[1]
DeepSeek previews new AI model that 'closes the gap' with frontier models | TechCrunch
The company says both DeepSeek V4 Flash and V4 Pro are mixture-of-experts models with context windows of 1 million tokens each -- enough to allow large codebases or documents to be used in prompts. The mixture-of-experts approach involves activating only a certain number of parameters per task to
[2]
Three reasons why DeepSeek's new model V4 matters
For V4-Pro, DeepSeek charges $1.74 per million input tokens and $3.48 per million output tokens, a fraction of the cost of comparable models from OpenAI and Anthropic. V4-Flash is even cheaper, at about $0.14 per million input tokens and about $0.28 per million output tokens, making it one of the
[3]
China's DeepSeek previews new AI model a year after jolting US rivals
Chinese AI company DeepSeek released a preview of its hotly anticipated next-generation AI model V4 on Friday, saying that the open-source model can compete with leading closed-source systems from US rivals including Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI. DeepSeek says V4 marks a major improvement over
[4]
DeepSeek Slashes Fees for New AI Model in Chinese Price War
DeepSeek is aggressively pitching low-priced-plans for its just-released flagship model, intensifying competition across a Chinese artificial intelligence industry trying to take on Silicon Valley's best. The Hangzhou-headquartered AI lab is offering a 75% discount to developers using the
[5]
DeepSeek's new models offer big inference cost savings
Now available in preview, DeepSeek V4 cuts inference costs to a fraction of R1 Chinese AI darling DeepSeek is back with a new open weights large language model that promises performance to rival the best proprietary American LLMs. Perhaps more importantly, it claims to dramatically reduce
[6]
China's DeepSeek slashes prices for new AI model
April 27 (Reuters) - China's DeepSeek is offering developers a 75% discount on its newly unveiled AI model, DeepSeek-V4-Pro, until May 5. The company is also cutting prices for input cache hits across its entire DeepSeek API lineup to one-tenth of the original price, it said in a post on X. On
[7]
DeepSeek promises its new AI model has 'world-class' reasoning
DeepSeek has released its latest AI models, the V4 Pro and Flash versions, a bit over a year after it went viral and became the top rated free app on Apple's App Store in the US. "Welcome to the era of cost-effective 1 million context length," DeepSeek said in its announcement. Context length is
[8]
China's DeepSeek rolls out a long-anticipated update of its AI model
HONG KONG (AP) -- DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence startup that shook world markets last year, launched preview versions of its latest major update Friday as the AI rivalry between China and the U.S. heats up. DeepSeek's V4 has been keenly anticipated by users keen to test how it
[9]
China's DeepSeek releases preview of long-awaited V4 model as AI race intensifies
DeepSeek reportedly has not shared its upcoming AI model with American engineers and instead granted early access to Chinese companies, further intensifying the technological war between the U.S. and China, as of Feb. 26, 2026. Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek on Friday released a
[10]
DeepSeek's Sequel Set to Extend China's Reach in Open-Source A.I.
