China’s DeepSeek developing its own AI chip, sources say

Chinese startup DeepSeek is developing its own AI chip for inference, aiming to reduce reliance on Nvidia and Huawei chips, according to sources. The move marks a strategic shift for the company and could challenge Huawei in China's AI chip market.

Chinese startup DeepSeek is developing its own artificial intelligence chip, according to three people familiar with the matter, a push that could reduce its reliance on Nvidia and Huawei chips, which it has depended on to train and run its globally popular models. The chip is designed for inference — the stage of AI computing in which a trained model generates responses for users — rather than for training new models, the sources said. If successful, DeepSeek’s expansion into semiconductor development would mark a major strategic shift for a company widely hailed in China as the country’s AI champion, potentially adding to challenges faced by Chinese tech giant Huawei.