New DeepSeek model marks AI milestone. Is China closing the gap with the US?

A man takes photos of a DeepSeek display at a shopping mall in Hangzhou, in China’s eastern Zhejiang province on April 23, 2026. Chinese startup DeepSeek released a new artificial intelligence model with "drastically reduced" costs on April 24, more than a year after it stunned the world with a low-cost reasoning model that matched the capabilities of US rivals. (Photo by CN-STR / AFP) / China OUT

Chinese start-up DeepSeek released a new artificial intelligence model with "drastically reduced" costs on April 24.

PHOTO: AFP

Lim Min Zhang

DeepSeek launched its v4 AI model, collaborating with Huawei for chips and software, marking a step towards China's tech self-reliance.
DeepSeek's v4 model lags US counterparts by months, despite narrowing the performance gap with lower cost and open-source diffusion.
China's DeepSeek-Huawei integration aids domestic AI development under chip constraints, but full self-reliance and decoupling from US tech may not happen so soon.

AI generated

BEIJING – China’s AI darling DeepSeek has launched its new flagship model that uses Huawei’s chips, marking a milestone in Beijing’s efforts to seek technological self-reliance.

Amid the fanfare, however, China’s leading artificial intelligence models remain mere months behind those from America, and the latest release does not appear to have altered this paradigm significantly.

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