Chinese chip makers and cloud service providers are quickly integrating DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence models into their systems, marking a significant turning point for the nation’s AI industry. Companies like Moore Threads and Hygon Information Technology, both AI chip manufacturers, announced that their computing clusters and accelerators are now compatible with DeepSeek’s R1 and V3 models. Moore Threads even shared a celebratory post on WeChat, praising DeepSeek’s ability to drive China’s AI sector forward by utilizing domestically produced graphic processing units (GPUs).
Huawei Technologies, which also develops AI chips, revealed it is collaborating with AI infrastructure startup SiliconFlow to integrate DeepSeek’s models into its Ascend cloud service. This integration has been described as a “watershed moment” by Bernstein analysts, highlighting the growing independence of China’s AI sector from advanced U.S. hardware.
Cloud giants like Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent have also jumped on board, offering DeepSeek’s models through their respective services. DeepSeek’s AI assistant, launched last month, quickly gained popularity by offering a more data-efficient alternative at a fraction of the cost of global competitors, surpassing ChatGPT in app downloads from Apple’s App Store within days.
The company has drawn attention globally with its groundbreaking approach. DeepSeek’s research, published in December, claimed that its V3 model’s training cost less than $6 million in Nvidia’s H800 chips—significantly lower than the billions spent by companies like Meta and Microsoft. This has been a major factor in DeepSeek’s rising prominence, with its founder, Liang Wenfeng, becoming a cultural figure in China.
While Microsoft and Amazon have started offering DeepSeek’s models, some countries, including Italy and the Netherlands, have raised concerns over privacy, leading them to either block or investigate the AI app.