Meaghan Tobin reported from Taipei, Taiwan, and Cade Metz from San Francisco. When the Chinese start-up DeepSeek published details about one of its artificial intelligence models last year, it sent shock waves through the tech industry. The company said it had built its system by spending far
[11]
DeepSeek's Long-Awaited New Model Fails to Narrow US Lead in AI
When China's DeepSeek released a competitive new artificial intelligence model called R1 last January purportedly built for less than many rivals, some feared the achievement posed a threat to America's lead in artificial intelligence. More than a year later, DeepSeek has unveiled preview versions
[12]
DeepSeek cuts V4-Pro prices by 75%
The promotional discount runs until 5 May 2026. Even at full price, V4-Pro already undercuts GPT-5.5, Claude Opus 4.7, and Gemini 3.1 Pro on per-token costs. The move is a direct challenge to the pricing strategy of US AI providers at a moment when the Trump administration has accused Chinese
[13]
DeepSeek’s Newest Models Take on Silicon Valley at a Fraction of the Cost
DeepSeek rolled out preview versions of its highly anticipated V4 AI models today, once again narrowing the gap with leading AI models from the world’s largest tech companies. The Chinese startup released two open-source versions, a high-performance V4 Pro model and a cheaper, smaller V4 Flash
[14]
DeepSeek-V4, the Chinese AI model adapted for Huawei chips
BEIJING, April 24 (Reuters) - Chinese startup DeepSeek on Friday released a preview version of V4, its new artificial intelligence model adapted to run on Huawei chips, marking another step in China's push to build a self-sufficient AI ecosystem. Here is what we know so far about the long-awaited
[15]
DeepSeek unveils V4 AI with 1M context window, targets US rivals
The artificial intelligence race is accelerating. OpenAI launched GPT-5.5 this week, while the White House accused China of copying US AI systems at scale. Now, DeepSeek has introduced preview versions of its V4 model, targeting direct competition with top US platforms. DeepSeek released the V4
[16]
DeepSeek returns with V4-Pro and V4-Flash, a year after its 'Sputnik moment'
The Hangzhou startup released preview versions of both models on Hugging Face on Friday. V4-Pro claims top performance on coding and maths among open models, trails only Gemini 3.1-Pro for world knowledge, and falls "marginally short" of GPT-5.4 and Gemini 3.1-Pro, a gap DeepSeek says is
[17]
DeepSeek V4 arrives with near state-of-the-art intelligence at fraction of the cost of Opus 4.7, GPT-5.5
DeepSeek, the Chinese AI startup offshoot of High-Flyer Capital Management quantitative analysis firm, became a near-overnight sensation globally in January 2025 with the release of its open source R1 model that matched proprietary U.S. giants. It's been an epoch in AI since then, and while
[18]
DeepSeeek V4 is out, touting some disruptive wins over Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude
An open-source model that beats GPT-5.4 on Codeforces and costs a fraction of Claude isn't just a news story; it's a pricing ultimatum to the entire AI industry. China's DeepSeek has a habit of showing up, uninvited, to Silicon Valley's AI party, and this time, it has done so with the long-awaited
[19]
DeepSeek unveils its newest model at rock-bottom prices and with 'full support' from Huawei chips | Fortune
Chinese AI company DeepSeek has unveiled its long-awaited V4 model. On Friday, the Hangzhou-based startup released its newest large language model in a preview capacity. The release comes over a year after it shook markets and reset the entire conversation around AI with its V3 and R1 models,
[20]
DeepSeek previews V4 models with Huawei integration, signaling shift in China's AI stack
Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has released preview versions of its latest models -- DeepSeek-V4-Pro and V4-Flash -- marking a closer integration with domestic chipmaker Huawei and intensifying competition with US developers, including OpenAI and Google. The launch comes as
[21]
DeepSeek V4 Is Here -- Its Pro Version Costs 98% Less Than GPT 5.5 Pro - Decrypt
DeepSeek is back, and it showed up a few hours after OpenAI dropped GPT-5.5. Coincidence? Maybe. But if you're a Chinese AI lab that the U.S. government has been trying to slow down with chip export bans for the past three years, your sense of timing gets pretty sharp. The Hangzhou-based lab
[22]
Everything to know about DeepSeek's new AI model V4
China's AI startup is back a year after it stirred up the AI industry with 'world-leading' processing power at a fraction of the cost of other models. The Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek has unveiled a preview of its new large language model, V4, as the global AI race makes
