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DeepSeek and rivals prepare for a wave of low-cost Chinese AI models
Summary
One year after DeepSeek's 2025 breakthrough, Chinese firms including ByteDance, Alibaba and Zhipu are readying new low-cost, often open-source AI models timed around the Spring Festival holiday beginning Feb. 15.
Content
DeepSeek's low-cost AI model unsettled parts of the tech sector when it launched in January 2025. The Hangzhou startup's release pushed low-cost, open-source models to the forefront of China's AI ecosystem. One year later, several Chinese firms are preparing new models and upgrades timed around the Spring Festival, which begins on February 15. Industry reporting notes some rivals are emphasising consumer features while others continue to advance core model performance.
What is known:
- DeepSeek's initial release in January 2025 coincided with a sharp market reaction; Reuters reported it wiped $593 billion from Nvidia's market value in a single day.
- Zhipu AI recently released a model said to have enhanced coding capabilities and the ability to run long tasks without prompts.
- ByteDance unveiled Seedance 2.0, described as a video-generation model, and is expected to roll out upgrades to its Doubao chatbot, which QuestMobile reports had 155.2 million weekly active users.
- DeepSeek is preparing its next-generation V4 model, and Alibaba is expected to release a Qwen 3.5 series with improved mathematical reasoning and coding capabilities.
- Qwen developers submitted support code for upcoming Qwen 3.5-series models to Hugging Face, often an indicator that a release is imminent.
- A RAND report cited in industry coverage found Chinese models can operate at roughly one-sixth to one-fourth the cost of comparable U.S. systems.
Summary:
The move toward low-cost, open-source foundation models has become an established pattern among Chinese firms, with both startups and major tech companies readying new releases. Several launches and upgrades are expected around the Spring Festival, but formal release dates for major models have not been announced. Undetermined at this time.
