Huawei Cloud has partnered with AI startup SiliconFlow to integrate DeepSeek’s AI models into its Ascend cloud service.
This collaboration brings high-performance AI models—DeepSeek V3 (a language model) and DeepSeek R1 (a reasoning model)—to the market at affordable rates, making AI more accessible to a wider range of users.
Affordable AI Access with DeepSeek
Huawei Cloud, through its partnership with SiliconFlow, is offering discounted rates for DeepSeek AI models. The pricing is significantly lower compared to similar models.
The DeepSeek V3 model costs just 1 yuan ($0.13) per million input tokens and 2 yuan ($0.26) per million output tokens.
Meanwhile, the DeepSeek R1 model is priced at 4 yuan ($0.53) per million input tokens and 16 yuan ($2.13) per million output tokens. These cost-effective rates are aimed at making AI accessible to more people and businesses.
AI Independence and Geopolitical Impact
Huawei’s integration of DeepSeek models highlights China’s growing push for AI self-sufficiency amid U.S. restrictions on high-end chips.
The models are run on Huawei’s Ascend AI hardware, reducing the country’s reliance on foreign technology.
This move strengthens China’s AI ecosystem and positions it as a formidable competitor in the global AI landscape.
Alibaba Joins the DeepSeek AI Wave
Following Huawei’s integration, Alibaba Cloud has launched DeepSeek AI services on its platform. Users can now access these models via the PAI Model Gallery, which enables easy AI deployment without the need for coding.
Alibaba Cloud provides both full and distilled versions of the DeepSeek R1 model, offering flexibility for a wide range of AI applications.
DeepSeek’s Growth and Future Prospects
DeepSeek AI is gaining traction in both China and the U.S., with companies like Microsoft and Amazon incorporating its models into their platforms.
Initially trained on Nvidia’s H100 GPUs, DeepSeek models now run inference on Huawei’s Ascend 910C chip. Huawei is also developing the Ascend 920C, expected to match Nvidia’s upcoming Blackwell B200, which will further enhance DeepSeek’s AI capabilities.
DeepSeek’s rapid expansion, coupled with its integration into major cloud platforms, signals China’s increasing influence in the AI space.
With affordable pricing and improved hardware, DeepSeek is emerging as a key player in the global AI race.
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