[23]
Five things to know about Chinese AI startup DeepSeek
Beijing (AFP) - As DeepSeek releases its first major new artificial intelligence model in over a year -- DeepSeek-V4 -- here are five things to know about the Chinese startup: Founded by Liang Wenfeng in the eastern Chinese tech hub Hangzhou, DeepSeek started life in 2023 as a side project of
[24]
DeepSeek open-sources V4 large language model series - SiliconANGLE
Chinese artificial intelligence developer DeepSeek today released a new series of open-source large language models. V4, as the algorithm family is called, comprises 2 LLMs on launch. There's the flagship V4-Pro and a smaller model called V4-Flash that trades off some output quality for lower
[25]
China's DeepSeek unveils long-awaited V4 AI model
At its highest capacity, DeepSeek's V4 'redefines the state-of-the-art for open models'. Chinese AI darling DeepSeek has launched its long awaited V4 large language model (LLM) in preview, as speculation around a possible first funding round swirls. The latest open source launch comes more than a
[26]
DeepSeek slashes V4-Pro API pricing with major discount
DeepSeek announced major price reductions for its API service on Saturday, reducing input cache hit fees to one-tenth of their original price and offering a 75% limited-time discount on its flagship V4-Pro model through May 5. The new promotional price for V4-Pro's input cache hit is now 0.025
[27]
US-China AI race intensifies as DeepSeek releases 'reduced' cost model
China's DeepSeek on Friday released a new AI model with "drastically reduced' costs that it said was capable of processing extra-long texts to help it complete tasks. The company caused shockwaves last year after it revealed a reasoning model that upended assumptions of US dominance in the
[28]
China's DeepSeek Rolls Out a Long-Anticipated Update of Its AI Model
HONG KONG (AP) -- DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence startup that shook world markets last year, launched preview versions of its latest major update Friday as the AI rivalry between China and the U.S. heats up. DeepSeek's V4 has been keenly anticipated by users keen to test how it
[29]
DeepSeek launches V4 model with one million token context
China's DeepSeek has launched its AI model, DeepSeek-V4, claiming it offers enhanced capabilities over open-source alternatives. The new model is optimized for domestic chips and features an ultra-long context of one million words, asserting leadership in agent capabilities, world knowledge, and
[30]
DeepSeek-V4, the Chinese AI model adapted for Huawei chips - The Economic Times
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has launched V4, a new model designed for Huawei chips. This move strengthens China's drive for an independent AI sector. The V4 model comes in Pro and Flash versions, offering advanced capabilities. DeepSeek's adaptation for Huawei hardware signals progress in domestic
[31]
Why Developers Are Switching to DeepSeek V4 Flash for Open-Source AI
DeepSeek V4 Flash, as outlined by Gen AI Spotlight, introduces a dual-model system designed to address varying operational needs. The Pro model, featuring 1.6 trillion parameters, excels in handling complex tasks like large-scale data analysis and advanced natural language processing. In contrast,
[32]
DeepSeek V4 Cuts KV Cache by 90% at 1M Tokens, But Aggressive Compression Could Risk 'Needle in a Haystack' Failures
Chinese artificial intelligence lab DeepSeek claims to significantly reduce computing resources required for token inference and memory resources with its latest V4 model, according to its release notes. DeepSeek claims that the V4 AI model requires just 27% single-token inference FLOPs and 10% of
[33]
China's DeepSeek V4 shocks with power and price -- but is it moving too fast to survive?
China's fast-rising AI contender DeepSeek has unveiled its latest model, DeepSeek V4, with massive scale and aggressive pricing. But behind the headline numbers, a wave of scrutiny is building, from chip-related allegations to safety concerns, raising a bigger question: can this Chinese AI giant
[34]
Deepseek V4 : Why Its 1.6 Trillion Parameters Aren't Quite Enough
Deepseek v4 has officially undergone comprehensive testing, revealing both its potential and its limitations. Developed as an open source AI model, it is available in two versions: the high-performance Deepseek v4 Pro and the cost-efficient Deepseek v4 Flash. The Pro model, with its 1.6 trillion
[35]
Can DeepSeek's New AI Models be the Answer for US Models' Token Gluttony?
