DeepSeek to Sharply Raise AI Service Prices
Summary
- China’s DeepSeek said it would soon substantially raise prices across its AI services.
- The current V4-Flash token pricing is $0.14 per 1 million input tokens and $0.28 per 1 million output tokens, far below U.S.-based Anthropic’s Fable 5.
- Bloomberg said DeepSeek is raising prices to secure profitability ahead of an initial public offering (IPO).
Forecast Trend Report by Period
DeepSeek, the Chinese generative artificial intelligence model company, plans to sharply raise prices across its AI services. The move points to a broader shift in China’s AI industry from chasing scale with ultra-low prices and open-source models to prioritizing profitability.
Bloomberg reported on August 6 that DeepSeek had notified users it would soon substantially increase prices across all of its AI services. The company did not disclose the size of the increases or the new rates. The announcement came shortly after DeepSeek launched its next-generation V4-Flash and V4-Pro models.
The price increase is widely seen as a response to growing server and infrastructure burdens as usage surges. DeepSeek currently charges $0.14 per 1 million input tokens and $0.28 per 1 million output tokens for V4-Flash. By comparison, Anthropic’s advanced AI model Fable 5 charges $10 for input tokens and $50 for output tokens.
DeepSeek’s low-price strategy has also created what the market calls a “death zone,” pushing out AI models that are more expensive or offer weaker performance. Bloomberg said the company is raising prices to bolster profitability ahead of an initial public offering.
Kim Dong-hyun, Hankyung.com reporter, 3code@hankyung.com
Korea Economic Daily
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