China’s DeepSeek has released preview versions of its latest artificial intelligence models, marking a significant step in its ongoing challenge to established global technology leaders.
The Hangzhou-based startup introduced DeepSeek-V4-Pro and DeepSeek-V4-Flash on Friday, positioning them as competitive alternatives to offerings from companies such as OpenAI and Google.
The launch comes more than a year after its earlier R1 model disrupted the market with its performance and cost efficiency, reshaping expectations around AI development.
DeepSeek said its V4-Pro model surpasses all rival open-source systems in mathematics and coding capabilities, while trailing only select closed models in broader knowledge tasks.
The company stated that its performance falls only marginally short of leading proprietary systems, suggesting a development gap of several months.
The V4-Flash version offers comparable reasoning abilities with faster response times and lower operational costs, broadening its appeal for developers.
Both models remain open source, allowing users to modify and deploy them freely, continuing a strategy that has differentiated DeepSeek from many Western competitors.
The company also highlighted improvements in agent-based tasks, inference, and compatibility with widely used development tools.
The release reflects intensifying competition within China’s rapidly growing AI sector, where firms such as Alibaba and ByteDance have also introduced new models.
Analysts noted that the latest launch signals a shift in positioning, with Chinese open-source models now directly competing with one another.
Shares of several Chinese AI-related companies declined following the announcement, while chipmakers linked to domestic production saw gains.
Questions remain about the hardware used to train the V4 models, particularly amid restrictions on access to advanced foreign chips.
Huawei confirmed its computing systems can support the new models, underscoring broader efforts to strengthen domestic technology capabilities.
DeepSeek’s rise has also prompted regulatory concerns abroad, with multiple countries previously imposing restrictions over data security and governance issues.