Once again DeepSeek costs only a sixth of its competitor US models, but the Chinese product falls behind on the Knowledge tests The East versus West battle for AI supremacy got a fresh impetus with the release of Chinese AI lab DeepSeek's two new versions of its frontier model DeepSeek V4. The
[36]
China's DeepSeek rolls out a long-anticipated update of its AI model - The Korea Times
HONG KONG -- DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence startup that shook world markets last year, launched preview versions of its latest major update Friday as the AI rivalry between China and the U.S. heats up. DeepSeek's V4 has been keenly anticipated by users looking to test how it
[37]
How DeepSeek 4'S Massive 1M Token Context Window is Changing Open-Source AI
DeepSeek 4 introduces two open source language models designed to meet varying computational requirements, as detailed by Prompt Engineering. The Pro model, with 1.6 trillion parameters, is optimized for tasks demanding high precision and processing power, while the Flash model, featuring 284
[38]
DeepSeek previews new AI model adapted to run on Huawei chips
BEIJING -- DeepSeek, the Chinese startup whose low-cost AI model stunned the world last year, on Friday launched a preview of a highly awaited new model adapted for Huawei chip technology, underlining China's growing self-sufficiency in the sector. The Pro version of the new model outperforms
[39]
Deepseek Unveils New Open-Source AI Model V4 Preview to Challenge OpenAI, Anthropic
According to reports, the company positions V4 as an upgraded tool for reasoning, coding, and long-context handling. DeepSeek aims to attract developers with open-source AI access and flexible deployment. The Hangzhou-based company claimed, "V4 achieves strong performance against domestic
[40]
China's DeepSeek releases long-awaited new AI model - The Korea Times
BEIJING -- Chinese startup DeepSeek released "preview" versions of a new artificial intelligence (AI) model on Friday, more than a year after it stunned the world with a low-cost reasoning model that matched the capabilities of U.S. rivals. The long-awaited DeepSeek-V4 "features an ultra-long
[41]
DeepSeek's new AI model does not wow markets in fast-changing industry
BEIJING, April 27 (Reuters) - Market reaction to DeepSeek's preview of its long-awaited next-generation artificial intelligence model has so far been subdued compared with the Chinese startup's outsized global breakthrough last year after the launch of its low-cost AI models. The release and
[42]
DeepSeek V4 just dropped: 3 things you should know about it
DeepSeek is back. The Chinese AI firm that rattled the entire industry in January 2025 with its shockingly efficient R1 model has released V4, its most ambitious model since. It comes in two versions - V4-Pro, built for heavy coding and agentic tasks, and V4-Flash, a lighter, faster variant - and
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Chinese AI company DeepSeek has released V4, its most powerful open-weight AI model yet, featuring 1.6 trillion parameters and a one million token context window. The model competes with leading systems from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic while offering dramatic cost reductions—up to 75% off for developers. The release intensifies the Chinese AI price war and showcases architectural innovations that could reshape the global AI landscape.
DeepSeek V4 Arrives With Massive Scale and Competitive Performance
Chinese AI company DeepSeek has unveiled its highly anticipated DeepSeek V4 AI model, marking a significant leap in the competitive landscape of large language models. Available in two versions—V4 Flash and V4 Pro—both models employ a mixture-of-experts architecture with a one million token context window, large enough to process entire codebases or lengthy documents in a single prompt
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. The larger V4 Pro variant boasts 1.6 trillion parameters with 49 billion active, making it the biggest open-weight model available and more than double the size of DeepSeek V3.2's 671 billion parameters1
. The smaller V4 Flash contains 284 billion parameters with 13 billion active1
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Source: Geeky Gadgets
According to benchmarks shared by the company, DeepSeek V4 competes with frontier models including OpenAI's GPT-5.4, Google's Gemini 3.1 Pro, and Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6
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. The Chinese AI lab claims its V4-Pro-Max model outperforms open-source peers across reasoning benchmarks and excels in coding tasks, with performance "comparable to GPT-5.4" in coding competition benchmarks1
. In an internal survey of 85 experienced developers, more than 90% included V4-Pro among their top model choices for coding tasks2
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Source: Silicon Republic
Dramatic Inference Cost Savings Through Architectural Innovation
DeepSeek is aggressively positioning V4 as a cost-effective alternative to Silicon Valley's best models, offering a 75% discount to developers using the DeepSeek-V4-Pro. The V4 Flash model costs just $0.14 per million input tokens and $0.28 per million output tokens, undercutting GPT-5.4 Nano, Gemini 3.1 Flash, and Claude Haiku 4.5
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. The larger V4 Pro model costs $1.74 per million input tokens and $3.48 per million output tokens, a fraction of comparable models from OpenAI and Anthropic2
. The company has also reduced fees for input cache hits to a tenth of their original pricing.
