DeepSeek Disrupts AI Market with a Permanent 75% Price Cut on V4 Pro Model
Chinese AI startup, DeepSeek, has permanently slashed the price of its flagship V4 Pro model by a staggering 75%. This move intensifies the price competition in the global artificial intelligence market. The company announced on Saturday that the pricing will remain at just $0.87 per million output tokens, down from the original $3.48. What was initially a temporary promotional discount ending May 31, is now a permanent fixture.
This strategic move positions DeepSeek’s V4 Pro as one of the world’s most cost-effective AI models on an intelligence-per-dollar basis. It significantly undercuts competitors including OpenAI’s GPT-5, Google’s Gemini 3.5 Flash, and Anthropic’s Claude. According to the third-party benchmark firm, Artificial Analysis, the price cut places V4 Pro at the global frontier for cost-efficiency.
Just a month ago, DeepSeek released its V4 generation models, marketing them as the dawn of the “era of cost-effective” long-context AI. The permanent discount is expected to create substantial cost savings for enterprise accounts and power users processing millions of tokens daily. Industry analysts suggest that this aggressive pricing strategy reflects a different approach by Chinese AI companies, compared to their U.S. counterparts who offer cutting-edge capabilities at premium prices.
DeepSeek did not disclose whether the price reduction was enabled by an increased supply of Huawei’s Ascend 950 chips, which are used to maximize V4’s performance. As it seeks to capture market share in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, DeepSeek is reportedly pursuing a $45 billion valuation.
Source: South China Morning Post