New DeepSeek model to test China’s AI ambitionsBy Katie Forster and Luna Lin / AFP, TOKYOFor weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. “It’s important to know, because at one level, it is a signal of China’s AI self-sufficiency trajectory,” Counterpoint Research principal AI analyst Wei Sun said. DeepSeek, Huawei, Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent were contacted, but none were able to comment. R1 was based on DeepSeek’s last major AI model, V3, which was released in December 2024.

Source: Taipei Times April 11, 2026 16:06 UTC