Source: VentureBeat
These substantial inference cost savings stem from novel architectural improvements. DeepSeek V4 introduces a hybrid attention mechanism combining Compressed Sparse Attention and Heavy Compressed Attention, which reduces compute requirements during inference and significantly compresses the key-value caches used to track model state
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. This innovation allows the model to support the one million token context window while using 9.5x to 13.7x less memory than DeepSeek V3.25
. The models also employ a mixture of FP8 and FP4 precision, with quantization-aware training for the mixture-of-experts expert weights, effectively halving memory requirements compared to FP85
.Chinese AI Price War Intensifies as V4 Targets Developers
The release threatens to reignite the Chinese AI price war that erupted after DeepSeek upended the industry with R1 last year. Chinese AI firms are discounting aggressively to incentivize users to switch platforms, accelerating adoption in a crowded global AI field in an attempt to reshape the US-China AI race. DeepSeek is betting that pricing, accessibility, and sophisticated features will differentiate its models for next-generation developers and enterprise users.
The model has been specifically optimized for popular agent frameworks such as Claude Code, OpenClaw, and CodeBuddy, allowing easy integration within the broader AI ecosystem
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. "The pricing, open source availability and 1 million context window features all lower barriers for developers, startups and small enterprises," said Akshar Keremane, co-founder of Bangalore-based AI startup O-Health. "It allows users to experiment at a model capability and scale that wasn't available earlier".Related Stories
Hardware Compatibility and Geopolitical Implications
DeepSeek V4 explicitly highlights compatibility with domestic Huawei technology, marking a milestone for China's chip industry
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. While DeepSeek V3 was heavily optimized for Nvidia GPUs, V4 has been validated to run on both Nvidia and Huawei's Ascend family of AI accelerators5
. The company validated its "fine-grained EP [Expert Parallel] scheme on both Nvidia GPUs and Ascend NPU platforms," though it remains unclear whether the model was trained entirely on Huawei hardware or used a combination of chipsets5
.The launch arrives amid heightened geopolitical tensions, coming just one day after the U.S. accused China of stealing American AI labs' IP on an industrial scale using thousands of proxy accounts
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. DeepSeek itself has been accused by Anthropic and OpenAI of "distilling," essentially copying, their AI models1
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. U.S. officials have also accused the company of using banned Nvidia chips3
. DeepSeek has not disclosed V4's training costs or what hardware it was trained on3
.Performance Gaps and Future Trajectory
Despite its strengths, the models appear to trail frontier models in knowledge tests, specifically OpenAI's GPT-5.4 and Google's latest Gemini 3.1 Pro. This lag suggests a "developmental trajectory that trails state-of-the-art frontier models by approximately 3 to 6 months," according to the lab
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. Both V4 Flash and V4 Pro support text only, unlike many closed-source peers from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic which offer support for understanding and generating audio, video, and images1
.For developers and enterprises watching the AI landscape, DeepSeek V4's combination of competitive performance, dramatic cost reductions, and open availability could accelerate adoption of Chinese AI technology globally. The model's emphasis on coding capabilities positions it well for the growing AI agent market, while its architectural innovations in attention mechanisms and memory efficiency may influence future model designs across the industry. As the Chinese AI price war intensifies and geopolitical tensions around IP theft allegations escalate, V4 represents both a technical achievement and a strategic move in the ongoing competition between Chinese and American AI labs.
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