After triggering price war, DeepSeek reverses course with surcharge on peak-hour API use

DeepSeek is introducing peak-hour surcharges for its API services, reversing its earlier price cuts that triggered a price war among Chinese AI companies. The surcharge doubles the cost of accessing its V4 models during peak hours, citing the need for better resource distribution and service stability.

After triggering price war, DeepSeek reverses course with surcharge on peak-hour API use DeepSeek triggered a price war in May when it announced a permanent 75 per cent discount on V4 API access Ben Jiang /author/ben-jiang in Beijing DeepSeek https://www.scmp.com/topics/deepseek?module=inline&pgtype=article is introducing peak-hour surcharges for its API services, bucking a fierce domestic price war it helped start, in which rivals have been aggressively undercutting each other to capture market share. The Chinese AI champion will double the price for access to its V4 AI models through its application programming interface API during peak hours – 9am to noon and 2pm to 6pm Beijing time – according to an email sent to service subscribers on Monday and seen by the South China Morning Post. Hangzhou-based DeepSeek attributed the price increase to the need for “better distribution of resources and to enhance service stability”, according to the email. Under the new pricing, peak hour costs for its V4 Pro will be increased to 12 yuan US$1.77 for every million output tokens from the standard rate of 6 yuan during non-peak time. The new price applies to all V4 models, the company said in a separate notice published to its website. AI companies sell access to their models via APIs and typically charge fees based on token usage, usually per million tokens. 75 per cent discount on V4 API access, https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3354668/deepseek-v4-pro-tops-global-bang-buck-ranking-after-75-price-cut?module=inline&pgtype=article forcing rivals like ByteDance and Tencent Holdings to follow suit.